The first steps to gaining facility security clearance and pursuing defense and homeland security contracts
Many small business owners and entrepreneurs in the security-clearance field are engineers and scientists who have stepped outside larger companies to pursue their own business. Their former employers supported and maintained their individual security clearance. Now, required to provide his or her own clearance support, a business owner is faced with the unknown of industrial security.
If you are such a business owner and would like to step into the world of industrial security, keep reading. For clarity through the article, let’s call your business the XYZ Company and assume that XYZ does not have a facility security clearance issued by the Department of Defense (DoD). There is a method for XYZ Company to enter into the DoD classified world – it really isn’t top-secret (pardon the pun).
DDForm 254 Required
To enter into the DoD classified world, XYZ must first show that a government agency or prime contractor requires their employees to access classified information.
The agency that is requiring XYZ to access classified information must complete and include DDForm 254, Department of Defense Contract Security Classification Specification, when awarding the contract. So, business owners make note – first you must have the DDForm 254 in hand or know that its arrival is imminent.
Sponsorship Letter
With the DDForm 254 in the contract, XYZ Company now needs the good will and support of the agency or prime contractor who issued the contract. The good will is shown when the agency or prime contractor writes a Sponsorship Letter to the Defense Security Service (DSS) reflecting that XYZ must be able to access classified information in order to satisfactorily meet the terms of the contract. There are specific items that must be reflected in the Sponsorship Letter, and it needs to be submitted with DDForm 254.
Facility Visit Scheduled
With the receipt of the Sponsorship Letter and DDForm 254, a local DSS Industrial Security Representative (ISR) coordinates a visit to XYZ’s facilities. DSS gives top priority to facility clearance requests, so the visit should be scheduled within a few weeks. During the visit, the ISR meets with XYZ’s Facility Security Officer (FSO). The FSO can be the owner/operator of a one-person business or he/she can be an employee assigned as the FSO in a larger company.
However, the devil is in the details, as they say. From here, issuing a facility clearance gets a little complicated depending on the requirements in the DDForm 254. Some of those devilish details to consider are:
- Level of facility clearance needed;
- Who will administer the DoD Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS) program? The FSO in a larger company or the CEO/Owner/FSO in a smaller company?
- Who will handle the annual training of cleared employees?
- Will XYZ store classified material (a “possessing” facility) or only access classified at other locations (a “non-possessing” or “access elsewhere” facility)?
- If XYZ becomes a possessing facility, then XYZ will need:
- A safe area to store classified documents;
- A COMSEC “SOCA” account so you can use a STE or STUIII phone to talk with the customer in the classified mode;
- A computer to process classified information and a computer-smart cleared employee to handle DoD security on “AIS” systems and to write the System Security Plan; and
- A method to ship and receive classified information and materials.
What’s Next?
After the FSO and DSS/ISR meet, each side will have the information necessary to proceed. The DSS/ISR will continue with the facility clearance process which includes clearing at least one employee of XYZ: the owner if it’s a one-person company, or the owner and FSO if the company is larger. The FSO of XYZ will exit the meeting knowing which forms, files, and facts the DSS needs to complete the facility clearance process.
Both the FSO and the DSS/ISR work concurrently on their responsibilities and when done, DSS/ISR and the FSO meet again to finish up the clearance process. If both sides have their paperwork in order, the DSS/ISR can issue an interim or final facility clearance at the level required by the DDForm 254.
The above process can be a little daunting and fraught with details, but the effort is well worth it.After being awarded a facility clearance, XYZ Company can pursue the contract in hand but even more advantageous is that XYZ can bid on previously unavailable new classified business.
