The Office of Personnel Management will be charging agencies extra to cover higher costs of background investigations, both moving forward to the end of the fiscal year and retroactively back to October of last year.
In a memo Tuesday, OPM informed agencies that, due to higher prices associated with background checks since last year, they will be billed for cost adjustments for orders placed between October 2014 and June 2015. The higher costs will also be applied going forward through the end of September.
Related: OPM, OMB ask agencies to share cost of breach protections
Along with the memo, agencies received a spreadsheet detailing the retroactive cost adjustments and the projected cost increases through the end of the year.
OPM and the Department of Homeland Security suspended their contract with background investigation firm USIS last year after a breach of the third party's networks exposed information on thousands of employees.
The new contract that replaced it is more expensive and has drained OPM's coffers.
More: DHS, OPM suspend contracts with USIS after major cyberattack
"OPM has exhausted its retained earnings to cover these increased costs and cannot sustain operations and financial stability unless it recovers the costs," acting OPM Director Beth Cobert explained in the memo.
OPM plans to issue a Federal Investigative Notice later this week before holding a call with agency CFOs to discuss the details and answer questions.
"We understand and appreciate the complexities of this late in FY15 request for funds," Cobert said. "We cannot stress enough the importance and significance of this funding. This funding is critical to ensure that OPM is able to maintain its operational capability in order to allow agencies to continue to fill critical positions and accomplish their missions."
Aaron Boyd is an awarding-winning journalist currently serving as editor of Federal Times — a Washington, D.C. institution covering federal workforce and contracting for more than 50 years — and Fifth Domain — a news and information hub focused on cybersecurity and cyberwar from a civilian, military and international perspective.
