The Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation (FLETA) Board ispleased to announce it granted initial accreditation status to theOffice of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Federal Background InvestigatorTraining Program (FBITP) and Essentials of Suitability AdjudicationProgram (ESAP) at the April 25, 2013 meeting in Brunswick, Georgia.These are the first OPM training programs to achieve FLETAaccreditation and the only federally-accredited personnel securityinvestigation training programs.
The FBITP prepares background investigators to conduct efficient,effective, accurate, timely, and complete investigations that meetagency requirements. FBITP is an instructor-led classroom trainingprogram offered at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) FederalInvestigative Services (FIS) National Training Center (NTC) in SlipperyRock, Pennsylvania. The FBITP consists of lecture, discussion,interactive role-play, practical application activities, reviewexercises, and assessments throughout the course.
The ESAP, also delivered in Slippery Rock, PA and exportednationally, equips suitability adjudicators with the necessary toolsand knowledge of the suitability review and adjudication processesoutlined in the suitability regulations and the Suitability ProcessingHandbook, to enable them to evaluate and adjudicate a person’ssuitability for federal employment. The ESAP provides students theprinciples governing suitability review and adjudication under title 5,Code of Federal Regulations, part 731 (5 CFR 731). Students learnthe fundamentals for the entire suitability process, beginning withinitial application screening, through investigation review and issueresolution, and making a suitability determination.
The FLETA Board is the accrediting body for all federal lawenforcement training and support programs. To achieve accreditation,agencies submit to an independent review of their academy and/orprogram to ensure compliance with the FLETA Standards and Procedures in the areas of: Program Administration, Training Staff, TrainingDevelopment, and Training Delivery, with an additional 20 standards forAcademies. Accreditation is a cyclical process occurring every threeyears. Each year, agencies must submit annual reports in preparationfor reaccreditation, which is a new and independent review of theacademy/program.