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All clearances are paid for by the government, they are never billed to the vendor. If they charged the contractors then small businesses would never be able to
by stevehawk 6y ago
All clearances are paid for by the government, they are never billed to the vendor. If they charged the contractors then small businesses would never be able to compete. Hell, medium businesses wouldn't be able to compete.
There is an estimated cost of said clearances, as needed so the government can try to budget accordingly, but it is not handed down to vendors.
- ganoushoreilly 6y agoI'm not sure I agree. Usually the Prime has negotiated it as part of their fee package, but there is most certainly fees for applying and granting clearances for third parties. There's even more fees for establishing a proper SSO and certifying as well. We had a default 50k cost barrier for any new TS/SCI candidates we put forth. Sometimes this was reimbursed, but it was most definitely a good faith cost we incurred.
- stevehawk 6y agoit would blow my mind if you tell me you know a company that has written a literal check for a security clearance in the last twenty years. i suspect that cost barrier is more the government saying "we aren't paying for it, you need to find someone that is already cleared."