Clearance Processing: Additional Guidance for Cleared Contractor Facilities

There has been some confusion concerning where to send corrected information after a clearance application has been rejected or where to send required components such as fingerprint cards or releases when Defense Security Service advises that this documentation has not been received.

Many contractors recently received a letter, dated May 21, 2004, requesting missing documents, as well as updated employee certifications and/or additional years of coverage for education, residence and employment. Responses to the May 21st letter, and this letter only, should also be sent to the Ft. Mead address listed below under Fingerprint Cards and General Releases.

In all other instances, clearance applications that need correction before the investigation is opened will be sent to contractors by the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO). DISCO will include a cover sheet or letter that itemizes the specific items that need to be addressed and ask that the information in question be returned to DISCO. In some cases you will be requested to mail corrected information to DISCO, in other cases you will be requested to resubmit an EPSQ electronically. As a general rule, if you receive the EPSQ in hard copy, you will be required to mail the corrected, complete package (EPSQ, signed general release, and, if required, fingerprint card).

The following items have been identified by DISCO as the items that most often require corrective action.

1. Release papers not dated, illegible or appear to have been modified without the modifications being initialed by the subject
2. Date of Birth (DOB) or Place of Birth (POB) discrepancies between the FPC and the SF86. They must match exactly.
3. Full middle name is required on the FPC. The FPC must exactly match the SF86.
   - If no middle name, indicate "NMN"
   - If initial only, indicate "IO"
4. City, State, and Zip are required for all residence and employment addresses
5. The Social Security Number and POB are required for cohabitants on SSBI requests
6. Employment and Residence Gaps
   - Seven Years of Coverage is required for residence, employment and education for Confidential and Secret NACLC requests, both initial clearances and periodic reinvestigations
   - Ten Years of Coverage is required on all requests for initial Top Secret clearance. For Top Secret periodic reinvestigations, the requirement is five years of coverage or back to the date of the previous investigation, whichever is longer (but no more than 10 years, if the last investigation is older than 10 years).
   
7. Legally separated from spouse - Separation date and address of spouse are required
   
8. Marital status of previous spouses. If unknown, so indicate.
   
9. Clarify debts; indicate if debts are still outstanding. Add comments in the remarks section if needed.
   
10. The subject's certification of the accuracy of the EPSQ data is more than 180 days old. Depending on the date the applicant certified the content of the EPSQ, it may be necessary to have the applicant re-date the certification and initial the change on the form. OPM will not accept requests for investigation if the date of the applicant's certification is more than 180 days old.
    

Address responses to May 21st letter to:

    Defense Security Service
    ATNN: EPSQ Team
    601 10th Street, Suite 300
    Ft. Meade, MD 20755-5134