NACI Background Check: Tier 1, Low Tier, Not a Clearance

A NACI (National Agency Check with Inquiries) is the legacy US federal background investigation for low-risk, non-sensitive positions and HSPD-12 PIV credentials. It uses the SF 85, was replaced by Tier 1 as agencies implemented the 2012 Federal Investigative Standards, maps to the Low Tier in the Trusted Workforce 2.0 framework, and is not a security clearance.

This is general, factual information about US federal background investigations. It is not legal, security, career or financial advice. Eligibility and policy decisions are made by the government, its adjudicators and the hiring organization's security office, so confirm anything specific to your case with them.

If you searched "NACI" and landed on vaccine guidance, that's Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization. This page is about the US background check that HR offices at USPS, civilian agencies and federal contractors still call a NACI, even though the official investigation type changed years ago.

What is a NACI background check, and who needs one?

The NACI is the floor of federal vetting. E-Verify's guidance describes it as the minimum level of investigation required of federal employees as a condition of employment. It covers positions designated low risk with no national security sensitivity. A job without classified access can still be Public Trust or national-security sensitive, though; the agency's position designation determines the required investigation.

The other big driver is the badge. NIST's FIPS 201-3 standard for Personal Identity Verification of federal employees and contractors says the minimum requirement for PIV credential eligibility is a completed and favorably adjudicated Tier 1 investigation, "formerly called a National Agency Check with Written Inquiries (NACI)." That is why contractor help-desk, IT support, facilities and admin staff who need a PIV to badge into a federal building or log on to a government network get told they need a NACI, even when the job has nothing classified in it.

Common places you'll hear the term:

• The US Postal Service. Its EL-312 handbook, section 562, has Human Resources start the SF 85 for newly selected applicants for career appointments no sooner than the date the job offer is made, and the appointee is fingerprinted.
• Civilian agencies such as VA, HHS and Interior, for positions designated non-sensitive and low risk.
• Contractor roles that need physical or logical access through a PIV credential but no clearance.

One timing detail most explainers skip: the SF 85 itself says that for applicants, the form "is to be used only after a conditional offer of employment has been made, unless OPM has provided for an exception." The form is also used for retention and credentialing determinations, so receiving it does not always mean a new job offer has been made.

Is a NACI a security clearance?

No. The SF 85 states plainly that it "is not to be used for National Security sensitive positions." A favorable NACI/Tier 1 lets an agency put you in a low-risk job and issue you a credential. It does not make you eligible for access to classified information at any level.

The confusion comes from job ads that say "NACI clearance" and from summaries that lump the NACI in with Public Trust positions. Under the 2012 standards, Public Trust positions use Tier 2 or Tier 4 on the SF 85P. Here is how the NACI lines up against the levels people most often confuse it with, using the 2012 Federal Investigative Standards crosswalk published on dhs.gov and the three-tier framework described in the January 2025 Trusted Workforce 2.0 transition report:

Two things fall out of that table. Public Trust (T2 and T4) is a separate family on the SF 85P, covered in what a Public Trust clearance is. Secret is a national security determination on the SF 86, and a NACI never rolls up into it. For the full T1 to T5 ladder, see investigation tiers vs. clearance levels and the US security clearance ladder.

That gap matters in contractor hiring. In ClearMatch's scan of 1,232 employer career sites, Oct 5 to 19, 2026, 58,224 of 121,254 postings required Secret or higher: Secret 53.6%, TS 15.5%, TS/SCI 15.6%, TS/SCI with CI Poly 7.2% and TS/SCI with Full Scope Poly 8%. A NACI doesn't satisfy any of those requirements. If a role you want lists Secret, the route is employer sponsorship, explained in getting a cleared job without a clearance.

What does a NACI background check actually cover?

The name tells you the two halves: a national agency check, and inquiries. USPS's EL-312 handbook gives a concrete official list for its NACI: checks of OPM's Security/Suitability Investigations Index, the Defense Clearance and Investigations Index and an FBI criminal history check "based on fingerprints and name," plus employment history (except postal employment) for the last 5 years, criminal conviction history where you lived, worked and went to school in the past 5 years, education verification, references and residence verification. That's the USPS version; other agencies' documents may differ in detail.

The SF 85 confirms the general pattern. The information you provide on it and on your OF 306 may be confirmed during the investigation, the investigation can extend beyond the time the form covers when necessary to resolve issues, and your current employer may be contacted even if you said elsewhere that you didn't want that. The form also says some investigations include an interview with you as needed, where the investigator may ask you to explain your answers and you can update or clarify them.

Answers get weighed too. Information is "evaluated on the basis of its currency, seriousness, relevance to the position and duties, and consistency with all other information about you," and the form warns that withholding, misrepresenting or falsifying information can affect your eligibility for the job and for physical or logical access.

Fingerprints also matter for the badge. Under FIPS 201-3, a PIV credential is issued only after eligibility is favorably adjudicated on the prerequisite investigation. Where no investigation meeting the standards exists, PIV eligibility may be approved once the prerequisite investigation is initiated and the FBI National Criminal History Check portion is completed and favorably adjudicated; the rest of the investigation and the final adjudication follow. A favorable fingerprint result alone does not establish final PIV eligibility.

What about credit? The 2012 FIS crosswalk annotates the NACI with "no credit check and no reinvestigation requirement," so the legacy baseline didn't include a credit report. The SF 85 does contemplate one: it carries a Fair Credit Reporting Act authorization and warns that a credit freeze can hold up your case if "a credit report is required by the agency requesting your investigation." Interior's personnel security manual, 441 DM 4 (effective January 8, 2010), also says its bureaus "may exceed the required investigation/reinvestigation level." Ask your security office whether your agency has requested a credit report and which investigation applies.

If you're moving onto the newer eApp forms, the SF-86, eApp and PVQ explainer covers how the electronic questionnaires work.

What replaced the NACI? Tier 1, then the TW 2.0 Low Tier

Two separate reforms touch the NACI, and they're at different stages.

The first is implemented. The 2012 Federal Investigative Standards collapsed the old alphabet soup (NACI, MBI, BI, NACLC, ANACI, SSBI) into five tiers. FIPS 201-3 puts it in a footnote: "NACI investigations were replaced with Tier 1 investigations upon implementation of the 2012 Federal Investigative Standards." The dhs.gov crosswalk lists Tier 1 with initial operating capability on October 1, 2014 and full operating capability on September 30, 2017.

The second is Trusted Workforce 2.0, a reform framework that agencies are still implementing. According to the January 2025 transition report from the Security, Suitability, and Credentialing Performance Accountability Council, the February 2022 Federal Personnel Vetting Guidelines "condensed all investigations into three intuitive risk tiers (Low, Moderate, and High)," and the Personnel Vetting Investigation Standards issued May 17, 2022 set the coverage for that model. Low-risk, non-sensitive work sits in the Low Tier. The same reform introduced the Personnel Vetting Questionnaire (PVQ), a single consolidated form designed to cover all three risk levels in place of the separate SF 85, SF 85P and SF 86.

That report describes reforms and implementation work. It doesn't show that every agency now orders "Low Tier" investigations or uses the PVQ for every case, and OPM still posts the SF 85. Ask the hiring office which form and investigation type it is requesting for you.

So when someone at USPS or a contractor onboarding desk says "NACI," they usually mean the investigation the 2012 standards call Tier 1, which falls in the Low Tier of the TW 2.0 framework.

How long does a NACI take?

There's no single published duration for every NACI, because agencies process cases differently. What is published is the government-wide goal. The January 2025 TW 2.0 transition report lists timeliness targets that apply to 100% of cases (the old IRTPA goals counted only the fastest 90%), with the clock starting when the vetting questionnaire is submitted:

The Low Tier numbers are targets agencies are measured against, not a promise for your case.

Individual timelines move for ordinary reasons: how fast your fingerprints are taken and returned, how quickly employers and schools answer inquiries, whether something on the SF 85 needs follow-up or an interview, and how the agency sequences hiring. Some agencies start the investigation after you're already on board. Interior's 441 DM 4, for example, has investigations for non-sensitive/low-risk positions initiated within 14 working days of entry on duty.

How is a NACI decided? Suitability, fitness and credentialing

This is where a lot of NACI explainers go wrong. A Tier 1 is not adjudicated under the 13 national security guidelines in SEAD 4. Those guidelines decide eligibility for classified access and sensitive positions, and they're covered in the 13 adjudicative guidelines in plain English.

The SF 85 names the standards that do apply. The form is used for:

• Suitability for "nonsensitive low risk positions as defined in 5 CFR 731," the OPM regulation on suitability for federal employment.
• Fitness for people in excepted-service positions "when the duties to be performed are equivalent to a low risk position."
• Credentialing, meaning whether to issue a federal credential "for access to federally controlled facilities and information systems." FIPS 201-3 says agencies use the credentialing eligibility standards issued by the OPM Director for that decision.

In practice that means two separate questions can be asked about the same investigation: is this person suitable or fit for this job, and should this person hold a PIV credential? The answers come from the agency's adjudicators, not from the investigator and not from the contractor's recruiter.

Does a NACI expire or transfer to a new job?

A common claim online is that a NACI "is good for 5 years." The 2012 FIS crosswalk lists no reinvestigation requirement for the NACI/Tier 1. The five-year figure on the SF 85 belongs to the signed release authorization, not the investigation.

No scheduled reinvestigation isn't the same as permanent. The SF 85 says that after a determination you "may also be subject to reinvestigations to ensure your continuing suitability," and FIPS 201-3 says PIV cardholders remain "subject to any applicable reinvestigation or continuous vetting requirements." The TW 2.0 report discusses expanding continuous vetting to the non-sensitive public trust workforce, but that is not evidence that every Tier 1 holder is enrolled. Your security office can tell you your actual status.

Transfers run on reciprocity: the gaining office assesses whether your prior investigation satisfies the new position's requirements. Interior's 441 DM 4 is one agency's written version. No new investigation is required when a closed, complete, favorably adjudicated investigation meets the new position's scope and you haven't been out of federal or contractor service for more than 24 months, though you still complete an OF-306. Suitability issues admitted or developed must still be investigated, and anyone associated with a foreign government or foreign organization during a break in service needs a new investigation. USPS's EL-312 sets its own rule: no new NACI on reappointment unless the break in service was more than 90 days. For the national security side, see how long a security clearance lasts.

What a NACI never does is turn into Secret. Tier 1 alone doesn't meet the requirements for a sensitive position; Secret eligibility needs a Tier 3 on the SF 86 and a national security adjudication, and the gaining security office determines what additional investigative coverage is needed.

Frequently asked questions

What does NACI stand for?

NACI stands for National Agency Check with Inquiries, sometimes written National Agency Check with Written Inquiries. It is the legacy US federal background investigation for low-risk, non-sensitive positions and PIV credentials, replaced by Tier 1 when agencies implemented the 2012 Federal Investigative Standards. In the Trusted Workforce 2.0 framework, that work maps to the Low Tier.

How long does a NACI background check take?

The Trusted Workforce 2.0 target for the Low Tier is 25 days, with a 21-day onboarding target, measured across all cases from questionnaire submission. Those are government-wide goals, and individual cases vary with fingerprint processing, how fast inquiries come back and agency workload. A PIV can sometimes be issued before the full investigation closes, once the FBI fingerprint portion is favorably adjudicated.

Is a NACI the same as a Public Trust or Secret clearance?

No. A NACI is Tier 1 on the SF 85 for low-risk, non-sensitive positions. Public Trust uses Tier 2 or Tier 4 on the SF 85P, and Secret uses Tier 3 on the SF 86 with a national security adjudication. A NACI does not grant access to classified information.

What do investigators look at in a NACI background check?

USPS's EL-312 handbook lists checks of OPM and DoD investigation indexes, an FBI fingerprint-and-name criminal history check, and verification of 5 years of employment, criminal history where you lived, worked and studied, education, references and residence. The SF 85 says the information you give may be confirmed, your current employer may be contacted, and some investigations include an interview as needed. Falsifying or withholding information can itself affect eligibility.

Does a NACI include a credit check?

The 2012 Federal Investigative Standards crosswalk notes that the legacy NACI had no credit check. The SF 85 still includes a Fair Credit Reporting Act authorization and covers cases where the requesting agency requires a credit report. Ask your security office whether your agency has requested one and which investigation applies.

Does a NACI ever need to be renewed?

The 2012 FIS crosswalk lists no reinvestigation requirement for the NACI/Tier 1. PIV holders are still subject to any applicable reinvestigation or continuous vetting requirements, and the SF 85 says you may be reinvestigated for continuing suitability. Moving to a sensitive position takes more than a Tier 1, and the gaining security office decides what additional investigation is required.

What this looks like inside ClearMatch

In ClearMatch's scan of 1,232 employer career sites, Oct 5 to 19, 2026, 4,864 postings were categorized as Public Trust. These are not counts of NACI/Tier 1 jobs. The top hiring contractors in that set were Guidehouse (292), Leidos (267), Amentum (234), Peraton (216) and Akima (182). 1,836 of them (37.7%) were in DC Metro and 674 (13.9%) were remote-eligible. On Oct 18, 2026, only 893 of the 52,938 cleared postings ClearMatch tracked by state were remote.

Whatever a posting's clearance line says, the investigation that counts is the one the hiring office actually requests. Browse cleared and Public Trust roles on /jobs, or run a posting through the job fit check to compare its stated requirement with what you hold, then confirm the investigation type with the employer's security office.

---

Sources: SF 85, Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions (OPM), Revised Federal Investigative Standards Crosswalk Job Aid (dhs.gov), FIPS 201-3, Personal Identity Verification of Federal Employees and Contractors (NIST), Trusted Workforce 2.0 Transition Report, January 2025 (performance.gov), E-Verify: Is a NACI sufficient to exempt my employee?, USPS Handbook EL-312, 562 National Agency Check With Inquiries, Interior 441 DM 4, Investigation Requirements. Personnel vetting policy is set by the government, so confirm anything about your own case with your FSO, security office or the official sources above.