OMB Circular A-130, Appendix III, establishes policy for security accreditations of federal information systems. The organization assesses the security controls employed within the information system before and in support of the security accreditation. Security assessments conducted in support of security accreditations are called security certifications. The security accreditation of an information system is not a static process. Through the employment of a comprehensive continuous monitoring process (the fourth and final phase of the certification and accreditation process), the critical information contained in the accreditation package (i.e., the system security plan, the security assessment report, and the plan of action and milestones) is updated on an ongoing basis providing the authorizing official and the information system owner with an up-to-date status of the security state of the information system. To reduce the administrative burden of the three-year reaccreditation process, the authorizing official uses the results of the ongoing continuous monitoring process to the maximum extent possible as the basis for rendering a reaccreditation decision. NIST Special Publication 800-37 provides guidance on the security certification and accreditation of information systems. Related security controls: CA-2, CA-4, CA-7.