The Personnel Vetting Questionnaire (PVQ) was approved by the Office of Management and Budget and has been on a slow roll toward implementation over the past year. While the policy and form are established, implementation awaits progress on the National Background Investigation Services (NBIS).
As an NBIS-dependent policy development, the PVQ is creating some questions for clearance applicants or holders, who are wondering if the PVQ is something they should be aware of and fill out. The short answer – the PVQ is not the current security clearance application. The SF-86, SF-85 and SF-85P remain the forms used and funneled into the Defense Information System for Security (DISS). You can’t fill out the PVQ, because it’s not currently the form in place to establish clearance eligibility. The policy now enables it to be, but the technology doesn’t.
If you’re a security officer, it’s smart to start familiarizing yourself with the form now and considering how you’d need to update your training materials or provide information specific to the PVQ for clearance applicants and for those who need to update their clearance details or self-report adjudicatively relevant information.
