Are you ready to start
a secure facility project?
Answer planning-level questions about the requirement, the schedule, the space, the building, the technical scope, the people and the paperwork. You get back a readiness picture: what is already in place, what is missing before construction should begin, who has not been brought in yet, what evidence has not been started, and the order to work in. No verdict, no figure, no gate.
Nobody tells you what has to be true before you build.
A secure facility project is not mainly a construction project. It is a set of conditions that have to be true at the same time: a requirement somebody outside your organization owns, a space that can physically carry the construction, technical standards named by the authority that will inspect the result, a set of people who have to be in the room, and a record that will still make sense to a reviewer two years from now.
Most teams discover those conditions one at a time, in the order that the project happens to surface them, which is almost never the order that would have been cheapest. By the time the gap appears, the lease is signed, the drawings are done, or the walls are closed.
The same handful of gaps, in the same order.
- The requirement is assumed rather than held. Work starts against a security scope nobody has written down, and the scope moves when the DD-254 or its equivalent finally arrives.
- The space is chosen on rent. A building is selected for cost and location, then surveyed, and the perimeter cannot be made continuous or the structure will not carry the construction.
- The technical standard is inherited from the last project. Attenuation, storage and detection are assumed from experience instead of being named by the AO/CSA, and the difference shows up at inspection.
- The landlord is asked last. Secure construction alters the building, and approval, often a lease amendment, is needed before design money is committed.
- The systems people arrive after the pathways are poured. Networking, secure communications and equipment rooms need to be in the design, not added to it.
- The evidence is treated as closeout. The construction security plan, drawings, checklist and test records are assembled at the end, and the accreditation waits on paperwork rather than on the building.
Seven things a project is checked against.
These are the areas the tool below asks about. They are the same areas a competent reviewer walks through on a first call, and none of them require anything sensitive to answer.
- Mission requirement. What work happens in the space, what handling requirement applies, which authority or customer is driving it, and whether a DD-254 or equivalent source requirement exists.
- Schedule. The operational date, whether a contract sets it, and whether work has to start before the space opens.
- Space. Existing building, new construction, tenant improvement, an unsigned lease, candidate sites, customer-owned space, or a modular or mobile unit.
- Building conditions. Structure, landlord approval, floor location, penetrations, mechanical, electrical, pathways, access, perimeter continuity and room to expand.
- Technical requirements. Acoustic, RF and TEMPEST, intrusion detection, access control, networking, secure communications, classified storage and equipment rooms. Not every project needs every element.
- Stakeholders. Government customer, AO/CSA, security officer, architect, engineer, general contractor, landlord, IT, the network accreditation authority, and the people who will use the space.
- Evidence. Construction security plan, drawings, fixed facility checklist, test records, certifications, commissioning records and the accreditation package.
Answer what you know. Skip what you do not.
The picture below updates as you answer and is produced entirely in your browser. Nothing is transmitted, and unanswered questions are reported as open rather than guessed at.
Do not enter classified facility details. Planning-level inputs only.
One accountable line across the secure environment.
Salian works the requirement back to what it implies: the space that can carry it, the technical elements it actually needs, the sequence, and a budgetary range. Where the blocker is a facility clearance rather than a building, Salian helps you identify and prepare for the sponsorship path.
SCIFs and SAPFs designed and built to ICD-705 and the current technical specifications, and closed areas to the NISPOM. Fixed facilities, or modular and mobile units through cleared partners. Where the requirement calls for shielding or acoustic performance, it is designed, installed and verified by measurement. You get the test records, not a promise.
The construction security plan, the drawing set, the fixed facility checklist, certifications, test and commissioning records are assembled while they are being created. Salian coordinates with the AO/CSA and stays in the room for the review. See how SCIF accreditation works.
Re-inspections, configuration changes and the day-to-day that keeps a facility in good standing. Salian also steps into stalled or partially built efforts and finds what is missing before proposing a way forward.
The determinations belong to the government.
The applicable Accrediting Official or Cognizant Security Authority accredits the facility. Salian scopes, designs, builds, prepares the accreditation package and coordinates with the AO/CSA, and carries a facility to accreditation. It does not accredit, and neither does any other contractor.
- Facility clearances are determined by DCSA or the applicable Cognizant Security Agency, and require a sponsor with a bona fide classified requirement.
- Facility accreditation is determined by the applicable AO/CSA against the requirement and the site.
- System authorization is determined by the Authorizing Official, on its own clock, separate from the building.
- CMMC certification is determined by an authorized C3PAO or the Department of Defense.
- Licensed design is sealed by the licensed architects and engineers the law requires, and specialty trades are delivered through cleared partners under Salian's schedule.
This tool is planning support. It is not a determination by any of those authorities, and no answer you give here changes what one of them will decide.
Three ways this usually goes.
- You keep the picture and act on it. Nothing is sent, nothing is stored. The recommended sequence is the same one Salian would work to.
- You want a budget line first. The Project Estimator returns a budgetary planning range from the same kind of planning-level input.
- You send the summary. Check the consent box under the picture. A Salian Defense program manager reviews it and contacts you at the email you gave to arrange a call. Nothing on that call is binding.
What does this tool actually tell me?
It compares your answers against the dependencies an ICD-705 secure facility project normally has to satisfy before construction starts, and returns four lists and a sequence: dependencies already in place, dependencies missing before construction should begin, stakeholders your answers say are not yet engaged, and evidence not yet started. It does not return a verdict, a figure or a decision. The judgement stays with you.
Do I have to give you my email to see the result?
No. The picture is produced in your browser as you answer, and nothing is transmitted. Sending a summary to Salian Defense is a separate, optional step at the bottom of the result that requires an explicit consent check.
What information should I not put into this tool?
Do not enter classified facility details. Planning-level inputs only. Nothing here asks for the location, configuration or as-built specifics of an accredited space, for the contents of a DD-254, or for controlled unclassified information, and none of that should be entered.
Does every secure facility need RF shielding, acoustic protection and intrusion detection?
No. Not every project needs every element. What a given facility requires is set by the applicable Accrediting Official or Cognizant Security Authority against the mission and the handling requirement. A project that selects fewer technical elements is not an incomplete project, it is usually a cheaper one, and assuming requirements nobody has named is one of the most common sources of avoidable cost.
Do I need a facility clearance before starting?
A facility clearance and a facility accreditation are different things, decided by different authorities, and neither is a prerequisite for planning. A facility clearance requires a sponsor with a bona fide classified requirement. Salian helps you identify and prepare for the sponsorship path, and DCSA or the applicable Cognizant Security Agency makes the determination. To see where you stand, use the free five-gate readiness check or the FCL Navigator.
What happens if I send my summary to Salian?
A Salian Defense program manager reviews the summary and contacts you at the email you provided to arrange a call. On that call you get a read on feasibility and sequence. Nothing in the intake is binding, and nothing is stored unless you check the consent box.
What the questions are drawn from.
The dependency areas above follow the structure of the governing documents for accredited space and the security requirement that drives them. Requirements for a specific facility come from the applicable AO/CSA, not from this page.
- ICD 705, Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities The Intelligence Community Directive that establishes the standard for SCIF accreditation and reciprocity.
- ICS 705-1 and ICS 705-2 The Intelligence Community Standards for the physical and technical security of SCIFs, and for their standards and procedures.
- IC Technical Specifications for ICD/ICS 705 The technical specification set that construction, acoustic protection, shielding, intrusion detection and access control are designed and inspected against.
- 32 CFR Part 117, the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual The rule governing classified work in industry, including the DD-254 that carries a contract's security requirements and the facility clearance process.
Citations are to the governing documents by name. Access to some of these is controlled; your security officer or the AO/CSA is the right route to the current text.
Bring the project as it is, not as it should look.
Stalled builds, an unsigned lease, a requirement that arrived after award, a facility that did not survive its inspection: those are the normal starting points, not the embarrassing ones. Tell us what you are trying to accomplish and we will tell you which problem it actually is.