What is a Facility Clearance (FCL)?

A facility clearance is essentially a determination by the federal government that it would be in the

interest of national security for a particular company or organization to access classified information. It

is also known as a facility security clearance and its acronym is FCL. Just as national security

information is classified at one of three levels (Confidential, Secret, or Top Secret), facility

clearances are granted at one of those three levels.

A company can only apply for a facility security clearance when it is necessary for them to access

classified information to respond to a request or perform on a contract. (A company cannot apply for

the FCL of its own accord.) That contract may be awarded to the company by either a federal

government agency or by another company that already has a facility clearance of its own. The agency

or cleared company then sponsors the uncleared company for the facility security clearance at the

appropriate level of classification (Confidential, Secret, or Top Secret). Since the sponsoring

agencies and companies are not always familiar with how to sponsor a company for a facility

clearance, Secure Defense Consulting® Incorporated can assist with this and other parts of the

process on a consulting basis.