EvidenceSheet
NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · SA - System and Services Acquisition

SA-4(3) Acquisition Process | Development Methods, Techniques, and Practices

Require the developer of the system, system component, or system service to demonstrate the use of a system development life cycle process that includes: (a) organization-defined systems engineering methods; (b) organization-defined [Selection (one or more): systems security; privacy engineering methods]; and (c) organization-defined software development methods; testing, evaluation, assessment, verification, and validation methods; and quality control processes.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, SA-4(3). The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 in the compliance library.

Base controls and their enhancements. Which apply follows the baseline you are assessed against (for example FedRAMP Moderate or High, or the low, moderate and high baselines of SP 800-53B). Text in square brackets is a parameter your organisation sets.

10
artefacts
0
held by a system
1
at each review
hard
to go live
Document repository
where the evidence lives
teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

none for this control

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Test of Organizational processes for development methods, techniques, and processes · Document repository

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • System and services acquisition policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • System and services acquisition procedures · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Procedures addressing the integration of security and privacy requirements, descriptions, and criteria into the acquisition process · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Solicitation documents · Document repository
  • Acquisition documentation · Document repository
  • Acquisition contracts for the system, system component, or system service · Vendor register / contract repository
  • List of systems security and privacy engineering methods to be included in the developer’s system development life cycle process · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • List of software development methods to be included in the developer’s system development life cycle process · Document repository
  • List of testing, evaluation, or validation techniques to be included in the developer’s system development life cycle process · Document repository

First move

No system holds this evidence for you: it is people and documents. Reminders and routing to the owner still save time. Put the document under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a record with reviewer and date.

Common gaps auditors find

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

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SA-4(2) Acquisition Process | Design and Implementation Information for Controls · SA-4(5) Acquisition Process | System, Component, and Service Configurations