June 22, 2022

Today, SWACCA hailed Rep. John Garamendi’s (D-CA) introduction of H.R. 8158, the “Base Access Privileges Improvement Act,” a bill to streamline the process for construction contractors and others to gain access to work on U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) facilities across the country. SWACCA’s Government Relations team worked closely with Rep. Garamendi’s office in the development of the bill.

H.R. 8158 is intended to address the lack of uniformity with respect to access control, background check, and credentialing requirements for U.S. military installations across the country.  Given the nature of our members’ work, this lack of uniformity often means that both they and their workers must undergo a background check and obtain a credential to access each DOD-regulated facility at which they perform work under a contract. 

Rep. Garamendi’s legislation has the potential to not only reduce the burden that DOD’s current installation access control standards place on contractors and their workers, but also make the system more coherent, secure, and efficient across military installations.  Specifically, the bill requests that DOD develop access standards that apply to all military installations in the U.S., provides screening standards that are appropriate for the type of installation involved, and includes standardized protocols for determining the fitness of an individual to enter an installation and for verifying their identity.  It also requests that for purposes of granting expedited, unescorted access to military facilities the DOD take into account whether an individual holds a valid federally recognized access credential.

SWACCA looks forward to continuing our work with Rep. Garamendi to see this legislation enacted into law.  You can read SWACCA’s letter of support for H.R. 8158 here.

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