Facility Security Clearance (FCL)
A facility security clearance (FCL) is the government's determination, under 32 CFR 117.9, that a company is eligible to access classified information at a specified level. A company cannot apply for its own; a government contracting activity or a cleared contractor must sponsor it.
The National Industrial Security Program, created by Executive Order 12829 and implemented by the NISPOM at 32 CFR part 117, governs how industry holds classified information, and the FCL is its entry gate. The rule's term is entity eligibility determination; DCSA processes and issues them and monitors continued eligibility under the program.
Sponsorship must trace to a real classified requirement: a government contracting activity or a currently cleared contractor sponsors the company, which cannot apply on its own behalf. The company executes a security agreement (DD Form 441), and its key management personnel (senior management official, facility security officer, and IT personnel security officer) must hold and keep personnel clearances. Foreign ownership, control, or influence inconsistent with the national interest is disqualifying.
Because no company can sponsor itself, classified work looks closed from outside: the contract requires the clearance and the clearance requires a contract. Subcontracting to a cleared prime is the usual way in, and a foreign investment round taken years earlier can surface as a FOCI problem mid-process, when the schedule has no room for mitigation.
Regulatory Reference
32 CFR 117.9; E.O. 12829; FAR subpart 4.4; FAR 53.204-1
RFO Status
The NISPOM sits in title 32, not the FAR, so the overhaul leaves FCL requirements untouched; the FAR-side hook moves from subpart 4.4 to section 40.302 under the Part 40 model deviation and the June 2026 proposed rule (FAR Case 2026-001).
Category
Processes & Methods
How AcqBot Helps
AcqBot reads the solicitation's security blocks and DD Form 254 to tell the acquisition team whether offerors need an FCL at proposal or at performance, and checks an apparent awardee's eligibility before award instead of discovering the gap after it.
Related glossary entries
Sources Sought Notice
A Sources Sought Notice is a pre-solicitation announcement, typically posted to SAM.gov, asking companies to identify their interest and capability to perform a prospective requirement — primarily used as market research to shape competition and set-aside decisions.
Request for Information (RFI)
A Request for Information (RFI) is a formal market research instrument used to gather industry input on capabilities, approaches, pricing structures, or draft requirements when the government is not yet ready to solicit — responses are voluntary and non-binding.
Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA)
Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) is a source selection process that awards to the lowest-priced offeror whose proposal meets minimum acceptability standards — no credit is given for exceeding requirements, and tradeoffs between price and quality are not permitted.
Best-Value Tradeoff
The best-value tradeoff process permits award to other than the lowest-priced or highest-rated offeror when the source selection authority documents that the superior proposal's benefits are worth its price premium, or that a cheaper proposal's savings outweigh its weaknesses.