Question for those who applied to work for Govt contractor pre-Bush II

Did you have to fill out mounds and mounds of paper work that would prove you, among other things, "loyal to the United States"? I'm not talking about FBI or CIA or even military, just grunt work like working for a call center, or perhaps manual labor. A local Gov't contractor requires this for a simple call center job. I worked in an office of a Gov't agency a few years back, and I had access to their databases while I was there. While the temp agency I worked for DID do a background check, I only had to sign the forms to allow them to do so, not "provide the names of people" who could verify where I lived and went to school (which is the most stupid. Why not just call the school?). This is only a temp job, so by the time they verify everything it will almost be over anyway.
Like I said, this is a GRUNT job I'm applying for, not management, not career. GRUNT.