In accordance with Federal regulation, individuals are required to visit an NIH PIV Card Issuance Facility (PCIF) to complete Badge Enrollment and Badge Issuance. PCIFs include the NIH Main Office Location in Building 31, or you may see Other DPS Locations (PCIFs).
In order to be issued a badge at Badge Issuance, the individual must have already:
- Submitted fingerprints for their Prescreening/background investigation to run an FBI criminal history check
- Submitted all their case documents (including eApp, OF-306, etc.)
- Completed any needed corrections and must have completed the DPS Prescreening requirements and is determined by DPS eligible to be issued a badge favorably at the NIH
- Completed Badge Enrollment, so biometrics can be tied to the individual's badge.
If the requirements above are completed in a timely manner, then DPS will conduct a review of the individual's Prescreening results to determine if the individual is eligible to be issued an NIH ID badge.
Please note: An applicant will not be able to pick up their badge until the applicant has been authorized by DPS to receive his/her badge, and until the applicant have reached his/her intended start date, known as the Entry on Duty (EOD) date, listed in the NIH Enterprise Directory (NED). An applicant is only able to make a Badge Issuance appointment when DPS sends a notification via email to complete the Badge Issuance process.
If submitting Prescreening fingerprints is the last requirement needed for an individual’s background investigation, the individual will need to wait several days for the results of their FBI criminal history check to come in. Any delays in completing any of these Prescreening requirements may result in a delay of the issuance of the individual’s badge.
Therefore, individuals who are more than 50 miles from an NIH PCIF are encouraged to check with the DPS helpdesk team to identify if they are eligible for a remote Fieldprint fingerprinting appointment at a location closer to them. These individuals can contact DPS via email at ORSFingerprintService@mail.nih.gov or phone at (301) 402-9755 before scheduling travel to the DPS appointment to ensure all requirements are met.
What is needed for the applicant's Badge Issuance appointment?
The applicant will need to bring one form of valid government ID (must be REAL ID compliant) to their Badge Issuance appointment and this must be done at an NIH PIV Card Issuance Facility (PCIF).
What if there are issues found on applicant's background investigation?
DPS will need to adjudicate any issues that are discovered during the prescreening process before the badge can be issued; this may require additional processing time. To make PIV card eligibility determinations, DPS utilizes federal guidelines including, but not limited to:
- Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Federal Information Process Standard 201-2 Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors
- Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) HSPD-12 Credentialing Standards
- Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 731
Please feel free to visit our Policy for more information on what polices drive the Personnel Security process.
What if the applicant did not provide their fingerprints for their Prescreening/background investigation?
If the applicant did not provide fingerprints for their Prescreening/background investigation, then the applicant will be submitting their fingerprints during Badge Enrollment at an NIH PCIF. These fingerprints will be used for both running an FBI criminal history check and tying to the individual's badge. NIH PCIFs include the NIH Main Office Location in Building 31 or one of these offices at other DPS locations.
For awareness, in this situation, if the individual was not able to complete fingerprints during Prescreening in advance, then the individual will need to wait until the FBI fingerprint results come in. As a result, this will add additional days of processing, due to the amount of time it takes to receive the results from running the FBI fingerprint check after the individual submits their fingerprints. As a reminder, the FBI fingerprint check is one of the Prescreening requirements that must be done before DPS can issue the applicant their badge.
What if an applicant utilized Fieldprint to submit fingerprints for Prescreening, but was not able to travel to an NIH PCIF for Badge Enrollment yet?
Badge Enrollment and Badge Issuance appointments can only be completed at an NIH PCIF. You may find PCIFs located at the NIH Main Office Location in Building 31 and at Other DPS Locations (PCIFs).
If an applicant completed fingerprints in advance of their Badge Enrollment as part of Prescreening, and DPS has made a favorable Prescreening determination for their case, then the applicant will be prompted to complete both Badge Enrollment and Badge Issuance on or after their start date. When the applicant receives the prompt to complete Badge Enrollment, it can be completed at any time the applicant is able to travel to an NIH PCIF. Most applicants in this situation choose to wait to complete both their Badge Enrollment and Badge Issuance appointment on the same day (on/after their listed start date in NED), once they are able to travel to an NIH PCIF, to avoid making two separate appointments.
What happens next?
After Badge Issuance, take note of the below:
Badge Maintenance Information:
- Please visit our Badge Issuance Services page to understand badge maintenance for the applicant.
- If this is your applicant's first time receiving their NIH badge, your applicant may need to contact OIIT to help access their account to login to their computer for the first time.
- If an individual is renewing their badge or certificates, the individual may need to contact OIIT for assistance in re-publishing their certificates to access websites and encrypted email.
For applicants who completed a new Background Investigation request:
- The background investigation process may take several months with DCSA.
- Applicants should be aware that a DCSA Investigator may reach out to the applicant to schedule a Subject Interview as part of the background investigation.
- DCSA will use any of the contact information applicant listed on their forms to contact them.
- It is imperative that applicants cooperate with their DCSA investigator.
- If you or your references have any questions about an Agent's/Investigator's identity or status, contact DCSA Security via email or call the hotline:
Background Investigation Adjudication:
- Once the DCSA Background Investigation results are returned, DPS makes a final determination on the applicant's suitability/fitness for Employment, and final eligibility for the PIV Badge. The applicant will need to pay attention to their email during this process, as DPS may contact them regarding their background investigation. Please see our Adjudications page for more information.
Reinvestigations:
- DPS conducts Reinvestigations as required by federal guidelines at intervals determined by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA).
- Applicants continued Badge eligibility and employment suitability at NIH is contingent on the results of the suitability investigations and reinvestigations conducted by DPS.
- DPS will contact you by email (personal and NIH) when you need to complete a reinvestigation.
