Big change to Security Clearance rules

[malvolio]

Then the Home Office is not a good example of any kind of good practice - although having been there myself I don't find that surprising. For example, how can a serving worker's clearance lapse, espeically a permie's: what was the security team doing in the month or two previously, knitting wooly jumpers to pass the time perhaps?

[billygun]

Home Office and good practice, it just doesn't sound right does it!

Still, long may it continue, the more useless permies they employ the more contractors they will need to do their work for them.

[Mailman_1]

Agents have an easy work around for this one. the average contract is initially 3-6 months. The quickest turnaround for SC that i have seen in 5 years of cleared DVA and MI5 managed environments is 3-4 months. I've seen SC take more than a yr to complete for someone with a dual nationality or any kind of foriegn heritage. An agent can use that as a justification to deny an appkication for an SC role.

BC takes around a week for clean applicants, CTC takes around 3-4 weeks. Most SC environments will not allow non-cleared or even BC cleared people on-site due to the nature of the material they have access to on peoples desks etc. The government agencies see it as an un-needed risk to have uncleared people working in the same env as cleared people.

I doubt this rule change will make much difference to the current situation.

[mictech]

Just looked on job server and first role I saw says......

Due to timesacales SC Security Clearance is need for this role:....
Start Date ASAP
Duration 6 months

See how upto date the agents are.

[rootsnall]

I had clearance many moons ago and have been turned away by agents for a few roles since due to having spent a lot of time overseas that would apparently make checking up on me very difficult. Is this bollards ? Or some truth to it ?

[Mailman_1]

If you go overseas for a prolonged period (I think it's more than 3 months), you are seen as a risk. they will need to verify everywhere u had been and everything u had done. You could have been at a taliban training camp or something for all they know.

[malvolio]

Agents have an easy work around for this one. the average contract is initially 3-6 months. The quickest turnaround for SC that i have seen in 5 years of cleared DVA and MI5 managed environments is 3-4 months. I've seen SC take more than a yr to complete for someone with a dual nationality or any kind of foriegn heritage. An agent can use that as a justification to deny an appkication for an SC role.

BC takes around a week for clean applicants, CTC takes around 3-4 weeks. Most SC environments will not allow non-cleared or even BC cleared people on-site due to the nature of the material they have access to on peoples desks etc. The government agencies see it as an un-needed risk to have uncleared people working in the same env as cleared people.

I doubt this rule change will make much difference to the current situation.

Nope, wrong. SC is 30 days, DV - a fully managed process remember - 100. Those are the targets given to the clearance agencies by the Cabinet Office, who haven't pulle dhtem out of thin air, and those are what the rules are based on. I've been vetted for SC clearance four times in 12 years (and how stupid is that?) and have never taken more than 6 weeks even under the old laborious processes.

[Mailman_1]

Nope, wrong. SC is 30 days, DV - a fully managed process remember - 100. Those are the targets given to the clearance agencies by the Cabinet Office, who haven't pulle dhtem out of thin air, and those are what the rules are based on. I've been vetted for SC clearance four times in 12 years (and how stupid is that?) and have never taken more than 6 weeks even under the old laborious processes.

If you have lived in the same property for 15 yrs and the same job, have no mortgage/financial commitments, wife/spouse, kids or any other living family and are Anglo Saxon for 3 Generations, you may be able to reach that 6 week target you have met. All i am saying that i have never seen it. My clearance is pretty straight forward and was classed as a priorty 1 and still took 3 months. Remember, clearing someone who has had previous clearance is easier that a new subject.

Maybe a military subject would go through quicker. Were you prevoiusly in the military Malvolio?

Since when have government quoted targets been accurate anyway?

[malvolio]

I've been cleared to SC for most of the last 30 years, mainly through X-list, more recently through MOD contracts, but have never been in the mmilitary myself.

However, not the point. To quote directly from the Cabinet Office instructions:

Pre-existing clearances should only be required by departments, prime contractors or agencies when there is an urgent priority requirement that includes the following criteria:

a. Clearance is genuinely necessary and proportionate

And

b. The work must be completed within 30 days (SC and CTC) or 100 days (DV) of the contract start, or

c. The role requires immediate and routine unsupervised access:

and furthermore:

When it will take longer to carry out the work than to secure the clearance, existing practices for escorting and supervising un-cleared personnel should be followed until such time as clearance is confirmed. These will almost invariably be adequate other than in circumstances similar to those outlined in point (c) above. In light of the continuing improvements in turnaround times for clearances, this should represent a minimal burden and should, in any case, have been factored into project costs at the outset.

So if the Cabinet Office say it, it must be so...

[Mailman_1]

So we have contractor A with clearance, experience and the quals who can get to wk straight away (for a slightly higher rate maybe)

And we have contractor B with the qualsand experience but no clearance so he will need a cleared escort for a minimum of a month depending on his circumstances so he can be on site and will not have access to the info he needs to do his job (as he is not cleared).

I dont see much changing to be fair. The legislation may be in place but i dont think it will be in the interests of the government projects to go thru all the hassle of taking on contractor B.

The nature of a contract/contractor is that the person can come in on short notice, hit the floor running, get the job done and do one. Contractor B cannot do this.

Targets aside, Do you really think that in reality, an SC clearance can be done in 30 days?