Security clearance for federal contracts

Some federal work involves protected or classified information or sites. Those tenders say so, in their security requirements (often a “security requirements check list” attached to the solicitation), and only organizations holding the right clearance can win them. Clearances are run by Public Services and Procurement Canada’s Contract Security Program.

The two levels for an organization

• Designated organization screening (DOS): needed for contracts at the protected level. It can take up to 4 months.
• Facility security clearance (FSC): needed for contracts at the classified level. It can take 6 months or more.

The clock starts once the program confirms your organization is eligible, and extra safeguards (to store information on site, for example) add time. Your employees who work on the contract need their own personnel screening at the level the contract asks for.

You can’t apply on your own

An organization has to be sponsored before the program will screen it. In practice the sponsor is the procurement officer running a tender or contract with security requirements: you send your Application for registration to them, and they put the request in. A prime contractor can sponsor a subcontractor only once the prime contract is awarded. A way in is to start with smaller secure work, or to team with a cleared firm, before going after large secure contracts.

The steps once sponsored

1. Fill in the Application for registration, signed and dated within the last 6 months.
2. Appoint a company security officer, and an alternate if needed.
3. The company security officer and the other people the program asks for (owners, partners, key officers) complete personnel screening forms.
4. Someone with authority to bind your organization signs a security agreement with the Government of Canada.

A DOS stays valid for 2 years and an FSC for 1 year, unless your organization is in another solicitation or holds an active contract, subcontract or lease with security requirements.

Read the tender’s security clause early

The tender says when the clearance has to be in place: at bid closing, or before the contract is awarded. Screening takes months, so read the security requirement before anything else, and ask the contracting authority whether a provisional clearance can be sponsored during the bid.