The U.S. government’s Trusted Workforce 2.0 (TW 2.0) initiative aims to transform the personnel vetting system, and a new GAO survey shows both promising gains and lingering IT headaches—particularly around the rollout of the National Background Investigation Services system (NBIS).
Alyssa Czyz, Director of Defense Capabilities and Management at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), joins us this week to discuss the agency’s newly released baseline report on TW 2.0 implementation. The survey, mandated by the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act, captured feedback from 45 federal agencies and over 600 contractors and will be repeated biennially through 2029.
Although core policies for TW 2.0 are now in place, full implementation remains uneven—primarily due to the delays surrounding NBIS. The IT infrastructure was originally slated to go live in 2019 but has now been pushed to 2027.
Despite roadblocks, the survey revealed optimism about Trusted Workforce 2.0’s potential, especially with the shift to continuous vetting. While the implementation journey is far from over, GAO is continuing to monitor progress. The next report, expected this summer, will focus on timeliness metrics and how data is being managed across the security clearance process.
