Eligibility & registration

What security clearance does a federal contract need?

It depends on the sensitivity of the work. Handling PROTECTED material needs a Designated Organization Screening; accessing or storing CLASSIFIED material needs a Facility Security Clearance. Your people need Reliability Status, Secret, or Top Secret to match.

Answer two questions to see the organization and personnel screening your contract requires.

01The security requirementfederal CSP

Highest sensitivity you will handle

Protected A and B cover sensitive but unclassified information and assets. Secret and Top Secret are classified levels.

Will you store or produce classified material at your own site?

This decides whether your organization must be cleared to safeguard classified material on its premises. It only affects the classified levels.

Organization vs personnel

Two screenings run in parallel. Organization screening (DOS or FSC) clears the company; personnel screening (Reliability Status, Secret, or Top Secret) clears the individual people who will touch the information. A contract can require both.

Awaiting your answers

Tell us the highest sensitivity of information you will handle and whether classified material lives at your site to see the organization and personnel screening a federal contract needs.

Contract Security Program · screening levels

Screening	Covers	Notes
Reliability Status	PROTECTED A / B	Personnel access to protected information and assets
Secret	Classified Secret	Personnel access to Secret information and assets
Top Secret	Classified Top Secret	Personnel access to Top Secret information and assets
DOS (organization)	PROTECTED	Designated Organization Screening to access protected material
FSC (organization)	CLASSIFIED	Facility Security Clearance to access or store classified material on site

Last verified 2026-06-27

Two clearances, not one

Federal contracts with a security requirement run two screenings in parallel. Organization screening clears the company to hold sensitive material, and personnel screening clears the individual people who will actually touch it. You can need both for the same contract, and the right level of each is set by the sensitivity of the information and assets involved.

Protected versus classified

The split that drives everything is protected versus classified. PROTECTED A and B cover sensitive but unclassified information and assets; at the organization level that calls for a Designated Organization Screening (DOS), and at the personnel level for Reliability Status. Secret and Top Secret are classified; accessing or storing classified material at your own premises requires a Facility Security Clearance (FSC), and your people need Secret or Top Secret personnel screening to match the level of the work.

You have to be sponsored

An organization cannot apply to the Contract Security Program on its own. It must be sponsored, normally by the contracting authority, once a solicitation or contract includes a security requirement. When a tender carries a Security Requirements Check List, the buyer can sponsor a bidder that does not yet hold the clearance, so not holding one today does not automatically rule you out, but you should plan for the time it takes to be cleared.

What this tool leaves out

This is a planning guide to the headline organization and personnel screening. It does not cover add-ons such as COMSEC, controlled-goods registration, IT or site-specific safeguards, or processing times, and it does not replace the specific Security Requirements Check List for your contract. Treat the result as guidance, not legal advice, and confirm against the official Contract Security Program guidance from PSPC.

Common questions

What is the difference between a DOS and an FSC?

A Designated Organization Screening (DOS) lets your organization access PROTECTED information and assets. A Facility Security Clearance (FSC) is required to access or store CLASSIFIED (Secret or Top Secret) information and assets at your own site. Which one you need depends on the sensitivity of the work.

What personnel screening levels are there?

There are three: Reliability Status, for access to PROTECTED A and B information and assets; Secret; and Top Secret, each for access to information and assets classified at that level. The required personnel level follows the sensitivity of what your people will handle.

Can my company apply for clearance on its own?

No. An organization cannot self-apply to the Contract Security Program. It must be sponsored, normally by the contracting authority, once a solicitation or contract includes a security requirement.

Do I need to be cleared before I bid?

Not always. When a solicitation includes a Security Requirements Check List, the contracting authority can sponsor a bidder that does not yet hold the required clearance. You usually need to hold it before the contract is awarded or before accessing the protected or classified material.

Who runs the Contract Security Program?

The Contract Security Program is administered by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). It handles both organization screening (DOS and FSC) and personnel screening for federal contracts that carry a security requirement.

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