Where Do You See Yourself in Three years?

Before you start filling our Director’s inbox with answers like paying off your student loan, running a full marathon or sipping mai-tais under a tiki hut, this question is from DCSA, so the answer is a little different. (Of course, that tiki-hut one sounds pretty awesome.)

If you are new to the FSO world, this is an annual requirement where the FSO projects how many new Investigations, Periodic Re-investigations, and now, Continuous Evaluations, they will need over the next three fiscal years. Here are some actions to help you get this done!

WHEN: The PSI Survey will launch March 9, 2020 and will last through April 3, 2020.

If last year’s survey is ANY indication, DCSA will send out “courtesy reminders” every week that it is still pending once it launches. So – do yourself a favor and get it done that first week so you can focus on March Madness and singing “C’Mon Eileen” at St. Patrick’s day festivities!

WHY: Why do I have to do this, again?

Your organization has to do this because:

1) The government requires you to do it. Failure to complete it will result in a reprimand from your DSCA Field office to you and your Senior Management Official and no one wants that. Even though they are nice about it, it is still uncomfortable.

2) These projection surveys help the government plan and pay for all the clearance investigations that will be needed. You know how all of the investigations are taking a really long time right now? A huge part of that is due to lack of funding. Your completion of the survey can demonstrate to the government that more support is needed.

WHAT: What if I get it wrong?

Don’t panic. There is no “wrong”. I mean, unless you have a crystal ball that really works (statistically unlikely), you are not expected to truly predict the future. Some companies may get huge awards later this year (cork pop!) which could render all their projections wrong, so FSOs are not held accountable for the accuracy of the answers. However, you do want to try and get it as close as possible. This is tax-payer money we are talking about – don’t go crazy.

HOW: How do we do this?

Step 1: Make sure you can log into NISS

• To get going on your NISS account, you will FIRST need to register your PKI token with the DCSA. Portal: https:// ncaiss.dss.mil/dss-cac-login/cert/login
• The next step is to go back to the portal while logged into your token and click the “I accept” and then the CAC login to get in.
• Once you are in – you will select “Create/Modify Requests” and register your company and yourself – select Security Staff then Facility Security Officer then submit (it usually requires you to submit more than once).
• NOTE: We highly recommend that you call/email your DCSA Rep letting him or her know you are submitting your request for a NISS account so they will grant the privilege and it won’t “time out”.

Step 2: Make the projections

There are several ways of doing this, but at FSO PRO we like to use the following formula to help complete this for our clients:

Historical data + Historical growth rate = Projections.

For instance, if you did about 6 new investigations this year and 1 periodic reinvestigation and your company grew 10%, you can project slightly higher investigations each year.

Conversely, if big contracts are coming to an end or you are graduating out of the 8(a) program, you can move that formula in reverse.

Some companies with high turnover (overseas deployments, role players, training classes) may want to use the same numbers each year.

Again, there is no wrong method – just make an educated prediction.

“Explain to me the difference between DISS and NISS again?”

That was a question that I received from a brand-new FSO for the third time last week. She had called me to see if I could walk her through “adding a new hire to NISS.” I had to remind her that NISS is not where that is done and get her on the right path. (ed note: we finished her task successfully, but that is not what this newsletter is about!)
Lemme sum up …

DISS is the system that will eventually replace JPAS as the system of record for personnel clearances. This is where you will park your personnel and maintain all clearance actions.

NISS is the system that maintains Facility Clearance information for your organization. This where you list your KMPs, owners, address, FOCI, self-inspections AND our real focus of today: Personnel Security Investigations or PSI.

In Case of Too Much Green Beer!

True story: We have had to do more “incident reports” for disorderly conduct around St. Pat’s than any other holiday.

FSO PRO has added new training vide- os to our “Shop”
“FSO Training Video: Alcohol” and “FSO Training Video: Criminal Activities”

These videos (Created by MarketFlix!) offer training to FSOs, Managers, Leaders and cleared personnel for properly reporting and mitigating the negative impact for clearances should something adverse occur in these areas. Share them with your team on Friday, March 15th as an extra “security best practice” before the popular holiday festivities!

Need more explanation or assistance with any items mentioned this month?
Contact FSO PRO!

FSO PRO thanks all the FSOs out there for everything you do to keep the warfighter safe. Even the smallest task is designed to keep our nation’s information out of the hands of those who would do harm. We, as FSOs, are doing our part to stay vigilant and determined to protect those who protect us, even in our own small way.

That is why we say how awesome you are. And thank you.