After months in protest, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) has awarded its $2.25 billion ceiling background investigations contract to CACI and Peraton. The announcement came following a protest by Paragon Systems over the reduction of the mission from three to two federal background investigations providers. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) offered a 12-page write-up in support of DCSA’s decision to consolidate. The GAO report noted that Peraton and CACI currently provide approximately 40% each of the current background investigations requirements and have been doing so for approximately 15 years. It noted Paragon conducts approximately 20% of the work and has been supporting DCSA since 2016.
“This award underscores the criticality of the background investigation mission to our nation’s security. Peraton is proud to continue our nearly two decades of support to the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA),” said a Peraton spokesperson.
The ClearanceJobsBlog discussions site has been awash in chatter regarding the contract announcement for months. The federal contracting flux is nothing new to background investigators. In 2014 the Office of Personnel Management pulled all work from USIS, who was then the main provider of background investigations services within the federal government. The issue at that time was the major exodus of the contractor background investigation workforce, who chose to leave the field rather than taking on an opportunity with another contractor.
In contrast, today’s consolidation leaves a little more stability, as the two largest providers of background investigations services remain. Current Paragon investigators can also anticipate the possibility of taking on work as a subcontractor to one of the two primary providers – both Peraton and CACI currently have sub contractors to other companies providing field work and support staff.
The $2.25 billion contract announcement comes as the personnel security process continues its Trusted Workforce 2.0 overhaul. Critical to that effort is the rollout of the National Background Investigation Services (NBIS) – an effort currently underway with critical support from Peraton.
