Question: civilian contractors and security clearances

[Charlie Wolf]

I had a brief discussion with a gentleman last night and the President
of our local Community Development group and this gentleman is
interested in moving a high tech business into our small rural town.
He says the basis for the work is photonics. I told him about some of
my background ( BS Comp. Science, retired Navy enlisted with top
security clearance) and he asked me how much money it costs a company
to obtain govt. clearances for a defense contract. I told him I
didn't know but I thought it was expensive. Maybe some of you in this
group have some experience with that, hence my questions:

What would it cost a company to obtain a security clearance for - say
for example - a recent college graduate with no prior govt. or DoD
experience?

Would it make a difference if the clearance was TS or Crypto? I
assume this guy has some kind of comm tech in mind.

What would it cost for the company to get a clearance for a military
retiree who has been out a short time (less than 3 years)?

What would it cost for the company to get a clearance for a military
retiree who has been out a longer time (more than 10 years)?

What agency does this for such a company? NSA? DoD? FBI? others?

Would any of you have a point of contact that you could give me to get
more information?

Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated...
Regards,

[Yeff]

On Sun, 04 Jul 2004 22:03:03 GMT, Charlie Wolf wrote:

> Would it make a difference if the clearance was TS or Crypto? I
> assume this guy has some kind of comm tech in mind.

It probably will as that affects the type of background investigation done.
It could be the difference between reviewing records to actually talking to
friends and family.

-Jeff B.
yeff at erols dot com

[W. D. Allen Sr.]

He has a number of factors that will cost him money. Filling out government
forms for a personal clearance cost only his work hours. For a facility
clearance he will need to make changes to his plant to control entry and
exit of personnel and materiel.

That said, no vender gets a security clearance until they have a government
contract which requires the handling of classified material. His contract
bid must include the costs for security. He will find he needs at least one
full time security officer for any contract of significant dollars.

His government customer's contracting officer can point him toward the
applicable government regulations, or he could contact a regional DOD
auditing or contracting office (they should be listed under the U. S.
government in the nearest metropolitan region's phone book).

Good luck,

WDA

end



"Charlie Wolf" > wrote in message
...
> I had a brief discussion with a gentleman last night and the President
> of our local Community Development group and this gentleman is
> interested in moving a high tech business into our small rural town.
> He says the basis for the work is photonics. I told him about some of
> my background ( BS Comp. Science, retired Navy enlisted with top
> security clearance) and he asked me how much money it costs a company
> to obtain govt. clearances for a defense contract. I told him I
> didn't know but I thought it was expensive. Maybe some of you in this
> group have some experience with that, hence my questions:
>
> What would it cost a company to obtain a security clearance for - say
> for example - a recent college graduate with no prior govt. or DoD
> experience?
>
> Would it make a difference if the clearance was TS or Crypto? I
> assume this guy has some kind of comm tech in mind.
>
> What would it cost for the company to get a clearance for a military
> retiree who has been out a short time (less than 3 years)?
>
> What would it cost for the company to get a clearance for a military
> retiree who has been out a longer time (more than 10 years)?
>
> What agency does this for such a company? NSA? DoD? FBI? others?
>
> Would any of you have a point of contact that you could give me to get
> more information?
>
> Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated...
> Regards,
>

[Ogden Johnson III]

Charlie Wolf > wrote:

>I had a brief discussion with a gentleman last night and the President
>of our local Community Development group and this gentleman is
>interested in moving a high tech business into our small rural town.
>He says the basis for the work is photonics. I told him about some of
>my background ( BS Comp. Science, retired Navy enlisted with top
>security clearance) and he asked me how much money it costs a company
>to obtain govt. clearances for a defense contract. I told him I
>didn't know but I thought it was expensive. Maybe some of you in this
>group have some experience with that, hence my questions:

What the company needs is a facility security clearance,
typically held under a government contract. That involves no
fees payable to the government, but depending on whether
classified material storage is involved, and at what level of
clearance that stored material is classified, and how much of it
there is, the company can spend real big bucks meeting the
protection and administrative requirements that must be met to
set up and run a Defense Industrial Security Program.

The gentleman should run, not walk to his local DSS [Defense
Security Service, a combination of the former the Defense
Industrial Security Clearance Office and the Defense
Investigative Service. He has a *lot* to learn, and, no
disrespect to you, he is not learning what he needs to from you.
You and he might want to check things out at http://www.dss.mil/

Pages of particular interest:

Who we are: http://www.dss.mil/aboutdss/index.htm

Industrial Security Program: http://www.dss.mil/isec/index.htm

Personal Security Investigations Program:
http://www.dss.mil/psi/index.htm

>What would it cost a company to obtain a security clearance for - say
>for example - a recent college graduate with no prior govt. or DoD
>experience?

$0.00 beyond the company's internal processing costs.

>Would it make a difference if the clearance was TS or Crypto? I
>assume this guy has some kind of comm tech in mind.

No.

>What would it cost for the company to get a clearance for a military
>retiree who has been out a short time (less than 3 years)?

How much less than three years? It will still cost the company
$0.00 beyond its own processing costs, but a military clearance
can't be converted to a civilian clearance after 18 months [last
time I looked, see the DSS pages at the links above]. Absent the
conversion, the ex-military type will have to go through the same
application process as anyone without any prior clearance would
have to. Depending on level, it could involve just a National
Agency Check, a full background investigation, or, for the higher
compartmented stuff, special background investigations.

>What would it cost for the company to get a clearance for a military
>retiree who has been out a longer time (more than 10 years)?

$0.00, beyond the company's internal processing costs.

>What agency does this for such a company? NSA? DoD? FBI? others?

Defense Security Service, formerly the Defense Industrial
Security office. http://www.dss.mil/

>Would any of you have a point of contact that you could give me to get
>more information?

http://www.dss.mil/
--
OJ III
[Email to Yahoo address may be burned before reading.
Lower and crunch the sig and you'll net me at comcast.]

[Charlie Wolf]

On Sun, 04 Jul 2004 20:08:52 -0400, Ogden Johnson III
> wrote:

>Charlie Wolf > wrote:
>
>>I had a brief discussion with a gentleman last night and the President
>>of our local Community Development group and this gentleman is
>>interested in moving a high tech business into our small rural town.
>>He says the basis for the work is photonics. I told him about some of
>>my background ( BS Comp. Science, retired Navy enlisted with top
>>security clearance) and he asked me how much money it costs a company
>>to obtain govt. clearances for a defense contract. I told him I
>>didn't know but I thought it was expensive. Maybe some of you in this
>>group have some experience with that, hence my questions:
>
>What the company needs is a facility security clearance,
>typically held under a government contract. That involves no
>fees payable to the government, but depending on whether
>classified material storage is involved, and at what level of
>clearance that stored material is classified, and how much of it
>there is, the company can spend real big bucks meeting the
>protection and administrative requirements that must be met to
>set up and run a Defense Industrial Security Program.
>
>The gentleman should run, not walk to his local DSS [Defense
>Security Service, a combination of the former the Defense
>Industrial Security Clearance Office and the Defense
>Investigative Service. He has a *lot* to learn, and, no
>disrespect to you, he is not learning what he needs to from you.
Very helpful - and I agree completely. Thanks much.
Regards,




>You and he might want to check things out at http://www.dss.mil/
>
>Pages of particular interest:
>
>Who we are: http://www.dss.mil/aboutdss/index.htm
>
>Industrial Security Program: http://www.dss.mil/isec/index.htm
>
>Personal Security Investigations Program:
>http://www.dss.mil/psi/index.htm
>
>>What would it cost a company to obtain a security clearance for - say
>>for example - a recent college graduate with no prior govt. or DoD
>>experience?
>
>$0.00 beyond the company's internal processing costs.
>
>>Would it make a difference if the clearance was TS or Crypto? I
>>assume this guy has some kind of comm tech in mind.
>
>No.
>
>>What would it cost for the company to get a clearance for a military
>>retiree who has been out a short time (less than 3 years)?
>
>How much less than three years? It will still cost the company
>$0.00 beyond its own processing costs, but a military clearance
>can't be converted to a civilian clearance after 18 months [last
>time I looked, see the DSS pages at the links above]. Absent the
>conversion, the ex-military type will have to go through the same
>application process as anyone without any prior clearance would
>have to. Depending on level, it could involve just a National
>Agency Check, a full background investigation, or, for the higher
>compartmented stuff, special background investigations.
>
>>What would it cost for the company to get a clearance for a military
>>retiree who has been out a longer time (more than 10 years)?
>
>$0.00, beyond the company's internal processing costs.
>
>>What agency does this for such a company? NSA? DoD? FBI? others?
>
>Defense Security Service, formerly the Defense Industrial
>Security office. http://www.dss.mil/
>
>>Would any of you have a point of contact that you could give me to get
>>more information?
>
>http://www.dss.mil/

[Charlie Wolf]

Thanks - more good info...
Regards,

On Sun, 4 Jul 2004 15:57:00 -0700, "W. D. Allen Sr."
> wrote:

>He has a number of factors that will cost him money. Filling out government
>forms for a personal clearance cost only his work hours. For a facility
>clearance he will need to make changes to his plant to control entry and
>exit of personnel and materiel.
>
>That said, no vender gets a security clearance until they have a government
>contract which requires the handling of classified material. His contract
>bid must include the costs for security. He will find he needs at least one
>full time security officer for any contract of significant dollars.
>
>His government customer's contracting officer can point him toward the
>applicable government regulations, or he could contact a regional DOD
>auditing or contracting office (they should be listed under the U. S.
>government in the nearest metropolitan region's phone book).
>
>Good luck,
>
>WDA
>
>end
>
>
>
>"Charlie Wolf" > wrote in message
...
>> I had a brief discussion with a gentleman last night and the President
>> of our local Community Development group and this gentleman is
>> interested in moving a high tech business into our small rural town.
>> He says the basis for the work is photonics. I told him about some of
>> my background ( BS Comp. Science, retired Navy enlisted with top
>> security clearance) and he asked me how much money it costs a company
>> to obtain govt. clearances for a defense contract. I told him I
>> didn't know but I thought it was expensive. Maybe some of you in this
>> group have some experience with that, hence my questions:
>>
>> What would it cost a company to obtain a security clearance for - say
>> for example - a recent college graduate with no prior govt. or DoD
>> experience?
>>
>> Would it make a difference if the clearance was TS or Crypto? I
>> assume this guy has some kind of comm tech in mind.
>>
>> What would it cost for the company to get a clearance for a military
>> retiree who has been out a short time (less than 3 years)?
>>
>> What would it cost for the company to get a clearance for a military
>> retiree who has been out a longer time (more than 10 years)?
>>
>> What agency does this for such a company? NSA? DoD? FBI? others?
>>
>> Would any of you have a point of contact that you could give me to get
>> more information?
>>
>> Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated...
>> Regards,
>>
>