Fact Sheet #11: Personal Identity Verification (PIV) credentialing guidance

February 19, 2021

This fact sheet provides guidance to credentialing officials and customers regarding the
administration of NARA’s PIV card program during COVID-19 facility closures.

1. Open facilities. NARA will continue to update PIV certificates, issue new PIV cards, and
enroll staff for PIV credentials using existing procedures at facilities that are open
(Phases One, Two, or Three).

• At some locations, the Field Technical Support (FTS) technician is not local. If
the FTS technician cannot travel due to COVID, the PIV credentialing official will
still renew the individual’s credential. If an employee is not able to access her or
his laptop or tablet with their new PIV credential, the employee’s supervisor
should contact the NARA IT Help Desk (at itsupport@nara.gov or
703-872-7755) to request permission for the employee to access their laptop using
their NARANet username and password.

2. Closed facilities.

a. NARA will recall staff to a closed facility (including facilities operating at

“emergency” or “Phase 0” levels) to update certificates, issue new cards, or enroll
staff for PIV credentials only when one or more of the following conditions are
met:

• The individual (employee, contractor, or other) is returning to the facility

for emergency / Phase 0 on-site work and uses her or his PIV card to
access the facility or interior space;

• The individual has a NARA-issued laptop or tablet and an FTS technician

(or, at Archives I and Archives II, an IT Help Desk technician) is available
to resynchronize the employee’s laptop or device immediately after the
PIV credential is renewed; or

• An employee is a Designated Official, Emergency Response Coordinator,

or has another emergency, security, or continuity of operations role that

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 requires her or him to have updated credentials for identification or facility
access.

b. Otherwise, if an individual does not meet any of the conditions in paragraph a,

above, the individual’s credentials will be allowed to expire. If an employee with
a NARA-issued laptop or tablet has expired PIV credentials, the employee’s
supervisor should contact the NARA IT Help Desk to request permission for the
employee to access their laptop using their NARANet username and password. If
the employee does not have a NARA-issued laptop or tablet, the employee will
continue to use their personal computer and Citrix to access NARANet.

3. Responsibilities. The credentialing official is responsible for planning and scheduling

PIV appointments in accordance with the above guidance:

a. Credentialing officials will review quarterly reports of individuals with expiring

credentials at their facility (the Security Management Division, BX, will send
quarterly reports to the credentialing officials, listing all staff with cards or
certificates expiring over the coming quarter);

b. Credentialing officials will schedule credentialing appointments with the goals of:
(i) renewing expiring credentials early; and (ii) scheduling multiple appointments
per day, in accordance with social distancing procedures. To the extent
practicable, and subject to the restrictions in paragraphs 1 and 2, above,
credentialing officials should not wait until the month of expiration to schedule
renewal appointments.

c. If the facility is open, the credentialing official will coordinate with the individual
or her or his supervisor and the local FTS technician (where available) to schedule
PIV appointments as provided in paragraph 1, above.

d. If the facility is closed, the credentialing official must first verify with the
individual or her or his supervisor that the individual meets one of the
requirements in paragraph 2, above. If the individual satisfies the conditions to
receive PIV services during a closure, the credentialing official will coordinate
with the individual or supervisor and the local FTS technician (where available) to
schedule PIV appointments as provided in paragraph 2.

e. USAccess sponsors assigned to each facility will initiate the necessary sponsor
activities for those individuals identified by the credentialing official as satisfying
the conditions to renew PIV credentials, as described in paragraphs 3c and 3d,
above. If a facility does not have a USAccess sponsor, the Administrative Officer
or Field Support Officer must coordinate with BX to assign sponsor duties to a
local official.

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4. Exceptions.

a. At Archives I, Archives II, the Office of the Federal Register (OFR), and the
Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), BX staff are the credentialing
officials. BX will follow the procedures in paragraph 3, above, except that they
will coordinate credentialing appointments with Information Services (not the FTS
technician). This will allow for centralized coordination with the IT resources
available in the DC metropolitan area.

b. The Pittsfield Federal Records Center and the National Archives at New York do
not have on-site PIV renewal capabilities. Individuals with expiring credentials at
these facilities must coordinate renewals at GSA credentialing sites. These
individuals should not schedule credentialing appointments and their credentials
will be allowed to expire until both the NARA facility and local GSA sites are
open.

5. Recall procedures.

a. Advance approval not required. All NARA staff and contractors who must return
to a closed facility for PIV service following the procedures above have a blanket
exception to recall procedures. The individuals with expiring (or expired)
credentials and the staff needed to renew their credentials may return to a closed
facility to renew credentials without advance approval from NARA or clearance
through the Union. This exception only applies to PIV service needs for NARA
employees and contractors who satisfy the conditions to receive PIV services in
paragraphs 1 and 2, above.

b. Weather and safety leave is permitted for travel. Employees are entitled to a
reasonable amount of weather and safety leave (pay code 061) for travel time to
and from the work site on the day of PIV service.

• Teleworkers may use weather and safety leave for the time necessary to
travel to and from the facility on the day of PIV service, up to two hours in
total. Time spent on site should be recorded as regular time. Teleworkers
must telework (or take personal leave) before and after the PIV
appointment as necessary, so that the total hours travelling, on-site,
teleworking, and on personal leave equals the number of hours in their
duty day.

• Staff who return to the facility for on-site work are encouraged to schedule
their PIV service for that day. Staff who are scheduled to work on-site are
already entitled to two hours of weather and safety leave and will not
receive additional weather and safety leave for their travel to and from the
facility that day.

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 c. Facility occupancy limits. In general, daily facility occupancy limits must include
staff who return to the facility to provide or receive PIV services.

• Credentialing officials are expected to schedule multiple PIV appointments

per day and, where available, will have FTS technicians on site to support
re-synchronizing laptops. Under these circumstances, PIV appointments
should reduce daily facility occupancy limits by three (the credentialing
official, the FTS technician, and one employee at a time).

• On any days when only one appointment is scheduled, facilities will not
need to reduce their daily facility occupancy limits for any individuals
(credentialing official, FTS technician, and employee) who are on-site
solely for the PIV appointment and who leave immediately after, provided
that the total occupancy does not exceed 25 percent of normal (pre-
COVID) occupancy. If any individuals would cause the facility to exceed
25 percent occupancy, other on-site activities must be curtailed, so that
total occupancy does not exceed 25 percent.

Table 1. Field locations with laptops and a local Field Technical Support (FTS) technician

When these facilities are open, NARA will renew all expiring PIV credentials in accordance
with current COVID-19 mitigation measures. When these facilities are closed, NARA will renew
expiring PIV credentials for individuals who need the PIV card for physical access during the
closure and for all employees with NARA-issued laptops or tablets.

Credentialing officials will coordinate with the FTS technician to ensure employees have
appointments to resynchronize their laptops or tablets immediately after the PIV renewal
appointment.

# of expiring
cards & certificates
Facility (employees and contractors)
Feb Mar Apr
Riverside Archives and FRC, Perris, CA 0 3 0
Reagan Library, Simi Valley, CA 7 11 4
Nixon Library, Yorba Linda, CA 9 0 0
Denver Archives and FRC, Broomfield, CO 0 0 0
National Archives as Washington, DC (A1) 13 9 9
Office of the Federal Register (OFR) / OGIS 1 2 0

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 # of expiring
cards & certificates
Facility (employees and contractors)
Feb Mar Apr
National Archives at Atlanta, Morrow, GA 0 0 0
Atlanta Federal Records Center, Ellenwood, GA 4 1 2
Carter Library, Atlanta, GA 1 2 1
Chicago Archives and FRC, Chicago, IL 0 0 0
Obama Library, Hoffman Estates, IL 0 0 0
Civilian Personnel Records Center, Valmeyer, IL 1 0 0
Lenexa, KS Federal Records Center 0 3 0
National Archives at College Park, MD (A2) 84 85 65
Washington National Records Center, Suitland, MD 4 5 7
Kennedy Library, Boston, MA 8 5 1
Boston Archives and FRC, Waltham, MA 0 0 0
Ford Library, Ann Arbor, MI 3 0 1
Truman Library, Independence, MO 1 0 1
National Archives at Kansas City, MO 0 1 0
Kansas City, MO FRC (Subtropolis) 1 1 1
Lee’s Summit, MO Federal Records Center 0 8 1
National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, MO 15 16 24
Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY 1 2 0
Dayton, OH Federal Records Center 0 0 0
Kingsridge, OH Federal Records Center 0 2 0
Johnson Library, Austin, TX 0 0 2
George H.W. Bush Library, College Station, TX 5 6 5
Seattle, WA Archives and FRC 0 1 0

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Table 2. Field locations with laptops but no local Field Technical Support (FTS) technician

When these facilities are open, NARA will renew all expiring PIV credentials in accordance with
current COVID-19 mitigation measures. When these facilities are closed, NARA will renew
expiring PIV credentials for individuals who need the PIV card for physical access during the
closure only. Individuals who cannot synchronize their new credentials with their laptops and
individuals whose credentials are allowed to expire will access NARANet using their personal
computer and Citrix.

# of expiring
cards & certificates
Facility (employees and contractors)
Feb Mar Apr
San Francisco Archives and FRC, Sun Bruno, CA 0 2 2
Ford Museum, Grand Rapids, MI 0 0 1
Philadelphia, PA Archives and FRC 1 0 3
Rocket Center / ABL, Keyser, WV 1 1 0

Table 3. Field locations where laptops were not deployed

When these facilities are open, NARA will renew all expiring PIV credentials in accordance with
current COVID-19 mitigation measures. When these facilities are closed, NARA will renew
expiring PIV credentials for employees who need the PIV card for physical access during the
closure only.

# of expiring
cards & certificates
Facility (employees and contractors)
Feb Mar Apr
Clinton Library, Little Rock, AR 0 0 0
Hoover Library, West Branch, IA 3 2 7
Eisenhower Library, Abilene, KS 0 0 1
George W. Bush Library, Dallas, TX 2 0 3
Fort Worth, TX Archives and FRC 6 3 0

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Table 4. Field locations with no on-site PIV credentialing

NARA staff will renew expiring PIV credentials only when these NARA facilities and local GSA
credentialing stations are both open. Individuals whose credentials are allowed to expire will
access NARANet using their personal computer and Citrix.

# of expiring
cards & certificates
Facility (employees and contractors)
Feb Mar Apr
Pittsfield, MA Federal Records Center 0 0 0
National Archives at New York, NY 1 0 1