Parliament security manual goes missing

A 1000-page manual on the multi-million dollar security upgrade to Parliament House has been missing for almost a year, a Senate committee has heard.

Labor senator Kimberley Kitching told a estimates hearing in Canberra on Monday a contractor lost the manual last November.

That raised questions about whether the project - expected to cost $126 million - would need to be reconfigured at extra cost to taxpayers, she said.

Senate President Stephen Parry told the committee the manual related to "matters that would have taken place in the future" and half of it included commercially available material.

The Department of Parliamentary Services had since modified the manual, making many aspects of the missing "early draft" redundant, he said.

"It is not a serious breach of security and security of Parliament House has not been compromised," he said.

The loss of the manual was not reported by company that lost it until February this year.

The committee heard the company was still working on the security upgrade project, but had been asked to improve its handling of sensitive information and had some of its contractual documentation amended.

An investigation by a private contractor - who was not named but was said to have "very strong reputation" - found no grounds for the Australian Federal Police or ASIO to take further action.

"This isn't a matter the AFP would be engaged in - it was not identifiably a criminal matter," department secretary Robert Stefanic said.

Despite the investigation, Senator Parry admitted to the committee the document's whereabouts was still unknown.

Neither the prime minister, nor the attorney-general or justice minister were told by the Department of Parliamentary Services of the document going missing.