Ministry of Defense Policies, Services and Investigative Tools - DSIAC (2023)

The Department of Defense (DoD) and major service policies regarding the use of commercial services for investigations are intended to assist in evaluating the procedures required due to limited access to these services. In general, Department of Defense policy does not permit the use of commercial services and/or tools for investigative purposes. As part of the service, organizations were established for development and administration, cost estimation, development of measuring instruments, distribution and collection of measurement data, analysis of results and archiving of results. However, they may not offer the fully integrated functionality and tools available in commercial services. To this end, the policy provides a procedure for requesting exemptions or exemptions in the event of an adverse impact on mission operations. Summarizes policy and provides examples of Department of Defense Investigative Services and contracts for Commercial Investigative Services and Tools.

The United States Army Research and Analysis Center (TRAC) uses Verint software to conduct surveys. TRAC manages its software licenses through the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). TRADOC has recently significantly reduced the number of Verint accounts available for TRAC. As a result, TRAC did not have enough Verint accounts to meet the organization's survey development, implementation, and analysis needs. TRAC needs to evaluate possible courses of action to guide future investigations in order to effectively support research.

1.1 Department of Defense Investigative Guidelines

Department of Defense Directive (DoDI) 8910.01 "Information Collection and Reporting" [1] and DoDI 1100.13 "DoD Investigations" [2] provide general guidance for conducting Department of Defense investigations. DoDI 1100.13 establishes policies, assigns responsibilities, and provides information gathering procedures that include investigation of use, and implements these sets of policies as outlined in Department of Defense (DoDM) Manual (DoDM) 8910.01, Volume I, "DoD Information Collection Manual: DoD Inside Information Procedures”, [3] and Volume 2, “DoD Information Gathering Manual: DoD Procedures for Collecting Public Information” [4].

DoDI 1100.13 applies to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), military departments, the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, combatant commands, DoD Inspector General, DoD agencies, DoD field operations, and all other DoD organizational units. DoDI 1100.13 applies to any entity seeking an investigation that requires:

• Involvement of individuals from multiple DoD or OSD branches, including military members; spouses of service members; family members eligible for DoD benefits; Department of Defense civilians; students of military academies; and survivors of deceased military personnel.
• Involvement of DoD personnel required by external organizations (including state, local or tribal governments, other federal agencies or public organizations or individuals) or required by law not directly under the authority of Congress.
• Surveys of members of the public, including government contractors, conducted by the Department of Defense or DSO. Public information collections, including such investigations, must be developed and handled in accordance with the guidelines contained in DoD Manual 8910.01, Volume 2, "DoD Information Collection Manual: DoD Public Information Collection Procedures" [2].

DoDI 1100.13 does not apply to:

• DoD or DSO departments conduct personnel screenings for only one DoD or DSO department.
• The Office of the Chief Inspector of the Ministry of National Defense performs its statutory tasks and functions[2].

Please note that departments and other departments within the Department of Defense may have additional policies, processes and procedures for approving investigations.

1.1.1 US Air Force List

Air Force Manual (AFMAN) 36-2664, "Personnel Assessment Program", states that the Directorate of the Air Force (AF/A1P) has established a policy regarding the Air Force Assessment Program. The Air Force Research Office at the Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC/DSYS) manages the Air Force Research Program and is the agency that approves and oversees attitude and opinion research. AFPC/DSYS also assists other Air Force organizations in managing investigations, processes, and analysis. AFMAN 36-2664 Sections 5 and 6 cover Air Force investigative roles and responsibilities, development guidelines, application procedures, processes, publication of findings, and more [5].

1.1.2 U.S. Army Guidelines

Army Regulation (AR) 25-98, "Information Management Audit Request Program", covers Army Public Investigations Chapters 5-9 and Army Internal Investigations Section 6. AR 25-98 states that the Administrative Assistant Secretary of the Army (AASA) responsible for army-wide information management and reporting requirements control; however, the AASA may delegate authority to authorize internal investigations into other Army activities as necessary (AR 25-98, pp. 1-9 sections and 1-9.10). AR 25-98, section 2-3, subsection b, Licensing, further states that "all investigations conducted by military organizations are subject to official review and decision." However, AR 25-98 para. 3-1; 3 -2. Generally; and 3-3. Military internal discharge, instructions to the militarynon-exploratoryInternal information gathering (collection of information from military personnel only) is exempt from formal verification if it "meets the requirements of the multi-service collection exemption specified in DoDM 8910.01, Volume 1, Appendix 3." AR 25-98, Section 4-3, Multiple Services Exemption, Subsection c further states that "Military organizations shall notify the DA [HQDA] of non-review collections that are exempt from formal review" [6].

1.1.3 US Navy Guidelines

The Naval Personnel Command states that the Office of Naval Investigation Programs implements the Navy's Investigative Policy in accordance with OPNAVINST 5300.8C "Coordination and Control of Personnel Investigations". OPNAVINST 5300.8C states that it was issued in DoD 8910.1-M, ​​Information Requirements Management and Control, 30/6/98; DoDI 1100.13, Department of Defense personnel survey, 11/21/96; and SECNAV M-5214.1, December 1, 2005. OPNAVINST 5300.8C also states that it describes "policies and procedures for managing, controlling, reviewing and approving and licensing Navy military and civilian investigations."

Section 4. Application states that the Directive applies to "all investigations of members of the Department of the Navy (DON), their families and Navy civilian personnel. Marine Corps investigations are conducted under the authority of the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps."

Section 8 of Responsibilities states that "The Chief of Naval Operations, Modeling and Analysis, CNO (NI04) or other designee in consultation with the Director of NPRST shall appoint the Manager of Naval Oversight Approval" and that the Head of Naval Oversight "shall control and coordinate the Navy." All staff investigations are conducted internally. Section 8.a.(12)b further states that the Office of Naval Modeling and Analysis (CNO (NI04)) will provide resource management and oversight to the Naval Surveillance Authorization Administrator [7, 8].

OPNAVINST 5300.8C covers active and reserve Navy seafarers and their family members, civilian employees and those retiring from active duty, reserve or civil service. This remark does not apply to surveys of family members of pensioners, state entrepreneurs or members of the public. Studies of these populations require approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Section 7.a on exemptions states that the following are not subject to the provisions of the Directive:

• Naval Occupations Analysis Program (NOTAP, Naval Manpower Analysis Center [NAVMAC]) Survey and Related Capability Analysis Jobs, Tasks, and Efforts.
• Studying the Importance of Naval Training (TIS, NAVMAC).
• Navy Training Assessment Surveys (i.e., surveys designed to determine the effectiveness of a particular training program among students participating in the program).
• Research conducted by a base or headquarters (e.g., Naval Personnel Command) when conducted entirely at a base or headquarters (e.g., Equal Opportunity Research of Command, Base or Headquarters Morale, Welfare and Recreation [MWR] Research, etc.).
• Investigations conducted by the Inspector General of the Navy or other investigative agencies of the Navy or Department of Defense when the investigation is part of their recognized official duties.
• Course evaluation surveys, provided that the survey is specific to the content offered or used to run the course and/or is conducted during the course.
• User and patient satisfaction survey in the scope/point of service provision.

OPNAVINST 5300.8C also provides information on the Navy's internal processes and organizational responsibilities for the development, dissemination, analysis, and archiving of survey-related data, including online research. OPNAVINST 5300.8C does not discuss or record endorsement of any commercially available tool or service. However, he noted the use of the Naval Personnel Investigation Policy website,https://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/organization/bupers/Sur​veyPolicy/Pages/default.aspx, asking permission to measure. The website states that "the Office of the Naval Research Program has access to a variety of tools facilitating data collection, and this is currently the only set of tools approved for use" [8, 9].

1.2 Research services and tools

AR 25-98, section 1-8.i states: “Unless specifically authorized by the CIO/G-6, commercial [C]platforms are not approved for use in military investigations. Authorized and Preferred Site Development Information." Section 6-2. Section 6-2.d of the policy further states that "Commercial platforms, unless expressly approved by the CIO/G-6, are not authorized forums for internal military investigations." AR 25-98, Section 6-2, Policy, Section 6-2.c, states that military use of online survey tools is permitted, citing milSurvey and MAX Survey as examples. The military's preferred online survey tool is milSurvey [7].

Below are some examples of government-approved investigative services and tools developed by the US government and available on the market. Please note that this is not a complete list.

1.2.1 MilSuite Mil Survey

milSuite (https://www.milsuite.mil/) is a set of social business tools for Department of Defense personnel that facilitate professional networking, learning and innovation through knowledge sharing and collaboration. The milSuite portion of the service includes milSurvey, the Department of Defense's secure online survey platform that allows members of the milSuite community to create custom surveys for corporate distribution and use advanced survey statistics for logging, viewing, and sharing. Surveys can include anything from simple questionnaires to surveys with conditional branching questions and can provide basic statistical analysis of survey results.

There is a step-by-step wizard and helpful tips to help users get started; MilSuite Classroom offers introductory lessons to the milSurvey application, instructions on creating and configuring surveys, managing visibility options for survey participants, and anonymity. The milSurvey support forum is where users can ask questions and contact the milSurvey team. Please note that this tool is not approved forunrelated to workPersonally Identifiable Information (PII) [9].

1.2.2 MAX Anketa

MAX.gov (https://www.max.gov) is a suite of advanced tools and services for intergovernmental collaboration, information sharing, data collection, publishing, business intelligence, and authentication to facilitate intergovernmental collaboration and knowledge management. MAX.gov tools include MAX Community, MAX Collect, MAX Survey, MAX A-11, MAX Analytics, MAX Authentication, and more. MAX Survey has advanced survey navigation and conditional logic options and can be run with general survey links or with "token-based" access controls and predefined fine-grained lists of respondents, with each survey having a unique view access link. Token-based access control can track responses and send personalized emails to people who don't respond; this tracking greatly improves response rates.

Surveys can be designed to remain anonymous (without including personal information in the result set), or you can set the survey information to auto-populate with the submitter's knowledge. Survey results can be downloaded into Excel or accessed through MAX Analytics. MAX Analytics can then be dynamically displayed in the MAX community as part of an integrated dashboard [10].

1.2.3 Naval Personnel Command Office for Investigative Programs

Naval Investigative Programs Office of Personnel Command website (https://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/organization/bupers/Sur​veyPolicy/Pages/default.aspx) provides access to samples/templates for requesting approval of a survey and tools for estimating survey project completion costs and survey respondents' costs, survey FAQs, and survey files. The page goes to state

[B] Before choosing any commercially available investigation tool, ensure that it meets all applicable Department of Defense and Navy information assurance and IT security requirements (such as FedRAMP). Since the data will be stored on commercial servers, there is an increased risk of damage or inconvenience if the data is somehow compromised. The Office of Naval Programs has access to a variety of data collection support tools and is currently the only toolkit approved for use. These include online surveys, live surveys, and electronic focus group tools [8].

1.2.4 Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Investigation Services

OPM psychologists are experts in research and assessment methodologies and have a unique ability to provide statewide comparative data with private sector comparisons. OPM's survey management services include survey design, sampling, communications, data management, statistical analysis, and reporting of results. Agencies can develop custom surveys to meet their specific needs, or they can use standard OPM surveys. These standard surveys provide institutions with research-based assessments, simplified administration, and benchmarking capabilities.

In addition to these standard services, OPM also offers highly personalized services, including multiple data collection methods to assess specific needs, such as training needs analysis, action planning, mentoring and focus groups. Focus groups are used as research tools to gather detailed qualitative information from a group of people in focused discussions to understand how people feel or think about a problem, idea, product or service [11].

1.2.5 Government Administration (GSA) Federal Terms of Service (TOS) Official Government Use Agreement

The GSA worked with the agencies to negotiate revised Terms of Use for free third-party apps that included steps such as removing ads to make it look less like endorsements. For details, see OMB M-13-10. More than 70 third-party apps/services have active GSA TOS. Some of these apps, such as IdeaScale, Qualtrics, Quora, Survey Analytics, SurveyMonkey, and Yelp, collect user feedback and other survey data. However, this fact does not mean that a given application/service is approved for use by a specific agency or department or part thereof [12].

NOTE: The GSA TOS program is no longer valid. While individual agreements for the App Terms of Service may still apply, new agreements cannot be added. For a complete list of free tools and services with active and inactive federally compliant TOS contracts, visit Digital.gov,https://digital.gov/resources/negotiated-terms-of-service-agreements/[13].

1.2.6 Monkey study

Interestingly, from the perspective of DSIAC, SurveyMonkey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/) seems to be one of the more popular tools for business research. SurveyMonkey has a full set of tools including SurveyMonkey (online survey platform), SurveyMonkey Enterprise (enterprise level online survey platform), Audience (global consumer survey). SurveyMonkey is a Federal Government Approved Survey Provider and Cloud Service Provider through DigitalGov.gov,https://digital.gov/, a platform for governments that helps public agencies access and purchase cloud services. SurveyMonkey has an effective GSA TOS protocol [13, 14].

1.3 Software Verint Systems, Inc. EFM

Produced by Verint Systems, Inc., EFM (formerly known as VOVICI Survey Workbench) is a process and software system for centrally managing survey deployment, analyzing results, and distributing results across an organization. EFM enables organizations to systematically collect, analyze, integrate and then use all sources of feedback to improve business processes. Modern EFM solutions can track the opinions of customers, employees, suppliers, partners, market research and social media. By collecting feedback from multiple sources from multiple stakeholders across multiple channels, EFM enables actionable information to be disseminated in real time across the organization where it matters most. EFM then takes over the responsibility for monitoring and recovering from a service outage. EFM providers include Confirmit, CXGroup, Clarabridge, InMoment, Intouch Insight, MaritzCX, Medallia, Mopinion, NICE Systems, Netigate, Qualtrics, QuestBack, SurveyMonkey, Verint and Wootric [15, 16].

According to Digital.gov's list of valid and invalid federal TOS agreements, Verint has no federal TOS agreements [17]. However, a quick search of the US Federal Award Management System (SAM),https://sam.gov/SAM/, formerly Fed Biz Ops (FBO), shows that Verint has existing contracts with the federal government, including the Department of Defense. For example, Army TRADOC awarded Verint a contract for EFM software and software maintenance, telephone consulting support, and training services. The contract is a fixed-price delivery order under the GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) with an execution period from June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2024 [18].

The contract requires the Army to issue restricted source certificates in accordance with approved FAR 8.405-6 that may be useful to other federal agencies to certify the use of Verint's EFM software and services. reason to be distinguished

Verint offers Microsoft Azure Impact Level 5 cloud-based TRADOC capability in a Federal Risk Management and Authorization Program (FedRAMP) approved container. The United States Army Center of Excellence (COE) uses Verint extensively. It is also a software tool used by the military to conduct plant inspections. Other survey tools for surveys do not have in-depth or extensive functionality to provide control over the survey lifecycle. Also, most of these research tools are not designed to work on GovCloud. While many investigation tools run in the commercial cloud, they do not provide security or government accountability for the investigation or results.

Also,

[A] Adoption of alternative software that runs in a FedRAMP approved environment, [and] is secure, secures the data generated, [and] is highly customizable/extensible and scalable across the TRADOC enterprise, will require significant capital and resource investments that are currently are not available. TRADOC previously used Verint EFM multi-site measurement software to meet its requirements. The Verint software follow-up simplifies analysis, saves government man-hours, and ensures continuity for the user community. Consolidation of requirements saves command and army resources by concluding contracts for consolidation and provisioning of capabilities in the TRADOC cloud environment. Migrating to other research software will not allow you to take full advantage of the significant investment previously purchased, nor will you be able to leverage previously conducted research. Replacing existing products and licenses would significantly increase costs for the government, requiring large amounts of data to be migrated to the new environment and new surveys to be generated at each COE/course [19].

Various federal tender and contract repositories, including the Defense and Aerospace Competitive Intelligence Service (DACIS),https://www.dacis.com/; Federal Order Data System - New Generation (FPDS-NG),https://www.fpds.gov/fpdsng_cms/index.php/en/; Dane SAM Daily™ Loren,https://www.fbodayly.com/, as of early 2019, is seeking DoD bids and/or award contracts for Verint software and/or EFM services. Results showed that at least five federal contracts and one federal invitation to purchase Verint EFM software and/or services were awarded between January 2019 and September 2020. Three contracts were awarded by the military, one by the coast guard and one by OPM. Tri-Service Medical Education and Training Campus located in Ft. Sam Houston of Texas is currently looking to purchase Verint EFM software. Table 1 lists Department of Defense procurement and awarded contracts for Verint EFM services and software. Other grants related to Verint were found, but there was not enough information to determine whether these grants were specific to EFM services or software.

* NAICS (North American Industry Classification System): NAICS is the standard used by federal statistical agencies to classify enterprises to collect, analyze and publish statistics related to the United States' business economy. The NAICS 2017 list can be found athttps://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/sssd/naics/naicsrch?chart=2017.

**PSC (Product Service Code): PSCs describe products, services, and research and development items that are federally procured and used to collect and analyze federal procurement. PSC lists are available on the Acquisition.Gov website,https://www.acquisition.gov/psc-manual.

[1] Instruction MON 8910.01. "Information Gathering and Reporting".https://www.esd.whs.mil/portals/54/documents/dd/issuances/dodi/891001p.pdf, May 19, 2014, incorporated Amendment 1, effective July 8, 2020.

[2] Ministry of Defense Directive 1100.13. "Department of Defense Investigations."https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/110013p.pdf, January 15, 2015, Merger Amendment No. 1, effective March 31, 2017.

[3] Department of Defense Manual 8910.01, Volume 1. "DoD Data Collection Manual: Department of Defense Internal Data Collection Procedures."https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodm/891001m_vol1.pdf, June 30, 2014, incorporated Amendment 2, effective April 19, 2017.

[4] Department of Defense Manual 8910.01, Volume 2. "DoD Information Gathering Manual: Department of Defense Public Information Gathering Procedures."https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodm/891001m_vol2.pdf., June 30, 2014, incorporated Amendment 2, effective April 19, 2017.

[5] Affman 36-2664. "Personnel Assessment Plan".https://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/af_a1/publication/afman36-2664/afman36-2664.pdf, 16 maja 2019 r.

[6] Army Regulations 25-98. "Procedures for Requesting Information Management Controls".https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/web/ARN20910_R25_98_ADMIN_FINAL.pdfFebruary 8, 2019

[7] Investigation Policy. Naval Personnel Command.https://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/organization/bupers/Sur​veyPolicy/Pages/default.aspx.

[8] Chief of Naval Operations. "OPNAV Directive 5300.83: Coordination and Control of Personnel Investigations."https://www.secnav.navy.mil/doni/Directives/05000%20General%20Management%20Security%20and%20Safety%20Services/05-300%20Manpower%20Personnel%20Support/5300.8C.pdfApril 24, 2008.

[9] milSuite: milSurvey. US Army PEO - Command, Control, Communications - Tactics, uhttps://www.milsuite.mil/survey/, accessed September 11, 2020.

[10] MAX.gov home page. US federal government.https://portal.max.gov/portal/home, accessed September 11, 2020.

[11] Institutional Services: Assessment and Evaluation. American Office of Personnel Management.https://www.opm.gov/services-for-agencies/assessment-evaluation/surveys-and-related-services/, accessed September 11, 2020.

[12] GSABLOG: Facts about Yelp's federally compliant service contract terms. United States General Services Administration,https://www.gsa.gov/blog/2015/08/20/facts-on-the-federal-kompatybilny-terms-of-service-agreement-for-yelp, accessed September 11, 2020.

[13] Negotiated Terms of Service: List of Free Tools with Federal Terms of Service Agreements. numbers.gov.https://digital.gov/resources/negotiated-terms-of-service-agreements/, accessed September 11, 2020.

[14] Loh, S. (undated). SurveyMonkey is now federally approved. Examine the monkeys.https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/surveymonkey-for-government/, accessed September 10, 2020.

[15] Hanks, R. Are You Ready to Manage Enterprise Opinion? Mindshare technology.https://web.archive.org/web/20140311164025/http://www.mshare.net/measurement/are_you_ready_for_enterprise_feedback_management.php, accessed September 14, 2020.

[16] Enterprise Feedback Management Report. DMG Consulting Sp.https://www.dmgconsult.com/research-reports-enterprise-feedback-management, accessed September 14, 2020.

[17] Institutional Contact Point for Federal Service Agreement. numbers.gov.https://digital.gov/resources/agency-points-of-contact-for-federal-operative-terms-of-service-agreements/, accessed September 14, 2020.

[18] Verint Feedback Management. Software, software maintenance, consultation telephone support. & Trng. SAME Governmenthttps://beta.sam.gov/opp/4c35d282fcb64f31be42838e2e2a3850/view, accessed September 14, 2020.

[19] FAR 8.405-6 Federal Supply Program Limited Source Justification Review Document, General Services Administration Control Number: Eustis 2020-7. U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.https://beta.sam.gov/api/prod/opps/v3/opportunities/resources/files/24c37096877d4729997e079685055f0b/download?api_key=null&status=archived&token=, accessed September 14, 2020.