Supplier Assessment Questionnaire template: The assessment of one supplier and the products or services it provides, before award or renewal and at each review after that, with the organization's scoping and criticality answers, the supplier's questionnaire, the organization's own research with its sources, a rating against the same core risk factors for every supplier, and the decision, with a register of every supplier assessment, as SP 800-53 SR-6 requires.
The assessment of one supplier and the products or services it provides, before award or renewal and at each review after that, with the organization’s scoping and criticality answers, the supplier’s questionnaire, the organization’s own research with its sources, a rating against the same core risk factors for every supplier, and the decision, with a register of every supplier assessment, as SP 800-53 SR-6 requires.
Fill in: initial (before award), renewal, annual, or triggered, with the trigger
Fill in: supplier legal name
Fill in: products or services, with versions or part numbers
Fill in: name and title
Fill in: date
Fill in: date
The Chief Information Security Officer, through the supply chain risk management team, shall assess and review the supply chain risks of each supplier, and of the systems, components or services it provides, Fill in: the frequency at which to assess and review the supply chain-related risks associated with suppliers or contractors and the systems, system components, or system services they provide Typical: before each contract award or renewal, and annually for suppliers of critical components and services. (SR-6)
Every assessment shall rate all the core risk factors in Part D, and record the source of each finding. (SR-6)
Part A. Scope and criticality (completed by the organization)
Does the product or service perform a security function, such as authentication, encryption, logging or boundary protection? If so, which?
Fill in: answer
A2.2
Will it have privileged or administrative access to the organization’s networks, operational technology or sensitive platforms?
Fill in: answer
A2.3
Could its compromise or failure cause a system failure or serious degradation of a mission or business function?
Fill in: answer
A2.4
If it failed or were compromised, is there an independent, reliable way to keep the function going?
Fill in: answer
A2.5
Will it store, process or transmit sensitive information, such as personal, health or payment information, or have access to systems that do?
Fill in: answer
A2.6
Will it connect to a platform the organization provides to its customers or the public?
Fill in: answer
A2.7
Will the supplier’s staff need physical access to the organization’s facilities, or remote access to its systems?
Fill in: answer
A2.8
How widely is, or will, the product or service be used across the organization?
Fill in: answer
A2.9
Is it available from other suppliers, and what would switching cost in money and time? Is it single-source?
Fill in: answer
A2.10
Does the organization keep spares or a reserve, and how well could it obtain the product or service during a major disruption?
Fill in: answer
A2.11
Is it made or developed in a location the organization considers a geopolitical risk?
Fill in: answer
A2.12
Is it fit for purpose, able to meet the required objectives and service levels?
Fill in: answer
Criticality: Fill in: critical, if the criticality analysis (RA-9) identifies the product or service as critical or if A2.1 to A2.3 show it is; otherwise not critical.
Assessment depth: Fill in: full, for a critical product or service, or a supplier of one; standard, for any other.
Part B. Supplier questionnaire (completed by the supplier)
Give your legal name, any other names you trade under, your parent company and your place of incorporation.
Fill in: answer
Fill in: evidence
B1.2
Who owns or controls your company, directly or indirectly? Is any owner a foreign government or controlled by one?
Fill in: answer
Fill in: evidence
B1.3
Where are your headquarters and the facilities that research, develop, manufacture, test, package, distribute or support the product or service?
Fill in: answer
Fill in: evidence
B1.4
Do the laws of any country where you operate require you to share technology or data with that country’s government?
Fill in: answer
Fill in: evidence
B1.5
Do any of your officers, directors, staff or contractors have personal or professional ties to a foreign government?
Fill in: answer
Fill in: evidence
B1.6
Has your company been acquired, merged or significantly restructured in the last three years, or is such a change pending?
Fill in: answer
Fill in: evidence
B1.7
In the last three years, have you been subject to fines, sanctions, debarment, or litigation related to the product or service, its security or its delivery?
Which security framework or standard does your program follow, and what independent assessments, audits or certifications cover the product or service? Give the scope and period of each.
Fill in: answer
Fill in: evidence
B3.2
Have you had a security incident or breach in the last three years that affected customers or the product or service? How were customers told?
Fill in: answer
Fill in: evidence
B3.3
How do you vet staff who work on the product or service, or on the organization’s account, and do you have an insider threat program?
Fill in: answer
Fill in: evidence
B3.4
Do your staff or your suppliers access customer or production environments remotely? How is that access controlled and logged?
Fill in: answer
Fill in: evidence
B3.5
Do your staff receive security training, including role-based training for developers and administrators?
The answers in Part B are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge, and the supplier will tell Organization name of any material change to them during the contract.
Name
Title
Signature
Date
Fill in: name
Fill in: title
Fill in: date
Part C. Research and verification (completed by the organization)
Ownership, corporate family and key leadership, compared with B1
Fill in: for example business registries, public filings, commercial company data
Fill in: date
Fill in: finding
Fill in: confidence
C2
Indicators of foreign ownership, control or influence
Fill in: sources
Fill in: date
Fill in: finding
Fill in: confidence
C3
Sanctions, exclusion and prohibited-source lists that apply to the organization
Fill in: the lists checked
Fill in: date
Fill in: finding
Fill in: confidence
C4
Litigation, fines, regulatory actions and fraud
Fill in: sources
Fill in: date
Fill in: finding
Fill in: confidence
C5
Breaches, incidents and intellectual property theft involving the supplier
Fill in: for example news, regulator disclosures, threat intelligence
Fill in: date
Fill in: finding
Fill in: confidence
C6
Known vulnerabilities in the products, and how fast the supplier fixed past ones
Fill in: for example the National Vulnerability Database, CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, the supplier’s advisories
Fill in: date
Fill in: finding
Fill in: confidence
C7
Financial health and stability
Fill in: sources
Fill in: date
Fill in: finding
Fill in: confidence
C8
Quality and past performance: recalls, complaints, the organization’s own experience
Fill in: sources
Fill in: date
Fill in: finding
Fill in: confidence
C9
Reports of counterfeit or nonconforming products associated with the supplier
Fill in: sources
Fill in: date
Fill in: finding
Fill in: confidence
C10
The supplier’s independent assessments and certifications: current, from a credible assessor, covering the product or service used, and their exceptions
Fill in: the reports reviewed
Fill in: date
Fill in: finding
Fill in: confidence
C11
Supplier answers checked against evidence: which answers, and what was seen
Fill in: the evidence reviewed
Fill in: date
Fill in: finding
Fill in: confidence
The assessor shall check, against evidence or an independent source, every supplier answer that bears on a factor rated a high concern, and for a full assessment the answers to B1.2, B2.2, B3.1, B3.2 and B6.1 at least. (SR-6)
Each finding shall record the source it came from and the date it was checked; a factor for which nothing could be found shall be recorded as such, not left blank. (SR-6)
Part D. Risk analysis (completed by the organization)
Fill in: for example added contract terms (SR-5), notification terms (SR-8), inspection before use (SR-10), a second source, or limits on the supplier’s access
Fill in: role
Fill in: risk register or POA&M item
Decision: Fill in: proceed; proceed with the conditions listed; or do not proceed.
Conditions: Fill in: conditions, or “none”.
A contract for a critical component or service shall not be awarded or renewed until this assessment is complete and each risk found is accepted or has a planned response. (SR-6)
A risk that remains above the supply chain risk tolerance of a system that relies on the supplier shall be accepted by that system’s authorizing official before award or renewal, and recorded in the system’s Supply Chain Risk Management Plan. (SR-6, SR-2a)
The results shall be shared with other organizations only as applicable rules, policies, agreements or contracts allow or require. (SR-6)
Name
Role
Decision or recommendation
Signature
Date
Fill in: name
Assessor, supply chain risk management team
Fill in: recommendation
Fill in: date
Fill in: name
Lead of the supply chain risk management team
Fill in: recommendation
Fill in: date
Fill in: name
System owner of each system that relies on the supplier
Fill in: decision
Fill in: date
Fill in: name
Authorizing official, where a risk above tolerance is accepted
The supply chain risk management team shall reassess the supplier Fill in: the frequency at which to assess and review the supply chain-related risks associated with suppliers or contractors and the systems, system components, or system services they provide Typical: before each contract award or renewal, and annually for suppliers of critical components and services, and when any of these occurs: a change in the supplier’s ownership or control, a merger or acquisition, a move of manufacturing, development or support to another country, a compromise notification or a breach at the supplier, a counterfeit or tampered component traced to it, a new sanctions or exclusion listing, or a change in what the organization buys from it. (SR-6)
For suppliers of critical components and services, the team shall monitor publicly available information Fill in: frequency, for example monthly for indications of stolen information, poor development or quality control practices, information spillage or counterfeits, and record what it found. (SR-6)
Monitoring activity
Frequency
Who
Last done
Result
Public-source monitoring of the supplier
Fill in: frequency
Fill in: role
Fill in: date
Fill in: result
Review of new independent assessments from the supplier
Fill in: for example when issued
Fill in: role
Fill in: date
Fill in: result
Check against sanctions and exclusion lists
Fill in: for example before each order and quarterly
Fill in: role
Fill in: date
Fill in: result
The completed assessment, the supplier’s answers and the evidence are kept for Fill in: retention period, for example the life of the contract plus three years, with access limited to Fill in: roles, since they may contain the supplier’s proprietary information.
41 U.S.C. § 1326(a) makes the head of each executive agency responsible for assessing the supply chain risk posed by the acquisition and use of covered articles, and for prioritizing those assessments based on the criticality of the mission, system, component, service or asset. NIST SP 800-161 Rev. 1, Appendix E, gives federal agencies baseline risk factors (Table 28 in section E.2.2) to address, at a minimum, for assessments of critical sources and critical covered articles, and lists federal prohibition and restriction lists to examine as part of the assessment, such as the Treasury sanctions lists and the exclusions in the System for Award Management. Section E.2.1 says determining assessment priorities, evaluating impact and making risk response decisions are inherently governmental functions that cannot be outsourced, although a qualified, vetted third party may support research and documentation. Section E.2.3 sets a five-level supply chain risk severity schema, and section E.2.4 says risks at Level 3 and above are “substantial risk” under the Federal Acquisition Security Council’s rule and require sharing with the Council through its information sharing agency. Under 41 CFR 201-1.201(b), an executive agency must expeditiously submit supply chain risk information to that agency when the Council requests it, or when the agency determines there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a substantial supply chain risk exists in connection with a source or covered article. Section E.3.1 (Table 30) lists the minimum content of an assessment record. Statute checked in the United States Code, 2024 edition, and regulation in the eCFR, as of October 2026.
Assessments of critical sources and critical covered articles shall address every baseline risk factor in SP 800-161 Rev. 1, Appendix E, Table 28, recording where each is covered in Part D and any factor added. (SR-6)
The assessor shall check the supplier and the covered article against the federal prohibition and restriction lists that SP 800-161 Rev. 1, Appendix E, section E.2.2 names, and any other federal restriction that applies, and record the result in check C3. (SR-6)
Agency officials shall set assessment priorities, evaluate impact and make each risk response decision; a contractor may support research and documentation but shall not make those decisions. (SR-6)
The assessor shall assign each assessed risk a level of the supply chain risk severity schema in SP 800-161 Rev. 1, Appendix E, section E.2.3, and record the level and the reason in Part D. (SR-6)
When an assessment finds a reasonable basis to conclude that a substantial supply chain risk exists, the Chief Information Security Officer shall submit the relevant supply chain risk information to the Federal Acquisition Security Council’s information sharing agency, as 41 CFR 201-1.201(b) requires, and escalate the assessment to senior agency officials and legal counsel. (SR-6)
The assessment record shall include at least the content in SP 800-161 Rev. 1, Appendix E, Table 30, including the methodology used and any deviation from it, the data sources, the confidence in the findings, and review and clearance by senior leadership and legal counsel for a risk assessed as substantial. (SR-6)
SP 800-161 Rev. 1 Table 28 baseline risk factor
Where this form covers it
Purpose
Part A1
Criticality
Part A2; factor 1
Information and data
A2.5; factor 2
Reliance on the covered article or source
A2.8 to A2.10; factor 1
User or operational environment
A1; the system security plan and the Supply Chain Risk Management Plan
External agency interdependencies
Fill in: where recorded, for example A1 and the information exchange agreements
Functionality, features and components of the covered article
Factor 10
Company (source) information
Factor 5
Quality and past performance
Factor 5
Personnel
B3.3; factor 7
Physical
B5.4, B5.7; factor 4
Geopolitical
Factor 4
Foreign ownership, control or influence
Factor 3
Compliance and legal
Factor 6
Fraud, corruption, sanctions and alignment with government interests
C3, C4; factor 6
Cybersecurity
Factor 9
Counterfeit and non-conforming products
Factor 11
Supply chain relationships, visibility and controls
Fill in: proceed, proceed with conditions, or do not proceed
Fill in: number, with risk register or POA&M items
Fill in: date
Fill in: name
Independent guidance, not an official NIST publication. Control text is from NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 and SP 800-53A (public domain). Original content is licensed CC BY 4.0; program templates and the downloadable kit are dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0.