You found a great veteran candidate. Cleared, sharp, ready to work on your classified contract. Then you hit a wall. Your company has no Facility Security Clearance. So that hire cannot touch the classified work you need them for.

This trips up a lot of growing firms. They chase a defense contract or a cleared role before they understand the company-side step that has to come first. A person can hold a clearance. But the company has to be cleared too. That company-level clearance is the Facility Security Clearance, or FCL.

This guide walks through what an FCL is, why you cannot just apply for one yourself, and the people and steps you need to get there. If you plan to win classified work or sponsor cleared employees, read this before you make an offer.

What is a Facility Security Clearance (FCL)?

An FCL is a clearance for your company, not a person. The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) defines it as an administrative determination that, from a national security standpoint, a company is eligible to access classified information. The clearance level can be CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET, or TOP SECRET.

Think of it as two locks on the same door. Your employee needs a personnel clearance. Your business needs the FCL. Both have to be in place before anyone on your team works with classified material. One without the other gets you nowhere.

The FCL runs under the National Industrial Security Program, or NISP. The rules live in 32 CFR Part 117, known as the NISPOM Rule. DCSA is the agency that grants and oversees facility clearances for most defense work.

Why can't my company just apply for an FCL?

This is the part that catches most firms off guard. You cannot walk up to DCSA and ask for a facility clearance on your own. A company cannot sponsor itself. Someone outside your business has to sponsor you.

Two types of organizations can sponsor you for an FCL. A Government Contracting Activity (GCA) can do it. That is a federal agency or office that buys classified work. A currently cleared defense contractor can also sponsor you. For the full eligibility rules around sponsoring an individual hire once you hold an FCL, see our guide on whether an employer can sponsor a security clearance without one. That is often a prime contractor who wants you on their team as a subcontractor.

The sponsorship is not a favor. It has to rest on a real contract. DCSA wants proof of a bona fide procurement need. That means there is an actual classified contract, or a near-term one, that requires your company to access classified information. No contract, no need, no FCL.

So the order of events matters. You do not get cleared and then go find classified work. You land in line for classified work, get a sponsor, and the FCL follows. Companies that try to flip that order waste months.

What does DCSA do in the FCL process?

DCSA is the gatekeeper. Once a sponsor submits your package, DCSA reviews it and decides if your company is eligible. They are the agency of record for facility clearances across the National Industrial Security Program.

DCSA checks a few big things before clearing your company. They confirm the sponsorship and the bona fide need. They vet your Key Management Personnel. And they screen for foreign ownership, control, or influence. We will break each of those down below.

DCSA also runs the National Industrial Security System, or NISS. That is the online system where sponsorship requests and facility records live. Your sponsor submits through NISS, and you will use it once you are in the program.

One thing to set expectations on. The front end of this process has a real rejection rate. DCSA has noted that sponsorship packages cycle back to the sender often, with a meaningful share rejected on the first pass. Clean paperwork on the first try saves you weeks. A good sponsor who knows the process helps a lot here.

Who is the FSO and what is KMP?

You cannot hold an FCL without the right people in the right roles. Two terms come up over and over. The FSO and the KMP. Get familiar with both before you start.

The Facility Security Officer (FSO)

The FSO is the person who runs security at your company. They manage the clearance, train cleared staff, and act as the main contact with DCSA. Per the NISPOM, the FSO must be a US citizen and an employee of your company. They also must be cleared to the level of the FCL.

For a small firm, the FSO is often an owner or a senior leader wearing a second hat. For a larger firm, it can be a full-time role. Either way, this is not a box you check and forget. The FSO carries real, ongoing duties.

Key Management Personnel (KMP)

KMP are the senior people who run or own the business. Think officers, directors, and owners who can affect company decisions and policy. DCSA looks at this group closely, because they control the company that will hold classified information.

A final FCL cannot be issued until all essential KMP are cleared at the requested level. The FSO and the senior management official sit on the KMP list too. Some board members or limited partners can be formally excluded from access if they do not control classified operations. But the core leadership has to be cleared.

What is FOCI and why does it matter?

FOCI stands for Foreign Ownership, Control, or Influence. It is one of the biggest items DCSA reviews. The concern is simple. Could a foreign person, company, or government steer your firm in a way that puts classified information at risk?

You report ownership and control facts on a form called the SF-328. DCSA uses it to map who owns your company, who funds it, and who can influence its decisions. Foreign investment, foreign board members, or foreign debt can all raise a flag.

FOCI does not always kill an FCL. Many firms with some foreign tie still get cleared. But unmitigated FOCI is a hard stop. DCSA has to confirm there is no unmitigated foreign control before clearing you. If there is a concern, you may need a formal mitigation plan to manage it.

The practical lesson for a midsize firm. Sort out your ownership picture early. If you took foreign investment or have a foreign parent, flag it to your sponsor and DCSA up front. Surprises late in the process cost you the most time.

What are the basic steps to get an FCL?

Here is the path at a high level. The details run deeper, and your sponsor and future FSO will guide the fine print. Once you have your FCL, see our guide on how an employer sponsors a security clearance step by step for the mechanics of sponsoring a specific hire. But this is the shape of it.

Timelines vary a lot. The KMP clearances are often the long pole. A clean package with no FOCI issues and people who clear quickly moves faster than a messy one. Plan for months, not weeks, and do not promise a customer a start date you cannot back up.

How does an FCL connect to hiring cleared veterans?

Once your FCL is in place, you can sponsor employees for personnel clearances and put cleared people on classified work. This is where a veteran candidate pool pays off fast.

Veterans often already hold a clearance from their service. That can save you the cost and the wait of a fresh investigation. A note of caution on prior clearances. A clearance does not stay active forever after someone leaves service. There is a reinstatement window. The regulation states it as "less than two years," generally cited as 24 months. Some reform proposals have floated extending it, but nothing is locked in. The exact rules shift, so confirm any candidate's current status with your FSO before you count on it.

If you are still building your candidate pipeline, that is where we come in. BMR adds more than 1,000 new veteran profiles every month, and our platform has built more than 60,000 resumes. Many of those candidates come straight from cleared and defense backgrounds. So as your FCL comes online, you have a steady stream of people who already speak the language of classified work.

For the candidate side of clearances, see our guides on how to find cleared veteran talent for defense roles and the cost savings of a cleared veteran hire. If you are weighing different clearance requirements, our breakdown of polygraph requirements for cleared roles covers the CI, lifestyle, and full-scope poly that some contracts demand.

Common mistakes companies make with FCLs

I work with the company side of veteran hiring every day. The same FCL missteps come up again and again. Most cost time, not money, but lost time on a contract still hurts.

The firms that move fastest treat the FCL as a project with a real owner. They name a strong FSO early. They sort out ownership questions before DCSA asks. And they lean on a sponsor who has been through it before.

What to do next

An FCL is the company-side key to classified work. You cannot apply for it alone. You need a sponsor, a real contract need, a strong FSO, cleared Key Management Personnel, and a clean FOCI picture. Get those pieces lined up and the process moves.

The hardest part for most growing firms is not the paperwork. It is the talent. Once your FCL is live, you need a steady flow of people who already hold or recently held clearances. That is exactly the pool BMR can put in front of you.

If you want access to cleared and defense-ready veteran candidates as your FCL comes online, reach out to access BMR's veteran talent pool. We will help you find the people who can fill those cleared roles. For more on the contract side, see our guides on recruiting veterans for government services and contracts and mapping veteran experience to GovCon billable roles. If your contracts come with VEVRAA duties, our VEVRAA compliance guide for federal contractors walks through that.