SCIP (secure communications interoperability protocol)

SCIP stands for Secure Communications Interoperability Protocol. It is a protocol that lets secure voice and data communications work across compatible networks and terminals. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security uses this expansion in its course acronyms list and describes Canadian devices as SCIP devices.

SCIP is used in secure telecommunications and defence communications. NATO treats it as a family of technical specifications with related implementation guidance. In Canada, the Communications Security Establishment and the Cyber Centre publish material on SCIP equipment, keying and training.

The SCIP standards family in the NATO catalogue

The NATO Interoperability Standards and Profiles catalogue lists SCIP as a set of related standards rather than a single document. The listed items cover:

• SCIP signalling and negotiation;
• SCIP network operation over VoIP and Real-time Transport Protocol;
• SCIP secure applications; and
• X.509 as it applies to SCIP.

The same catalogue identifies AComP-5068, Secure Communications Interoperability Protocol, as the NATO publication that gives further guidance for implementing SCIP specifications.

SCIP devices used by the Government of Canada

The Cyber Centre names two pieces of equipment as SCIP devices. The first is Secure Terminal Equipment (STE), and the Centre offers computer-based training on STE that is associated with SCIP. The second is vIPer. The Cyber Centre's vIPer course page describes it as a SCIP device that supports secure and non-secure calls over VoIP and analogue networks. It protects information classified Top Secret/SCI and below.

Rekey guides, KSD-64 and COMSEC handling

SCIP equipment sits inside the Government of Canada's communications security (COMSEC) system. The Communications Security Establishment published a bulletin titled Secure communications interoperability protocol (SCIP) rekey guides. A companion publication addresses the availability of rekey guides for products compliant with SCIP.

Canadian COMSEC procedures in ITSA-52 state that the KSD-64 key-storage device is used to key SCIP devices. It is used until Secure Data Network System (SDNS) keys can be distributed electronically to Government of Canada COMSEC accounts. Suppliers working near this equipment will meet the terms COMSEC, SDNS, KSD-64 and STE alongside SCIP.

A separate SCIP: the AI compute program

The acronym is also used by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada for the AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program, described in its program guide. That program has no connection to the secure communications protocol. Bid teams searching for SCIP opportunities should check which meaning a notice or document uses.

What SCIP means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

SCIP shows up in Canadian government work on secure communications terminals, classified telecommunications and COMSEC key management. The public sources document SCIP-related equipment, training, keying and handling procedures. They do not identify a general Government of Canada contract clause, or a named tender, that requires suppliers to implement SCIP.

A supplier should therefore not assume a SCIP obligation because a procurement concerns communications or defence. Any requirement has to be written into the solicitation. Check the technical requirements, security requirements, statement of work, listed standards and contract clauses. If SCIP is named, confirm which specifications apply and whether the work involves COMSEC material and the related handling procedures.