The acquired company, U.S. Investigations Services (USIS), used to be a federal agency. In 1996, 700 employees of the Office of Federal Investigations, which conducted background investigations for most civilian agencies, left the government and became employee-owners of USIS. They received shares in USIS that accrued value based on employees' length of service and the company's financial performance. And USIS performed exceptionally well. The company has grown year after year, aided greatly by an exclusive contract it landed in 1996 - without competition - to perform background investigations and related work for its former parent agency, the Office of Personnel Management. Hundreds of thousands of requests for background investigations arrive at OPM each year, many of them requiring face-to-face interviews with a security clearance applicant's friends, family and co-workers. The requests come from agencies seeking clearances for their employees or contractors.
Demand for security clearances has skyrocketed, producing a similar explosion in requests for background investigations. In fiscal 2002, OPM received almost 2 million requests for investigations and checks of financial and employment histories and other records. That was an increase of nearly 90 percent from the previous fiscal year. The vast majority of the work is handled by USIS, according to an OPM official who asked not to be identified.
The acquired company, U.S. Investigations Services (USIS), used to be a federal agency. In 1996, 700 employees of the Office of Federal Investigations, which conducted background investigations for most civilian agencies, left the government and became employee-owners of USIS. They received shares in USIS that accrued value based on employees' length of service and the company's financial performance. And USIS performed exceptionally well. The company has grown year after year, aided greatly by an exclusive contract it landed in 1996 - without competition - to perform background investigations and related work for its former parent agency, the Office of Personnel Management. Hundreds of thousands of requests for background investigations arrive at OPM each year, many of them requiring face-to-face interviews with a security clearance applicant's friends, family and co-workers. The requests come from agencies seeking clearances for their employees or contractors.
Demand for security clearances has skyrocketed, producing a similar explosion in requests for background investigations. In fiscal 2002, OPM received almost 2 million requests for investigations and checks of financial and employment histories and other records. That was an increase of nearly 90 percent from the previous fiscal year. The vast majority of the work is handled by USIS, according to an OPM official who asked not to be identified.
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