Could someone tell me the clearance crossover process (government to contractor)? I was told that it usually takes 1-2 weeks for the client to look over your updated information, but is there a chance that the clearance could be “revoked” somehow? It seems very unlikely, but I wanted to err on the side of caution… Thanks.
Clearances do not “cross over” when you leave a government agency and become a contractor. Your clearance is administratively withdrawn by the govt. agency and if you are hired by a contractor and need a clearance they will sponsor you through DISCO who will run a check to see if they can grant you a Industrial Security Clearance based off of the last investigation you had if at the appropriate level. As far as how much time this takes is varies and cannot be pinpointed because it depends on several factors.
Thanks, Marko. I received a conditional offer of employment based on two factors: client approval and successful clearance crossover. The first part is okay – I received client approval not too long ago. As for the clearance, I had a government clearance but this was not active for 18 months (freeze period). I am not past the freeze period, and was told by the security personnel that the “crossover” (reactivating the clearance, and crossing it over from the gov’t to contractor side) would take one to two weeks. I was debriefed of my clearance less than two years ago. The hiring managers and security officers have consistently told me the same thing, so it seems like the reactivation process will not require a thorough scrub as would a regular background investigation. Since the clearance process is so opaque and subject to a variety of factors at best, I’m just trying to manage my expectations in terms of the timeline, etc.
Thanks!