Four win DHS security clearance work

Four companies have been awarded contracts worth up to $30 million each by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division to conduct security clearance background investigations on employees and contractors, the agency confirmed today. The total value of the awards is $120 million.

The companies are Kroll Inc. of New York; MSM Security Services LLC of Greenbelt, Md.; Omniplex World Services Corp. of Chantilly, Va.; and U.S. Investigations Services LLC of Falls Church, Va., said Pat Reilly, a spokeswoman for ICE.

The contracts all have the same terms, with a $5 million value in the first year and four additional one-year options of the same value, with the possibility of an additional $1 million per year, Reilly said. That brings the total to $30 million if all the options are exercised, she said.

The contractors will conduct the background investigations on current and prospective employees and contractors.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the largest investigative branch of the Homeland Security Department. The agency was created in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 2001 by combining the law enforcement arms of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service and the former Customs Service to more effectively enforce U.S. immigration and customs laws and to protect the homeland against potential terrorist attacks.