I am employed so the waiting game for a clearance isn’t stressing me out. For a new DOD contract position, rather than gaining an interim clearance, my E-QIP was submitted mid October 2018 and as of today my status in JPAS for my clearance is now eligibility pending". The FSO at my contract holder tells me means that I will have to wait for the full investigation and adjudication to complete rather than be given interim clearance to start working. They tell me that will be “8-9 months”, but from reading here I realize it could be longer.
I had a feeling I wouldn’t be given interim due to 2 recent years where I filed my taxes late and owed a high balance that is now on an IRS installment agreement. Fortunately, an approved IRS agreement like this means the tax is not classified as delinquent.
I also had several credit delinquencies >120 days that happened back in 2013 due to numerous life events. All but one of them is paid down to $0 (not written off as bad debt), and the last one will be fully settled by end of December 2018, which is going to be long before I ever meet an investigator. My tax installment plan balance will also make good progress between now and whenever my interview is, too, so I’m hoping that my mitigation is viewed positively.
You should get your clearance but you are probably looking at longer than 8-9 months. They are going to want a lot of information about what caused you to fall behind in the credit cards and want to know why you filed your taxes late. There are ways to mitigate these things and it would be a good idea to start gathering documentation now instead of later.
Thanks for the feedback. I went through this recently with a T2S investigation (MRPT) and provided all documentation showing $0 balances from the creditor(s) and the IRS letter confirming the installment agreement. I have no idea if a final determination has been made, but the investigation closed in late September 2018 around the same time I applied for a new contract position requiring a T3 (Secret) investigation so the whole thing is starting again. I’m still at the position requiring MRPT and have not been notified either way.
Would my T2S investigation notes/report be something the T3 investigator and adjudicator will consider in how deep they dive if some of the legwork was already done in the past year?
Surprisingly, I got called by the BI last week to schedule my subject interview. He’s doing it by phone later this week, which I guess is one way they are moving a little quicker considering my E-QIP was submitted in Oct 2018. I was prepared to wait until at least late Spring to hear anything at all.
BI phone-interview took place this week and took only 40 minutes. This is for Secret clearance on a T3 investigation where I completed an SF86 questionnaire submitted in Oct 2018.
I had a BI in person interview in June 2018 for a prior T2S (MRPT) investigation based on my SF85P questionnaire submitted in Oct 2017, and that took nearly 2 hours.
Both investigators went through my employment history with a fine tooth comb for clarity because I have many contract jobs over the last 7 years, working under my own LLC, contracting to vendors who place me with the end client. This consumed a lot of time explaining those kinds of jobs, locations, etc. to the investigators since it’s not a simple work history of a few employers as a W2 employee where verification is much easier.
They also went over my financial answers that involved some old debts that went delinquent some years back (less than 7 years), but I was able to address and mitigate them since they are all paid off, $0 balance with exception of 1 that is under a payment plan with the creditor. Same with a recent tax year that I had a large underpayment and am now on an IRS installment plan, so that is mitigated as well (and not considered delinquent due to the installment plan).
Generally, however, the 40 minute phone interview went much faster and he didn’t dive too much into my international travel history. He verified my family members listed and residences over the past 7 years. He didn’t even ask for why I went to Russia 3 years in a row after I told him (truthfully) that it was for tourism.
It seems if they are doing phoners for a lot of the investigations, things may start to get moving again.
Graylines,
I did get my secret clearance in August. My IRS installment plan is more than your $20k, religiously paid on time with auto pay direct debit. I don’t know any other details of your investigation and background, but if that’s the only concern on your and you’ve been paying as agreed, I would think you’ll be ok.