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Date updated: July 31, 2015 

NIST Special Publication 800-79-1

Guidelines for the Accreditation of Personal Identity Verification 

Card Issuers June 2008 July 30, 2015

SP 800-79-1 is superseded in its entirety by the publication of SP 

800-79-2 (July 2015). NIST Special Publication 800-79-2

Guidelines for the Authorization of Personal Identity Verification Card 

Issuers (PCI) and Derived PIV Credential Issuers (DPCI)

H. Ferraiolo; R. Chandramouli; N. Ghadiali; J. Mohler; S. Shorter

July 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-79-2 Computer Security Division (Information Technology Laboratory)

SP 800-79-2 (as of July 30, 2015) http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/piv/ N/A
 NIST Special Publication 800-79-1 Guidelines for the Accreditation of 

Personal Identity Verification Card 

Issuers 

Ramaswamy Chandramouli 

Dennis Bailey 

Nabil Ghadiali 

Dennis Branstad 

INFORMATION SECURITY

Computer Security Division 

Information Technology Laboratory 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8930

June 2008 

U.S. Department of Commerce 

Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

James M. Turner, Acting Director & Deputy Director
Reports on Computer Systems Technology 

The Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) at the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST) stimulates U.S. economic growth and industrial competitiveness through 

technical leadership and collaborative research in critical infrastructure technology, including 

tests, test methods, reference data, and forward-looking standards, to advance the development 

and productive use of information technology. To overcome barriers to usability, scalability, 

interoperability, and security in information systems and networks, ITL programs focus on a 

broad range of networking, security, and advanced information technologies, as well as the 

mathematical, statistical, and computational sciences. The Special Publication 800-series reports 

on ITL’s research, guidelines, and outreach efforts in information system security, and its 

collaborative activities with industry, government, and academic organizations. 
Authority, Usage, and Revisions 

This document has been developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

(NIST) in furtherance of its statutory responsibilities under Homeland Security Presidential 

Directive 12, signed August 27, 2004. 

NIST is responsible for developing standards and guidelines, including specifying minimum 

requirements, for providing adequate information security for all organizational operations and 

assets, but such standards and guidelines shall not apply to national security systems. This 

guideline is consistent with the requirements of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 

Circular A-130, Section 8b(3), Securing Agency Information Systems, as analyzed in A-130, 

Appendix IV: Analysis of Key Sections. Supplemental information is provided A-130, Appendix 

III. 

This document has been prepared for use by Federal agencies but it also may be used by nongovernmental organizations on a voluntary basis. Nothing in this document should be taken to 

contradict standards and guidelines made mandatory and binding on Federal agencies by the 

Secretary of Commerce under statutory authority. This document should not be interpreted as 

altering or superseding the existing authorities of the Secretary of Commerce, Director of the 

Office of Management and Budget, or any other Federal official. This document is not subject to 

copyright but attribution for its adoption and use would be appreciated by NIST. 

Comments may be submitted to the Computer Security Division, 

Information Technology Laboratory, NIST 

via electronic mail at PIVaccreditation@nist.gov 

or via regular mail at 

100 Bureau Drive 

Mail Stop 8930 

Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8930 
Acknowledgments 

The authors wish to thank their colleagues who contributed to this document’s development and 

reviewed its many versions. We would especially like to thank Ron Martin from the Department 

of Health and Human Services; Kurt Kersch and Barry Colvin from the Department of Treasury, 

Internal Revenue Service; Miguel Calin from Mitre; Sarbari Gupta and Andrew Founds from 

Electrosoft Services; William MacGregor, Ketan Mehta, and Tanya Brewer from NIST, each for 

their technical inputs, Personal Identity Verification Card Issuer experience, SP 800-79-1 

document preparation assistance, and editorial suggestions. The authors also gratefully 

acknowledge and appreciate the many comments and contributions made by government 

organizations, private organizations, and individuals in providing direction and assistance in the 

development of this document.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... 1

1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 3

1.1 APPLICABILITY, INTENDED AUDIENCE, AND USAGE ...................................................................5 

1.2 HISTORY OF THIS REVISION.........................................................................................................5 

1.3 TIMELINES FOR USING THE REVISED GUIDELINES........................................................................6 

1.4 KEY RELATED NIST PUBLICATIONS ...........................................................................................6 

1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THIS SPECIAL PUBLICATION..........................................................................7 

2. THE FUNDAMENTALS ................................................................................................................. 8

2.1 PCI .............................................................................................................................................8 

2.2 PCI FACILITIES ...........................................................................................................................8 

2.3 OUTSOURCING OF PCI FUNCTIONS..............................................................................................9 

2.4 ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION ..........................................................................................10 

2.5 ACCREDITATION BOUNDARY FOR THE PCI ...............................................................................11 

2.6 PCI ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES ...........................................................................................12 

2.6.1 SENIOR AUTHORIZING OFFICIAL..................................................................................... 12 

2.6.2 DESIGNATED ACCREDITATION AUTHORITY .................................................................... 12 

2.6.3 ORGANIZATION IDENTITY MANAGEMENT OFFICIAL ....................................................... 12 

2.6.4 PCI FACILITY MANAGER ................................................................................................ 12 

2.6.5 ASSESSOR ....................................................................................................................... 13 

2.6.6 PIV CARD APPLICANT REPRESENTATIVE........................................................................ 13 

2.6.6 PRIVACY OFFICIAL.......................................................................................................... 13 

2.6.7 ROLE ASSIGNMENT POLICIES.......................................................................................... 13 

2.6.8 ACCREDITATION-RELATED PCI ROLES ........................................................................... 14 

2.7 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SP 800-79-1 AND SP 800-37 .....................................................14 

2.8 PREPARING FOR A PCI’S ASSESSMENT......................................................................................15 

2.8.1 PCI DUTIES..................................................................................................................... 15 

2.8.2 ASSESSMENT TEAM DUTIES ............................................................................................ 16 

2.9 ACCREDITATION DECISIONS......................................................................................................16 

2.9.1 AUTHORIZATION TO OPERATE ........................................................................................ 17 

2.9.2 INTERIM AUTHORIZATION TO OPERATE .......................................................................... 18 

2.9.3 DENIAL OF AUTHORIZATION TO OPERATE ...................................................................... 18 

2.10 THE USE OF RISK IN THE ACCREDITATION DECISION..............................................................19 

2.11 ACCREDITATION SUBMISSION PACKAGE AND SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION .......................19 

3. PIV CARD ISSUER (PCI) COMPLIANCE................................................................................... 22

3.1 INTRODUCING PCI CONTROLS ..................................................................................................22 

3.2 IMPLEMENTING PCI CONTROLS ................................................................................................24 

3.2.1 PCI CONTROLS IMPLEMENTED AT THE ORGANIZATION OR FACILITY LEVEL .................. 24 

4. ASSESSMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 26

4.1 ASSESSMENT METHODS ............................................................................................................27 

4.2 THE ASSESSMENT REPORT........................................................................................................29 

5.0 ACCREDITATION..................................................................................................................... 32

5.1 INITIATION PHASE.....................................................................................................................32 
5.2 ASSESSMENT PHASE..................................................................................................................35 

5.3 ACCREDITATION PHASE ............................................................................................................38 

5.4 MONITORING PHASE .................................................................................................................40 

APPENDIX A: REFERENCES.......................................................................................................... 43

APPENDIX B: GLOSSARY AND ACRONYMS .................................................................................. 45

APPENDIX C: PCI READINESS REVIEW CHECKLIST.................................................................. 48

APPENDIX D: PCI OPERATIONS PLAN TEMPLATE..................................................................... 50

APPENDIX E: ASSESSMENT REPORT TEMPLATE........................................................................ 53

APPENDIX F: SAMPLE TRANSMITTAL AND DECISION LETTERS ................................................ 55

APPENDIX G: PCI CONTROLS AND ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES................................................ 59

APPENDIX H: ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION TASKS FOR PIV CARD ISSUERS (PCIS)...... 77

TABLES AND FIGURES

FIGURE 1 - OUTSOURCING OF PCI FUNCTIONS............................................................................. 9

FIGURE 2 - PCI ACCREDITATION ROLES .................................................................................... 14

FIGURE 3 - ACCREDITATION SUBMISSION PACKAGE.................................................................. 21

TABLE 1 - PATS AND ASSOCIATED ACCREDITATION FOCUS AREAS ......................................... 24

TABLE 2 - PAT, ACCREDITATION FOCUS AREA, AND PCI CONTROL RELATIONSHIPS ............ 24

TABLE 3 - SAMPLE PCI CONTROLS WITH ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES...................................... 29

FIGURE 4 - SAMPLE ASSESSMENT REPORT ................................................................................. 30

FIGURE 6 - ACCREDITATION PHASES .......................................................................................... 32
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), dated August 27, 2004, established a 

policy for creation, issuance, and use of personal identification credentials in the Federal 

government. The Directive requires the development and use of a standard for a secure and 

reliable form of identification for Federal employees and contractors. The Personal Identity 

Verification (PIV) specifications of the resulting standard are to be used as a foundation for 

securely identifying every individual seeking access to valuable and sensitive Federal resources, 

including buildings, information systems, and computer networks. The implementation of PIV 

specifications will, in turn, involve operations such as the collection, access protection, and 

dissemination of large amounts of personal information, which itself requires privacy protection. 

NIST developed and published the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 201-1, 

entitled Personal Identity Verification of Federal Employees and Contractors, as well as several 

NIST Special Publications (SPs) providing additional specifications and supporting information 

in response to HSPD-12. These documents provide the required foundation for standardizing the 

processes relating to adoption and use of government-wide personal identification credentials 

and the issuance of PIV smart cards as a means to verify the identity of the credential holders. 

In light of the requirements for both improved security and protection of personal privacy, 

HSPD-12 established four control objectives, one of which includes the call for a form of 

identification that is “issued by providers whose reliability has been established by an official 

accreditation process.” In response, Appendix B of FIPS 201-1 specified that NIST “...establish 

a government-wide program to accredit official issuers of PIV Cards...,” which led to 

development of this NIST SP, entitled Guidelines for the Accreditation of Personal Identity 

Verification Card Issuers. 

The purpose of this SP is to provide appropriate and useful guidelines for accrediting the 

reliability of issuers of Personal Identity Verification cards that are established to collect, store, 

and disseminate personal identity credentials and issue smart cards, based on the standards 

published in response to HSPD-12. These issuers, who are the target of assessment and 

accreditation, are called Personal Identity Verification Card Issuers or PCIs. The reliability of 

PCIs is of utmost importance when one organization (e.g., a Federal agency or Federal 

contractor) is required to trust the identity credentials and cards of individuals that were created 

and issued, respectively, by another organization. This trust will only exist if organizations 

relying on the credentials and cards issued by a given organization have the necessary level of 

assurance that the reliability of the issuing organization has been established through a formal 

accreditation process. 

This SP provides an assessment and accreditation methodology for verifying that issuers of PIV 

credentials and cards are reliably adhering to standards and implementation directives developed 

under HSPD-12. The salient features of the methodology are: 

(i) Controls derived from specific requirements in FIPS 201-1 and relevant documents 

for PCIs; 

1 
(ii) Procedures for assessing and monitoring adherence to the requirements through a 

determination of control implementation; and 

(iii) Guidance for evaluating the result of an assessment in order to arrive at the 

accreditation decision. 

Arriving at an accreditation decision that authorizes a PCI to operate establishes the reliability of 

that PCI. 

Accreditation is one a basis for establishing trust of PCIs and requires that all assessment and 

accreditation processes be thorough and comprehensive. Careful planning, preparation, and 

commitment of time, energy, and resources are required. These guidelines are designed to assist 

agencies in creating the needed roles, assigning responsibilities, developing an acceptable 

operations plan, drawing a PCI’s accreditation boundary, evaluating the findings of all reliability 

assessments, and making a proper decision for accrediting the PCI. Realizing that organizations 

may vary significantly in how they choose to structure their PCI operations, these guidelines 

have been developed to support organizational flexibility, and are designed to minimize the 

effort needed to assess, accredit, and monitor the continued reliability of a PCI. 

 

In addition to flexibility and efficiency, the accreditation methodology defined in these 

guidelines generates assessment findings and resulting accreditation decisions that are consistent 

and repeatable. These characteristics provide assurance to an organization’s management that 

when a PCI has been accredited based on these guidelines, the target of accreditation can be 

trusted as a provider of secure and reliable identification credentials as required by HSPD-12. 

This document shall be used by both small and large organizations where processes performed 

by their PCIs relating to PIV Card issuance are: 

• Centrally located; 

• Geographically dispersed; or 

• Outsourced in varying degrees to another organization(s) or service provider(s). 

2 
1. INTRODUCTION 

In order to enhance security, increase Government efficiency, reduce identity fraud, and protect 

personal privacy, the President issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), 

Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors, dated 

August 27, 2004. This Directive established a Federal policy to create and use a governmentwide secure and reliable form of identification for Federal employees and contractors. It further 

defined secure and reliable identification as one that— 

• Is issued based on sound criteria for verifying an individual’s identity; 

• Is strongly resistant to identity fraud, tampering, counterfeiting, and terrorist exploitation; 

• Can be rapidly authenticated electronically; and 

• Is issued only by providers whose reliability has been established by an official 

accreditation process. 

NIST developed and published Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 201-1, entitled 

Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors, and several Special 

Publications providing additional specifications and supporting information in response to 

HSPD-12. These documents provide the foundation for Government personal identification, 

verification, and access control systems. 

Appendix B.1 of FIPS 201-1 states the following: 

 “... [HSPD-12] requires that all cards be issued by providers whose reliability has been 

established by an official accreditation process. Funding permitting, NIST will establish detailed 

criteria that PIV Card Issuers must meet for accreditation. Additionally, NIST will (again, 

funding permitting) establish a government-wide program to accredit official issuers of PIV 

Cards against these accreditation criteria. Until such time as these are completed, agencies must 

self-certify their own issuers of PIV Cards...” 

In order to satisfy HSPD-12 and FIPS 201-1, NIST undertook the development of the Guidelines 

for the Certification and Accreditation of PIV Card Issuers and published them as NIST Special 

Publication (SP) 800-79. This document is the first revision to the original. The revised SP 800-

79-1 provides a more technically-based approach to assure that a PCI is fulfilling all the 

requirements of FIPS 201-1 and its supporting documents, and doing so reliably. In this revised 

document, a PCI is considered to be owned and managed by an organization which may be a 

Federal department, agency, state or local government, private entity, or other enterprise that 

desires to issue reliable PIV Cards. Ensuring the reliability of a PCI is of critical importance in 

light of the security and privacy implications of HSPD-12 and its far-reaching objective of 

issuing PIV Cards to millions of employees and contractors. HSPD-12 and its implementing 

standards and guidelines were developed to address a range of security concerns, including those 

posed by terrorists in a post-9/11 world. Providing a comprehensive set of standards for 

controlling access to the physical and logical resources through the use of a standard PIV Card 

assures that certain pre-defined levels of security can be achieved. However, it requires 

organizations to implement and use the standards in a consistent and reliable manner. 

3 
An organization must have confidence in the cards it issues to its own employees and 

contractors, but possibly more importantly, since HSPD-12 requires a common inter-operable 

standard, all organizations need to have confidence in the cards issued by other organizations. 

This confidence can come about only if the PCI functions in those other organizations are 

assessed and accredited. Thus, PCI accreditation forms an important task in meeting the endgoals of HSPD-12. 

NIST has considerable experience in the development of accreditation methodology, most 

significantly with the widely accepted approach to accreditation in SP 800-37, Guide for the 

Security Certification and Accreditation of Federal Information Systems, and its family of 

related documents. While SP 800-37 is focused on the accreditation of the security of 

information systems, rather than the accreditation of the reliability of PCIs, it does offer a 

practical foundation for accreditation programs in general. This document utilizes various 

aspects of SP 800-37 and applies them to accrediting the reliability of PCIs. Accreditation of a 

PCI requires prior accreditation of the security of all information systems used by the PCI in 

accordance with SP 800-37. 

One difference between the accreditation of the security of information systems and the 

accreditation of the reliability of a PCI is that an organization has considerable flexibility in how 

they prepare for a SP 800-37 accreditation (particularly in implementing security controls), but 

have little room for variation under SP 800-79-1. Much of the flexibility in SP 800-37 comes 

from the necessity of acceptable variations in security controls, since individual information 

systems within varied environments may have significantly different security requirements. 

Conversely, the desire for standardization that is implicit in HSPD-12 has led to the development 

of a stable set of requirements. There may be some flexibility in how a requirement is met, but a 

majority of requirements must be satisfied in a uniform manner in order to deem a PCI as 

reliable. Allowing too much latitude in how a requirement is met undermines this reliability. 

Although organizations may feel constrained by the uniformity required by FIPS 201-1, 

standardization greatly contributes to achieving the objectives of HSPD-12 across PIV Card 

Issuer implementations. For all organizations to accept the PIV Cards of other organizations, one 

set of rules (i.e., FIPS 201-1) must be followed by all PIV system participants. This Special 

Publication provides a way of determining if the participants are following these rules. 

Accreditation efforts that are consistent, reliable, and repeatable provide a basis for determining 

the reliability and capability of providers who issue PIV Cards, which herein is defined as 

consistent adherence to the PIV standards. In particular, if PCIs meet the requirements of FIPS 

201-1 and relevant documents as verified through applicable assessment procedures and 

maintain consistency of their operations with respect to meeting these criteria, they can be 

considered reliable as is required by HSPD-12. 

The objectives of the guidelines in this document are to— 

• Outline the requirements to be met by a PCI, the rationale for the requirements and the 

assessment procedures required to determine the satisfaction of those requirements by a 

PCI through a combination of policies, procedures, and operations. 

4 
• Describe an accreditation methodology that provides a framework for organizing the 

requirements and assessment procedures stated above and at the same time provides 

coverage for all the control objectives stated in HSPD-12. 

• Demonstrate the fact that the application of the methodology will result in assessment 

outcomes that are consistent, reliable, and repeatable. 

• Emphasize the role of risk in arriving at an accreditation decision, based on assessment 

outcomes that takes into account the organization’s mission.

1.1 Applicability, Intended Audience, and Usage 

This document is applicable to, and shall be used by, all Federal organizations for all their 

employees and contractors for authorizing their physical access to Federal facilities (e.g., 

buildings, leased offices) and logical access to Federal information systems. It may also be used 

by any other organization (e.g., state and local government, educational, non-profit) desiring 

compliance with FIPS 201-1. 

All Federal organizations are required to adopt HSPD-12, implement FIPS 201-1, and use SP 

800-79-1 to assess the adequacy of their implementations and accredit the reliability of the 

directly-controlled or sub-contracted services involved in creating and issuing PIV Cards. All 

non-Federal organizations (e.g., state governments) and private organizations specifying 

mandatory conformance with FIPS 201-1 in a procurement contract should use these guidelines 

to assess and accredit the services of their PIV Card Issuers. 

SP 800-79-1 is consistent and compatible with HSPD-12, FIPS 201-1, and SP 800-37. SP 800-

79-1 includes a number of roles, requirements, definitions, specifications, and procedures needed 

to adequately assess and accredit the reliability of a PIV Card Issuing organization (PCI). All 

PCIs should issue PIV Cards only after they have been authorized to operate based on this 

document. In situations where a PCI that has already started issuing cards fails a SP 800-79-1 

accreditation, it must immediately halt operations. Similarly, if the PCI that has already started 

issuing cards obtains a SP 800-79-1 accreditation subject to some terms and conditions, those 

restrictions must be immediately enforced in its operations. 

Once a PCI is accredited using the guidelines within this document, trust can be established in 

the PIV Cards it issues. However, organizations that accept PIV Cards issued by PCIs that are 

not accredited are doing so at their own risk, since no assurance has been obtained about the 

reliability of operations for those PCIs. 

The keywords "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", 

"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this 

specification are to be interpreted as described in IETF RFC 2119. 

1.2 History of this Revision 

In order to satisfy HSPD-12, SP 800-79 was developed in July 2005, shortly after publication of 

FIPS 201, in order to provide organizations with an initial set of guidelines for accreditation of 

their PIV Card Issuers. While the original version had a clear idea of the functions needed for 

5 
deployment of a PIV Card, it was impossible to foresee how the organization and management of 

these functions and the structuring of the PCI would evolve. The experience gained since then 

has provided the knowledge and perspective needed to develop a new accreditation methodology 

that is objective, efficient, and will result in consistent and repeatable accreditation decisions. 

The major changes for this revision include: 

• Removal of attributes as the basis of reliability assessment, and replacing them with PCI 

controls, traceable to specific requirements from FIPS 201-1 and related documents; 

• Additional guidelines on how to determine the accreditation boundaries of a PCI; 

• Discussion of the risk involved in authorizing the operation of a PCI; 

• Removal of “Section 4.0 - PCI Functions and Operations” and “Section 5.0 - PIV 

Services and Operations,” which were narrative discussions of FIPS 201-1 requirements; 

• Clarification of the similarities and differences between the accreditation of computer 

systems for secure operation as specified in SP 800-37 and the accreditation of the 

reliability of an organization as specified in SP 800-79-1; 

• Changing the term “certification” to “assessment”; and 

• Use of “organization” instead of “department” or “agency.” 

1.3 Timelines for using the revised Guidelines 

These revised guidelines for accrediting PCIs will take effect immediately following publication 

of SP 800-79-1. Hence, organizations shall use these revised guidelines for accrediting any new 

PCI, any PCI whose accreditation is currently in progress, or any PCI that previously has gone 

through accreditation (under SP 800-79) and failed (with or without being issued a Denial of 

Authorization to Operate (DATO) or Interim Authorization to Operate (IATO)). Any PCI that 

has already been accredited and currently holds the Authorization to Operate (ATO) under SP 

800-79 must be re-accredited based on these revised guidelines no later than one year after the 

final publication date. 

1.4 Key Related NIST Publications 

The following NIST publications include a standard and supporting specifications and guidelines 

to organizations implementing HSPD-12, and were utilized as the basis for requirements listed in 

this document. 

• FIPS 201-1, Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors

• SP 800-37, Guide for the Security Certification and Accreditation of Federal Information 

Systems 

• Draft SP 800-73-2, Interfaces for Personal Identity Verification

• SP 800-76-1, Biometric Data Specification for Personal Identity Verification

• SP 800-78-1, Cryptographic Algorithms and Key Sizes for Personal Identity Verification 

6 
• SP 800-85A, PIV Card Application and Middleware Interface Test Guidelines (SP 800-

73 Compliance)

• SP 800-85B, PIV Data Model Test Guidelines

• SP 800-87, Codes for Identification of Federal and Federally-Assisted Organizations

• SP 800-104, A Scheme for PIV Visual Card Topography

1.5 Organization of this Special Publication 

The remainder of this publication is organized as follows: 

• Chapter 2 provides background information needed to understand the PCI accreditation 

methodology, as well as the inputs and outputs involved in the assessment and 

accreditation processes. These include: (i) Definition of the target accreditation entities 

(PCI, PCI facilities, PCI boundaries); (ii) the relationship between accreditation under SP 

800-37 and accreditation under SP 800-79-1; (iii) preparatory tasks of accreditation 

including assignment of roles and responsibilities; (iv) three alternative accreditation 

decisions; (v) acceptance of risk in the accreditation decision; and (vi) the contents of the 

accreditation package. 

• Chapter 3 describes the building blocks of the PCI accreditation methodology, including 

Accreditation Topics, Accreditation Focus Areas, and the control requirements within 

each area called PCI controls. 

• Chapter 4 provides a detailed description of the assessment methods for the PCI controls 

whose outcomes form the basis for the accreditation decision. 

• Chapter 5 describes the 4 phases of the accreditation methodology and the tasks 

involved in each phase. 

• Appendices include— (i) references; (ii) glossary and acronyms; (iii) PCI readiness 

review checklist; (iv) PCI operations plan template; (v) assessment report template; (vi) 

sample accreditation transmittal and decision letters; (vii) PCI controls and assessment 

procedures; and (viii) summary of tasks and sub-tasks. 

7 
2. THE FUNDAMENTALS

This chapter presents the fundamentals of Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Card Issuer (PCI) 

accreditation including: (i) definitions of a PCI and a PCI Facility; (ii) outsourcing PCI services 

or functions; (iii) the differences between assessment and accreditation; (iv) accreditation 

boundaries of a PCI; (v) roles and responsibilities; (vi) the relationship between accreditation 

under Special Publication (SP) 800-37 and SP 800-79-1; (vii) preparing for the assessment; (viii) 

types of accreditation decisions; (ix) use of risk in the accreditation decision; and (x) the contents 

of the accreditation package. 

2.1 PCI 

At the highest level, a PCI includes all functions required to produce, issue, and maintain PIV 

Cards for an organization. A PCI is considered operational if all relevant roles and 

responsibilities have been defined and appointed; suitable policies and compliant procedures 

have been implemented for processes, including sponsorship, enrollment/identity proofing, 

adjudication, card production, card activation/issuance, and maintenance; and information 

system components that are utilized for performing the above-mentioned functions (processes) 

have been assessed and shown to meet all technical and operational requirements prescribed in 

FIPS 201-1 and related documents. 

In order to comply with Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), an 

organization must first establish a PCI that conforms to and satisfies the requirements of FIPS 

201-1 and related documents. The PCI must then be accredited (i.e., using the guidelines 

specified in SP 800-79-1). An organization has certain flexibility in establishing a PCI. It may 

outsource some of the required processes within its PCI. Large organizations with widely 

varying missions for its operating units may even establish multiple PCIs. Regardless of how a 

PCI is structured, the organization (e.g., Federal agency, Federal contractor) is responsible for 

the management and oversight of the PCI and maintains full responsibility for the accreditation 

of the PCI as required in HSPD-12. 

A PCI must be completely described in its PCI operations plan. This comprehensive document 

incorporates all the information about the PCI that is needed for any independent party to review 

it and assess the capability and reliability of the PCI’s operations. A PCI operations plan includes 

a description of the structure of the PCI, its facilities, any external service providers, the roles 

and responsibilities within the PCI, policies and procedures which govern its operations, and a 

description of how requirements of FIPS 201-1 are being met. A template for a PCI operations 

plan is provided in Appendix D. 

2.2 PCI Facilities 

A PCI Facility (PCIF) is a physical site or location–including all equipment, staff, and 

documentation–that is responsible for carrying out one or more of the following PIV functions: 

(i) enrollment/identity proofing; (ii) card production; (iii) card activation/issuance; or (iv) 

maintenance. A PCIF operates under the auspices of a PCI, and implements the policies and 

executes procedures prescribed by the PCI for those functions sanctioned for the facility (e.g. an 

enrollment/identity proofing facility). 

8 
Based on certain characteristics (e.g. size, geographic locations, the organization(s) that it 

supports), a PCI may have its services and functions provided centrally or distributed across 

multiple locations. Independent of how or where a PCI implements these functions, at least one 

PCIF is required. For example, a geographically dispersed organization may decide to have 

enrollment/identity proofing and card activation/issuance functions performed in different 

facilities in different parts of the country so that applicants can minimize travel. In this example, 

the different PCIFs fall under the purview (policy, management) of a single PCI which 

encompasses all the functions necessary to issue PIV Cards. Within that PCI, the geographically 

dispersed PCIFs have specific responsibilities and are under the direct management control of 

the PCI. 

2.3 Outsourcing of PCI Functions 

An organization may out-source its PCI functions to one or more organizations. As the 

complexity and cost of new technology increase, the organization may decide that the most 

efficient and cost-effective solution for implementing HSPD-12 is to seek the services of an 

external service provider. An external service provider may be a Government agency, a private 

entity, or some other organization that offers services or functions necessary to issue PIV Cards. 

Figure 1 provides an illustration of the functions that can be outsourced. Only the organization 

which “owns” (i.e., manages, controls, or privately owns) the PCI can decide which of its 

employees and contractors are required to apply for a PIV Card (Sponsorship – a responsible 

official of the organization providing the biographic and organizational affiliation of the PIV 

card applicant) and under what conditions the application will be approved (Adjudication – the 

kind of background information that will form the basis for authorization for PIV Card Issuance). 

Therefore, these two functions cannot be outsourced. 

Figure 1 - Outsourcing of PCI Functions

A PCI which out-sources services to an external provider must make sure that all privacy-related 

requirements are satisfied. The PCI is responsible for ensuring that privacy requirements are 

being met both internally and by every external service provider. 

If an organization’s management is considering using the services of a PCI set up by another 

organization, the operations plan and associated documents, the accreditation decision and 

evidence of implementation of FIPS 201-1 requirements of that PCI (service provider PCI) must 

be reviewed. Similarly, if a PCI is using the services of an external service provider selectively 

for one or more of its PCI processes, the provider’s capability to meet FIPS 201-1 requirements 

9 
for those processes must be reviewed as well. In both cases, the information gathered as part of 

this review activity must be included as part of the PCI’s assessment leading to accreditation. 

Outsourced functions must be assessed prior to accreditation of the PCI. 

2.4 Assessment and Accreditation 

HSPD-12 mandates that PIV Cards be “issued only by providers whose reliability has been 

established by an official accreditation process.” This document contains guidelines for 

satisfying the requirements for an official accreditation and provides a methodology that any 

organization can utilize to formally accredit a PCI. This methodology consists of two major 

elements–assessment and accreditation. While assessment and accreditation are very closely 

related, they are two very distinct activities. 

Assessment, which occurs before accreditation, is the process of gathering evidence regarding a 

PCI’s satisfaction of the requirements of FIPS 201-1, both at the organization and facility level. 

Assessment activities include interviews with PCI and PCIF personnel, a review of 

documentation, observation of processes, and execution of tests to determine reliability of the 

PCI. The result of the assessment is a report that serves as the basis for an appropriate 

accreditation decision. The report is also the basis for developing corrective actions for removing 

or mitigating discovered deficiencies. 

Distinct from assessment, accreditation is the decision to authorize the operation of a PCI once it 

has been established that the requirements of FIPS 201-1 have been met and the risks regarding 

security and privacy are acceptable. The individual making the accreditation decision must be 

knowledgeable of HSPD-12 and aware of the potential risks to the organization’s operations, 

assets, and personnel (e.g., applicants, PCI Facility staff). 

The assessment and the accreditation are both carried out by the organization that owns the PCI. 

In order to make an informed, risk-based accreditation decision, the assessment process should 

seek to answer the following questions: 

• Has the PCI implemented the requirements of FIPS 201-1 in the manner consistent with 

the standard? 

• Do personnel understand the responsibilities of their roles and/or positions, and reliably 

perform all required activities as described in the PCI’s documentation? 

• Are services and functions throughout the PCI and its facilities (e.g., enrollment/identity 

proofing, card activation/issuance) carried out in a consistent, reliable, and repeatable 

manner? 

• Have deficiencies identified during the assessment been documented, current and 

potential impact on security and privacy been highlighted, and the recommendations and 

timelines for correction or mediation been included in the assessment report? 

10 
2.5 Accreditation Boundary for the PCI 

An organization preparing to accredit a PCI must first identify the appropriate accreditation 

boundary. The accreditation boundary defines the specific PCI operations that are to be the target 

of the assessment and accreditation. A PCI comprises the complete set of functions required for 

the issuance and maintenance of PIV Cards. In determining the accreditation boundary, the 

organization may consider if the functions are being performed identically in all PCI facilities, 

are using identical information technology components, and are under the same direct 

management control. For instance, an organization may have two sub-organizations, each of 

which has distinct processes and management structures. The organization may decide to 

establish two separate PCIs, each with its own accreditation boundary. In this example, two 

separate PCI assessments would be undertaken. Each assessment would result in an independent 

accreditation decision. 

In drawing an accreditation boundary, an organization may want to include only a subset of PCI 

facilities. For example, if a PCI has several facilities, some of which are ready for operation and 

some that are still in the development stage, the organization may choose to define the 

accreditation boundary to include the PCI and only those facilities that are ready to be assessed. 

If the accreditation is successful, the PCI and a subset of its facilities will be authorized to 

operate and begin issuing cards. The remaining PCIFs can continue with implementation and be 

included in the accreditation boundary at a later date. 

In the case of outsourcing PCI services that are not under direct management control of the 

organization nor physically located within its facilities, the organization must include the 

functions provided by external service providers within the accreditation boundary to make 

certain that they are included within the scope of accreditation. This assures that no matter how 

and where the functions are performed, the organization maintains complete accountability for 

the reliability of its PIV program. 

Care should be used in defining the accreditation boundary for a PCI. A boundary that is 

unnecessarily expansive (i.e., including too many dissimilar processes and business functions or 

geographically dispersed facilities) makes the assessment and accreditation process extremely 

unwieldy and complex. On the other hand, a boundary that is unnecessarily limited increases the 

number of needed assessments and accreditations and thus drives up the total cost for an 

organization. Establishing a boundary for a PCI and its subsequent accreditation are 

organization-level activities that should include participation of all key personnel. An 

organization should strive to define the accreditation boundary for a PCI that strikes a balance 

between the costs and benefits of assessment and accreditation. 

While the above considerations should be useful to an organization in determining the boundary 

for its PCI for purposes of accreditation, they should not limit the organization’s flexibility in 

establishing a practical boundary that promotes an effective HSPD-12 compliant 

implementation. The scope of an accreditation is a PCI (whose boundaries are formed by 

included facilities) and not individual facilities (PCIFs). 

11 
2.6 PCI Roles and Responsibilities 

FIPS 201-1 Appendix A provides examples of two models that satisfy the requisite PIV control 

objectives and meet the requirements for issuance of PIV Cards. An organization may select 

either of the two models, employ a hybrid, or utilize a completely new model. PIV Card issuance 

roles and their processes are to be selected based on the organization’s structure, its mission, and 

operating environment. The organization must make sure that a separation of roles has been 

established and the processes are in compliance with FIPS 201-1. 

Roles discussed in FIPS 201-1 pertain to PCI processes and functions, and are included by 

reference, but not defined in this document. This document identifies only roles and 

responsibilities of key personnel involved in the accreditation of a PCI1

. Recognizing that 

organizations have widely varying missions and structures, there may be some differences in 

naming conventions for accreditation-related roles and in how the associated responsibilities are 

allocated among personnel (e.g. one individual may perform multiple roles). 

2.6.1 Senior Authorizing Official 

The Senior Authorizing Official (SAO) (see Figure 2) of an organization is responsible for all 

PCI operations. The SAO has budgetary control, provides oversight, develops policy, and has 

authority over all functions and services provided by the PCI. 

2.6.2 Designated Accreditation Authority 

The Designated Accreditation Authority (DAA) is an official of the organization with the 

authority to review all assessments of a PCI and its facilities, and to accredit the PCI as required 

by HSPD-12. Through accreditation, the DAA accepts responsibility for the operation of the PCI 

at an acceptable level of risk to the organization. The SAO can also fulfill the role of the DAA. 

2.6.3 Organization Identity Management Official 

The Organization Identity Management Official (OIMO) is responsible for implementing 

policies of the organization, assuring that all specified procedures of the PCI are being performed 

reliably, and providing guidance and assistance to the PCI Facilities. The OIMO implements and 

manages the PCI operations plan; ensures that all PCI roles are filled with capable, trustworthy, 

knowledgeable, and trained staff; makes certain that all PCI services, equipment, and processes 

meet FIPS 201-1 requirements; monitors and coordinates activities with PCI Facility 

Manager(s); and supports the accreditation process. The OIMO cannot fulfill the role of the 

DAA. 

2.6.4 PCI Facility Manager 

A PCI Facility (PCIF) Manager manages the day-to-day operations of a PCI facility. A PCIF 

Manager is responsible for implementing all operating procedures for those functions that have 

been designated for that facility. The PCIF Manager must ensure that all PIV processes adhere to 

the requirements of FIPS 201-1, and that all PIV services performed at the PCIF are carried out 

 

1

 Organizations may define other significant roles (e.g., PIV System liaisons, operations managers) to support the PCI 

accreditation process. 

12 
in a consistent and reliable manner in accordance with the organization’s policies and procedures 

and the OIMO’s direction. In some cases (e.g. small organizations), the OIMO can fulfill the role 

of the PCIF Manager. 

2.6.5 Assessor 

The Assessor is responsible for performing a comprehensive and independent assessment of a 

PCI. The Assessor (usually supported by an assessment team) verifies that PIV processes in a 

PCI comply with control objectives of FIPS 201-1. The results of an assessment are presented to 

the OIMO who reviews the assessment findings and prepares recommended corrective actions to 

reduce or eliminate any discrepancies or shortcomings. The Assessor is also responsible for 

providing recommendations for reducing or eliminating deficiencies and security weaknesses, 

describing the potential impact of those deficiencies if not corrected. An Assessor cannot be 

assigned the DAA’s role and vice versa. 

To preserve the impartial and unbiased nature of the assessment, the Assessor must be 

independent of the office(s) and personnel directly responsible for the day-to-day operation of 

the PCI. The Assessor shall also be independent of those individuals responsible for correcting 

deficiencies and discrepancies identified during the assessment phase. The independence of the 

Assessor is an important factor in maintaining the credibility of the assessment results and 

ensuring that the DAA receives objective information in order to make an informed accreditation 

decision. 

2.6.6 PIV Card Applicant Representative 

The PIV Card Applicant Representative (CAR) is an optional role within the PCI and may be 

established and used at the discretion of the organization. The CAR represents the interests of 

current or prospective employees and contractors who are the applicants for PIV Cards. They are 

responsible for assisting an applicant who is denied a PIV Card because of missing or incorrect 

information, and for ensuring that all applicants obtain useful information and assistance when 

needed. This role may be assigned to someone in the organization’s personnel or human 

resources department as part of their normal duties. 

2.6.6 Privacy Official 

The responsibilities of the Privacy Official (PO) are defined in FIPS 201-1. The person filling 

this role shall not assume any other operational role in the PCI. The PO issues policy guidelines 

with respect to collection and handling of personally identifiable information from applicants so 

as to ensure that the PCI is in compliance with all relevant directives of the privacy laws. The 

PO’s role may be filled by an organization’s existing official for privacy (e.g., a Chief Privacy 

Officer). 

2.6.7 Role Assignment Policies 

Although PCI roles are independent and should be filled by different people if feasible, there 

may be a need (e.g., because of availability or economy) to have one person fill more than one 

role. Except for the roles of Assessor and Privacy Official, one person may perform more than 

one role if needed. If an organization has multiple PCIs, one person may be assigned the same 

role in several or all of them. For instance, a SAO may be responsible for several PCIs within the 

13 
organization. Similarly, within a single PCI, a PCIF Manager may be responsible for a number of 

PCI Facilities. Of the roles described, the SAO, DAA, OIMO, CAR, Assessor and PO must be 

employees of the organization that owns the PCI (e.g., Federal employees in the case of Federal 

agencies). 

2.6.8 Accreditation-related PCI Roles 

Figure 2 illustrates a possible role structure when a PCI has multiple PCIFs. The SAO has the 

primary authority and responsibility for the PCI. Reporting to the SAO are the OIMO and the 

DAA. A PCI Facility Manager is responsible for managing operations at each PCI facility and 

reports to the OIMO. The dotted lines leading to the PO and the Assessor indicate their 

independence from the day to day operations of the PCI. 

Figure 2 - PCI Accreditation Roles 

2.7 The Relationship between SP 800-79-1 and SP 800-37 

While accreditation is the major topic of both special publications, the goals of accreditation are 

distinct in SP 800-37 and SP 800-79-1. Accreditation under SP 800-37, as mandated by 

Appendix III of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, focuses on 

“authorizing processing” of information systems based on an assessment of security at the 

information system level. Accreditation as discussed herein and as mandated by HSPD-12 is 

concerned with the assessment of the “reliability” of a PCI to perform its functions in accordance 

with FIPS 201-1. An accreditation decision granted under SP 800-37 signifies that an 

organization official accepts responsibility for the security (in terms of confidentiality, integrity, 

and availability of information) of the information system. Accreditation of a PCI’s reliability 

14 
under SP 800-79-1 indicates that the organization official agrees to accept the risk that the PCI 

can operate within the control objectives outlined in HSPD-12 for “secure and reliable forms of 

identification.” However in both cases, the organization official (Authorizing Official (AO) in 

the case of SP 800-37, and DAA in the case of SP 800-79-1) accepts responsibility, and is fully 

accountable for any adverse impacts to the organization if a breach in security, privacy, or policy 

occurs. 

SP 800-79-1 focuses on the accreditation of an organization’s capability and reliability, but 

depends on adequate security for all the supporting information systems that have been 

accredited under SP 800-37. Therefore, before the organization official accredits the PCI and its 

facilities, all PCI information systems used must be accredited. 

In many cases, accreditation under SP 800-37 will be granted by an organization official 

different than the official responsible for accrediting the PCI. The former is an organization 

official tasked with making a decision on whether to authorize operation of an information 

system based on its security posture. The latter must be someone designated specifically for 

authorizing the operation of the PCI after it has been assessed and determined to be compliant 

with FIPS 201-1 control objectives. 

2.8 Preparing for a PCI’s Assessment 

To facilitate an assessment of a PCI in a timely, efficient, and thorough manner, it is essential 

that all members of the Assessment team and staff of the PCI understand their specific roles and 

responsibilities, and participate as needed. The PCI, its facility personnel, and the team 

responsible for performing the assessment must cooperate and collaborate in a joint manner to 

ensure the success of the assessment. Specific responsibilities of the assessment team are listed 

below. For further information, including considerations that an organization may want to take 

into account when outsourcing assessments, refer to NIST Interagency Report (IR) 7328, 

Security Assessment Provider Requirements and Customer Responsibilities: Building a Security 

Assessment Credentialing Program for Federal Information Systems. 

2.8.1 PCI Duties 

Before the assessment can begin, an Assessor must be designated. The Assessor conducts the 

assessment and oversees the assessment team if one is needed. The assessment team may be 

made up of employees from the organization or personnel provided by a public or private sector 

entity contracted to provide services. Members of the assessment team should have various 

capabilities that are required to perform the activities specified in this document. Assessment 

team members should work together to prepare for, conduct, and document the findings of the 

PCI’s assessment and assessments of all PCI facilities within the PCI boundary. Each team must 

be made up of individuals that collectively have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to conduct, 

evaluate, and document all assessments, including those performed on the information systems 

within the PCI. 

Once an assessment team is in place, the OIMO and other relevant PCI personnel should begin 

the preparation for the assessment. Thorough preparations by both the PCI and the assessment 

team are important aspects of conducting an effective assessment. The PCI sets the stage for the 

assessment by identifying all appropriate personnel and making them available during the 

15 
assessment. A fundamental requirement for accreditation is interviews by the assessment team of 

all PCI personnel. Personnel and officials must be notified of the pending assessment, must 

understand their roles in the process, and must be made available in accordance with the planned 

assessment schedule. 

The OIMO must ensure that all relevant documentation has been completed and organized 

before the assessment begins. This documentation includes policies and procedures, 

organizational structure, information system architecture, product and vendor details, and 

specifics regarding the implementation of all the requirements from FIPS 201-1 and related 

publications. If the PCI has outsourced functions to an external service provider, all necessary 

documentation must be obtained from the provider regarding those operations utilized by the 

PCI. Before providing any documentation to the assessment team, the OIMO must review it to 

make certain it is both current and approved. 

Another significant activity during the assessment is the observation by the assessment team of 

actual processes performed by the PCI. In order for the assessment team to confirm that 

processes are implemented in accordance with the operations plan, the PCI will need to ensure 

that assessment team members have access to, and are able to observe, PCI processes in real 

time. This could include scheduling enrollment/identity proofing, adjudication, card production, 

card activation/issuance, and maintenance activities for observation by the assessment team. 

In order to aid the PCI’s planning and preparation for the assessment, Appendix C includes a 

readiness review checklist. The checklist contains items needed during the assessment process. 

Satisfying this list of items before the assessment commences will facilitate efficient utilization 

of the assessment team’s time, and will contribute towards the overall effectiveness of the 

assessment activity. 

2.8.2 Assessment Team Duties 

The independence of the assessment team is an important factor in assessing the credibility of the 

assessment results. In order to ensure that the results of the assessment are impartial and 

unbiased, the members of the assessment team must not be involved in the development, day-today maintenance, and operations of the PCI, or in the removal, correction, or remediation of 

deficiencies. 

The assessment team may obtain information during an assessment that the organization does not 

want to disclose publicly. The assessment team has an obligation to safely and securely store and 

protect the confidentiality of all security assessment related records and information, including 

limiting access to the individuals that need to know the information. When using, storing, and 

transmitting information related to the PCI assessment, the assessment team shall follow the 

guidelines established by the organization in addition to all relevant laws, regulations, and 

standards regarding the need, protection, and privacy of information. 

2.9 Accreditation Decisions 

An accreditation decision is a judgment made by the DAA regarding authorizing operation of a 

PCI and its facilities. The DAA reviews the results of the assessment, considers the impact to the 

organization of any identified deficiencies, and then decides whether to authorize the operation 

16 
of the PCI and its facilities. In doing so, the DAA is agreeing to accept the security and privacy 

risks to the organization in issuing and maintaining PIV Cards. 

During the accreditation decision process, the DAA must evaluate the assessment findings for 

the PCI and each facility within the accreditation boundary. If the PCI has outsourced some of its 

services or functions, the DAA must review all relevant assessments and accreditations that have 

been granted to the external service provider and include them as a part of the overall evaluation 

of risk to the organization. 

An authorization decision by a DAA must always be granted for a specific PCI before 

commencement of operations, and for each PCI there can be only one authorization decision. In 

issuing this decision, the DAA must indicate the PCI accreditation boundary to which the 

authorization applies. A DAA grants an authorization to a PCI, and then specifies which facilities 

(along with any exceptions or restrictions) are permitted to operate under that authorization. 

This allows the PCI and any authorized facilities to begin operations while any remaining 

facilities focus on addressing deficiencies with FIPS 201-1 and its supporting documents. At a 

later date, these latter facilities can be reassessed. After reviewing the new findings, the DAA 

can reissue the authorization for the PCI and expand the accreditation boundary to which the 

authorization applies by including the newly assessed facilities. 

The major input to the accreditation decision is the assessment report. To ensure the assessment 

report is properly interpreted and the justification for the accreditation decision properly 

communicated, the DAA should meet with the Assessor, the OIMO, and the PCI Facility 

Manager(s) prior to issuing an accreditation decision to discuss the assessment findings and the 

terms and conditions of the authorization. 

There are three accreditation alternatives that can be rendered by the DAA: 

• Authorization to operate; 

• Interim authorization to operate; or 

• Denial of authorization to operate. 

2.9.1 Authorization to Operate 

If, after reviewing the results of the assessment phase, the DAA deems that the PCI and its 

facilities conform to FIPS 201-1 to an acceptable degree, and will continue to do so reliably 

during the accreditation validity period, an authorization to operate (ATO) may be issued. The 

PCI and its facilities are authorized to perform services in compliance with all relevant policies, 

in conformance to all relevant standards, and in accordance with the documented operations 

plan. The DAA shall indicate exactly which facilities are included in the ATO accreditation 

decision. An ATO can only be granted to a PCI if there are no limitations or restrictions imposed 

on any of its facilities that are included in the accreditation boundary. 

After receiving an ATO under SP 800-79-1, re-accreditation shall be performed within three (3) 

years, or when there is a significant change in personnel or operating procedures (includes both 

improvement and degradation of operations) of a PCI, or when additional PCIFs are being added 

to a PCI. There may also be cases where one or more PCIFs cease operation. If this situation 

results in a PCI service identified in the PCI’s Operations Plan becoming unavailable, then the 

17 
DAA must issue a Denial of Authorization to Operate (DATO- See Section 2.9.3). On the other 

hand On the other hand, if the PCI can continue to provide all services in the PCI’s Operations 

Plan, then the accreditation decision letter has to be modified to exclude those facilities that have 

ceased operations (thus revising the accreditation boundary). The required PCI re-accreditation 

activities are at the discretion of the DAA and based on the extent and type of change. 

2.9.2 Interim Authorization to Operate 

If, after reviewing the results of the assessment phase, the DAA deems the discrepancies to be 

significant, but there is an overarching necessity to allow the PCI and its facilities to operate, an 

interim authorization to operate (IATO) may be issued. An interim authorization to operate is 

rendered when the identified deficiencies in the PCI and its facilities are significant, but can be 

addressed in a timely manner. These deficiencies must be documented so that they can be 

addressed during the planning of corrective actions. An interim authorization is an authorization 

to operate under specific terms and conditions. The DAA shall indicate exactly which facilities 

are included in the IATO accreditation decision during this interim period, along with any 

limitations or restrictions imposed. The maximum duration of an IATO is three (3) months. A 

maximum of two (2) consecutive IATOs may be granted for a PCI. Failure to correct 

deficiencies found in the PCI after the expiration of the second IATO must result in an issuance 

of a denial of authorization to operate (DATO) for the PCI. The accreditation boundary may be 

revised to exclude PCI Facilities that exhibit significant deficiencies in performing their 

functions. 

A PCI is not considered accredited during the period of an IATO. When the deficiencies have 

been corrected, the IATO should be replaced with an ATO. Significant changes in the status of 

the PCI (e.g. addition of new facilities) that occur during the IATO period shall be reported 

immediately to the DAA. 

2.9.3 Denial of Authorization to Operate 

If, after reviewing the results of the assessment phase, the DAA deems operation of the PCI to be 

unacceptable, a denial of authorization to operate (DATO) shall be transmitted to the OIMO. 

Failure to receive authorization to operate indicates that there are major deficiencies in reliably 

meeting the requirements of FIPS 201-1 and its related documents. The PCI is not accredited 

and must not be allowed to operate. If the PCI is currently in operation, all functions must be 

halted including all operations in its facilities. If the PCI was previously accredited and had 

issued PIV Cards under an ATO, the OIMO along with the PCIF Manager(s) should consider 

whether a revocation of PIV Cards is necessary. The DAA and the Assessor should work with 

the OIMO and PCIF Manager(s) to ensure that proactive measures are taken to correct the 

deficiencies. 

A PCI must not be authorized to operate if one or more of its critical information systems has not 

been accredited or is issued a DATO under SP 800-37. In the case where an IATO (under SP 

800-37) has been issued for an information system within the PCI, the DAA may issue no greater 

than an IATO to the PCI. Once the SP 800-37 IATO is replaced with an SP 800-37 ATO, the 

DAA can issue a SP 800-79-1 ATO. If the SP 800-37 ATO expires for one or more of 

information systems during the course of operation of a PCI, the OIMO shall assess the 

18 
criticality of the system for PCI operations and present the analysis to the DAA. The DAA then 

can exercise the following options: 

• Specify a short time during which the information systems of the PCI must be reaccredited under SP 800-37 without changing the PCI’s ATO status; 

• Downgrade the current SP 800-79-1 ATO to an IATO; or 

• If circumstances warrant, issue a SP 800-79-1 DATO and halt all PCI operations. 

2.10 The Use of Risk in the Accreditation Decision 

Accreditation is the official management decision by the DAA to authorize operation of a PCI, 

based on an assessment of its reliability and an acceptance of the risk inherent in that decision. 

By granting an authorization to operate, the DAA accepts responsibility for the reliability of the 

PCI and is fully accountable for any adverse impact to the organization or any other organization 

from cards issued by the PCI, its facilities, and any external service providers. 

The assessment of a PCI provides the DAA with the basis for not only determining its reliability, 

but also for determining whether to accept the risk to the organization in granting an ATO. As 

the requirements in FIPS 201-1 and related documents form the basis of the assessment and are 

ultimately derived from the policy objectives of HSPD-12, those not reliably met by the PCI and 

its facilities represent the potential for adverse impact. 

Implementation of an HSPD-12 program exposes an organization to specific risks at the mission 

level of the organization. The PIV Card is used to establish assurance of the identity of the 

cardholder, and as such, it must be trusted as a basis for granting access to the logical and 

physical resources of the organization. Any problem with an issued PIV Card that undermines 

that assurance could expose an organization to harm. Furthermore, the collection, processing, 

and dissemination of significant amounts of personal information required to issue a PIV Card 

increases the threat of this information being used for malicious purposes. It is the DAA’s 

responsibility to weigh the risks of these and other security and privacy impacts of issuing PIV 

Cards when making the accreditation decision. 

Furthermore, as HSPD-12 is a government-wide mandate based on a standard of interoperability 

allowing organizations to accept other organizations’ PIV Cards, accreditation decisions within a 

single organization directly impact other organizations. For example, an interoperable identity 

credential issued by an accredited organization becomes the source of trust for another 

organization to authorize access to physical and logical resources, based on verification of that 

identity. The DAA’s signature on the accreditation letter thus signifies his/her acceptance of 

responsibility (i.e., accountability) for the operations of the PCI, not only to the issuing 

organization, but also to other organizations that are in the federated circle of trust. 

2.11 Accreditation Submission Package and Supporting Documentation 

The accreditation submission package documents the results of the assessment phase and 

provides the DAA with the essential information needed to make a credible, risk-based decision 

on whether to authorize operation of the PCI. Unless specifically designated otherwise by the 

19 
DAA, the OIMO is responsible for the assembly, compilation, and submission of the 

accreditation package. The accreditation package contains the following documents: 

• The PCI operations plan (including all PCI Facilities Standard Operating Procedures 

[SOPs] and attachments) 

• SP 800-37 accreditation letters 

• The assessment report 

• The corrective actions plan (if required) 

The PCI operations plan contains the PCI’s policies, procedures, and processes for all the major 

PCI functional areas. The operations plan provides a complete picture of the structure, 

management, and operations of the PCI to the Assessor and DAA. Appendix D provides a 

template of what to include in the PCI operations plan. One of the most significant pieces of 

information contained within the operations plan is the list of PCI controls, how they were 

implemented, and who is responsible for their management. This description of the PCI controls 

makes it a simple process for the Assessor to quickly ascertain how they were implemented and 

by whom. 

If certain functions described in the operations plan are outsourced, the PCI’s operation plan can 

reference or “point to” the external service provider’s operation plan and related documentation, 

such as support agreements and any contracts. In this manner, the Assessor has access to the 

information regarding the external service provider’s operations without requiring the PCI to 

duplicate any documentation. 

The SP 800-37 accreditation letters are the formal authorization to operate the PCI information 

systems that are directly involved in the issuance and maintenance of PIV Cards. 

The PCI assessment report, prepared by the Assessor, provides the information needed to 

determine the extent to which the requirements are being met and are expected to continue as 

such during future operations. For each deficiency that is found, the assessment report must 

include the potential impact of the deficiency if it continues without correction and the 

recommended corrective action to correct it. Appendix E provides a template of what to include 

in the assessment report. 

The corrective actions plan (CAP), prepared by the OIMO with the assistance of the Assessor, 

describes the changes needed to correct deficiencies noted during the assessment with a time 

frame for completing each change. 

The OIMO submits the accreditation submission package to the DAA.2

 Figure 3 illustrates the 

primary components of the accreditation submission package. 

 

2

 Accreditation packages may be submitted in either paper or electronic format. Appropriate measures should be employed to 

protect the information contained in accreditation packages (electronic or paper format) in accordance with organization policy.

20 
DAA 

− Description of the PCI’s services, plans, 

procedures, technical specifications, 

supported options, and relevant 

documents (e.g., policies, standard 

operating procedures). 

− Report of the PCI control assessments 

and recommended corrective actions for 

a PCI. 

− Actions to be implemented by a PCI to 

remove or reduce deficiencies and risks. 

− An authorization to operate for each and 

every information system within the 

PCI. 

PCI’S OPERATIONS 

PLAN

PCI’S

ASSESSMENT REPORT

PCI’S

CORRECTIVE ACTIONS 

PLAN (CAP) 

SP 800-37

ACCREDITATION 

LETTERS

Figure 3 - Accreditation Submission Package 

Upon receiving and reviewing the accreditation package and in consultation with the Assessor, 

the DAA decides whether to authorize operations of the PCI. The accreditation decision letter 

transmits the accreditation decision from the DAA to the OIMO. The accreditation decision 

letter contains the following information: 

• Accreditation decision; 

• Supporting rationale for the decision; and 

• Terms and conditions for the authorization, including which PCIFs are included. 

The accreditation decision letter (see Appendix F for examples) informs the OIMO that the PCI 

is— (i) authorized to operate; (ii) authorized to operate on an interim basis; or (iii) not authorized 

to operate. The supporting rationale includes the justification for the DAA’s decision. The 

terms and conditions for the authorization provide a description of any limitations or restrictions 

placed on the operation of the PCI, including which PCIFs are included in the decision. The 

accreditation decision letter is attached to the original accreditation submission package and 

becomes the accreditation decision package. 

The DAA sends the accreditation decision package to the OIMO and retains a copy of it. The 

OIMO carefully reviews the terms and conditions of authorization before initiating the necessary 

steps for PCI operations. Both parties mark the accreditation decision package appropriately for 

storage under the organization’s retention policy. 

21 
3. PIV CARD ISSUER (PCI) COMPLIANCE

3.1 Introducing PCI Controls 

Accreditation of a PCI is a broader endeavor than accreditation of the security of an information 

system under SP 800-37. The requirements specified in Federal Information Processing Standard 

(FIPS) 201-1 cover all major aspects of a PCI, including organizational preparedness; security 

management and data protection; infrastructure; and PCI processes. Each broad area is defined 

herein as a PCI Accreditation Topic (PAT). In addition to providing structure to the assessment, 

PATs are also used to summarize the assessment results for reporting. In addition, they are used 

to structure the report to senior organization management that provides an analysis of the 

strengths and weaknesses within the PCI. 

The PCI Accreditation Topics: 

• Organizational Preparedness relates to the capability, knowledge, and understanding of 

senior management regarding the formation and operation of the PCI. Roles and 

responsibilities must be clearly identified, and policies and procedures must be defined, 

documented, implemented, and enforced. 

• Security Management & Data Protection involves implementing and operating 

appropriate security management procedures, operational controls, and technical 

protection measures to ensure that privacy requirements are satisfied, the rights of 

individuals are assured, and personal data is protected. 

• Infrastructure Elements represents the activities required to procure, deploy, and 

maintain the PCI information system components. PCI information system components 

(e.g., PKI, biometrics, and card production) must meet the technical specifications 

defined in FIPS 201-1 and related documents. Additionally, information systems used 

within the PCI need to be certified and accredited under Special Publication (SP) 800-37 

for FISMA compliance. 

• Processes are classes of functions that collectively span the entire PIV lifecycle 

activities, such as sponsorship, enrollment/identity proofing, adjudication, card 

production, card activation/issuance, and maintenance. 

Each PAT is sub-divided into one or more Accreditation Focus Areas. Each focus area is a set of 

closely-related requirements that need to be met by the PCI and its facilities. Each requirement 

and the procedure, process, or technical product (termed a “PCI control”) used to satisfy each 

requirement listed under a focus area needs to be satisfied by a PCI. However, the manner in 

which the requirement is satisfied and how its specifications are implemented and managed may 

vary from organization to organization. 

For instance, each PCI is required to identity-proof their applicants (i.e., use due diligence in 

validating the claimed identity of the applicant, using all documents provided by the applicant) 

prior to enrollment. This process can be implemented in one of several ways, depending upon the 

22 
structure, size, and geographical distribution of an organization’s facilities. The process could be 

conducted at a central location or could be distributed throughout the country within regional 

centers. It could be operated directly by the organization or by an outside service provider. 

However, irrespective of the implementation approach, this enrollment/identity-proofing activity 

needs to be reliably and accurately performed. 

PCI controls are designed to satisfy specific requirements in FIPS 201-1 and its related 

documents. If the underlying specification requirements are mandatory, then the corresponding 

PCI controls are mandatory as well. There are also PCI controls associated with optional 

requirements in FIPS 201-1. This category of PCI controls also becomes mandatory if the PCI is 

implementing those optional requirements. An example is an optional requirement to store the 

electronic facial image of the card holder in the PIV Card. If the PCI’s card activation/issuance’s 

process implements this option, then the associated PCI control should be assessed with an 

acceptable result. 

The evidence that ensures the presence of PCI controls that are derived from FIPS 201-1 

requirements and its related documents as well as OMB Memoranda, and verified through 

appropriate assessments, establishes the capability of a PCI. However, accreditation is generally 

based not merely on the demonstration of capability, but also on the presence of certain 

organizational characteristics that will provide a high degree of confidence to the Assessor that 

the demonstrated capabilities will be carried out in a dependable and sustainable manner. This 

dependability measure, or reliability (as it is generally called), has to be established by 

adequately assessing that a PCI has the desired organizational characteristics, including adequate 

facilities, appropriate equipment, trained personnel, adequate resources, trustworthy 

management, and properly vetted operations staff. Hence, the accreditation methodology 

includes a set of PCI controls, verification of which establishes the reliability of a PCI. This set 

of controls is grouped under the accreditation focus area “Facility and Personnel Readiness”. 

These reliability-relevant PCI controls are formulated, based on “commonly accepted security 

readiness measures” that have evolved in response to lessons learned in security incidents that 

have taken place due to threats, such as insider attacks, and risks, such as physical security 

lapses. In addition to the controls provided herein, an organization may develop additional 

mission-specific controls that will contribute towards the overall reliability of the PCI to meet the 

organization’s mission needs. 

Table 1 provides a listing of the four PIV Accreditation Topics (PATs) and the Accreditation 

Focus Areas under each topic: 

Organizational Preparedness 

Preparation and Maintenance of Documentation (DO) 

Assignment of Roles and Responsibilities (RR) 

Facility and Personnel Readiness (FP) 

Security Management & Data Protection 

Protection of Stored and Transmitted Data (ST) 

Enforcement of Applicable Privacy Requirements (PR) 

Infrastructure Elements 

Deployed Products & Information Systems (DP) 

23 
Implementation of Credential Infrastructures (CI) 

Processes 

Sponsorship Process (SP) 

Enrollment/Identity-Proofing Process (EI) 

Adjudication Process (AP) 

Card Production Process (CP) 

Card Activation/Issuance Process (AI) 

Maintenance Process (MP) 

Table 1 - PATs and Associated Accreditation Focus Areas 

Appendix G contains required PCI controls grouped by PAT and Accreditation Focus Area. Each 

PCI control represents how one or more requirements from FIPS 201-1 and its related documents 

can be satisfied. PCI controls are sequentially numbered using the two-character identifier 

assigned to the Accreditation Focus Area under which they are listed. Table 2 shows the 

relationships between PATs, Accreditation Focus Areas, and PCI controls. 

 

PAT = Organizational Preparedness 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

DO-1 The organization develops and implements a PCI 

operations plan according to the template in Appendix 

D. The operations plan references other documents as 

needed. 

SP 800-79-1, Section 2.11 

– Accreditation Package 

and Supporting 

Documentation 

Preparation and 

Maintenance of 

Documentation 

(DO) DO-2 The organization has a written policy and procedures for 

enrollment/identity proofing that has been approved by 

the head of the organization. 

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.2– 

PIV Identity Proofing and 

Registration Requirements

Table 2 - PAT, Accreditation Focus Area, and PCI Control Relationships 

Irrespective of whether the information systems utilized within the PCI and its facilities are 

categorized at low, moderate, or high impact levels according to FIPS 199, the same set of PCI 

controls apply, regardless of an individual system’s impact level. Furthermore, nothing precludes 

a PCI from implementing additional controls to ensure a higher level of confidence in mitigating 

risks associated with issuing PIV Cards. 

3.2 Implementing PCI Controls 

Each PCI control must be properly implemented, managed, and monitored in order for the PCI to 

be accredited. Depending on how an organization decides to implement their HSPD-12 program, 

the authority to implement some of the controls may not directly come under the PCI 

Management (due to outsourcing of certain PCI processes or using the PCI facilities of other 

organizations). However, it is still the responsibility of the PCI management to ensure that these 

PCI controls are being deployed, enforced, and maintained by its service provider. 

3.2.1 PCI Controls implemented at the Organization or Facility Level 

The nature of each PCI control dictates where it is implemented. Controls that are common to or 

impact multiple PCI processes are implemented at the organization level. The development of 

24 
the PCI operations plan is an example of a PCI control implemented at the organizational level. 

Generally, controls specific to a process are implemented at the facility where that process or 

function is carried out. For example, the control that states that a “1:1 biometric match of the 

applicant against the biometric included in the PIV Card or in the PIV enrollment record must be 

performed before releasing the PIV Card to the applicant” is implemented at a card 

activation/issuance facility. 

 

 

25 
4. ASSESSMENTS

An assessment is a set of activities performed by the Assessor to gain assurance that the PIV 

Card Issuer (PCI) controls have been implemented properly and meet their required function or 

purpose. Understanding the overall effectiveness of the PCI controls implemented in the PCI and 

its facilities is essential in determining the risk to the organization’s overall mission, and forms 

the basis for the accreditation decision by the Designated Accreditation Authority (DAA). 

An Assessor must– (i) compile evidence that the PCI controls employed in the PCI are 

implemented correctly, operating as intended, and producing the desired results; and (ii) present 

this evidence in a manner such that the DAA can make a credible, risk-based decision about the 

operation of the PCI. 

The focus of an assessment is the PCI controls, each of which is designed to satisfy one or more 

specific requirements from FIPS 201-1 and related documents. The objective for the Assessor is 

to use the assessment procedures associated with each PCI control (described in Appendix G) as 

a means to measure if the PCI being assessed meets the requirements. The assessment 

procedures are designed to facilitate the gathering of evidence that PCI controls are implemented 

correctly, operating as intended, and producing the desired outcome. 

In preparation for a PCI assessment, the Assessor performs the following two preparatory steps: 

• Determination of the accreditation boundary to understand the target of the assessment. 

The accreditation boundary dictates which PCIFs and outsourced services are to be 

included in the assessment. 

• Review of the PCI operations plan to determine which PCI controls are implemented at 

the organizational level and which at the facility level. This analysis should provide the 

Assessor with an understanding of where different responsibilities lie within the PCI and 

how to address them during the assessment. 

In cases where a PCI has outsourced functions, the PCI is responsible for ensuring that the 

external service provider has implemented the control. During the assessment, it is the service 

provider’s responsibility to provide documentation to the Assessor regarding the implementation 

of that control. If results from a previous assessment of the service provider (provided the current 

assessment is part of re-accreditation after substantial changes) can be referenced, the Assessor 

may elect to incorporate these results (not exceeding one year) or re-do part or all of the 

assessment. The extent of re-use of the results of the previous assessment is entirely at the 

discretion of the Assessor. 

PCI controls implemented at the organizational level generally need to be assessed only once, 

since these controls span across the entire PCI and its facilities. In other words, these controls 

may not be re-assessed when the accreditation boundary changes (e.g., due to addition of 

facilities). Examples of organizational level controls include the set of controls under the 

accreditation focus areas Preparation and Maintenance of Documentation (DO) and Assignment 

of Roles and Responsibilities (RR). 

26 
There are certain controls that although they are put in place at the organizational level, they 

need to be reviewed at the PCIF level. An example of such a control artifact is 

“contingency/disaster recovery plan for information systems”. Though the development of the 

contingency/disaster recovery plan is an organizational level control, a review of this control 

artifact is needed whenever new information systems in the existing facilities or new facilities 

are added to ensure that these new systems are brought within the scope of the plan. 

Unlike organization level PCI controls, facility level PCI controls need to be assessed 

individually at each facility. A facility is often designated based on the type of PCI process it 

performs (exceptions are the Sponsorship Process and Adjudication Process). Hence, for 

example, if there are multiple facilities for enrollment/identify proofing (e.g., multiple 

enrollment centers), assessment of the PCI controls under the focus area Enrollment/Identity 

Proofing should take place in each of the enrollment centers. However, if all facilities are 

operating using uniform operational procedures and underlying information systems, it is 

acceptable to perform assessments at facilities that are selected randomly or through some other 

established criteria (e.g., geographical region or service provider). 

Prior assessments may be used as a starting point for the assessment of a PCI. While past 

assessments provide insight into the implementation and operation of the PCI, a number of 

factors affect the validity of past assessments. These include updates in policies and procedures, 

changes in systems/technology, and turnover in employees and contractors. Any significant 

changes in one or more of these factors should trigger a new assessment of the PCI. The 

Assessor must validate whether a PCI is currently operating as expected using the given 

assessment procedures, including specially tailored or augmented procedures. It is only through a 

current valid assessment of PCI controls that the Assessor and Organization Identity 

Management Official (OIMO) will have confidence in the reliability of the PCI and its facilities. 

The use of automated security controls, if reliably implemented and maintained in information 

systems, results in a high assurance of the protection of information and other organizational 

assets. Human involvement results in more variability in how PCI controls are implemented and 

operated, as security and reliability depend on many factors, including an individual’s training, 

knowledge, motivation, experience, and management. Relying on humans for data protection, 

rather than on reliable, automated security mechanisms, makes it critical that trust and reliability 

assessments of management, operators, and maintenance personnel are current and up-to-date. 

Many of the assessment procedures rely on interactions among the Assessor, PCI management, 

and facilities staff. Interviews with all involved personnel and observations of all PCI processes 

are required. On-site visits, real-time observations, and reviews of processes are essential, as the 

Assessor must not rely solely on documentation to determine if a given PCI control has been 

implemented. 

4.1 Assessment Methods 

One or more assessment procedures are associated with each PCI control listed in Appendix G. 

An assessment procedure is carried out using one or more of the following assessment methods. 

(The assessment methods associated with an assessment procedure are given in parenthesis in 

Appendix G) 

27 
• Review – An evaluation of documentation that describes plans, policies, and procedures 

in order to verify that they are adequate, understood by the PCI management and 

operations personnel, and that they are in accordance with applicable policies, 

regulations, standards, technical guidelines, and organizational guidance. 

• Interview – a directed conversation with one or more PCI personnel in which both preestablished and follow-on questions are asked, responses documented, discussion 

encouraged, and conclusions reached. 

• Observe – a real-time viewing of PCI processes in operation, including all information 

system components of the PCI involved in creation, issuance, maintenance, and 

replacement of PIV Cards. 

• Test – an evaluation of a component against a set of relevant PIV specifications using 

applicable test methods and metrics (as given in the associated assessment procedure in 

Appendix G). 

These methods are intended to provide the Assessor with sufficient, precise, accurate, and 

relevant evidence regarding an accreditation topic and focus area. One or more assessment 

methods may be required to determine if the PCI has satisfactorily met the objective outlined for 

that assessment procedure. Assessment results are used by the Assessor to determine the overall 

effectiveness of the PCI control. 

Table 3 shows an example of the relationships among a PAT, an Accreditation Focus Area, 

several PCI controls, and their assessment procedures. 

PAT = Organizational Preparedness 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

Preparation and 

Maintenance of 

Documentation 

DO-1 The organization develops and implements a PCI 

operations plan according to the template in Appendix 

D. The operations plan references other documents as 

needed. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i.) the operations plan includes the relevant elements 

from the template in Appendix D (review); 

(ii.) the operations plan includes the list of PCI 

controls and included with each is the PCI 

control owner, how they were implemented and 

whether they are organization or facility specific 

(review); 

(iii.) documentation that is not included in the 

operations plan is referenced accurately (review);

(iv.) the operations plan is reviewed and approved by 

the DAA within the organization (review, 

interview). 

SP 800-79-1, Section 2.11 

– Accreditation Package 

and Supporting 

Documentation 

28 
DO-2 The organization has written policies and procedures for 

enrollment/identity proofing that are approved by the 

head of the organization. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has developed and documented 

written policy and procedures for identity 

proofing and enrollment for personnel requiring a 

PIV Card (e.g. employees, contractors and 

foreign nationals) (review); 

(ii) the policy is consistent with the organization’s 

mission and functions, FIPS 201-1 and applicable 

laws, directives, policies, regulations, standards, 

and guidance (review); 

(iii) the policy and procedures have been signed off by 

the head of the organization (review); 

(iv) the organization will periodically review and 

update the policy and procedures as required 

(review, interview). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.2– 

PIV Identity Proofing and 

Registration Requirements

Table 3 - Sample PCI Controls with Assessment Procedures 

Some organizations may need to customize some of the PCI controls to meet their specific 

characteristics and mission needs. In such cases, the associated assessment procedures may also 

have to be customized/augmented to ensure proper implementation of these controls. 

4.2 The Assessment Report 

The Assessment report contains the results of the assessment in a format that facilitates 

reviewing by the DAA. The DAA must evaluate the information in the Assessment report in 

order to make a sound, credible decision regarding the residual risk of authorizing the operations 

of the PCI. 

An Assessment report template is provided in Appendix E. The report is organized by 

Accreditation Focus Area. For each PCI control, it must be documented as to which entity is 

responsible for the implementation of that control (the organization or an external service 

provider) and if the PCI control is at the organizational or facility level. 

29 
Card Activation/Issuance Process 

PCI Control Identifier— AI-7 

PCI Control Description— The issuer performs a 1:1 biometric match of the applicant against 

the biometric included in the PIV Card or in the enrollment record. On successful match, the 

PIV Card shall be released to the applicant 

PCI Control Owner/ Control Level — External Service Provider/Facility Level 

Assessment Result— Partially Satisfied 

Assessment Findings— There is operational evidence that a 1:1 biometric match is carried out 

before the card is released to the applicant. 

Assessment Deficiency and Potential Impact— The requirement to carry out this task is not 

documented clearly enough in the operations plan. Although personnel are knowledgeable about 

this requirement, and the task was observed to be performed correctly during card issuance, the 

lack of documentation could be a problem if there is turnover in staff. 

Recommendation— Update the issuance process description within the operations plan to 

include a clear description of this task in the process.

Figure 4 - Sample Assessment Report 

The assessment result associated with each PCI control shall be one of the following: 

• Satisfied 

• Partially Satisfied 

• Not Satisfied 

• Not Applicable 

After carrying out an assessment procedure, the Assessor records his/her conclusion in one of 

two ways: MET, NOT MET. Using the list of conclusions pertaining to assessment procedures 

associated with a PCI control, the assessment result (which is one of the 4 outcomes listed 

above) is arrived at as follows: 

• If the conclusion from all assessment procedures is MET, then the assessment result for 

the PCI control is “Satisfied” 

• If some of the conclusions are NOT MET, then the assessment result for the PCI control 

is marked as either “Partially Satisfied” or “Not Satisfied”, depending on whether or not 

any of the underlying tasks in the assessment procedures are critical (i.e., they represent 

the only way to meet the PCI control’s objective). An example of an assessment that 

resulted in “Partially Satisfied” is given in Figure 4. In this instance, there is an 

awareness of a task requirement, and the task itself is being carried out, but the reference 

to the task is missing in the document. 

30 
In drawing a conclusion after carrying out an assessment procedure, the Assessor must consider 

the potential subjective and objective aspects of the assessment methods used (e.g., interviews, 

document reviews, observations, and tests) for that assessment procedure. Deficiencies that 

result in “Partially Satisfied” or “Not Satisfied” must be reported by the Assessor. The Assessor 

must also outline the potential adverse impacts if the PCI control is deployed with the identified 

deficiencies. 

The assessment report template provides the means for recording the assessment result for each 

PCI control. The assessment results for all PCI controls are aggregated to generate the 

assessment report for a PCI accreditation focus area. The set of PCI Accreditation Focus Area 

Reports is aggregated to generate a PCI accreditation topic report. Finally, the group of PCI 

Accreditation Topic Reports is used to generate the overall PCI Assessment Report and an 

accompanying Executive Summary (intended for Senior Management). 

31 
5.0 ACCREDITATION

The accreditation of a PIV Card Issuer (PCI) consists of four phases: (i) Initiation; (ii) 

Assessment; (iii) Accreditation; and (iv) Monitoring. Each phase consists of tasks and sub-tasks 

that are to be carried out by the responsible officials (e.g., the Designated Accreditation 

Authority (DAA), Assessor, Organization Identity Management Official (OIMO), and PCI 

Facility (PCIF) Manager(s)). Figure 5 provides a view of the accreditation phases, including the 

tasks associated with each phase. A table of accreditation phases, tasks, sub-tasks, and the 

official responsible for each is provided in Appendix H. 

• Preparation 

• Resource Identification 

• Operations Plan Analysis and Acceptance INITIATION PHASE

Figure 5 - Accreditation Phases 

5.1 Initiation Phase 

The Initiation Phase consists of three tasks: (i) preparation; (ii) resource identification; and (iii) 

operations plan analysis and acceptance. The primary purpose of this phase is to ensure that the 

PCI is prepared for the assessment, including having all the resources and documentation in 

place. The other purpose of this phase is to include the DAA early in the process in order to 

assure success of the assessment and accreditation. 

Task 1: Preparation 

The objectives of this task are to prepare for accreditation by reviewing the PCI operations plan 

and confirming that the plan is consistent with Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 

201-1 and the template provided herein. 

 Subtask 1.1: Confirm that the PCI and its operations have been fully described 

and documented in the PCI’s operations plan. 

ASSESSMENT PHASE

ACCREDITATION PHASE

• PCI Control Assessment 

• Assessment Documentation 

• Accreditation Decision 

• Accreditation Documentation

MONITORING PHASE • Operations Plan Update 

• Annual Lifecycle Walkthrough 

32 
Responsibility: OIMO 

Guidance: The PCI operation plan includes, at a minimum, the sections defined 

in the operations plan template in Appendix D. It is the OIMO’s responsibility to 

ensure that the organization’s PCI operations plan incorporates a complete and 

accurate description of the PCI’s operations. If a process or function is provided 

by an external service provider, their operating procedures should be documented 

and incorporated by reference in the PCI operations plan. In this case, the 

operations plan includes a pointer, guiding the reader to additional documentation 

and information. 

 Subtask 1.2: Confirm that processes followed at the PCI Facility are conducted 

in accordance with the policies and procedures specified in the PCI operations 

plan and are documented in standard operating procedures. 

Responsibility: OIMO, PCIF Manager 

Guidance: Even though PCI Facilities may be following requirements from 

FIPS 201-1, their processes need to be consistent with those prescribed by the 

PCI’s operations plan and documented in standard operating procedures. 

Task 2: Resource Identification 

The objectives of the resource identification task are to– (i) identify and document the resources 

required for assisting with the assessment; (ii) identify the scope of the assessment and 

accreditation boundary; and (ii) prepare a plan of assessment activities indicating the proposed 

schedule and key milestones. 

Subtask 2.1: Identify the Senior Authorizing Official (SAO), Designated 

Accreditation Authority (DAA), Privacy Official (PO), PCIF Managers, Assessor, 

and other key personnel at the facility level who are performing functions, such as 

enrollment/identity proofing, card production, and card activation/issuance. 

Maintenance personnel also should be contacted to provide requested assessment 

information to the Assessor. 

Responsibility: OIMO 

Guidance: Notify these individuals of the upcoming assessment, and inform 

them of the need for their participation during the process. 

Subtask 2.2: Determine the accreditation boundary for the PCI. 

Responsibility: OIMO; DAA 

Guidance: The accreditation boundary determines the target of the assessment. In 

preparation for a PCI assessment, the OIMO and DAA should identify which 

PCIFs and external service providers are to be included. This ensures that 

functions performed and processes managed by the external service provider are 

33 
considered during the accreditation process. An organization may want to include 

only those PCIFs that are ready to operate; other facilities can be assessed at a 

later date. 

Subtask 2.3: Determine the resources and the time needed for the accreditation 

of the PCI, and prepare a plan for execution of the assessment. 

Responsibility: OIMO; DAA 

Guidance: The level of effort required for an assessment depends on numerous 

factors— (i) the size the PCI; (ii) the location and number of its facilities; (iii) the 

level of outsourcing utilized by the PCI; and (iv) the number of cards being, or to 

be issued. By examining factors that could influence the complexity of the 

assessment, the organization can make informed judgments about the size of the 

assessment team, the resources needed to support the assessment, and the timeframe for completing it. 

Task 3: Operations Plan Analysis and Acceptance 

The objectives of the operations plan analysis and acceptance task are: (i) determine if the 

requirements of FIPS 201-1 have been implemented; (ii) evaluate the PCI operations plan and 

revise as needed; and (iii) obtain acceptance of the plan by the DAA prior to conducting an 

assessment of the PCI controls. 

Subtask 3.1: Review the list of required PCI controls documented in the 

organization’s PCI operation plan and then confirm that they have been 

implemented properly. 

Responsibility: DAA; OIMO 

Guidance: Since the PCI controls serve as the basis for the assessment, review 

the PCI’s documentation and operations plan to identify the controls that must be 

implemented before investing time in assessment activities such as interviews or 

testing. The operations plan must document each PCI control, whether it is 

organization or facility specific, the owner of the PCI control, and how the PCI 

control is implemented. 

Subtask 3.2: Analyze the PCI operations plan to determine if there are 

deficiencies in satisfying all the policies, procedures, and other requirements in 

FIPS 201-1 that could result in a Denial of Authorization to Operate (DATO) 

being issued. After discussing the discovered deficiencies in the documentation 

and operations plan with the OIMO, the organization may still want to continue 

with the assessment, if it has determined that it can address all deficiencies within 

the time period of the current assessment. In this situation, the DAA can either 

authorize continuation of the assessment or terminate the assessment effort 

depending upon the evaluation of the PCI’s ability to address the deficiencies. 

34 
Responsibility: DAA, OIMO 

Guidance: The operations plan should adequately specify the policies, 

procedures, and processes of the PCI so that, subsequent to an initial review, 

deficiencies that could lead to an eventual DATO may be identified for the PCI. 

Subtask 3.3: Verify that the PCI operations plan is acceptable. 

Responsibility: DAA 

Guidance: If the PCI operations plan is deemed acceptable, the DAA should 

authorize the accreditation processes to advance to the next phase. Acceptance of 

the PCI operations plan signifies that the resources required to initiate and 

complete the accreditation activities may be deployed. 

5.2 Assessment Phase 

The Assessment Phase consists of two tasks— (i) PCI control assessment; and (ii) assessment 

documentation. The purpose of this phase is to determine the extent to which the requirements of 

FIPS 201-1 are implemented correctly, operating as intended, and producing the desired 

outcomes. This phase also specifies actions to be taken to correct all identified deficiencies. An 

analysis of the impact of identified deficiencies that cannot be corrected or mitigated efficiently 

on the reliable operation of the PCI should be conducted and documented. Successful 

completion of this phase should provide the DAA with the information needed to make an 

appropriate accreditation decision. 

Task 4: PCI Control Assessment 

The objectives of this task are to— (i) initiate and conduct an assessment of the PCI controls; 

and (ii) document the results of the assessment. The Assessor shall first verify the acceptability 

of all documentation, including the operations plan and previous assessments, along with all 

relevant Federal laws, regulations, standards, and directives. PCI control assessment should then 

commence. The Assessor should schedule interviews, schedule real-time observations of PCI 

processes, and initiate all needed testing of the PIV Card and PCI information system 

components. Once the Assessor has gathered the results of the assessment procedures, 

descriptions of all discovered deficiencies shall be prepared, along with recommendations for 

removing these deficiencies. 

Subtask 4.1: Review the suggested and selected assessment methods for each 

PCI control in preparation for the assessment. 

Responsibility: Assessor 

Guidance: Based on the accreditation boundary, the scope of the assessment 

should be established. The Assessor should review the selected assessment 

procedures (based on the scope of the assessment) in order to plan and coordinate 

35 
activities for the assessment. For instance, if a particular PCI control requires the 

observation of a particular process, the Assessor will need to schedule this activity 

in a timely fashion after coordinating it with the PCI’s or PCIF’s management. 

The Assessor, as directed by the DAA, may supplement the assessment methods 

and procedures recommended in these guidelines. Assessment methods and 

procedures may be created or tailored for a particular PCI. 

Subtask 4.2: Assemble all documentation and supporting materials necessary 

for the assessment of the PCI; if these documents include previous assessments, 

review the findings and determine if they are applicable to the current assessment. 

Responsibility: OIMO; Assessor 

Guidance: The OIMO assists the Assessor in gathering all relevant documents 

and supporting materials from the organization that will be required during the 

assessment of the PCI. Central to this effort is the PCI operations plan. The PCI’s 

operations shall be completely described in the operations plan. The PCI 

operations plan may include by reference, or point to, the supporting materials. In 

this case, the OIMO will also need to gather this supporting material for the 

Assessor. Examples of other documentation include: (i) letters of appointment; 

(ii) privacy-related documentation; (iii) information forms utilized within the PCI; 

(iv) documentation from each outsourced service provider, including control 

implementation specifics, support and service level agreements, and contracts; (v) 

standard operating procedures for the PCIFs within the accreditation boundary for 

the PCI; and (vi) signed accreditation letters under SP 800-37 for all information 

systems within the PCI. 

When previous assessments exist, including the one on which the current 

Authorization to Operate (ATO) is based, the Assessor is strongly encouraged to 

review these results. The Assessor may satisfy some of the PCI control 

assessment requirements by reviewing and referencing previous assessment 

report(s). Although previous assessments cannot be used as a substitute for the 

current assessment, they provide a snapshot view of the PCI and highlight 

problems that may have existed in the past. 

Subtask 4.3: Assess the required PCI controls using the prescribed assessment 

procedures found in Appendix G. 

Responsibility: Assessor 

Guidance: The Assessor performs the assessment procedures selected for each 

PCI control to assess if the PCI controls have been implemented correctly, are 

operating as intended, and producing the desired outcomes. The Assessor uses the 

assessment methods specified in Section 4.1. Documentation collected in the 

previous task is reviewed, and any deficiencies are identified. Interviews can be 

used as an opportunity to clarify issues encountered during a review of the PCI 

documentation, as well as to determine the expertise of the personnel performing 

36 
key functions with the PCI and its facilities. Processes need to be observed to 

ensure that they are being followed as documented and tests executed to 

determine if the PIV components have been configured and are operating in a 

PIV-compliant manner. 

If the PCI and its facilities are being assessed, all the PCI controls will need to be 

assessed. If PIV services have been outsourced to an external provider, the 

Assessor shall verify that the PCI controls applying to those services have been 

assessed, and the reliability of the service provider has been found satisfactory. If 

a PCI and its facilities have already been assessed and are operating under a 

current ATO, and the purpose of the assessment is to add a facility(s) to the 

accreditation letter, the Assessor may reuse the results of a previous assessment 

for the organization level PCI controls and then assess a random sample of PCIFs. 

Subtask 4.4: Prepare the assessment report. 

Responsibility: Assessor 

Guidance: The assessment report contains— (i) the results of the assessment; (ii) 

recommendations for correcting deficiencies; and (iii) the residual risk to the 

organization if those deficiencies are not corrected or mitigated. The assessment 

report is the Assessor’s statement of the results of analyzing and evaluating the 

PCI’s implementation of controls. The sample assessment report template in 

Appendix E should be used as a format for documenting the results after assessing 

the PCI controls. 

Task 5: Assessment Documentation 

This task consists of the Assessor submitting the assessment report to the OIMO and the latter 

adding the PCI operations plan (revised if necessary) and the corrective actions plan (CAP) to 

generate an accreditation submission package for the DAA. In situations where the assessment 

report contains deficiencies, the OIMO may choose to address some deficiencies based on the 

recommendations by the Assessor and revise the PCI operations plan (if needed), even before 

submitting the package for accreditation. 

Subtask 5.1: Provide the OIMO with the assessment report. 

Responsibility: Assessor 

Guidance: The OIMO relies on the expertise, experience, and judgment of the 

Assessor to: (i) provide recommendations on how to correct deficiencies in the 

planned or performed operations; and (ii) to understand the potential impacts of 

those deficiencies. The OIMO may choose to act on selected recommendations of 

the Assessor before the accreditation package is finalized. To optimize the 

utilization of resources organization-wide, any actions taken by the OIMO prior to 

the final accreditation decision must be coordinated with the DAA. The Assessor 

37 
reviews any changes made in response to the corrective actions and revises the 

assessment report, as appropriate. 

Subtask 5.2: Revise the PCI operations plan (if necessary) and implement its 

new provisions. 

Responsibility: OIMO 

Guidance: The revised PCI operations plan must include all changes made in 

response to recommendations for corrective actions from the Assessor. 

Subtask 5.3: Prepare the corrective actions plan (CAP). 

Responsibility: OIMO 

Guidance: The CAP, one of the three primary documents in the accreditation 

submission package, describes actions that must be taken by the OIMO to correct 

deficiencies identified in the Assessment phase. The CAP identifies— (i) the 

tasks to be accomplished; (ii) the resources required to accomplish the tasks; (iii) 

scheduled completion dates for the tasks, and (iv) the person designated as 

responsible for completing each of the tasks. 

Subtask 5.4: Assemble the accreditation submission package and submit to the 

DAA. 

Responsibility: OIMO 

Guidance: The OIMO is responsible for the assembly and compilation of the 

accreditation submission package with inputs from the OIMO. The accreditation 

submission package shall contain: (i) the final assessment report; (ii) the CAP; 

(iii) the revised PCI operations plan; and (iv) the SP 800-37 accreditation letters 

for all information systems within the PCI. The OIMO may wish to consult other 

key organization participants (e.g., the Assessor, PO) prior to submitting the 

accreditation submission package to the DAA. The accreditation submission 

package can be submitted in either paper or electronic form. The contents of the 

accreditation submission package must be protected in accordance with 

organization policy. 

5.3 Accreditation Phase 

The Accreditation Phase consists of two tasks— (i) making an appropriate accreditation 

decision; and (ii) completing the accreditation documentation. Upon completion of this phase, 

the OIMO will have— (i) an authorization to operate the PCI services as defined in its operations 

plan; (ii) an interim authorization to operate under specific terms and conditions; or (iii) a denial 

of authorization to operate. 

38 
Task 6: Accreditation Decision 

The accreditation decision task determines if the assessment phase has been satisfactorily 

completed so that a recommendation concerning the operation of the PCI can be made with 

assurance. The DAA, working with the Assessor, reviews the contents of the assessment 

submission package, the identified and uncorrected or un-correctable deficiencies, the potential 

impacts on each organization using the PCI’s services, and the CAP in determining the final risk 

to the organization(s) and the acceptability of that risk in light of the organization’s mission. 

Subtask 6.1: Review the assessment decision package to see if it is complete 

and that all applicable PCI controls have been fully assessed using the designated 

assessment procedures. 

Responsibility: DAA 

Guidance: Coverage for all PCI controls and proper adherence to assessment 

procedures and appropriate assessment methods helps to create confidence in 

assessment findings and is the main objective of the assessment review. Part of 

the assessment review also includes understanding the impact of the identified 

deficiencies on the organization’s operations, assets, and individuals. 

Subtask 6.2: Determine if the risk to the organization’s operations, assets, or 

potentially affected individuals is acceptable, and arrive at an accreditation 

decision. 

Responsibility: DAA 

Guidance: After the completion of the assessment review, the DAA has a clear 

understanding of the impact of deficiencies. This helps the DAA to judge which 

deficiencies are of greatest concern to the organization and which can be tolerated 

without creating unreasonable organization-level risk. The CAP is also considered 

in determining the risk to the organization in terms of when and how the OIMO 

intends to address the known deficiencies. The DAA may consult the OIMO, 

Assessor, or other organization officials before completing the final risk 

evaluation. This risk evaluation in turn determines the degree of acceptability of 

PCI operations. The logic for using the latter as the basis for an accreditation 

decision is described in Section 2.9. 

Task 7: Accreditation Documentation 

The accreditation documentation task includes— (i) completing and transmitting the 

accreditation decision package to the appropriate individuals and organizations; and (ii) updating 

the PCI’s operations plan. 

39 
Subtask 7.1: Provide copies of the accreditation decision package, in either 

paper or electronic form, to the OIMO and any other organization officials having 

interests, roles, or responsibilities in the PCI. 

Responsibility: DAA 

Guidance: The accreditation decision package, including the accreditation 

decision letter, should be transmitted to the OIMO. Upon receipt of the 

accreditation decision package, the OIMO must review the authorization and its 

terms and conditions. The original accreditation decision package must be kept on 

file by the OIMO. The DAA shall retain copies of the contents of the 

accreditation decision package. The accreditation decision package must be 

appropriately safeguarded and stored, whenever possible, in a centralized 

organization filing system to ensure accessibility. The accreditation decision 

package shall be available to authorized auditors and oversight organizations upon 

request. The accreditation decision package must be retained in accordance with 

the organization’s records retention policy. The PCI and specific facilities are 

accredited for a maximum of three (3) years from the date of the ATO. After the 

period ends, re-accreditation must be performed. 

Subtask 7.2: Update the PCI’s operations plan. 

Responsibility: OIMO 

Guidance: The operations plan must be updated to reflect all changes made as the 

result of assessment and accreditation. All conditions of PCI operations that are 

set forth in the accreditation decision must also be noted in the plan. 

5.4 Monitoring Phase 

The Monitoring Phase consists of two tasks— (i) operations plan maintenance; and (ii) annual 

lifecycle walkthrough. Based on the importance of reliably creating and issuing PIV Cards, it is 

imperative that once the accreditation is completed, the PCI is monitored to ensure that policies, 

procedures, and processes remain in effect as originally intended. There can be significant 

changes in a PCI’s policies, management, operations personnel, and available technology during 

a three-year ATO. These changes must be monitored so that the organization minimizes 

exposing itself to security and privacy threats existing or arising in the PCI. For example, if there 

is a significant staff turnover in the PCI, the organization must be sure that the new PCI staff is 

enrolling applicants and issuing cards using the same reliable processes that were previously 

approved. 

In order to facilitate the monitoring of a PCI without undue burden in activities and paperwork, 

only two activities are required during this phase: maintenance of the operations plan and an 

annual lifecycle walkthrough of PCI operations. The latter entails reviewing all the services and 

functions of a PCI and its facilities for continued reliability. The annual walkthrough must cover 

a PIV Card’s lifecycle from sponsorship to maintenance. Observation of the full lifecycle of a 

card ensures that all processes are still reliably operating as assessed during the accreditation. 

40 
Task 8: Operations Plan Update 

A PCI’s operations plan is the primary description of what and how PIV Card issuing services 

are provided. It is essential that this document be updated as changes occur in the PCI’s 

operations. The PCI management will be able to analyze the impact of changes as they occur and 

will be significantly better prepared when re-accreditation is required. 

 Subtask 8.1: Document all relevant changes in the PCI within the operations 

plan. 

Responsibility: OIMO 

Guidance: In addition to the policies, procedures, and processes that must be 

documented if changes are made, the organization shall update the operations plan 

if changes to the PCI information system, the PIV Card, privacy policies, roles 

and responsibilities, or PCI controls are made. 

 Subtask 8.2: Analyze the proposed or actual changes to the PCI and determine 

the impact of such changes. 

Responsibility: OIMO 

Guidance: If the results of the impact analysis indicate that changes to the PCI 

could affect the reliability of the PCI’s operations, the changes and impact on the 

PCI must be reported to the DAA, corrective actions must be initiated, and the 

CAP must be updated. In instances where major changes have occurred, the PCI 

must be re-accredited. 

Task 9: Annual Lifecycle Walkthrough 

The annual lifecycle walkthrough is a monitoring activity to be performed initially by the PCI 

when its PIV Card issuing services begin, and annually thereafter. The OIMO (or designated 

appointee) is responsible for observing and reviewing the entire lifecycle of a PIV Card. This 

walkthrough should provide an accurate snapshot of the PCI’s operations and reliability at a 

point in time. By walking through the PIV Card lifecycle, from sponsorship to issuance, 

including maintenance, the operations of the PCI can be examined as an integrated entity. During 

the walkthrough, the OIMO (or designated appointee) shall observe all processes involving the 

PIV Card, comparing them against the requirements defined in the PCI controls. This activity 

shall be performed every year after each accreditation until re-accreditation begins. All 

identified deficiencies in reliable operations shall be sent to the DAA for review and analysis. 

Any potential impact to the reliability of the PCI’s operations and risk to the organization shall 

be documented and presented to the OIMO and the DAA. 

 Subtask 9.1: Observe all the processes involved in getting a PIV Card, including 

those from sponsorship to maintenance. Observe each process and compare its 

controls against the applicable list of required PCI controls. If a PCI has several 

facilities, this process should be repeated using randomly selected PCIFs. 

41 
Responsibility: OIMO (or designated appointee) 

Guidance: As part of the walkthrough, the OIMO (or designated appointee) 

observes the processes followed for new employees and contractors (if different) 

as well as PIV Card maintenance processes, such as card termination, reissuance, 

or renewals. The OIMO (or designated appointee) observes each process and 

compares it against the documented steps for the PCI and the associated PCI 

controls. An annual walkthrough is required until re-accreditation is initiated. 

 Subtask 9.2: The results of the lifecycle walkthrough are summarized in a report 

to the DAA. Deficiencies must be highlighted, along with corrective actions that 

must be implemented to correct any deficiencies. 

Responsibility: OIMO, DAA 

Guidance: The OIMO (or designated appointee) shall document the results of 

the walkthrough. The results shall be recorded in the assessment report template 

included in Appendix E. All deficiencies should be highlighted, and a plan for 

correcting each deficiency shall be documented. The DAA shall decide if any 

deficiency is significant enough to require a change of the PCI’s authorization-tooperate status. 

42 
APPENDIX A: REFERENCES

S. 3418 [5 U.S.C. § 552A through Public Law 93-579], 93rd U.S. Cong., 2d Sess., The Privacy Act of 1974, 

December 31, 1974 (effective September 27, 1975). 

(Available at http://www.archives.gov/research_room/foia_reading_room/privacy_act/privacy_act.html.) 

H.R. 2458, Title III [Public Law 107-347], 107th U.S. Cong., 2d Sess., Federal Information Security Management 

Act of 2002, December 17, 2002. 

(Available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgibin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ347.107.pdf.) 

Committee for National Security Systems, Instruction 4009, National Information Assurance Glossary, Revised 

May 2003. 

(Available at http://staff.washington.edu/dittrich/center/4009.pdf.) 

Executive Office of the President, Executive Order 10450, Security Requirements for Government Employees, April 

17, 1953. 

(Available at http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/10450.html.) 

Executive Office of the President, Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, Policy for a Common Identification 

Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors, August 27, 2004. 

(Available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/08/20040827-8.html.) 

Federal Identity Credentialing Committee, Federal Identity Management Handbook, Version 0.1, December 2005. 

(Available at http://www.cio.gov/ficc/documents/FederalIdentityManagementHandbook.pdf.) 

United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Draft Federal Information 

Processing Standards Publication 140-3, Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules, July 2007. 

(Available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsDrafts.html#FIPS-140-3.) 

United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Federal Information 

Processing Standards Publication 199, Standards for Security Categorization of Federal Information and 

Information Systems, February 2004. 

(Available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips199/FIPS-PUB-199-final.pdf.) 

United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Federal Information 

Processing Standards Publication 200, Security Controls for Federal Information Systems, March 2006. 

(Available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips200/FIPS-200-final-march.pdf.) 

United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Federal Information 

Processing Standards Publication 201-1, Personal Identity Verification of Federal Employees and Contractors, 

March 2006. 

(Available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips201-1/FIPS-201-1-chng1.pdf.) 

United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Special Publication 800-

37, Guide for the Security Certification and Accreditation of Federal Information Systems, Version 2.0, May 2004. 

(Available at http:/csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-37/SP800-37-final.pdf.) 

43 
United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Special Publication 800-

53 Rev. 1, Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems, December 2006. 

(Available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-53-Rev1/800-53-rev1-final-clean-sz.pdf.) 

United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Special Publication 800-

59, Guideline for Identifying an Information System as a National Security System, August 2003. 

(Available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-59/SP800-59.pdf. ) 

United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Draft Special Publication 

800-73-2, Interfaces for Personal Identity Verification, October 2007. 

(Available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsDrafts.html#SP-800-73--2.) 

United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Special Publication 800-

76-1, Biometric Data Specification for Personal Identity Verification, January 2007. 

(Available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-76-1/SP800-76-1_012407.pdf.) 

United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Special Publication 800-

78-1, Cryptographic Algorithms and Key Sizes for Personal Identity Verification, August 2007. 

(Available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-78-1/SP-800-78-1_final2.pdf.) 

United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Special Publication 800-

85A, PIV Card Application and Middleware Interface Test Guidelines (SP 800-73 Compliance), April 2006. 

(Available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-85A/SP800-85A.pdf.) 

United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Special Publication 800-

85B, PIV Data Model Test Guidelines, July 2006. 

(Available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-85B/SP800-85b-072406-final.pdf.) 

United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Special Publication 800-

104, A Scheme for PIV Visual Card Topography, June 2007. 

(Available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-104/SP800-104-June29_2007-final.pdf.) 

United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Draft Interagency Report 

7328, Security Assessment Provider Requirements and Customer Responsibilities: Building a Security Assessment 

Credentialing Program for Federal Information Systems, September 2007. 

(Available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsDrafts.html#NIST-IR-7328.) 

United States Office of Management and Budget, Circular No. A-130 Revised, Appendix III, Security of Federal 

Automated Information Resources, February 1996. 

(Available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a130/a130appendix_iii.html.) 

44 
APPENDIX B: GLOSSARY AND ACRONYMS

Terms/Acronyms used in 

this document Definition or explanation of terms; expansion of acronyms 

Access Control The process of granting or denying specific requests to: (i) obtain 

and use information and related information processing services; 

and (ii) enter specific physical facilities (e.g., Federal buildings, 

military establishments, and border-crossing entrances). 

Accreditation 

(as applied to a PCI) 

The official management decision of the Designated Accreditation 

Authority to authorize operation of a PCI after determining that the 

PCI’s reliability has satisfactorily being established through 

appropriate assessment processes. 

Accreditation Package The results of assessment and supporting documentation provided 

to the Designated Accreditation Authority to be used in the 

accreditation decision process. 

Agency An executive department specified in 5 U.S.C., Sec. 101; a military 

department specified in 5 U.S.C., Sec. 102; an independent 

establishment as defined in 5 U.S.C., Sec. 104(1); or a wholly 

owned Government corporation fully subject to the provisions of 31 

U.S.C., Chapter 91. 

Applicant An individual applying for a PIV Card. 

Assessment 

(as applied to a PCI) 

Assessment in this context means a formal process of assessing the 

implementation and reliable use of PCI controls using various 

methods of assessment (e.g., interviews, document reviews, 

observations) that support the assertion that a PCI is reliably 

meeting the requirements of FIPS 201-1. 

Assessment Method A focused activity or action employed by an Assessor for evaluating 

a particular PCI control. 

Assessment Procedure A set of activities or actions employed by an Assessor to determine 

the extent that a PCI control is implemented and used by a PCI. 

Assessor The individual responsible for conducting assessment activities 

under the guidance and direction of a Designated Accreditation 

Authority. 

ATO Authorization to Operate; One of three possible decisions 

concerning a PCI made by a Designated Accreditation Authority 

after all assessment activities have been performed stating that the 

reliability of the PCI is accredited and the PCI is authorized to 

perform specific PIV Card services. 

CAP (Corrective Action 

Plan) 

Corrective actions of a PCI for removing or reducing deficiencies or 

risks during PCI operations. The plan identifies actions that need to 

be performed in order to obtain or sustain accreditation. 

Card Activation/Issuance A process that includes the procurement of FIPS-approved blank 

identity cards, initializing them using appropriate software and data 

elements for identity verification and access control applications, 

personalization of the cards with the identity credentials of 

authorized subjects, and delivery of the personalized cards to the 

45 
Terms/Acronyms used in 

this document Definition or explanation of terms; expansion of acronyms 

authorized subjects, along with appropriate instructions for 

protection and use. 

Component An element, such as a fingerprint capture station or card reader 

within the PCI, for which FIPS 201-1 makes specific requirements. 

Credential Evidence attesting to one’s right to credit or authority; in FIPS 201-

1, it is the PIV Card and data elements associated with an individual 

that authoritatively binds an identity (and, optionally, additional 

attributes) to that individual. 

DAA Designated Accreditation Authority; A senior organization official 

that has been given the authorization to accredit the reliability of a 

PCI. 

DATO Denial of Authorization to Operate; issued by a DAA to a PCI that 

is not accredited as being reliable for the issuance of PIV Cards. 

Enrollment/Identity 

Proofing 

The process that includes: (i) identity proofing and (ii) making a 

person’s identity known to the PCI information system by 

associating a unique identifier with that identity, and collecting and 

recording the person’s relevant attributes into the PCI information 

system. Enrollment is necessary in order to initiate other processes, 

such as adjudication, card issuance and maintenance,that are 

necessary to issue and maintain a PIV Card. 

FIPS Federal Information Processing Standard 

HSPD Homeland Security Presidential Directive; HSPD-12 established the 

policy for which FIPS 201-1was developed. 

IATO Interim Authorization to Operate a PCI performing specified 

services (e.g., enrollment/identity proofing, card production, card 

activation/issuance and maintenance). 

Identification The process of discovering the true identity (i.e., origin, initial 

history) of a person or item from the entire collection of similar 

persons or items. 

Identifier Unique data used to represent a person’s identity and associated 

attributes. A name or a card number are examples of identifiers. 

Identity The set of physical and behavioral characteristics by which an 

individual is uniquely recognizable. 

Identity Proofing Verifying the claimed identity of an applicant by authenticating the 

identity source documents provided by the applicant. 

ITL Information Technology Laboratory 

Maintenance The process of managing PIV Cards once they are issued. It 

includes termination, renewal and re-issuance. 

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology 

OIMO Organization Identity Management Official; The individual 

responsible for overseeing the operations of a PCI in accordance 

with FIPS 201-1 and for performing the responsibilities specified in 

this guideline. 

46 
Terms/Acronyms used in 

this document Definition or explanation of terms; expansion of acronyms 

OMB Office of Management and Budget 

PCI PIV Card Issuer 

PCI information system A computer-based system used by a PCI to perform the functions 

necessary for PIV Card issuance as per FIPS 201-1. 

PCIF PCI Facility 

PII Personally Identifiable Information; Any representation of 

information that permits the identity of an individual to whom the 

information applies to be reasonably inferred by either direct or 

indirect means. [E-Gov] 

PIV Personal Identity Verification as specified in FIPS 201-1. 

PIV Card The physical artifact (e.g., identity card, “smart” card) issued to an 

applicant by a PCI that contains stored identity markers or 

credentials (e.g., a photograph, cryptographic keys, digitized 

fingerprint representations) so that the claimed identity of the 

cardholder can be verified against the stored credentials by another 

person (human readable and verifiable) or an automated process 

(computer readable and verifiable). 

PO Privacy Official 

Risk The level of potential impact on an organization operations 

(including mission, functions, image, or reputation), organization 

assets, or individuals of a threat or a given likelihood of that threat 

occurring. 

SAO Senior Authorizing Official; A senior organization official that has 

budgetary control, provides oversight, develops policy, and has 

authority over all functions and services provided by the PCI 

SOP Standard operating procedures 

SOR A system of records is a group of records under the control of a 

Federal agency which contains a personal identifier (such as a 

name, date of birth, finger print, Social Security Number, and 

Employee Number) and one other item of personal data (such as 

home address, performance rating, and blood type) from which 

information is retrieved using a personal identifier. 

SORN The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish a notice if its 

systems of records in the Federal Register. This is called a System 

of Record Notice (SORN). 

SP Special Publication 

47 
APPENDIX C: PCI READINESS REVIEW CHECKLIST

The readiness review checklist may be used by a PCI preparing for assessment and accreditation 

by an assessment team. The checklist may also be used to validate that the PCI has collected all 

relevant documentation, identified appropriate individuals with knowledge of the PCI and made 

them available, and provided access to the PCI to the assessment team. 

Activity Completed? Comments 

• Identify an independent assessment team 

to assess the PCI. 

• Determine the accreditation boundary. 

• Establish the scope and objectives of the 

assessment. 

• Determine the level of effort and 

resources necessary to carry out the 

assessment. 

• Establish the time-frame to complete the 

assessment and identify key milestone 

decision points. 

• Notify key personnel at the PCI Facility 

and any external service providers (if 

applicable) of the impending assessment. 

• Validate that the PCI operations plan is 

complete and includes all the required 

information. 

• Ensure that the necessary roles within the 

PCI have been designated. 

• Validate that implementation and 

management responsibility for PCI 

controls have been accurately assigned. 

• Make sure that the information systems 

utilized by the PCI have been certified and 

accredited to operate in accordance with 

SP 800-37. 

• Ensure that the following documentation 

has been developed and can be made 

available to the assessment team: 

(i) PCI operations plan 

(ii) Results from any past assessment and 

accreditation decisions for the PCI 

(iii) Letters of appointment (if any) 

(iv) Service Level Agreements (SLA) and 

Memorandums of Understanding 

(MOU) between the organization and 

the service provider(s). 

48 
Activity Completed? Comments 

(v) Listing of all HSPD-12 components 

used within the PIV system 

(vi) Privacy-related documentation 

(vii) All forms utilized within the PCI 

(viii) Documentation from outsourced 

providers 

(ix) Standard operating procedures for the 

PCI Facilities within the 

accreditation boundary for the PCI 

(x) Signed accreditation letter under SP 

800-37 for each information system 

within the PCI 

• The PIV system is operational and actual 

PIV processes can be observed by the 

assessment team. 

• The PIV system is in production and 

operational. PIV Cards are being or ready 

to be produced that can be used for testing 

by the assessment team. 

49 
APPENDIX D: PCI OPERATIONS PLAN TEMPLATE

The following is a suggested outline for the PCI operations plan. It is highly recommended that 

an organization follow this template to document its PCI operations comprehensively and to the 

full extent as needed to support a successful accreditation. 

 

I. Background 

<Provide a brief background on HSPD-12, FIPS 201-1 and PIV, as well as how the organization has 

planned to meet the Directive. > 

II. Purpose and Scope 

<Describe the purpose and scope of the operations plan.> 

III. Applicable Laws, Directives, Policies, Regulations & Standards 

<Identify all Laws, Directives, Policies, Regulations and Standards that govern PIV Card issuance at the 

Organization.> 

IV. PCI Roles and Responsibilities 

<Identify the accreditation-related roles and responsibilities of all key personnel within the PCI.> 

V. Assignment of Roles 

<Document how the various roles that have been identified in the section above are appointed. These can 

be either specific individuals or positions within the organization. Provide contact information for all the 

roles assigned.> 

VI. PCI Description 

<Provide a description of the organization’s PCI. Details such as structure and geographic dispersion 

should be included.> 

VII. PCI Facility Details 

<Identify all the PCI Facilities that are included within the PCI that are part of the accreditation 

boundary. Provide details such as the location, PIV Card functions performed (e.g. enrollment and/or 

registration) at the facility and the approximate number of PIV Cards supported at each facility. > 

VIII. PCI Management 

<This section discusses various management aspects of the PCI. > 

a. Coordination and Interaction 

<Describe management interactions within the PCI, both at an organization level, and between the organization and 

the facility(s). > 

b. Staffing 

<Describe the procedures employed to make sure that adequate staff is available for performing PIV Card related 

functions. > 

c. Training 

<Describe the procedures employed to ensure that the staff is properly trained to perform their respective duties. > 

d. Procurement 

<Describe the mechanism typically used for procuring products/services related to the organization’s HSPD-12 

implementation. > 

e. Outsourcing 

<Describe the PIV Card functions being outsourced at the PCI (if applicable). > 

50 
IX. PCI Policies and Procedures 

<Describe in this section the various policies and procedures that apply for (i) sponsorship, (ii) Enrollment 

and Identity proofing, (iii)Adjudication, (iv) card production, (v) card activation and issuance and (vi) 

maintenance. Also discuss the procedures for temporary badges, as well as for non-PIV badges employed 

by the organization. > 

a. Sponsorship 

b. Enrollment/Identity Proofing 

c. Adjudication 

d. Card Production 

e. Card Activation/Issuance 

f. Maintenance 

i. Card Termination 

ii. Card Renewal 

iii. Card Re-issuance 

b. Temporary/Non-PIV Badges 

X. PCI Information System (s) Description 

<Provide a description of the technical aspects of the organization’s PIV system, including system 

architecture, network connectivity, connections to external system and information shared both internally 

and externally, the PKI provider as well as the information system accreditation status. >

a. Architecture 

b. Interconnections and Information Sharing 

c. Information System Inventory 

d. Public Key Infrastructure 

e. SP 800-37 C&A Information 

XI. Card Personalization & Production 

<Describe the organization’s PIV Card graphical layout(s), as well the optional data containers being 

used. Provide details if there are any PIV Card expiration date requirements levied by the organization. 

Also describe the mechanisms in place for securing both pre-personalized and personalized PIV Card 

stock >

a. PIV Card Graphical Topology 

b. PIV Card Electronic Data Elements 

c. Expiration Date Requirements 

d. Card Inventory Management 

XII. Card Reporting Requirements 

<Describe how the organization collects information from its facilities relating to the number of PIV Cards 

issued, background investigations completed etc, as required by OMB. Also provide detail on how the 

organization consolidates this information and provides its report to OMB on the status of their HSPD-12 

implementation. >

XIII. PCI Controls 

<This section documents the PCI Controls and provides the following information for each: (i) PCI control 

identifier and description, (ii) control owner, (iii) whether the control is organization-specific or facilityspecific and (iv) a description of how the PCI control has been implemented by the organization. > 

a. PCI Control Identifier and Description 

b. PCI Control Owner 

c. Organization/Facility Specific 

d. How the PCI control is implemented 

51 
Appendix A - Memoranda of Appointment 

<Attached copies of signed memoranda-of-appointment that record the various roles that have been 

assigned and the personnel fulfilling these roles that have accepted the position and its associated 

responsibilities. > 

Appendix B - Privacy Requirements 

<Attached copies of the privacy-related information as identified below. > 

a. Privacy Policy 

b. Privacy Impact Assessment 

c. System of Record Notice 

d. Privacy Act Statement/Notice 

e. Rules of Conduct 

f. Privacy Processes 

i. Requests to review personal information 

ii. Requests to amend personal information 

iii. Appeal procedures 

iv. Complaint procedures 

Appendix C – Service Level Agreements, Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) 

<Attached copies of any service level agreements and memoranda of understanding executed between the 

organization and any external service provider that has been contracted to provide certain PIV related 

functions.> 

52 
APPENDIX E: ASSESSMENT REPORT TEMPLATE

Below is a template to use when generating the assessment report. This is to be completed for 

each PCI control. An example using a specific PCI control follows. 

Accreditation Focus Area 

PCI Control Identifier— 

PCI Control Description— 

PCI Control Owner / Control Level — (External Service Provider, Organization specific, Facility 

specific) 

Assessment Result— (Satisfied, Partially Satisfied, Not Satisfied, Not Applicable) 

Assessment Findings— 

Assessment Deficiency and Potential Impact— 

Recommendation— 

Card Activation/Issuance Process 

PCI Control Identifier— AI-7 

PCI Control Description— The issuer performs a 1:1 biometric match of the applicant against 

the biometric included in the PIV Card or in the enrollment record. On a successful match, the 

PIV Card may be released to the applicant 

PCI Control Owner— External Service Provider, Facility Specific 

Assessment Result— Partially Satisfied 

Assessment Findings— There is operational evidence that a 1:1 biometric match is carried out 

before the card is released to the applicant. 

Assessment Deficiency and Potential Impact— The requirement to carry out this task is not 

documented clearly enough in the operations plan. Although personnel are knowledgeable about 

this requirement, and the task was observed to be performed correctly during card issuance, the 

lack of documentation could be a problem if there is turnover in staff. 

Recommendation— Update the issuance process description within the operations plan to 

include a clear description of this task in the process. 

Summary Report Template 

PAT (% Satisfied, % Partially Satisfied, % Not Satisfied) 

For each Accreditation Focus Area 

53 
(% PCI controls Satisfied, % Partially Satisfied, % Not Satisfied) 

(% Review Assessments Satisfied, % Interview Assessments Satisfied, % Observe Assessments 

Satisfied, % Test Assessments Satisfied) 

54 
APPENDIX F: SAMPLE TRANSMITTAL AND DECISION LETTERS

Sample Assessment/Accreditation Package Transmittal Letter 

From: Organization Identity Management Official Date: 

To: Designated Accreditation Authority (DAA) 

Subject: PCI Accreditation Package for [PCI] 

An assessment of the [PCI NAME] located at [PCI Location and PCIF Locations] has been 

conducted in accordance with NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-79-1, Guidelines for the 

Accreditation of PIV Card Issuers and the [ORGANIZATION] policy on PCI accreditation. The 

attached accreditation package contains— (i) the PCI operations plan; (ii) the assessment report; 

(iii) a corrective actions plan (CAP); and (iv) An SP 800-37 accreditation letter for each 

information system within the PCI. 

The PCI operations plan, its policies, procedures, and processes have been assessed by 

[ASSESSOR] using the assessment methods and procedures defined in SP 800-79-1 and specified 

in the assessment report to determine the extent to which the requirements under HSPD-12 and 

FIPS 201-1 are exhibited. The CAP describes the corrective actions that we plan to perform to 

remove or reduce any remaining deficiencies detected in the PCI’s operations. 

Signature 

Title 

55 
Sample Accreditation Decision Letter (Authorization to Operate) 

From: Designated Accreditation Authority Date: 

To: Organization Identity Management Official 

Subject: Accreditation Decision for [PCI] 

After reviewing the results of the accreditation package of the [PCI], I have determined that the 

PCI’s policies, procedures, and processes are in compliance both with FIPS 201-1 and our 

organization’s own policies, regulations and standards. Accordingly, I am issuing an 

authorization to operate (ATO) the PCI’s services. The PCI is accredited without any restrictions 

or limitations. This accreditation is my formal declaration that the requirements of HSPD-12 are 

being satisfied by the PCI. 

This ATO also applies to facilities under the PCI. Included is a list of facilities authorized to 

operate under this accreditation decision. 

This accreditation and ATO will remain in effect for 3 years from the date of this letter if— (i) 

all required documentation is updated annually; (ii) a lifecycle walkthrough is completed 

annually and the results sent to me within thirty (30) days of completion; and (iii) no deficiencies 

are identified during the walkthrough that would increase the risk to the organization’s mission. 

A copy of this letter and all supporting accreditation documentation shall be retained in 

accordance with the organization’s record retention schedule. 

Signature 

Title 

56 
Sample Accreditation Decision Letter (Interim Authorization to Operate) 

From: Designated Accreditation Authority Date: 

To: Organization Identity Management Official 

Subject: Accreditation Decision for [PCI] 

After reviewing the results of the assessment of the [PCI], I have determined that the PCI does 

not satisfy the requirements identified in FIPS 201-1 and the organization’s policies, regulations, 

and standards. However, I have determined that there is an overarching need for the PCI to 

provide the needed services due to mission necessity and other considerations. Accordingly, I am 

issuing an interim authorization to operate (IATO) the PCI’s services. Operation of the PCI must 

be performed in accordance with the enclosed terms and conditions during the IATO period. The 

PCI is not considered accredited during the IATO period. 

This IATO also applies to facilities under the PCI. Included is a list of facilities authorized to 

operate during this interim period, along with specific limitations or restrictions that apply. 

This interim authorization to operate is valid for a maximum till close of business on <date> 

[not to exceed three months]. This interim authorization will remain in effect as long as— (i) the 

required status reports for the PCI are submitted to this office every month; (ii) the problems or 

deficiencies reported from the accreditation do not result in additional risk that is deemed 

unacceptable; and (iii) continued progress is being made in reducing or eliminating the 

deficiencies in accordance with the corrective actions plan (CAP). At the end of IATO period, 

the PCI must either be accredited and authorized to operate, or the authorization for further 

operation will be denied. A second IATO will be granted only in extenuating circumstances. 

This office will review the CAP submitted with the accreditation package during the IATO 

period and monitor progress on removal or reduction of concerns and discrepancies before reaccreditation is initiated. 

A copy of this letter and all supporting accreditation documentation shall be retained in 

accordance with the organization’s record retention schedule. 

Signature 

Title 

57 
Sample Accreditation Decision Letter (Denial of Authorization to Operate) 

From: Designated Accreditation Authority Date: 

To: Organization Identity Management Official 

Subject: Accreditation Decision for [PCI] 

After reviewing the results of the assessment of the [PCI] and the supporting evidence provided 

in the associated accreditation package, I have determined that the requirements identified in 

FIPS 201-1 and the organization’s policies, regulations, and standards are not being exhibited by 

the PCI. Accordingly, I am issuing a denial of authorization to operate (DATO) to the PCI and 

its facilities. The PCI is not accredited and [MAY NOT BE PLACED INTO OPERATION or ALL 

CURRENT OPERATIONS MUST BE HALTED]. 

The corrective actions plan (CAP) is to be pursued immediately to ensure that proactive 

measures are taken to correct the deficiencies found during the assessment. Re- accreditation is 

to be initiated at the earliest opportunity to determine the effectiveness of correcting the 

deficiencies. 

A copy of this letter and all supporting accreditation documentation shall be retained in 

accordance with the organization’s record retention schedule. 

Signature 

Title 

58 
APPENDIX G: PCI CONTROLS AND ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES

PAT = Organizational Preparedness 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

DO-1 The organization develops and implements a PCI operations plan 

according to the template in Appendix D. The operations plan 

references other documents as needed. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the operations plan includes the relevant elements from 

the template in Appendix D (review); 

(ii) the operations plan includes the list of PCI controls and 

the PCI control owner for each, how they were 

implemented and whether they are organization or facility 

specific (review); 

(iii) documentation that is not included in the operations plan 

is referenced accurately (review); 

(iv) the operations plan has been reviewed and approved by 

the DAA within the organization (review, interview).

SP 800-79-1, Section 2.11 – 

Accreditation Package and 

Supporting Documentation 

DO-2 The organization has a written policy and procedures for 

enrollment/identity proofing that are approved by the head of the 

organization. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has developed and documented written 

policy and procedures for identity proofing and enrollment 

for personnel requiring a PIV Card (e.g. employees, 

contractors and foreign nationals) (review); 

(ii) the policy is consistent with the organization’s mission and 

functions, FIPS 201-1 and applicable laws, directives, 

policies, regulations, standards, and guidance (review); 

(iii) the policy and procedures have been signed off by the 

head of the organization (review); 

(iv) the organization will periodically review and update the 

policy and procedures as required (review, interview). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.2 – PIV 

Identity Proofing and 

Registration Requirements 

Preparation and 

Maintenance of 

Documentation 

DO-3 The organization has a written policy and procedures for issuance 

that are approved by the head of the organization. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has developed and documented a written 

policy and procedures for issuance (review); 

(ii) the policy is consistent with the organization’s mission and 

functions, FIPS 201-1 and applicable laws, directives, 

policies, regulations, standards, and guidance (review); 

(iii) the policy and procedures have been signed off by the 

head of the organization (review); 

(iv) the organization will periodically review and update the 

policy and procedures as required (review, interview). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.3 – 

PIV Issuance and 

Maintenance Requirements 

59 
PAT = Organizational Preparedness 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

DO-4 The organization has a written policy and procedures describing 

the conditions for PIV Card renewal that are approved by the 

head of the organization. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has developed and documented a written 

policy and procedures for card renewal (review); 

(ii) the policy is consistent with the organization’s mission and 

functions, FIPS 201-1 and applicable laws, directives, 

policies, regulations, standards, and guidance (review); 

(iii) the policy and procedures have been signed off by the 

head of the organization (review); 

(iv) the organization will periodically review and update the 

policy and procedures as required (review, interview). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.3.2.1 – 

PIV Card Renewal 

DO-5 The organization has a written policy and procedures describing 

the conditions for PIV Card termination that are approved by the 

head of the organization. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has developed and documented a written 

policy and procedures for PIV Card termination (review); 

(ii) the policy is consistent with the organization’s mission and 

functions, FIPS 201-1 and applicable laws, directives, 

policies, regulations, standards, and guidance (review); 

(iii) the policy and procedures have been signed off by the 

head of the organization (review); 

(iv) the organization will periodically review and update the 

policy as required (review, interview). 

FIPS 201-1 Section 5.3.2.4 - 

– PIV Card Termination 

DO-6 The organization has a written policy and procedures describing 

the conditions for PIV Card re-issuance that are approved by the 

head of the organization. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has developed and documented a written 

policy and procedures for re-issuance (review); 

(ii) the policy is consistent with the organization’s mission and 

functions, FIPS 201-1 and applicable laws, directives, 

policies, regulations, standards, and guidance (review); 

(iii) the policy and procedures have been signed off by the 

head of the organization (review); 

(iv) the organization will periodically review and update the 

policy and procedures as required (review, interview). 

FIPS 201-1 Section 5.3.2.2 – 

PIV Card Reissuance 

DO-7 In cases where a PIV Card is not required, such as temporary 

employees and contractors employed for less than 6 months and 

visitors, the organization has a written policy and procedures 

describing the conditions for temporary badges. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has developed and documented a written 

policy and procedures for the issuance of temporary 

badges (review); 

(ii) the policy is consistent with the organization’s mission and 

functions, FIPS 201-1 and applicable laws, directives, 

policies, regulations, standards, and guidance (review); 

(iii) the organization will periodically review and update the 

policy and procedures as required (review, interview). 

OMB Memorandum 05-24 

60 
PAT = Organizational Preparedness 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

RR-1 The organization has appointed the role of Senior Authorizing 

Official (SAO). 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has defined the role of Senior Authorizing 

Official and its responsibilities according to the 

requirements of SP 800-79-1 (review);

(ii) the organization has assigned the role of Senior 

Authorizing Official (review);

SP 800-79-1, Section 2.6 –

Roles and Responsibilities 

RR-2 The organization has appointed the role of Designated 

Accreditation Authority (DAA). 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has defined the role of Designated 

Accreditation Authority and its responsibilities according to 

the requirements of SP 800-79-1 (review); 

(ii) the organization has assigned the role of Designated 

Accreditation Authority (review, interview); 

SP 800-79-1, Section 2.6 –

Roles and Responsibilities 

RR-3 The organization has appointed the role of Organization Identity 

Management Official (OIMO). 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has defined the role of Organization 

Identity Management Official and its responsibilities 

according to the requirements of SP 800-79-1 (interview); 

(ii) the organization has assigned the role of Organization 

Identity Management Official (review, interview). 

SP 800-79-1, Section 2.6 –

Roles and Responsibilities 

RR-4 The organization has appointed the role of Assessor. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has defined the role of Assessor and its 

responsibilities according to the requirements of SP 800-

79-1 (review); 

(ii) the organization has assigned the role of Assessor 

(review); 

(iii) the Assessor is independent of, and organizationally 

separate from, the persons and office(s) directly 

responsible for the day-to-day operation of the 

organization (review, interview). 

SP 800-79-1, Section 2.6 –

Roles and Responsibilities 

Assignment of 

Roles and 

Responsibilities 

RR-5 The organization has appointed the role of Privacy Official (PO). 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has defined the role of Privacy Official 

and its responsibilities according to the requirements of 

SP 800-79-1 (review); 

(ii) the organization has assigned the role of Privacy Official in 

the operations plan (review, interview); 

(iii) the Privacy Official does not have any other roles in the 

PCI (review, interview). 

SP 800-79-1, Section 2.6 –

Roles and Responsibilities 

61 
PAT = Organizational Preparedness 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

RR-6 The PCI Facility employs processes which adhere to the principle 

of separation of duties to ensure that no single individual has the 

capability to issue a PIV Card without the cooperation of another 

authorized person. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PCI facility standard operating procedures document 

the principle of separation of duties (review); 

(ii) the PCI facility’s processes demonstrate adherence to the 

principle of separation of duties (interview, observe). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.2 – PIV 

Identity Proofing and 

Registration 

Facility 

FP-1 Minimum physical controls at the PCI Facility are implemented. 

These include: (i) use of locked rooms, safes, and cabinets (as 

appropriate); (ii) physical access to key areas within the facility is 

restricted to authorized personnel, (iii) security monitoring and 

automated alarms are implemented, (iv) emergency power and 

lighting are available, and (v) fire prevention and protection 

mechanisms are implemented. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the OIMO and PCIF Managers(s) are aware of the 

minimum set of physical controls that need to be in place 

at the facility(ies) (interview); 

(ii) the minimum physical security controls are implemented 

by the PCI Facility (observe).

Commonly accepted security 

readiness measures 

FP-2 PCI Documentation (e.g., operations plan, standard operating 

procedures, and contracts) are maintained at each PCI Facility. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the most current versions of the PCI documentation is 

available at the PCI Facility for reference as needed 

(interview, review);

Commonly accepted security 

readiness measures 

Equipment 

FP-3 The PCIF Manager(s) has a copy of the contingency/disaster 

recovery plan for the information systems, which is stored 

securely. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the contingency plan/ disaster recovery plan is stored 

(ii) securely at the facility (interview, observe); 

(iii) the PCIF Manager is knowledgeable on how to 

restore/reconstitute the information systems in case of 

system failures (interview). 

Commonly accepted security 

readiness measures 

Facility and 

Personnel 

Readiness 

FP-4 The information systems are managed using a system 

development life cycle (SDLC) methodology that includes 

information security considerations 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the information system used by the organization has been 

developed using an SDLC methodology (review, 

interview); 

(ii) information system security is considered as part of the 

development life cycle (review). 

Commonly accepted security 

readiness measures 

62 
PAT = Organizational Preparedness 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

FP-5 Enrollment/identity proofing and card activation/issuance 

workstations are situated in an enclosed area (wall or partition) to 

provide privacy for an applicant or card holder. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) PCI Facility workstations are situated in an enclosed area 

(wall or partition) such that other individuals cannot see an 

applicant or card holder’s personal information (observe). 

Commonly accepted security 

readiness measures 

Key Personnel 

FP-6 All operators who perform roles within a PCI Facility in the areas 

of enrollment/ identity proofing or card activation/issuance are 

allowed access to information systems only when authenticated 

through a PIV Card. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement that all operators who perform roles within 

a PCI Facility in the areas of enrollment/ identity proofing 

or card activation/issuance are allowed logical access to 

information systems only when authenticated through a 

PIV Card, has been documented in the PCI Facility’s 

standard operating procedures (review); 

(ii) Operators use PIV Cards to access information systems in 

the course of performing their roles in the areas of 

enrollment/ identity proofing or card activation/issuance 

access (observe).

Commonly accepted security 

readiness measures 

FP-7 All operators who perform roles within a PCI Facility in the areas 

of enrollment/ identity proofing, adjudication and card 

activation/issuance have undergone training that is specific to 

their duties prior to being allowed to perform in that function. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) The requirement that all operators who perform roles 

within a PCI Facility in the areas of enrollment/ identity 

proofing, adjudication and card activation/issuance are 

allowed access to information systems only after 

completing a training course specific to their duties. 

(interview, review);

(ii) Records showing that the appropriate training course has 

been completed by PCI Facility personnel are stored by 

the facility for audit purposes (review).

Commonly accepted security 

readiness measures 

FP-8 All pre-personalized and personalized smart card stock received 

from card vendors and card production facilities are received only 

by authorized personnel who ensure that the card stock is stored 

securely in the PCI Facility. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PCI facility has an authorized list of personnel that are 

responsible for ensuring that smart card stock is received 

and stored securely in the PCI Facility (interview); 

(ii) procedures for receiving and storing smart card stock are 

documented in the PCI Facility’s standard operating 

procedures (review);

(iii) the authorized personnel are knowledgeable of the 

procedures on how to receive and store smart card stock 

(interview).

Commonly accepted security 

readiness measures 

63 
PAT = Organizational Preparedness 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

FP-9 The organization maintains a current list of designated points of 

contact and alternate points of contact for all PCIFs used by the 

organization for enrollment/identity proofing and card 

activation/issuance. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization maintains a current list of designated 

points of contact and alternate points of contact for all 

PCIFs used by the organization for enrollment/identity 

proofing and card activation/issuance (review). 

Commonly accepted security 

readiness measures 

PAT = Security Management & Data Protection 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

ST-1 The PCI information systems that contain information in 

identifiable form are handled in compliance with Federal laws and 

policies, including the Privacy Act of 1974. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PCI Facility does not disclose any record which is 

contained in the system of records to any person, or to 

another organization unless written consent has been 

given by the individual to whom the record pertains unless 

one of the exceptions for disclosure in the Privacy Act are 

met (review, interview); 

(ii) individuals are permitted to gain access to their personal 

record and the information is provided in a form 

comprehensible to them (review, interview); 

(iii) individuals are able to request amendments to records 

pertaining to them, corrections are made promptly and if 

not, the individual is provided with a reason for the refusal 

and is able to request a review of the refusal (review, 

interview); 

(iv) the organization notifies an individual when their record is 

made available to any person under a compulsory legal 

process when such a process becomes a matter of public 

record (review, interview). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.4 - PIV 

Privacy Requirements 

Protection of 

Stored and 

Transmitted Data 

ST-2 The information systems protect the integrity and confidentiality of 

transmitted information. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the integrity of transmitted information is protected 

(interview, test, review)

(ii) the confidentiality of transmitted information is protected 

(interview, test, review)

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.4 - PIV 

Privacy Requirements 

PAT = Security Management & Data Protection 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

64 
PAT = Security Management & Data Protection 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

PR-1 Privacy act statement/notice, complaint procedures, appeals 

procedures for those denied identification or whose identification 

cards are revoked, and sanctions for employees violating privacy 

policies shall be developed and posted by the organization in 

multiple locations at the PCI facility (e.g., internet site, human 

resource offices, regional offices, and contractor orientation 

handouts). 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PCI Facility has posted privacy act statement/notice, 

complaint procedures, appeals procedures for those 

denied identification or whose identification cards are 

revoked, and sanctions for employees violating privacy 

policies (interview, review).

OMB Memorandum 05-24 

PR-2 The organization has conducted a Privacy Impact Assessment of 

their PCI information system (s), compliant with Section 208 of 

the E-Government Act of 2002 and based on guidance found in 

Appendix E of OMB Memorandum 06-06. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has conducted a Privacy Impact 

Assessment of their PCI information system (s) based on 

guidance found in Appendix E of OMB Memorandum 06-

06 (review); 

(ii) the organization has submitted the Privacy Impact 

Assessment of their PCI information system (s) to OMB 

(interview, review). 

OMB Memorandum 05-24 

PR-3 The organization’s employee and contractor identification 

systems of records notices (SORN’s) are updated to reflect any 

changes in the disclosure of information to other organizations in 

order to be consistent with the Privacy Act of 1974 and OMB 

Circular A-130, Appendix 1. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization updates SORN’s to reflect changes in the 

disclosure of information (review, interview). 

OMB Memorandum 05-24 

Enforcement of 

Privacy 

Requirements 

PR-4 The applicant is notified of what information in identifiable form is 

collected, how it will be used, what information will be disclosed 

and to whom, and what protections are provided to ensure the 

security of this information. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) Before receiving the PIV Card, the PCI Facility requires 

the applicant to be notified of the personally identifiable 

information that is collected, how it will be used, what 

information will be disclosed and to whom, and what 

protections are provided to ensure the security of this 

information (review, observe) 

(ii) the applicant is informed of what personally identifiable 

information is collected, how it will be used, what 

information will be disclosed and to whom, and what 

protections are provided to ensure the security of this 

information (interview) 

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.4 – PIV 

Privacy Requirements 

65 
PAT = Security Management & Data Protection 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

PR-5 The PCI Facility employs technologies that allow for continuous 

auditing of compliance with privacy policies and practices. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PCI Facility employs technologies that allow for the 

continuous auditing of compliance with privacy policies 

and practices. This could include the use of technology to 

monitor data access, data flows between information 

systems and the use of personally identifiable information 

(interview, test). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.4 – PIV 

Privacy Requirements 

PR-6 In the case of termination, any personally identifiable information 

that has been collected from the cardholder is disposed of in 

accordance with the stated privacy and data retention policies. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) as a part of PIV Card termination, the organization 

disposes of personally identifiable information in 

accordance with its privacy and data retention policies 

(review, interview).

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.3.2.4 – 

PIV Card Termination 

Infrastructure Elements 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

DP-1 In order to be compliant with the provisions of OMB Circular A130, App III, the PCI information system(s) are certified in 

accordance with NIST SP 800-37, Guide for the Security 

Certification and Accreditation of Federal Information Systems. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has a letter showing the current 

accreditation decision of each information system used to 

support the PCI (review). 

FIPS 201-1, Appendix B.2 – 

Security Certification and 

Accreditation of IT System(s) 

DP-2 Every product utilized by a PCI facility that it falls within one of the 

categories listed by the GSA FIPS 201 Evaluation program, 

 shall be listed in the GSA FIPS 201 Evaluation Program’s 

Approved Product List (APL) 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) for each product that falls within one of the categories in 

the GSA FIPS 201 Evaluation Program, its presence 

(make, model, versions) is checked on the APL (review)

OMB Memorandum 05-24 

Deployed Products 

& Information 

Systems 

DP-3 The organization has submitted a personalized PIV Card from 

their production system to GSA for testing, and it has been 

approved. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has a letter from the GSA showing 

approval of the configuration of their PIV Card (review).

OMB Memorandum 07-06 

PAT = Infrastructure Elements 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

66 
PAT = Infrastructure Elements 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

CI-1 For legacy Public Key Infrastructures (PKI’s), the organization’s 

CA shall be cross-certified with the Federal Bridge (FBCA) at a 

Medium-HW or High Assurance Level. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

the PKI is listed on the FBCA’s website as being cross-certified at 

a Medium-HW or High Assurance Level. (review). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.4.4 – 

Migration from Legacy PKIs 

CI-2 For non-legacy PKI’s, the CA that issues certificates to support 

PIV Card authentication participates in the hierarchical PKI for the 

Common Policy managed by the Federal PKI. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PKI is listed on the Federal PKI Policy Authority’s 

website as being a shared service provider (review).

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.4.1 – 

Architecture 

CI-3 When cards are personalized, card management keys are set to 

be specific to each PIV Card. That is, each PIV Card shall contain 

a unique card management key. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the CMS vendor’s documentation shows the use of unique 

card management keys (review);

(ii) the OIMO indicates that card management keys are 

unique (interview).

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.1.6.2 – 

Activation by Card 

Management System 

CI-4 Fingerprint images retained by organizations shall be formatted 

according to SP 800-76-1. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the fingerprint images are formatted according to Table 4 

in SP 800-76-1 and INCITS 381 (review, test).

SP 800-76-1, Section 3.4 – 

Fingerprint Template 

Specifications 

CI-5 Facial images collected during enrollment/identity proofing are 

formatted such that they conform to SP 800-76-1. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the facial images are formatted according to Table 6 in SP 

800-76-1 and INCITS 385 (review, test).

SP 800-76-1, Section 5.2 – 

Acquisition and Format 

Implementation of 

Credentialing 

Infrastructures 

CI-6 The fingerprint templates stored on the PIV Card are prepared 

from images of the primary and secondary fingers where the 

choice of fingers is based on the order of priority, as provided in 

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.4.1. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the procedures used to fingerprint the applicant are based 

on the primary and secondary finger designations as 

required by the standard (review, observe); 

(ii) the fingerprint templates are prepared from images of the 

primary and secondary fingers (test).

SP 800-76-1, Section 3.4.1 – 

Source Images 

PAT = Processes 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

67 
SP-1 A request is created in order to issue a PIV Card. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the process for making a request is documented (review); 

(ii) A PIV Request is created in order to issue a PIV Card 

(observe).

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.1 –

Control Objectives 

Sponsorship 

Process SP-2 The PCI Facility collects personal information using only forms 

approved by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) forms used to collect personal information have been 

approved by OMB (review, observe).

OMB Memorandum 07-06 

PAT = Processes 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

EI-1 The PCI Facility has a process in place to verify the authenticity 

of the source documents and match them to the identity claimed 

by the applicant. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PCI Facility has a process in place to verify the 

authenticity of the source documents and match them to 

the identity claimed by the applicant (interview, observe); 

(ii) the PCI Facility has materials used to train 

enrollment/identity proofing officials on how to verify the 

authenticity of the source documents (review). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.1 – 

Control Objectives 

EI-2 The PCI Facility requires the applicant to appear in-person at 

least once before the issuance of a PIV Card. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement that an applicant appear in-person at least 

once before the issuance of a PIV Card is documented 

(review);

(ii) the applicant appears in-person at least once before the 

issuance of a PIV Card (observe). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.2 – PIV 

Identity Proofing and 

Registration Requirements 

EI-3 Two identity source documents are checked in accordance with 

the requirements of Form I-9, OMB No. 1115-0136, Employment 

Eligibility Verification. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement to check two identity source documents in 

accordance with the requirements of Form I-9 is 

documented (review);

(ii) two identity source documents are checked in accordance 

with the requirements of Form I-9 during 

enrollment/identity proofing (observe).

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.2 – PIV 

Identity Proofing and 

Registration Requirements 

Enrollment / 

Identity Proofing 

Process 

EI-4 One of the identity source documents used to verify the claimed 

identity of the applicant is a valid Federal or state governmentissued photo identification. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement that one of the identity source documents 

is a valid Federal or state government issued photo ID is 

documented (review);

(ii) one of the identity source documents used to verify the 

claimed identity of the applicant is a valid Federal or state 

government-issued photo identification (observe).

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.2 – PIV 

Identity Proofing and 

Registration Requirements 

68 
PAT = Processes 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

EI-5 The PCI Facility performs the entire identity proofing and 

enrollment/identity proofing process prior to re-issuing a PIV 

Card. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement to perform the entire identity proofing and 

enrollment process prior to re-issuing a PIV Card is 

documented (review);

(ii) the PCI Facility performs the entire identity proofing and 

enrollment process prior to re-issuing a PIV Card 

(observe).

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.3.2.2 

PIV Card Reissuance 

EI-6 A new facial image is collected at the time of reissuance. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement to capture a new facial image is 

documented within the reissuance process (review);

(ii) a new facial image is collected at the time of reissuance 

(observe).

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.4 – 

Biometric Data Specifications 

EI-7 The biometrics (fingerprints and facial image) that are used to 

personalize the PIV Card must be captured during the 

enrollment/identity proofing process. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement to capture biometrics (fingerprints and 

facial image) that are used to personalize the PIV Card 

must be captured during enrollment/identity proofing 

process is documented (review);

(ii) The biometrics (fingerprints and facial image) that are 

used to personalize the PIV Card are captured during the 

enrollment/identity proofing process (observe).

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.2 – PIV 

Identity Proofing and 

Registration Requirement 

EI-8 A cardholder waits until six weeks prior to the expiration of a valid 

PIV Card before applying for renewal (please note: this applies to 

normal renewal only and not for lost or damaged cards). 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement that a cardholder must wait until six weeks 

prior to the expiration of a valid PIV Card before applying 

for renewal is documented (review);

(ii) a cardholder waits until six weeks prior to the expiration of 

a valid PIV Card before applying for renewal (interview).

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.3.2.1 – 

PIV Card Renewal 

EI-9 The PCI Facility captures the applicant’s fingerprints in 

accordance with any of the three imaging modes: (i) plain live 

scan, (ii) rolled live scan, or (iii) rolled ink card. 

Assessment 

(i) the PCI Facility captures the applicant’s fingerprints in 

accordance with any of the three imaging modes: (i) plain 

live scan, (ii) rolled live scan, or (iii) rolled ink card 

(observe).

SP 800-76-1, Section 3.3 – 

Fingerprint Image Acquisition 

69 
PAT = Processes 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

EI-10 The PCI Facility has an attending official present at the time of 

fingerprint capture. 

 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement that the PCI Facility has an attending 

official present at the time of fingerprint capture is 

documented (review);

(ii) the PCI Facility has an attending official present at the 

time of fingerprint capture (observe).

SP 800-76-1, Section 3.3 – 

Fingerprint Image Acquisition 

EI-11 The PCI Facility acquires fingerprint images in accordance with 

Table 2 in 800-76-1. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) fingers are inspected for the absence of foreign materials 

(observe);

(ii) scanner and card surfaces are clean (observe);

(iii) the presentation of fingers for a plain live scan, rolled live 

scan, and rolled ink card are based on procedures in 

Table 1 (observe);

(iv) multi-finger plain impression images are properly 

segmented into single finger images (observe).

SP 800-76-1, Section 3.3 – 

Fingerprint Image Acquisition 

EI-12 The PCI Facility captures the 10 fingerprints of the applicant. In 

the case where less than ten fingers are available, the missing 

fingers are labeled before transmitting to the FBI. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement that the PCI Facility captures the 10 

fingerprints of the applicant and labels any missing fingers 

is documented (review);

(ii) the PCI Facility captures the 10 fingerprints of the 

applicant and labels any missing fingers (observe).

SP 800-76-1, Section 3.3 – 

Fingerprint image acquisition 

PAT = Processes 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

Adjudication 

Process 

AP-1 The organization conducts a National Agency Check with Written 

Inquiries (NACI), or other Office of Personnel Management 

(OPM) or National Security community investigation for each 

applicant for whom a successfully adjudicated NACI cannot be 

referenced on file. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement that the organization conduct a National 

Agency Check with Written Inquiries (NACI), or other 

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) or National 

Security community investigation for each applicant for 

whom a successfully adjudicated NACI cannot be 

referenced on file is documented (review);

(ii) the organization conducts a National Agency Check with 

Written Inquiries (NACI), or other Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM) or National Security community 

investigation for each applicant for whom a successfully 

adjudicated NACI cannot be referenced on file (interview).

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.2 – PIV 

Identity Proofing and 

Registration Requirements 

70 
PAT = Processes 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

AP-2 The organization successfully adjudicates the FBI National 

Criminal History Check (fingerprint check) and initiates the 

National Agency Check with Written Inquires (NACI) before the 

PIV Card is issued. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement that the organization successfully 

adjudicates the FBI National Criminal History Check 

(fingerprint check) and initiates the National Agency Check 

with Written Inquires (NACI) before the PIV Card is issued 

is documented (review); 

(ii) the organization successfully adjudicates the FBI National 

Criminal History Check (fingerprint check) and initiates the 

National Agency Check with Written Inquires (NACI) 

before the PIV Card is issued (interview). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.2 – PIV 

Identity Proofing and 

Registration Requirements 

PAT = Processes 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

CP-1 The PIV Card implements security features that aid in reducing 

counterfeiting, are resistant to tampering, and provide visual 

evidence of tampering attempts. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PIV Card contains at least one security feature. 

Examples of these security features include the following: 

(i) Optical varying structures, (ii) Optical varying inks, (iii) 

Laser etching and engraving, (iv) Holograms, (v) 

Holographic images, (vi) Watermarks (interview, 

observe). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.1.2 – 

Tamper Proofing and 

Resistance 

CP-2 The PIV Card is not embossed. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PIV Card is not embossed (review, observe) 

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.1.3 – 

Physical Characteristics and 

Durability 

CP-3 Decals are not adhered to the PIV Card. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) decals are not adhered to the PIV Card (review, observe). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.1.3 – 

Physical Characteristics and 

Durability 

Card Production 

Process 

CP-4 If organizations choose to punch an opening in the card body to 

enable the card to be worn on a lanyard, all such alterations are 

closely coordinated with the card vendor and/or manufacturer to 

ensure the card material integrity is not adversely impacted. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the integrity of a PIV Card is not affected by a punched 

opening (test); 

(ii) Documentation from the PIV Card vendor shows that 

durability and operational requirements have not been 

compromised (review). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.1.3 – 

Physical Characteristics and 

Durability 

PAT = Processes 

71 
Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

AI-1 The personalized PIV Card complies with all the mandatory items 

on the front of the PIV Card. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PIV Card meets specific requirements in FIPS 201-1 

for (i)a photograph; (ii) name; (iii) employee affiliation; (iv) 

and expiration date (observe, test). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.1.4.1 – 

Mandatory Items on the Front 

of the PIV Card 

AI-2 The personalized PIV Card complies with all the mandatory items 

on the back of the PIV Card. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PIV Card meets specific requirements in FIPS 201-1 

for (i) an organization card serial number; (ii) and issuer 

identification (observe, test). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.1.4.2 – 

Mandatory Items on the Back 

of the Card 

AI-3 If one or more optional items are printed on the front of the PIV 

Card, they comply with the requirements for the optional items on 

the front on the PIV Card. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PIV Card meets specific requirements in FIPS 201-1 if 

it includes optional items on the front of the card, such as 

(i) a signature; (ii) organization specific text area; (iii) rank; 

(iv) portable data file; (v) header; (vi) organization seal; 

(vii) footer; (viii) issue date; (ix) color-coding employee 

affiliation; (x) photo border for employee affiliation; (xi) 

organization-specific data (observe, test). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.1.4.3 – 

Optional Items on the Front of 

the Card 

AI-4 If one or more optional items are printed on the back of the PIV 

Card, they comply with the requirements for the optional items on 

the back on the PIV Card. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PIV Card meets specific requirements in FIPS 201-1 if 

it includes optional items on the front of the card, such as 

(i) magnetic stripe; (ii) return to address (iii) physical 

characteristics of the cardholder; (iv) additional language 

for emergency responder officials; (v) standard Section 

499, Title 18 language; (vi) linear 3 of 9 bar code; (vii) 

organization-specific text (zones 9 & 10) (observe, test).

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.1.4.4 – 

Optional Items on the Back of 

the Card 

AI-5 The PIV Card includes mechanisms to limit the number of PIN 

guesses an adversary can attempt if a card is lost or stolen. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PIV Card limits the number of incorrect PIN guesses 

(test, review).

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.1.6.1 – 

Activation by Cardholder 

Card Activation / 

Issuance Process 

AI-6 The PIV Card is valid for no more than five years. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the expiration date printed on the PIV Card is no more 

than five years from the issuance date (observe).

(ii) the expiration date is printed in the CHUID (test)

(iii) the two dates (printed on the card and the expiration date 

in the CHUID) are the same (test)

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.3.2.1 – 

PIV Card Renewal 

72 
PAT = Processes 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

AI-7 The PCI Facility performs a 1:1 biometric match of the applicant 

against the biometric included in the PIV Card or in the PIV 

enrollment record before releasing the PIV Card to the applicant. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement that the issuer performs a 1:1 biometric 

match of the applicant against the biometric included in 

the PIV Card or in the PIV enrollment record is 

documented (review);

(ii) the issuer performs a 1:1 biometric match of the applicant 

against the biometric included in the PIV Card or in the 

PIV enrollment record (observe).

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.3.1 – 

PIV Card Issuance 

AI-8 The PCI Facility performs a 1:1 biometric match of the PIV Card 

holder against the biometric included in the PIV Card prior to 

renewal. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement that the PCI Facility performs a 1:1 

biometric match of the PIV Card holder against the 

biometric included in the PIV Card prior to renewal is 

documented (review);

(ii) the PCI Facility performs a 1:1 biometric match of the PIV 

Card holder against the biometric included in the PIV Card 

prior to renewal (observe).

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.3.2.1 – 

PIV Card Renewal 

AI-9 The PCI Facility advises applicants that the PIN on the PIV Card 

should not be easily-guess-able or otherwise individuallyidentifiable in nature. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement that the PCI Facility advises applicants 

that the PIN on the PIV Card should not be easily-guessable or otherwise individually-identifiable in nature is 

documented (review);

(ii) the PCI Facility advises applicants that the PIN on the PIV 

Card should not be easily-guess-able or otherwise 

individually-identifiable in nature (observe).

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.1.6.1 

Activation by Cardholder 

AI-10 Identity cards issued to individuals without a completed NACI or 

equivalent are electronically distinguishable from identity cards 

issued to individuals who have a completed investigation. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PCI Facility has procedures for how to update the 

NACI interim indicator extension for identity cards issued 

to individuals without a completed NACI or equivalent 

(review, interview);

(ii) for individuals without a completed NACI or equivalent, the 

NACI interim indicator is set to true (test); 

(iii) for individuals with a completed NACI or equivalent, the 

NACI interim indicator is set to false (test). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.2 – PIV 

Identity Proofing and 

Registration Requirements 

73 
PAT = Processes 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

AI-11 During a PIN reset on a locked PIV Card, the PCI Facility 

performs a 1:1 biometric match of the PIV Card holder against the 

biometric included in the PIV Card prior to releasing the unlocked 

PIV Card back to the Card holder. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement that, during a PIN reset on the PIV Card, 

the PCI Facility performs a 1:1 biometric match of the PIV 

Card holder against the biometric included in the PIV Card 

before releasing the PIV Card is documented (review);

(ii) after PIN reset on the PIV Card, the PCI Facility performs 

a 1:1 biometric match of the PIV Card Holder against the 

biometric included in the PIV before releasing the PIV 

Card (observe).

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.3.2.3 – 

PIV Card PIN Reset 

AI-12 The PCI Facility issues an electro-magnetically opaque sleeve or 

other protection technology to protect against any unauthorized 

contactless access to information stored on a PIV credential. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the requirement that the PCI Facility issue an electromagnetically opaque sleeve with every PIV Card is 

documented (review); 

(ii) the PCI Facility issues an electro-magnetically opaque 

sleeve with every PIV Card ( interview, observe). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.4 – 

Privacy Requirements 

AI-13 The organization verifies that the PIV cardholder remains in good 

standing, and personnel records are current before 

renewing/reissuing the card and associated credentials. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the procedures that are followed to determine that the 

cardholder’s records are current are documented 

(review); 

(ii) the procedures to determine the currency of the 

cardholder’s records are followed by the PCI facility prior 

to renewal or reissuance of a PIV Card (observe) 

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.3.2.1 – 

PIV Card Renewal 

PAT = Processes 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

Maintenance 

Process 

MP-1 The PIV FASC-N is not modified post-issuance. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PIV FASC-N is not modified post-issuance (review, 

interview). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 4.2 – 

Cardholder Unique Identifier 

74 
PAT = Processes 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

MP-2 In the case of a renewal, re-issuance and termination, the PIV 

Card is collected and destroyed whenever possible. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) in the case of a renewal, re-issuance and termination, the 

requirement that the PIV Card is collected and destroyed 

whenever possible is documented (review);

(ii) in the case of a renewal, re-issuance and termination, the 

PIV Card is collected and destroyed whenever possible 

(interview). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 2.3 – PIV 

Issuance and Maintenance 

Requirements 

MP-3 Normal operational procedures must be in place to ensure proper 

card revocation during PIV Card re-issuance and termination: (i) 

The PIV Card itself is revoked; (ii) Databases containing Federal 

Agency Smart Credential Number (FASC-N) values must be 

updated to reflect the change in status; (iii) The Certification 

Authority (CA) is informed and CRLs are updated ; and (iv) Online 

Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responders are updated so 

that queries with respect to certificates on the PIV Card are 

answered appropriately. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PIV Card is revoked during card revocation (review, 

interview); 

(ii) databases containing Federal Agency Smart Credential 

Number (FASC-N) values must be updated to reflect the 

change in status (interview); 

(iii) the CA is informed and the revoked certificates on the PIV 

Card are placed on the CRL (test, review); 

(iv) online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responders are 

updated (test, review). 

FIPS 201-1 Section 5.3.2.4 

PIV Card Termination 

MP-4 If the PIV Card cannot be collected and destroyed, normal 

operating procedures are completed within 18 hours of 

notification. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) documentation includes the requirement that if PIV Card 

cannot be collected and destroyed, normal operating 

procedures are completed within 18 hours of notification 

(review);

(ii) if the PIV Card cannot be collected and destroyed, normal 

operating procedures are completed within 18 hours of 

notification (observe). 

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.3.2.2 – 

PIV Card Reissuance 

MP-5 Upon PIV Card termination, the organization enforces a standard 

methodology of updating systems of records to indicate employee 

termination, and this status is distributed effectively throughout 

systems used for physical and logical access to organization 

facilities and resources. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the PCI Facility has documented its procedures for 

updating information systems to indicate employee 

termination (review);

(ii) the PCI Facility updates information systems to indicate 

employee termination (interview, observe).

FIPS 201-1, Section 5.3.2 - 

PIV Card Maintenance 

MP-6 The organization posts a quarterly report, to the organization’s 

website, stating the number of PIV Cards issued to date, and the 

link is emailed to OMB. 

OMB Memorandum 07-06 

75 
PAT = Processes 

Accreditation 

Focus Area Identifier PCI Control Source 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization develops and posts a quarterly report to 

the organization’s website according to the requirements 

of the attachment to OMB memorandum 07-06 (review); 

(ii) the organization sends the link to the report to OMB on a 

quarterly basis (review, interview). 

MP-7 The organization has completed a lifecycle walkthrough at one 

year intervals since the last accreditation date, and the results are 

documented in a report to the DAA. 

Assessment 

Determine that: 

(i) the organization has completed a lifecycle walkthrough to 

cover sponsorship, enrollment/identity proofing, card 

production, card activation/issuance and maintenance 

processes (interview); 

(ii) a lifecycle walkthrough has been completed at one year 

intervals since the last accreditation date (interview); 

(iii) the results of the PCI lifecycle walkthrough have been 

documented and reviewed by the DAA (review, interview).

SP 800-79-1, Section 5.4 - 

Monitoring Phase 

76 
APPENDIX H: ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION TASKS FOR PIV CARD ISSUERS

(PCIS) 

Phases, Tasks, and Sub-tasks Person(s) Responsible 

Initiation Phase 

 Task 1: Preparation 

Subtask 1.1: Confirm that the PCI and its operations have 

been fully described and documented in the 

PCI‘s operations plan. 

OIMO 

Subtask 1.2: Confirm that processes conducted by the PCI 

Facility are in accordance with the policies and 

procedures specified in the PCI operations plan 

and are documented in Standard Operating 

Procedures. 

OIMO, PCIF Manager 

Task 2: Resource Identification 

Subtask 2.1: Identify the Senior Authorizing Official (SAO), 

Designated Accreditation Authority (DAA), 

Privacy Official (PO), PCIF Managers, 

Assessor, and other key personnel at the facility 

level, who are performing functions such as 

enrollment/identity proofing, card production, 

and card activation/issuance. 

OIMO 

Subtask 2.2: Determine the accreditation boundary for the 

PCI. 

OIMO, DAA 

Subtask 2.3: Determine the resources and the time needed for 

the accreditation of the PCI, and prepare for 

execution of the assessment. 

OIMO, DAA 

Task 3: Operations Plan Analysis and Acceptance 

Subtask 3.1: Review the list of required PCI controls 

documented in the organization’s PCI operation 

plan to confirm that they have been implemented 

properly. 

DAA, OIMO 

Subtask 3.2: Analyze the PCI operations plan to determine if 

there are deficiencies in satisfying all the 

policies, procedures, and other requirements in 

FIPS 201-1 that could result in a DATO being 

issued. 

DAA, OIMO 

Subtask 3.3: Verify that the PCI operations plan is acceptable. DAA 

Assessment Phase 

77 
Phases, Tasks, and Sub-tasks Person(s) Responsible 

Task 4: PCI Control Assessment 

Subtask 4.1: Review the suggested and selected assessment 

methods for each PCI control in preparation for 

the assessment. 

Assessor 

Subtask 4.2: Assemble all documentation and supporting 

materials necessary for the assessment of the 

PCI; if these documents include previous 

assessments, review the findings and determine 

if they are applicable to the current assessment. 

OIMO, Assessor 

Subtask 4.3: Assess the required PCI controls using the 

prescribed assessment procedures found in 

Appendix G. 

Assessor 

Subtask 4.4: Prepare the assessment report. Assessor 

Task 5: Assessment Documentation 

Subtask 5.1: Provide the OIMO with the assessment report. Assessor 

Subtask 5.2: Revise the PCI operations plan (if necessary) and 

implement its new provisions. 

OIMO 

Subtask 5.3: Prepare the corrective actions plan (CAP). OIMO 

Subtask 5.4: Assemble the accreditation submission package 

and submit to the DAA. 

OIMO 

Accreditation Phase

Task 6: Accreditation Decision

Subtask 6.1: Review the assessment decision package to see 

if it is complete and that all applicable PCI 

controls have been fully assessed using the 

designated assessment procedures. 

DAA 

Subtask 6.2: Determine that the risk to the organization’s 

operations, assets, or potentially affected 

individuals is acceptable, that the PCI controls 

have been adequately assessed and prepare the 

final accreditation decision letter 

DAA 

Task 7: Accreditation Documentation

Subtask 7.1: Provide copies of the final accreditation 

package, in either paper or electronic form, to 

the OIMO and any other organization officials 

having interests, roles, or responsibilities in the 

PCI 

DAA 

78 
79 

Phases, Tasks, and Sub-tasks Person(s) Responsible 

Subtask 7.2: Update the PCI’s operations plan. OIMO 

Monitoring Phase 

Task 8: Operations Plan Update 

Subtask 8.1: Document all relevant changes in the PCI within 

the operations plan 

OIMO 

Subtask 8.2: Analyze the proposed or actual changes to the 

PCI, and determine the impact of such changes. 

OIMO 

Task 9: Annual Lifecycle Walkthrough 

Subtask 9.1: Observe all the processes involved in getting a 

PIV Card, including those from sponsorship to 

maintenance. Observe each process, and 

compare its controls against the applicable list of 

required PCI controls. If a PCI has several 

facilities, this process should be repeated using 

randomly selected PCIFs. 

OIMO (or designated appointee) 

Subtask 9.2: The results of the lifecycle walkthrough are 

summarized in a report to the DAA. Deficiencies 

must be highlighted along with corrective 

actions that must be implemented to correct any 

deficiencies. 

OIMO, DAA