03.16.01Security Engineering Principles in Rev. 3
New in Revision 3 — no Revision 2 equivalent. Nothing in NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2 maps onto this number, so it has no Rev. 2 page and no side-by-side; the Rev. 3 text is below in full. It carries organization-defined parameters.
Status as of 2026-09-08
Rev. 2 is what a contract requires today. DFARS 252.204-7012 and the CMMC rule at 32 CFR 170 point at NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2, and a standing DoD class deviation keeps it there. NIST has published Rev. 3, but publishing a revision does not change an obligation. A move to Rev. 3 would arrive through the Department's reform process and formal rulemaking, a change to that deviation or an amendment to the rule, not through publication. The Department has published its organization-defined parameter values for Rev. 3 in preparation; that is groundwork, not adoption.
The requirement
Rev. 3 · not adopted 03.16.01 Security Engineering Principles
Apply the following systems security engineering principles to the development or modification of the system and system components: [Assignment: organization-defined systems security engineering principles].
NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3, verbatim, with organization-defined blanks highlighted. Rev. 2 has no counterpart to place beside it.
Determination statements
What an assessor would check under NIST SP 800-171A Rev. 3. 1 statement, each one answered yes or no.
- 03.16.01 <A.03.16.01.ODP[01]: systems security engineering principles> are applied to the development or modification of the system and system components.
NIST SP 800-171A Rev. 3, verbatim.
Organization-defined parameters
Blanks the organization fills in. Defining each value is itself a determination in 800-171A Rev. 3.
- A.03.16.01.ODP[01] systems security engineering principles to be applied to the development or modification of the system and system components are defined.
What NIST says
- New security requirement based on SA-08 (SP 800-53, Revision 5)
- Added new ODP: system security engineering principles to apply
NIST, SP 800-171 Rev. 2 to Rev. 3 change analysis, class “New requirement”. At adoption, Bedrock files this under “New”.
NIST's Rev. 3 discussion for 03.16.01
Organizations apply systems security engineering principles to new development systems. For legacy systems, organizations apply systems security engineering principles to system modifications to the extent feasible, given the current state of hardware, software, and firmware components. The application of systems security engineering principles helps to develop trustworthy, secure, and resilient systems and reduce the susceptibility of organizations to disruptions, hazards, and threats. Examples include developing layered protections; establishing security policies, architectures, and controls as the foundation for system design; incorporating security requirements into the system development life cycle; delineating physical and logical security boundaries; ensuring that developers are trained on how to build trustworthy secure software; and performing threat modeling to identify use cases, threat agents, attack vectors and patterns, design patterns, and compensating controls needed to mitigate risk. Organizations that apply security engineering principles can facilitate the development of trustworthy, secure systems, system components, and system services; reduce risks to acceptable levels; and make informed risk-management decisions.
System and Services Acquisition in Rev. 3
SA System and Services Acquisition is one of the three families Rev. 3 adds; none of its requirements has a Rev. 2 number.
What this means for you now
Nothing. Until a class deviation or a published rule adopts Rev. 3, no assessor asks about 03.16.01 and SPRS has no score for it. If you already do what it describes, note where the evidence lives and what value you use for the parameters above; that costs nothing and answers the question later.
Bedrock CMMC carries the Rev. 3 catalog beside your Rev. 2 package, so the day adoption lands the new requirements are a to-do list, not a surprise.
Where this page's facts come from
- Rev. 3 03.16.01 text, determination statements, parameters, class and note
- bedrock-cmmc-api@89b8e8e:docs/reference/nist-800-171-rev3/normalized/rev3.json#requirements[]