Someone said you need a facility clearance.
This page tells you whether they're right, what the process actually takes, and how long it runs. It's written for the person who has to decide, not for security professionals.
About four minutes. No email required to see your answer. Nothing you select is transmitted or stored.
Before you start
- What an FCL is: a facility clearance is the government's determination that your company, the legal entity, can be trusted with access to classified information. It's separate from any one person's clearance.
- What this covers: the standard DoD path under the National Industrial Security Program, where DCSA is the agency that processes your clearance.
- What it doesn't: intelligence community sponsors and some agencies run their own variations. The shape is similar; the details come from your sponsor.
Tap an answer to move forward. You can go back at any point.
A free resource from Bastion, software that runs the security program at cleared contractors. We built this page because the first weeks of a facility clearance are where companies lose the most time, usually before anyone tells them what the process looks like.
Question
Bastion Launch takes a company from sponsorship to interim FCL. The package drafted, the filings staged, the FSO trained, nothing submitted without your approval, all on hardware in your building. $9,500, flat.
From sponsorship to clearance, in order.
This is the standard path. Your DCSA field office may sequence details differently, and their word wins.
A government agency or a cleared prime contractor tells DCSA it needs your company cleared for a specific procurement, usually through a DD 254 or a sponsorship letter. You cannot start this yourself. No sponsor, no process.
DCSA opens your case and you submit the facility clearance package through NISS, the National Industrial Security System. This is where preparation pays: complete packages move, incomplete ones sit.
The core set: the SF 328 (a certificate about foreign ownership, control, or influence), the DD 441 security agreement between your company and the government, your key management personnel list, exclusion resolutions for any officers who won't need access, and your entity documents: articles, bylaws, ownership records. They have to agree with each other.
You appoint a facility security officer: a U.S. citizen employee who will run the program. They complete DCSA's FSO training curriculum. In a small company this is often an existing employee wearing a second hat.
Your senior management official and your FSO submit for personnel clearances, and other key officials are either cleared or formally excluded. Their paperwork, the SF-86 in e-QIP, is a common source of delay.
DCSA can issue an interim FCL while final processing completes. For many contracts, the interim is what lets work begin. It is not guaranteed, and FOCI questions usually take it off the table until resolved.
When the entity review, the agreements, and the key personnel clearances all close, the FCL goes final. From here the obligation shifts to running the program: reporting, training, self inspections, and the annual rhythm.
On timing, honestly: DCSA describes a process that can move in weeks when a package is complete and clean. Real programs usually run months. The delay is rarely the government sitting on your file; it's usually on the contractor side.
- An incomplete NISS package, or entity documents that don't match each other
- Key personnel slow to finish their SF-86s in e-QIP
- Unanswered FOCI questions on the SF 328
- A sponsor who goes quiet after the initial letter
- Ownership or corporate changes mid process, which restart parts of the review
Can we sponsor ourselves?
No. An FCL exists to serve a classified contract, so the request has to come from a government agency or a cleared prime with a procurement need. If nobody will sponsor you yet, the productive move is winning the work that requires it.
32 CFR Part 117; DCSA FCL sponsorship guidanceDoes the FSO have to be an employee?
Yes. The FSO is a U.S. citizen employee of your company, cleared in connection with the facility clearance. It can be an existing person taking on the role; it can't be an outside firm holding the title.
32 CFR § 117.7Can we use an outsourced FSO?
The named FSO must be your employee, but many small contractors hire outside consultants to help that person stand up and run the program. That arrangement is common and allowed; the accountability stays inside your company.
32 CFR § 117.7; field practice varies, your DCSA representative governsWhat does an FCL cost?
DCSA does not charge a fee for processing the clearance itself, and the government funds the personnel investigations tied to the contract. The real costs are internal: people's time, the FSO's training and duties, and any help you hire.
DCSA FCL guidanceWhat's the difference between interim and final?
An interim FCL can be issued while the full review finishes, and for many contracts it's enough to begin performance. The final FCL comes when the entity review, agreements, and key personnel clearances are all complete. Interim isn't guaranteed, and unresolved FOCI usually rules it out.
32 CFR Part 117; DCSA FCL guidanceDo we need a SCIF or safeguarding?
Only if classified information will be stored or worked on at your site. Many companies hold a non possessing FCL: cleared people, cleared entity, and all classified work performed at government or prime facilities. That's a smaller lift, and it's where most first FCLs start.
32 CFR Part 117, safeguarding requirementsBastion Launch takes a company from sponsorship to interim FCL. The package drafted, the filings staged, the FSO trained, nothing submitted without your approval, all on hardware in your building. $9,500, flat.
This page is general guidance, not legal advice, and Bastion is not DCSA. The field office assigned to your case has the final word on your process.