Defense Contractors, Consultants and NISPOM

Consultants are hired by a company to fill a need the organization is not prepared to meet. The consultants share office furniture, the water cooler and are hopefully made to feel as part of the team. In spite of being a well respected contributor to the cause, consultants do not always enjoy the same benefits of a regular employee. However, this difference should occur when working on classified contracts the consultant has been hire to perform on.
According to NISPOM 2-212 “A consultant is an individual under contract to provide professional or technical assistance to a contractor in a capacity requiring access to classified information. The consultant shall not possess classified material off the premises of the using (hiring) contractor except in connection with authorized visits. The consultant and the using contractor shall jointly execute a consultant certificate setting forth respective security responsibilities. The using contractor shall be the consumer of the services offered by the consultant it sponsors for a PCL. For security administration purposes, the consultant shall be considered an employee of the using contractor."
Simply stated, though a consultant is not a regular employee, the NISPOM considers them an employee of the company that they represent. The contractor is expected to maintain the consultant’s clearance and assign classified work as specified in a contract. As with other employees, the consultant should also attend annual security awareness training and follows set procedures for working with classified information. For example, suppose a consultant is required to attend a classified meeting at a government location. There should be no problem with them couriering classified information as long as visit request and authorizations are in place. That could be as simple as providing a visit request to the government facility through JPAS. However, consult with the Government organization’s security department for specific requirements.