PL-10 — Baseline Selection | Bare Metal Cyber

Official NIST control content

Control statement

Select a control baseline for the system.

Official NIST discussion

Discussion

Control baselines are predefined sets of controls specifically assembled to address the protection needs of a group, organization, or community of interest. Controls are chosen for baselines to either satisfy mandates imposed by laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines or address threats common to all users of the baseline under the assumptions specific to the baseline. Baselines represent a starting point for the protection of individuals’ privacy, information, and information systems with subsequent tailoring actions to manage risk in accordance with mission, business, or other constraints (see [PL-11](#pl-11) ). Federal control baselines are provided in [SP 800-53B](#46d9e201-840e-440e-987c-2c773333c752) . The selection of a control baseline is determined by the needs of stakeholders. Stakeholder needs consider mission and business requirements as well as mandates imposed by applicable laws, executive orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards, and guidelines. For example, the control baselines in [SP 800-53B](#46d9e201-840e-440e-987c-2c773333c752) are based on the requirements from [FISMA](#0c67b2a9-bede-43d2-b86d-5f35b8be36e9) and [PRIVACT](#18e71fec-c6fd-475a-925a-5d8495cf8455) . The requirements, along with the NIST standards and guidelines implementing the legislation, direct organizations to select one of the control baselines after the reviewing the information types and the information that is processed, stored, and transmitted on the system; analyzing the potential adverse impact of the loss or compromise of the information or system on the organization’s operations and assets, individuals, other organizations, or the Nation; and considering the results from system and organizational risk assessments. [CNSSI 1253](#4e4fbc93-333d-45e6-a875-de36b878b6b9) provides guidance on control baselines for national security systems.

Original Bare Metal Cyber perspective

From control text to operational evidence

Use Baseline Selection as a testable risk decision. Translate the official statement into accountable people, repeatable processes, configured technology, and evidence that demonstrates the outcome over time. In this family, pay particular attention to security and privacy planning, architecture, rules of behavior, and lifecycle alignment.

Implementation workflow

Define the control boundary, responsible owner, inherited portions, and systems or processes in scope.
Resolve each organization-defined parameter before declaring the control implemented.
Document how the implementation satisfies every clause of the official control statement.
Collect evidence as a normal byproduct of operation rather than only before an assessment.
Review exceptions, changes, and monitoring results on a risk-based cadence.

Evidence examples

system security and privacy plans
architecture and data-flow diagrams
rules-of-behavior acknowledgments
plan review and approval records

Common failure patterns

plans copied from templates without system specificity
diagrams that do not match deployed services
inherited controls claimed without provider evidence
plans updated only before assessment

Questions practitioners should ask

What risk decision is this control intended to support in this system?
Which parts are implemented locally, inherited, shared, or not applicable—and what evidence supports that decision?
Do the documented narrative, deployed configuration, operating process, and collected evidence agree?
What event or threshold requires the implementation to be reviewed or changed?

Official NIST SP 800-53A content

Assessment objectives and methods

Show the assessment objective

a control baseline for the system is selected.

Examine

Security and privacy planning policy
procedures addressing system security and privacy plan development and implementation
procedures addressing system security and privacy plan reviews and updates
system design documentation
system architecture and configuration documentation
system categorization decision
information types stored, transmitted, and processed by the system
system element/component information
stakeholder needs analysis
list of security and privacy requirements allocated to the system, system elements, and environment of operation
list of contractual requirements allocated to external providers of the system or system element
business impact analysis or criticality analysis
risk assessments
risk management strategy
organizational security and privacy policy
federal or organization-approved or mandated baselines or overlays
system security plan
privacy plan
other relevant documents or records

Interview

Organizational personnel with security and privacy planning and plan implementation responsibilities
organizational personnel with information security and privacy responsibilities
organizational personnel with responsibility for organizational risk management activities

Official relationships

Related controls

These relationships come from the official OSCAL catalog. They indicate useful dependencies or context, not automatic inheritance or equivalence.

Source record

Authoritative sources

Bare Metal Cyber is an independent educational publisher and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NIST. Official control requirements and interpretations remain with NIST and the responsible authorizing organization.