Each time the Office of Headquarters Personnel Security
notifies the HSO to initiate an applicant in e-QIP,
the notification will include the statement below.
The HSO should include this statement in the e-mail
that notifies the applicant that he/she has been initiated
in e-QIP:
An Individuals' credit history, as reported by the
three major national credit reporting bureaus, is
required by Executive Order and other directives
to be a component of all national security background
investigations. If you have placed a "freeze"
or other administrative hold on your credit report
with any or all of the major national credit reporting
bureaus, the Office of Personnel Management will
be unable to obtain a copy of your report for inclusion
with your background investigation. Absent a credit
report, DOE will be unable to render a determination
as to your eligibility for access to classified
information or material. If such eligibility is
required as a condition of your employment or other
affiliation with DOE, your employment or other affiliation
may be impacted as well.
Contact information for the three major national
credit reporting bureaus appears below. OPM has
suggested that persons with a credit freeze in place
contact the applicable bureau(s) and request the
freeze be lifted for a period of 40 days to accommodate
the conduct of their background investigation. Such
a request should only be made upon submission of
your e-QIP application.
- Equifax - telephone (800) 685-1111 or email www.freeze.equifax.com
- Experian - telephone (888) 397-3742 or email www.experian.com/freeze
- TransUnion - telephone (888) 909-8872 or email www.transunion.com
Credit bureaus may charge individuals for the service
of lifting and/or replacing a credit freeze. DOE
does not reimburse individuals for these costs.
As with costs associated with fingerprinting services
performed by some local law enforcement agencies,
they are to be born solely by the individual.
Credit reports must be obtained by the Government
directly from the credit reporting bureaus in order
to satisfy the requirements of Federal background
investigations. DOE will neither accept nor consider
personally-obtained reports submitted by individuals.
Please Note: DOE may need to procure an individual's
credit report in conjunction with authorized DOE
adjudication activities, to refute, explain or mitigate
financial issues which arise between an individual's
periodic reinvestigations, or for determinations
for certification in DOE's Human Reliability Program.
The foregoing concerns shall apply in these situations
as well. If necessary, individuals will be informed
of the need to lift a freeze in conjunction with
one of these other activities by the appropriate
personnel security office.
If you have any questions about this HSO Spotlight,
please contact Stephanie S. Grimes in the Office of
Headquarters Personnel Security Operations at (301)
903-4175.
