What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on SR-6 Supplier Assessments and Reviews?

Supply chain risk management policy and procedures; Supply chain risk management strategy; Supply chain risk management plan; System and services acquisition policy; Procedures addressing supply chain protection; Procedures addressing the integration of information security requirements into the acquisition process.

What is the most common gap auditors find on SR-6?

Suppliers are assessed once at onboarding and never reviewed again at the organization-defined frequency

NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · SR - Supply Chain Risk Management

`SR-6` Supplier Assessments and Reviews

Assess and review the supply chain-related risks associated with suppliers or contractors and the system, system component, or system service they provide organization-defined frequency.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, SR-6. 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.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

hard

to go live

Policy repository / GRC workspace

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

Records of supplier due diligence reviews · Vendor register / contract repository
Test of Organizational processes for conducting supplier reviews; mechanisms supporting and/or implementing supplier reviews · Vendor register / contract repository

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Supply chain risk management policy and procedures · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Supply chain risk management strategy · Document repository
Supply chain risk management plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System and services acquisition policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Procedures addressing supply chain protection · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Procedures addressing the integration of information security requirements into the acquisition process · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System security plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace

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

Suppliers are assessed once at onboarding and never reviewed again at the organization-defined frequency
Supplier assessments cover financial standing but not the supply chain risks of the component or service provided

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.

Build my evidence sheet

SR-5(2) Acquisition Strategies, Tools, and Methods | Assessments Prior to Selection, Acceptance, Modification, or… · SR-6(1) Supplier Assessments and Reviews | Testing and Analysis