Hello all,
Have a few general questions I am looking for some insight on. I applied with USSS back in 2015, completed a hard copy SF-86 as I don’t believe they used e-Qip then, and received a BQA (Better Qualified Applicants) after that with no poly or BI initiated and no denial of a clearance. Ive been told this was just a suitability pre-screen. If I understand the BI/clearance process correctly, was this SF-86 not then “official” or “submitted” anywhere for purposes of a BI? I take it that any eQip I now do would be from scratch and I would need to enter all the information over again? I did see on a DHS document online that USSS applicant records for pre-BI applicants are destroyed after 2 years so I assume this would be the case. Thanks so much for any feedback
There was some kind of cyber breach involving OPM a few years back and several agencies stopped using eQIP and returned to hardcopy forms. So it sounds like if you got a conditional job offer and they initiated a new SF-86 via eQIP it would be completely blank. Which kinda sucks 
I used to work for a contractor and our security office used to keep SF-86’s on file in case they needed to submit you for some new access, but maybe ten years ago they had to destroy all the copies they had on file for privacy act/PII (personally identifying information?) reasons. So yeah that old SF-86 should have been shredded.
Thank you for your reply. Yes, I did read about that OPM breach and figured that might have had a role in it. I have no experience with eQip since I only completed that “pre-screen” SF-86 on paper. I take it that, if you go into eQip and there’s already some information populated, then that means there has already been a previous submission? That’s helpful for future submissions, however it looks like I’m gonna have to do an “initial” one now from scratch for my situation.
From your scenario, eQip should not have any of your information.
The prepopulated eQip was supposed to make life easier for Subjects. Unfortunately, few Subjects deleted their old information, corrected the old information, and many times did not input the current information correctly.
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One time I left some old info in there. It was out of scope, but I was afraid to delete it, as the eQIP can be finicky (one time it killed my sister). As a result, once that information was on the form, the investigator had to verify it, even though it was no longer necessary.
So take some time to clean up your eQIP if pre-populated info shows up.
PS my sister is still alive