New Employees
Welcome All New NIH Employees!
Congratulations on your appointment to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a “Full Time Equivalent (FTE)” Federal employee. Whether you are a first time Federal employee, a current non-NIH Federal employee transferring to the NIH, or others, for example, an NIH contract employee (Contractor) who is coming on board as an FTE, you should anticipate filling out a host of forms that will ask for information about yourself, some of which will be personal and private in nature.
Some of this information is required because of new government-wide personnel security regulations, part of Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-12. These new regulations have placed additional requirements on the suitability and security procedures that NIH must follow before issuing ID badges to Federal and contract employees. An ID badge must be issued before an individual is allowed access to NIH facilities and IT systems.
Before you arrive at NIH you will receive a letter from NIH’s Office of Human Resources that welcomes you and provides important information to help prepare you for your arrival and orientation at NIH. In addition to the information in the letter, there are several topics you should become familiar with to help you navigate the enrollment process at NIH.
Personal Identity Verification and Suitability Determination
Your appointment is subject to confirmation that you are eligible to work in the United States under provision of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. In addition, Executive Order 10450 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 require that all new Federal employees undergo a background investigation and fingerprint check.
Personal identity verification and suitability determination will be conducted by the Division of Personnel Security and Access Control (DPSAC), Office of Research Services (ORS). There are three steps associated with this activity: registration in the NIH Enterprise Directory (NED), completing of investigation questionnaires, and enrollment, including identity verification and fingerprinting. For more information, please visit http://idbadge.nih.gov.
Registration in the NIH Enterprise Directory (NED)
The new hire process at NIH requires that you be registered in the NIH Enterprise Directory (NED). Among other things, NED helps support the processes to issue your ID badge and create your network and email accounts. To safeguard the sensitive, personal information it contains, NED is not connected to non-NIH systems like E-Induction. This means that you must enter some of the same information in both systems.
You will be invited to enter your personal information in NED by administrative staff from your Institute or Center (IC). You will receive an email from ned@nih.gov that includes a link to our secure online portal. To protect your personal information, this is a one-time use link; that is, once you submit your information, you cannot use the link to see or edit the information. If you have any questions, you are encouraged to contact the administrative staff in your IC.
Since this the first step in a number of processes, you are asked to enter your information in NED as promptly as possible. ANY FAILURE OR DELAY IN REGISTERING IN NED WILL DELAY THE ISSUANCE OF YOUR BADGE AND THE CREATION OF YOUR NETWORK AND EMAIL ACCOUNTS.
Personal Identity Verification / Enrollment
After you have been registered in NED, you will receive an e-mail asking you to visit the NIH Personnel Security Office for enrollment (identity verification, photographing, and fingerprinting). If possible, you are encouraged to do this at least one week BEFORE your first day since it takes up to a week to conduct a fingerprint check. (see Four Steps to Getting a Badge at: http://idbadge.nih.gov/badge/4steps.asp). Note that NIH is unable to compensate you for your time.
Please bring a copy of this letter along with two forms of identification, one of which must be a government issued photo ID. Acceptable forms of ID include, but are not limited to:
- U.S. Passport
- Driver’s license or ID card issued by a State or outlying possession of the U.S.
- ID card issued by Federal, State or local government agencies or entities
- Original Social Security Card
- Certified copy of your birth certificate
- Voter’s registration card
- U.S. Military card or draft record
- U.S. Citizen ID card (Form I-197)
For a complete list of acceptable forms of identification, please see the list provided on the I-9 Form or contact the Personnel Security Office at orspersonnelsecurity@mail.nih.gov.
You will receive an e-mail from ned@nih.gov when your badge authorization is approved.
Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing (e-QIP)
Your NIH supervisor has determined the sensitivity level of your position. DPSAC is required to ensure that you have or receive an investigation commensurate with this sensitivity level. If DPSAC finds that you have a background investigation on file with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that meets the requirements of your position, NIH does not require a new background investigation. However, if DPSAC finds that you do not have the appropriate type of investigation on file with OPM, Personnel Security staff will initiate a profile for you in the OPM system that is used to collect the information needed to conduct a background investigation, Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing (e-QIP).
If you receive an email from the NIH Personnel Security Office regarding e-QIP, please follow the instructions in the e-QIP email to login and provide the required information as soon as possible. FAILURE TO PROVIDE THE INFORMATION REQUIRED FOR BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION WILL RESULT IN REVOCATION OF YOUR ID BADGE.
Should you ever have questions about the content of any correspondence from NIH, or about the authenticity of an e-mail request, you should contact your Office of Human Resources representative or Administrative Officer from your Institute or Center (IC) who can confirm that the request has come through appropriate NIH channels.
We recommend that you use this website as a resource to learn about the ID Badge process. On the home page - http://idbadge.nih.gov/ - you will find links to Getting a Badge, Background Checks, HSPD-12 Policies, Personnel Security and Access Control and more. The section on Training has a link to a video overview of the PIV process. There’s also a link to the mandatory training module for new ID Badge applicants.
