The National Background Investigation Services (NBIS) is the major muscle movement the security clearance reform effort is waiting on today. And a current vacancy listed by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), and set to close next week could make all the difference in keeping reform moving forward. (And no, the vacancy isn’t DCSA director). NBIS is in need of a new program manager, and finding the right innovator for the position could help keep security clearance reform efforts on track.
Apply Now: NBIS Program Manager
The program manager position is a Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service (SES) Tier 1 position. If you love solving complex technical problems with direct impact on national security, this is the job for you. The security clearance reform effort is at a critical juncture – it’s sink or swim, and if we want to keep Trusted Workforce 2.0 afloat, the NBIS program manager is a critical role to move the effort forward.
From the announcement:
The NBIS program is a software acquisition program following the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) that deploys operational system capabilities iteratively. The program is registered in the in the DoD Adaptive Acquisition Framework Software Acquisition Pathway (SWP), and one of the selected DoD programs in the Software and Digital Technology BA-08 pilot initiated in the 2018 NDAA. The program currently has an annual budget of about $300M and an estimated total cost to complete of $900M. NBIS is the federal government’s one-stop-shop IT system for end-to-end personnel vetting – from initiation and application to background investigation, adjudication, and continuous vetting. NBIS will be one consolidated system designed to deliver robust data protection, enhance customer experience, and better integrate data across the enterprise.
Innovation comes from unexpected places – and this is one area where innovation is needed. Taking 17 disparate IT systems and turning them into a cohesive technological wheel is a monolith problem – that will take a serious problem solver. There may be no bigger or greater mission in technology, with the entire national security workforce set to roll into the program, the opportunity to harness technology and improve archaic processes should be an exciting one for someone looking to have a direct impact on the safety and security of the nation. Whether you’re in Silicon Valley or transitioning from military service – if you have a track record for making process improvement, throw your hat into the ring.
