This goal is realized, in large measure, through the NCSC's Commercial Product Evaluation Program. This program focuses on the technical evaluation of the protection capabilities of commercially produced and supported systems. The highest level of trust, Verified Design or A1, requires that a Formal Top Level Specification of the design be maintained and shown, either formally or informally, to be consistent with the formal security policy model for the system. The proposed tool will have to offer some significant capability not provided by the current set of tools. The MOA should specify the specific tool and version to be used in the formal verification process.
Formal verification is a young technology.
The tools are almost constantly undergoing enhancement and correction. Consequently, the version of a tool that has been evaluated by the NCSC may not be the newest most capable version. Beta tool versions may undergo evaluation by the NCSC, and if the evaluation criteria are met, are declared to be the new evaluated version, are placed on the ETL, and replace the previously endorsed version. Trusted system developers may choose to use a beta version of an endorsed tool. However, it must be realized that beta versions have not been completely evaluated and are not endorsed.