NIST SP 800-53 CP-8(4) Provider Contingency Plan

Requirements NIST SOURCE

Discussion (NIST Supplemental Guidance)

Reviews of provider contingency plans consider the proprietary nature of such plans. In some situations, a summary of provider contingency plans may be sufficient evidence for organizations to satisfy the review requirement. Telecommunications service providers may also participate in ongoing disaster recovery exercises in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security and state and local governments. Organizations may use these types of activities to satisfy evidentiary requirements related to service provider contingency plan reviews, testing, and training.

Implementation Guidance

Engineering Interpretation

Original engineering commentary written for this explorer — not NIST source text and not authoritative guidance.

No engineering interpretation has been authored for CP-8(4) yet. This section is architected to receive it — see the Requirements and Assessment sections above for the authoritative NIST source content in the meantime.

Assessment

NIST SP 800-53A REV 5.2.0

Assessment Objectives

frequency at which to obtain evidence of contingency testing by providers is defined;
frequency at which to obtain evidence of contingency training by providers is defined;
primary telecommunications service providers are required to have contingency plans;
alternate telecommunications service providers are required to have contingency plans;
provider contingency plans are reviewed to ensure that the plans meet organizational contingency requirements;
evidence of contingency testing by providers is obtained <CP-08(04)_ODP[01] frequency>.
evidence of contingency training by providers is obtained <CP-08(04)_ODP[02] frequency>.

Examine

[SELECT FROM: Contingency planning policy; procedures addressing primary and alternate telecommunications services; contingency plan; provider contingency plans; evidence of contingency testing/training by providers; primary and alternate telecommunications service agreements; system security plan; other relevant documents or records].

Interview

[SELECT FROM: Organizational personnel with contingency planning, plan implementation, and testing responsibilities; primary and alternate telecommunications service providers; organizational personnel with information security responsibilities; organizational personnel with responsibility for acquisitions/contractual agreements].

Overlays

Showing the OT/ICS overlay for the parent control CP-8 — see the CP-8(4) entries within each baseline below.

OT/ICS Overlay SP 800-82r3

NIST SP 800-82r3 Appendix F, Table 22. Blank baseline means the control/control enhancement is not selected in that initial OT baseline.

LOW

Not applicable at this tier.

MODERATE

Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)
Included: (1) (2)

HIGH

Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)
Included: (1) (2) (3) (4)

STIGs & CCIs

No STIG checks or CCI mappings are currently loaded for CP-8(4). This section is architected to display, per product: STIG ID, Finding ID, Severity, Title, Description, Check, Fix, CCI, and NIST control mapping — but nothing is populated here until a real DISA STIG/CCI dataset is ingested.

Learn more about STIG/CCI integration →

Evidence

Potential Evidence — Derived

Categorized from the SP 800-53A "Examine"/"Test" artifact list above by keyword — not an authoritative NIST evidence list.

Policy

Contingency planning policy
contingency plan
system security plan

Other Records

procedures addressing primary and alternate telecommunications services
provider contingency plans
evidence of contingency testing/training by providers
primary and alternate telecommunications service agreements
other relevant documents or records