FOCI Electronic Submission and Processing System

Tracking system speeds contractor approvals

A three-part tracking system developed by researchers in Argonne's Nuclear Engineering Division is one of 19 projects chosen to be a part of a U.S. Department of Energy initiative called Project IDEA (Innovative Department of Energy E-Government Applications). More than 300 projects were submitted for consideration.

The Foreign Ownership, Control or Influence Electronic Submission and Processing System (FOCI ESPS) was developed by Nuclear Engineering's Information Technology and Security Group with funding from the DOE Office of Security Affairs.

FOCI determinations are required by agencies like DOE, the Department of Defense and the State Department as part of the facility clearance process for contractors. Any contractor doing work for DOE that requires access to sensitive facilities, classified information or special nuclear material has to submit corporate foreign ownership, control or influence information for DOE to render a FOCI determination. The paperwork often caused delays, and centralized storage for the information was needed for security, counter-terrorist and counter-proliferation analyses.

"DOE is the first government agency to fund the development of an electronic system for FOCI operations," said Judy Gross, leader of the group developing the system. "The new electronic system provides contractors, DOE operations offices and headquarters with a new approach to facility clearance operations. It will enable the Office of Security to perform sophisticated threat analyses that are needed to ensure the national security."

The IDEA program was initiated by the Energy Department in cooperation with the White House Office of Management and Budget's newly created Office of E-Government.

"By streamlining operations, standardizing systems and sharing information technology across government agencies," said Gross, "the government will function more efficiently. In this era of increased security awareness, the sharing of security-related information is critical if government agencies are going to work cooperatively to respond to real and potential security threats."

Gross hopes to see the system span all of the federal agencies that conduct FOCI operations.

- Katie Williams