01 / Defined Responsibility
Three domains we provide. One we don't.
An FSO's responsibilities touch several distinct parts of an industrial security program. vFSO lets you engage 9th Story Foundry for the functions you need without pretending every organization needs the same arrangement.
Personnel Security
Keep clearance administration moving.
- Initiate and administer clearance processing in government systems
- Personnel security onboarding and offboarding
- Clearance status tracking and follow-up
- Personnel security records
- Required briefing and debriefing coordination
- Government-system interactions and supporting documentation
Facility Administration
Keep the security program operational.
- Program documentation and required records
- Recurring security administration
- Self-inspection preparation and support
- Findings and remediation tracking
- Program maintenance
- Defined coordination with DCSA and other stakeholders
Training Administration
Keep people informed—and prove it.
- Develop and maintain required security briefings
- Update materials as requirements and organizational needs change
- Deliver agreed-upon briefings and training
- Track completion
- Maintain training evidence and records
- Coordinate recurring and event-driven training requirements
Contract Administration
An intentional boundary.
- DD Form 254 administration
- Negotiation of classified contractual security requirements
- Classified contract compliance administration
- Ownership of contractual security obligations
We coordinate with the responsible function when these activities intersect with our assigned domains, but responsibility remains outside the vFSO engagement.
02 / The Responsibility Map
Every vFSO engagement begins with clear ownership.
Before work begins, we document the responsibilities within the engagement: what 9th Story Foundry owns, what the client owns, what we share, who holds required authority, and what remains outside scope.
9th Story Owns
Defined recurring responsibilities within the selected domains. We perform the agreed work, maintain the associated records and documentation, surface issues requiring attention, and remain accountable for the activities assigned to us.
We Share
Activities requiring coordination, information, decisions, access, or participation from both organizations. Shared doesn't mean undefined—the Responsibility Map establishes who initiates, who participates, and who decides.
You Own
Executive authority, organizational decisions, contractual obligations, internal resources, required approvals, and responsibilities that cannot or should not be delegated.
Fractional doesn't mean ambiguous.
03 / Right-Sized Support
Build the vFSO engagement your program actually needs.
Select the domains you need. We define the responsibilities within those domains and scale the engagement according to the size, activity, and complexity of your security program.
Personnel Security
Personnel Security Administration
For organizations that primarily need experienced support keeping personnel clearance activities moving.
Personnel + Facility
Personnel Security + Facility Administration
For organizations that need ongoing personnel administration alongside maintenance of the broader facility security program.
Full vFSO
Personnel + Facility + Training
Our most comprehensive standard engagement, covering all three vFSO domains.
Custom
A different combination?
Training-only, Facility + Training, or another appropriate combination can be scoped around the responsibilities your organization actually needs.
04 / Scale & Complexity
Same domains. Very different programs.
Managing personnel security for forty cleared employees supporting two classified contracts is fundamentally different from supporting hundreds of personnel across a large, distributed, multi-contract environment.
vFSO pricing reflects both the domains we assume and the operational demands within them.
From small and straightforward to large and complex, we scope the responsibility before we price the engagement.
Cleared population
Personnel-security activity volume
Number of classified contracts
Facilities and entities in scope
Government components and customers
Training population and requirements
Program complexity
Geographic dispersion
Required reporting and coordination
05 / Why vFSO
Get the function without building the position around it.
For many smaller and mid-sized organizations, industrial security creates an awkward staffing problem. The work matters. It requires experience, continuity, and accountability. But the workload may not justify another full-time position.
Experienced
Senior-level industrial security experience applied to the work that needs it.
Practical
Processes designed around your actual organization—not administrative theater.
Continuous
Ongoing ownership rather than episodic cleanup before an inspection.
Prepared
Records, documentation, training, and recurring activities maintained as part of normal operation.
06 / Our Approach
An extension of your organization. Not a black box.
We work collaboratively with leadership, employees, government stakeholders, customers, and other security functions as the engagement requires.
We communicate clearly, document decisions, surface problems early, and keep responsibility visible.
The objective isn't to make 9th Story Foundry indispensable.
It's to make the security program dependable.
07 / Fractional Facility Security Officer
Security programs need ownership.
You may need help with personnel clearance administration. You may need someone maintaining the facility security program. You may need a functioning security training program. Or you may need all three.
We'll start by understanding the program, identifying the right domains, defining responsibility, and sizing an engagement that fits the work.
Fractional doesn't mean ambiguous.
