USIS’ Pennsylvania “hub” moves ahead with critical investigations, national security work

GROVE CITY, Pa., April 20, 2007 – USIS, the leading provider of background investigations that has more investigators in the field than any other company in North America, has made process changes at its operations center in Grove City, Pa., that have increased productivity and the quality of investigations work conducted for the federal government.

While USIS’ team of 3,000 investigators work across the U.S. and in all U.S. territories, the Grove City Operations Center is the central, secure location that manages much of the U.S. government background investigations work performed by USIS’ Investigative Services Division (ISD). The operations center is also the hub and headquarters for ISD’s Western Pennsylvania (WPA) team, which consists of more than 1,000 employees.

Since USIS was privatized in 1996, the scope of ISD’s work has increased dramatically and the revenue from OPM contracts has increased ten fold. Following two successful OPM contract re-bid wins last year, additional adjustments had to be made to fulfill work requirements under the contract and ensure that work was done efficiently and properly.

“We are doing more work in WPA than ever before with new requirements on the Support Services and Fieldwork Services OPM contracts,” said Mike Santelli, vice president of western Pennsylvania operations. “This has increased the scope of our work and required us to meet more stringent timeliness standards. All along the way, we have been working collaboratively with OPM to identify process and system technical changes to create new efficiencies.”

The WPA team has made investments in and implemented changes to its imaging processes, mailroom operations, and investigations pre-review staffing as part of this effort. New automation procedures for the handling of administrative paperwork have increased WPA’s overall efficiency, and WPA has started a limited second shift to help meet security clearance timeliness requirements.

“Our team is proud of the critical partnership we have with OPM,” said Santelli. “The momentum to capture additional business has been established, and we are looking forward to additional new contract work. We are very dedicated to the important national security work that we do.”

Media Contact
Michael John : mobile 703.343.3325, michael.john@usis.com or Michelle Corum: mobile 443-310-1881, michelle.corum@usis.com

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Established in 1996, USIS ( www.usis.com) is a leading provider of pre-employment and screening services to corporate and government clients. With more investigators in the field than any other company in North America and top IT technology solutions, USIS provides background investigations, drug screening solutions, and security training and staffing services. Headquartered in Falls Church, Va., USIS employs more than 7,000 associates that support business operations in all 50 states, U.S. territories, and overseas.