EXAMPLE OF A CONTRACTOR CASE INVOLVING FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Many applicants prefer to answer a “Statement of Reason” (SOR) and/or a “File of Relevant Material” (FORM) by themselves, but they don’t know how to present their information. Of course, substance is more important than format, but it’s important to present the information in a manner that makes it as easy as possible for the adjudicator or administrative judge (AJ) to understand why the applicant should be granted a clearance.
An actual case (with personal identifying information redacted) adjudicated by the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) is available here.
This is a case based on Guideline F – Financial Considerations – of the National Security Adjudicative Guidelines. The case includes the SOR, SOR responses, the FORM, the FORM response, a supplemental FORM, the supplemental FORM response, and the DOHA AJ’s favorable written case decision. Exhibits and enclosures are identified in the documents, but the actual exhibits and enclosures are not included with this case file.
The SOR issued by the DoD Consolidated Adjudications Facility (CAF) alleged misuse of a corporate credit card and 16 debts as having been delinquent for a few years. In fact, three of the debts had been paid prior to the date of the SOR. No payments had been made on the other 13 debts prior to the date of the SOR. Usually, DOHA AJs do not look favorably on cases where an applicant only begins to repay delinquent debts after receiving an SOR. The outcome of this case was different, only because the circumstances surrounding the debts and the Applicant’s failure to pay them in a timely manner was completely explained and mitigated.
The redacted responses to the FORM (including Applicant’s sworn affidavit) and the supplement FORM were written by William Henderson. A copy of these 2 documents can be purchase for $300. All the other documents were written either by the applicant, DoD CAF, the DOHA Department Counsel, or the DOHA AJ and can be freely downloaded. The FORM response consists of 2 documents. The first document is 4 pages long. It introduces the case and argues why the applicable provisions of the National Security Adjudicative Guidelines support a decision in favor of the Applicant keeping her security clearance with or without conditions. The second document is Applicant’s 8-page sworn affidavit, explaining what happened, why it happened, what she did, and why it won’t happen again. The response to the supplemental FORM is 4 pages. It argues how the Government can verify that Applicant has complied with any conditions that might be imposed as part of a conditional clearance approval by the DOHA AJ.
We recommend you first look at the SOR. If you’re interested, read the other free documents, then decide whether to purchase the responses to the FORMs. There is almost no difference between a good SOR response and a FORM response—the format is the same. So, the FORM response can be used as a format for an SOR response.
Background – In November 2017 Applicant’s employer submitted an Incident Report regarding her misuse of a corporate credit card. Following a limited investigation, DoD CAF issued Applicant an SOR. In November 2019 Applicant, who had a Secret clearance, requested our help a few days before her SOR response was due. Because of a number of problems with her case, we needed much more time to prepare her case. We therefore recommended she submit a request for an extension to the SOR response due date. To save money, we recommended she submit, on her own, a very simple, brief SOR response a few days before the revised due date and begin working with us to create a FORM response that would have a reasonable chance of success. There is usually at least two months between the due dates for an SOR response and a FORM response. As it turned out Applicant had to submit a revised SOR response in March 2020 because the DCSA Consolidated Adjudication Facility (CAF) wanted her to change a couple of words. There were other delays between the CAF and DOHA, and the FORM response was not submitted until January 2021. All of this worked to the Applicant’s advantage, since her clearance remained intact throughout the process.
Prior to summer 2020, it was common practice for applicants to submit sworn/notarized affidavits to DOHA in response to an SOR or a FORM. Today it is acceptable to submit unsworn statements in accordance with Title 28 U.S. Code Section 1746 using the following declaration (jurat) at the bottom of the written statement followed by the applicant’s handwritten signature and printed name: “I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on (insert date).”
For a copy of free portions of the case file, including the DOHA AJ’s written case decision, click here.
The DOHA AJ’s written case decision is also available at the DOHA website.
For a copy of a single PDF file containing the FORM response (including Applicant’s affidavit), which totals 12 pages, and the response to the supplemental FORM, which is 4 pages, click here, select “1.5 Hours $300.00 USD” from the pulldown menu, complete the PayPal transaction, and send an email to fedcas@fedcas.com from the email address you would like us to send the documents.