Microchipped IDs expedite entry to Navy bases - for a price

The price of doing business with the Navy just got steeper.

A new base access program, known as RAPIDGate, that went into effect this month across the United States aims to improve security and streamline entry for civilian contractors, vendors and delivery drivers.

But getting to this point hasn't been easy, and it doesn't come cheap - in most cases, companies must pay $159 annually for each employee seeking a credential to enter a single base, in addition to a flat fee. The annual cost is higher - $199 - for individuals who need access to more than one installation.

For that fee, the company in charge of the initiative conducts a comprehensive initial background check and, if there are no red flags, issues the individual a microchipped ID card.

Anyone named on a terrorism watch list or sex offender registry will be denied. But the list doesn't stop there: contractors in the Navy's mid-Atlantic region, which includes all local bases, won't get credentials if they have a felony conviction in the past 10 years, or misdemeanor convictions for a violent crime, larceny, drugs or more than one DUI.

Those standards aren't new; what's increased is the frequency and depth of the background checks.

Under the new guidelines, an individual's background is rechecked every 92 days in a database that includes information from all 50 states.

Guards at the gates use hand-held scanners to verify cardholders' identities and wave them onto base, without having to regularly search vehicles.

Although the program is considered voluntary, the alternative - stopping at the pass office and waiting for a one-day pass to be issued, then going through security at the gate - is not practical for most contractors.

So the Navy strongly encouraged local businesses to sign up for the program.

As of late October, more than 800 companies and 19,000 individuals had registered for access to bases in the Navy's mid-Atlantic region, according to Ray Salamy, deputy force protection manager for Naval Installations Command in Washington.

Getting there wasn't easy, said Leigh Kennedy, who chairs the Virginia Ship Repair Association's security committee.

The industry knew change was coming for at least two years, she said. But Navy documents show that standard operating procedures weren't finished until May.

Kennedy said the company managing the program - Eid Passport, in Portland, Ore. - "was unprepared for the sheer volume of people and companies that needed to register."

It takes four to six weeks for a cleared individual to receive the credential, Kennedy said. To deal with that lag, local bases are allowing proof of registration in the system to serve as a short-term credential.

Navy officials attribute the problems to companies that waited until too close to the deadline to enroll their employees, and note that Eid hired more people to deal with the surge of applications.

Capt. Jacqueline Yost, a spokeswoman for Naval Installations Command, said 23,000 companies and 212,000 employees are now registered across the United States.

Salamy called the program "a win-win:" The Navy gets real-time information about who's on each installation, and accredited contractors move quickly through the gates.

"Change is difficult, but 9/11 was difficult," he said. "We don't do business as we used to."

Thomas Bell, a business manager at Ironworkers Local Union 79, said the new access system is onerous for subcontractors who might work on base for a few weeks at a time. A background credential for short-term access - up to 90 days - costs $59, but it can be used only while an individual works for one specific contractor. If a skilled tradesman switches to a different contractor's project on the same base, he would require a new security check, and his new contractor would be on the hook for another $59.

"The system didn't seem to be broke before, so why are they changing it, at a cost to businesses and possibly employees?" Bell asked. Previously, employees used a regional or base-specific contractors' badge to get on base. Those were available, at no cost, for the length of a contract.

Kennedy, with the ship repair association, said the cost is an issue, especially for smaller employers. "It's a significant punch in the pocket for a lot of these smaller companies that are trying to make it," she said. "But in order to do business with the Navy, you have to comply."

Mom-and-pop businesses near local bases may decide to do what Mike's Pizza did a few years ago: stop on-base deliveries altogether.

Chrissie Diorides, manager of the 35-year-old family-owned shop on Hampton Boulevard in Norfolk, said delivering food on base isn't worth the hassle and cost of background checks - especially now that they'll cost $159 per person per year.

When sailors on duty at the base call for pizza, Diorides offers to have the delivery driver meet them at the gate. Only about one in 10 say yes to that, she said.

"A lot of them want curbside service," Diorides said. For the rest, she said, there's always takeout.

Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com