Secure facility
accreditation.
SCIF accreditation is the formal approval of a facility for classified processing by the cognizant Accrediting Official, based on ICD-705, the Fixed Facility Checklist, and the body of evidence. Salian Defense assembles the package and walks it through the AO directly, so the facility is ready to sign, not handed over with a wish of good luck.
What is SCIF accreditation?
SCIF accreditation is the formal approval of a facility to process, store, or discuss Sensitive Compartmented Information, granted by the cognizant Accrediting Official (AO) based on ICD-705, the Fixed Facility Checklist, and the body of evidence. Accreditation means the AO has determined the facility meets the physical and technical standards for the protection level it will host.
The contractor's security requirements flow from the contract and the DD-254, within the authority of the Cognizant Security Authority (CSA). Salian Defense assembles the evidence and works the package with the AO directly, then sustains the accreditation for the life of the program.
The accreditation process, step by step.
Accreditation is earned across the build, not at the end of it. The table below maps each step to who owns it and what it produces, so the body of evidence is complete and defensible when the AO inspects the space.
| Step | What happens | Primary output |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Requirement and authority | Identify the cognizant AO or CSA, the protection level, and the security requirements that flow from the contract and DD-254. | Confirmed authority and protection level |
| 2. Concept approval | Submit the design and Construction Security Plan for AO concept approval before construction begins. | Approved concept and CSP |
| 3. Construction security | Build under construction security oversight, install sound attenuation, and where required install and test RF and TEMPEST shielding. | Compliant as-built space, test results |
| 4. Body of evidence | Complete the Fixed Facility Checklist and assemble drawings, IDS and access-control documentation, and the CSP record. | Fixed Facility Checklist package |
| 5. Inspection and sign-off | The AO inspects against ICD-705, resolves findings, establishes co-use agreements where needed, and grants accreditation. | Accreditation and any co-use memorandum |
| 6. Maintain | Sustain through self-inspections, configuration management, and re-accreditation as the facility or its use changes. | Continued accreditation |
Steps overlap in practice and the specific roles vary by Cognizant Security Authority. Standards and process are general; nothing on this page is program-specific.
What accreditation turns on.
Wall, floor, and ceiling assemblies, doors, and penetrations built to ICD-705 so the perimeter resists surreptitious and forced entry to the standard the protection level requires.
Acoustic protection to the required Sound Group so that classified discussion is not audible outside the perimeter. Amplified-sound areas carry a higher standard than normal-conversation areas.
Intrusion detection systems, access control, and alarm response documented and tested. Closed-storage facilities carry stricter detection and response requirements than working spaces.
Where the threat assessment calls for it, TEMPEST countermeasures and RF shielding are installed and verified by measurement, and the test results join the body of evidence.
Construction complete is not accreditation ready.
Two projects share the same site. One ends when the walls close. The other ends when someone can show how every part of that space was built, tested and protected while it was being built. Only the first is visible on a walkthrough.
The second project lives in the as-built drawing set, the test records, the product certifications, a Construction Security Plan that was actually followed, and a Fixed Facility Checklist that describes the space as it exists rather than as it was drawn. When a facility program runs out of money or patience, it is almost always because the second project was never put on the schedule.
The practical consequence is that the last stretch of a secure facility project is rarely construction. It is reconciliation: matching what was built to what was drawn, working out who witnessed which test, and re-establishing contact with an authority that has not heard from the project in a year.
What usually goes wrong
Penetrations, backing, wall assemblies and cable pathways stop being observable the moment they are covered. Reconstructing that record afterwards costs more than capturing it as it happened, and it convinces fewer people.
Substituted hardware, a relocated door, a rerouted conduit. Each is defensible on its own and none of them reach the drawing set. The submission then describes a facility that does not exist.
A project that coordinates with the AO/CSA once at the beginning and once at the end has spent the whole middle guessing. Late coordination is recoverable. Late coordination that hides what happened is not.
An intrusion detection system that is mounted, an access control head end that is powered, shielding that is up: none of that is a test result. A test has a witness, a date, and a document that survives the project.
The Construction Security Plan and the Fixed Facility Checklist belong to the project rather than to a trade, which is exactly how they end up belonging to nobody. Both need a named owner in the first week.
Whether these requirements apply is an answer the AO/CSA gives in writing, including when the answer is that they do not apply. Left open, it blocks design decisions that a great deal of other work depends on.
What you need to know before you check
- The Fixed Facility Checklist records a facility's as-built characteristics against ICD-705. It is the spine of the package, not a cover sheet.
- The Construction Security Plan governs how the space is protected while it is being built. Most of its value is the record it leaves behind.
- Evidence is assembled as the work proceeds. Anything else is reconstruction, and reconstruction is slower and less convincing.
- TEMPEST and RF measures apply where the requirement and the threat assessment call for them, not on every facility.
- The reviewing authority is a participant in the project, not an audience for it.
Are you actually ready for accreditation?
Sixteen planning-level questions across four areas. Answer yes, no, or not sure. What comes back is a picture in five lines you can take into your own project meeting: where construction stands, what the evidence package is missing, what still has to be tested, what still has to be coordinated, and who holds the determination.
Input rule. Do not enter classified facility details. Planning-level inputs only. Your answers stay in this browser unless you choose to send them.
What Salian does, and what Salian does not control.
Salian prepares the package, builds or corrects the space, arranges and witnesses the testing, writes the record, and coordinates with the AO/CSA through to the determination. On a recovery that starts with a walk of the space against the drawings and an honest list of what is missing.
No contractor accredits a facility. The determination, the inspection schedule, and how the standard is applied to your specific space rest with the applicable Accrediting Official or Cognizant Security Authority. Salian also does not control your landlord, your funding, or a carrier's delivery date, though it will tell you plainly when one of those is the actual problem.
If you send the picture, someone at Salian reads it rather than routing it. What comes back is what Salian would want to see next, usually the drawing set, the deficiency list and the record of coordination to date, and a straight view on whether the remaining work is weeks or quarters.
A location, a lease, or a configuration sometimes cannot support the requirement without changes nobody will fund. Salian says so early and in writing rather than billing through a year of the alternative.
Sources.
The standards this page describes, as published.
- Intelligence Community Directive 705, with implementing specifications ICS 705-1 and ICS 705-2. Office of the Director of National Intelligence. dni.gov, Intelligence Community Directives Retrieved 2026-09-02
- IC Technical Specifications for the Construction and Management of Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities, version 1.5.1 (the TSPM). ODNI, National Counterintelligence and Security Center. dni.gov, IC Technical Specifications (PDF) Retrieved 2026-09-02
Standards are revised. Confirm the current version, and what your Cognizant Security Authority applies to your facility, before relying on anything summarised here.
SCIF accreditation, answered.
What is SCIF accreditation?
Who accredits a SCIF?
What is the Fixed Facility Checklist?
When is TEMPEST or RF shielding required for accreditation?
What is co-use accreditation?
Is a finished SCIF the same thing as a facility ready for accreditation?
What goes into an accreditation evidence package?
Can a contractor decide that a facility is accredited?
Accreditation that holds, walked through with you.
Salian Defense does not hand over a binder and step back. We assemble the body of evidence, complete the Fixed Facility Checklist, and stay in the room for the inspection and AO sign-off, whether the space is a new build or an existing facility that needs to reach accreditation. If you are mid-project, start with the readiness check above and send the picture across. If you are earlier than that, the Scope intake is a short, unclassified set of questions that maps your path. Nothing classified is required for either.