Contractor Security Clearance

[smcgee10]

For you government contractors, how many days did it take for your security clearance to come back? It has been a week and nothing. Just getting a little ancy.

 

[Bill Coye]

SF85 or SF86?

 

[SMS]

All depends on what type of clearance you are talking about...out at the FAA where I work, our contractors are run through a background check (that is incorrectly referred to as a "security clearance") and it only takes a couple days.

If you need an actual U.S. Government Secret or Top Secret it could take very much longer, several months...especially if it is an initial investigation. Good news is that once the investigation has reached a certain point, an interim clearance can be granted that will allow you to start work.

 

[smcgee10]

It was a SF85.

 

[Bill Coye]

I was told my SF85 was to take between "30 to 90" days.

Once they decided I needed secret clearance, my SF86 interim came back inside of one week (which allowed pre deployment) with the final within 30 days.

EDIT: this was for a DoD contract not State Department ~ don't know if there's a difference.

 

[jbarnett]

The last one I heard was close to 60 days.

 

[Glocktogo]

I've had interims within a week or two. I've had final secret take as long as 22 months!

 

[SBD]

Interim in a few days. Level 6 (high risk public trust) in 2 years (non DOD Fed). If it isn't DOD then it probably isn't a clearance but a background investigation. Can't remember what they call them at the DOT/FAA. And I think the FAA has a slightly different system than the DOT. Level 6 is touted as Secret equivalent in the detail they go to or at least it used to be. 5 years back plus visits to interview friends and relatives, financial records, court records...basically you can expect to discuss things that might make you a bit uncomfortable...provided you have any of that in your history.

Let me restate the first part. When they started doing them in earnest a few years back there was a huge backlog. For an initial I understand it can take up to a year however subsequent can take as little as 60 days.