Tuesday, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Department of Defense (DOD) announced the awarding of the contract to provide identity theft protection and credit monitoring to the 21.5 million individuals affected by the OPM background investigations breach. First announced on June 10, this massive breach involves the theft of Standard Forms 85, 85P, and 86 that are filled out by federal job applicants, employees, members of the military, and contractors, as well as other background materials and records.   

The $133 million contract was awarded to ID Experts (Identity Theft Guard Solutions LLC) by DOD as an individual task order under a larger Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) managed by the General Services Administration (GSA). DOD has been tasked with the responsibility to oversee the task order that includes credit monitoring, identity theft monitoring, identity theft insurance, and identity restoration services and to notify all affected individuals (not just individuals with a direct or former employment connection to DOD). These services will be provided to impacted individuals for a period of three years.  Additionally, all dependent minor children (under the age of 18 as of July 1, 2015) of affected individuals will also be covered.   

As of September 1st, all affected individuals in the OPM background investigations breach are automatically covered (without taking any action) for identity restoration services and identity theft insurance. Now that the contract has been awarded, individual notifications are to begin during the month of September, and will continue over a period of several weeks. Unlike the OPM personnel records breach, the U.S. Government through DOD, rather than the contractor, will directly notify impacted individuals. The majority of notifications are planned to be distributed via the U.S. mail. NTEU will keep members updated as further details and logistics are announced concerning the individual notification process. At the moment, all available information regarding this incident and the response can be found on OPM’s web site at www.opm.gov/cybersecurity.  Individuals who were affected by the separate OPM personnel records breach can continue to contact CSID, the contractor selected for that incident, at 1-844-777-2743 or at www.csid.com/opm.

NTEU remains concerned about the long delay in notifying and providing protections to those affected and believes that three years or less of protection is inadequate. NTEU will continue to press the administration and Capitol Hill for lifetime credit protection for all affected individuals. We strongly support Senator Cardin’s (MD) and Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton’s (DC) RECOVER Act that would provide lifetime credit monitoring and identity theft protection (H.R. 3029 in the House/S.1746 in the Senate). Additionally, NTEU continues to pursue our lawsuit seeking to provide lifetime credit monitoring and identity theft protection for our members. Finally, Chapter 293 is continuing to press for lifetime credit monitoring at the SEC.