Control statement
- a.Develop [Organization-defined: privacy reports] and disseminate to:
- 1.[Organization-defined: oversight bodies] to demonstrate accountability with statutory, regulatory, and policy privacy mandates; and
- 2.[Organization-defined: officials] and other personnel with responsibility for monitoring privacy program compliance; and
- b.Review and update privacy reports [Organization-defined: frequency].
Discussion
Through internal and external reporting, organizations promote accountability and transparency in organizational privacy operations. Reporting can also help organizations to determine progress in meeting privacy compliance requirements and privacy controls, compare performance across the federal government, discover vulnerabilities, identify gaps in policy and implementation, and identify models for success. For federal agencies, privacy reports include annual senior agency official for privacy reports to OMB, reports to Congress required by Implementing Regulations of the 9/11 Commission Act, and other public reports required by law, regulation, or policy, including internal policies of organizations. The senior agency official for privacy consults with legal counsel, where appropriate, to ensure that organizations meet all applicable privacy reporting requirements.
Organization-defined parameters
These values must be resolved through the organization’s tailoring and governance process. Bracketed parameter references in the control text identify where a decision is required.
From control text to operational evidence
Use Privacy Reporting 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 enterprise program governance, accountability, resources, metrics, and organization-wide risk decisions.
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
- program charters and policies
- governance meeting records
- risk and performance metrics
- resource and responsibility assignments
Common failure patterns
- program metrics count activity instead of outcomes
- system-level risks never reach enterprise governance
- responsibilities assigned without authority or resources
- privacy and security managed in separate silos
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?
Assessment objectives and methods
Show the assessment objective
- PM-27a.[Organization-defined: privacy reports] are developed;
- PM-27a.01the privacy reports are disseminated to [Organization-defined: oversight bodies] to demonstrate accountability with statutory, regulatory, and policy privacy mandates;
- PM-27a.02
- PM-27a.02[01]the privacy reports are disseminated to [Organization-defined: officials];
- PM-27a.02[02]the privacy reports are disseminated to other personnel responsible for monitoring privacy program compliance;
- PM-27b.the privacy reports are reviewed and updated [Organization-defined: frequency].
Examine
- Privacy program plan
- internal and external privacy reports
- privacy program plan
- annual senior agency official for privacy reports to OMB
- reports to Congress required by law, regulation, or policy, including internal policies
- records documenting the dissemination of reports to oversight bodies and officials responsible for monitoring privacy program compliance
- records of review and updates of privacy reports.
Interview
- Organizational personnel with privacy program responsibilities
- organizational personnel with privacy responsibilities
- legal counsel.
Related controls
These relationships come from the official OSCAL catalog. They indicate useful dependencies or context, not automatic inheritance or equivalence.
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.