In category: Recruiting
Why a Cleared Req Sits Open for 90 Days – and What That Costs You Per Day
DCSA's published price for a Tier 5 background investigation in fiscal 2026 is $5,890 on the non-DoD schedule, $6,240 on the DoD one that bundles adjudication. Your company will never see either invoice; it goes to the agency that ordered the investigation. What lands on your boo… more
Wrap Rate for Cleared Staffing: How Your Bid Rate Caps What You Can Offer
Steel Toad Consulting LLC may bill the government up to $185.27 an hour for an IT Security Engineer: the on-site ceiling for a bachelor's degree and three years' experience under SIN 54151S on contract 47QTCA20D00BS, an FSS award USAspending dates to 25 June 2020. That category r… more
How to Verify a Candidate’s Security Clearance Before You Make the Offer
One sentence in a Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency policy answers what your hiring team keeps asking. Appendix B, item 9 of the DISS Account Management Policy, version 2.0: "Industry companies are authorized to verify prospective employees' eligibility for access t… more
DCSA Processing Times: What to Tell a Hiring Manager Waiting on a Start Date
The Security, Suitability, and Credentialing Performance Accountability Council put the government-wide end-to-end time for a Secret clearance at 104 days in its FY2026 Q1 progress report. Three months later its FY2026 Q2 report and the matching legacy-metrics supplement print 92… more
Hiring Cleared Talent Away From Another Contractor: The Rules of Crossover Recruiting
In FY2026 the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency bills a non-DoD agency $5,890 for the Tier 5 investigation behind a Top Secret clearance and $455 for a Tier 3. Not your invoice: under the National Industrial Security Program the government customer pays. It is the u… more