USIS (company)

USIS provided security-based information and service solutions to both government and corporate customers, in the United States and abroad. Its corporate headquarters were in Falls Church, in Greater Washington, D.C. USIS was a part of Altegrity Inc., a company headquartered in the Falls Church area that was owned by Providence Equity Partners.

USIS was founded in 1996 after the investigative branch of the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was privatized. Its creation was due to an effort of Vice President of the United States Al Gore's effort to reduce the size of the civil service. Originally known as U.S. Investigations Services Inc., it was at first an employee-owned company.

The Carlyle Group invested in USIS and in 2003 Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe also committed capital to them. In 2007, Carlyle announced that it would sell USIS to Providence Equity Partners, a private equity firm, for US$1.5 billion.

In the fiscal year 2012, USIS received $253 million for the contract work of the OPM, 67% of the OPM's contract spending for the fiscal year.

In 2007, an OPM contract investigator employed by USIS conducted the field work for the OPM-FIS background investigation on Aaron Alexis, who has been accused of killing twelve people at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday, September 16, 2013.

In 2011, OPM contract investigators employed by USIS conducted the field work for the OPM security clearance re-investigation on Edward Snowden, who leaked classified documents beginning on June 5, 2013.

On June 18, 2013, the Subcommittee on Efficiency and Effectiveness of Federal Programs and the Federal Workforce and the Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight, both of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, held a joint hearing. Michelle B. Schmitz, the OPM assistant inspector general for investigations, testified that USIS had been under investigation since late 2011, stating that it involves a "complicated contract fraud case." Patrick McFarland, the OPM inspector general, did not reveal the reason for the investigation of USIS, and said when asked about Snowden's security clearance re-investigation, "We do believe there may be some problems."

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