The Office of Personnel Management’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) would like to make its inspections a little easier. According to a new request for information (RFI) posted earlier this week, the OIG is seeking an online investigative platform, which would include a web-based online search and retrieval service that could provide vital public and private information on individuals and businesses.
The OIG is clearly seeking something that offers a bit more than the average Google search results. The OPM search engine could allow the office to more effectively pursue final prosecutorial outcomes. In order to meet the mission, the department must be able to perform investigative, medical sanctions, and debarment research.
OIG described the procurement of the investigative service as being vital to the safety of its staff – and the information could include “concealed weapons permits, criminal actions, civil liens and judgments and even bankruptcies.”
It remains unclear exactly how OIG currently retrieves such data.
“It sounds like OIG is looking for a tool to simplify complex information searches that extend across multiple databases,” explained technology industry analyst Charles King of Pund-IT.
“The agency’s research extends into areas, including potential criminal investigations, attorney disbarments and sanctions of doctors and other medical professionals,” King told ClearanceJobs. “So it is reasonable that the agency would want to learn as much as possible about witnesses or subjects of investigations before sending its staff members into the field.”
Where’s the Data?
The specifications needed for this search tool are broken down into 17 general service requirements, 14 service requirements, six retrieval/result requirements, and six requirements specific to healthcare providers and businesses. This would include searches for individuals with personally identifying information, death records, work or employment search, similar sounding names search, email searches, vehicle identification number search, business searches, and specifications for retrievable data.
However, a data retrieval system or search engine would still only be as good as the databases it can access. In the physical world, it doesn’t actually make sense when someone says, “you can’t get there from here,” but online that can actually be true.
If the information isn’t on an accessible database, it certainly can’t be retrieved.
“Areas of research include criminal actions, civic liens and bankruptcies and concealed weapons permits where documents are mostly if not entirely available publicly,” King noted. “I expect that if access to regulated or highly private information is required that the OIG would attempt to obtain the permission of subjects being investigated or necessary subpoenas.”
OPM Breach Remembered
It was just seven and a half years ago, in June 2015 that OPM announced that it had been the target of a data breach involving its personnel records. The agency was forced to disclose that the background investigation records of current, former, and prospective federal employees and contractors had been stolen.
The question now is whether the information its search engine gathers would be better protected.
“I believe the old saying of ‘once burned, twice shy’ may apply here,” King continued. “The OIG likely understands and is sensitive to public concerns about accessing sensitive information.”
Moreover, lessons from that very serious breach may have been to better protect data going forward, and OPM may be far more cautious with this endeavor.
“It is also worth noting that the OIG is beginning the effort modestly, with just three active users of the database planned for the first year, and the addition of two more staff users per year after that,” said King. “In other words, access to the tool will be limited to a small team of specialists which is also likely to help limit potential problems.”
