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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsA successful public-sector cybersecurity pilot is a time-boxed decision exercise, not a product demonstration. Define the problem and boundaries, document the pre-pilot baseline, choose a small set of measurable security and operational outcomes, assign accountable owners, test in the agency’s real environment, preserve evidence and exceptions, and record whether to proceed, revise, pause or stop.
What the checklist must accomplish
Use the checklist to answer one governance question: Does this capability solve the stated problem in our environment well enough to justify the next investment? A pilot should produce evidence for that decision, not simply a favorable presentation from a supplier.
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CISA’s TIC 3.0 Pilot Process Handbook describes a pilot as testing “the configuration and security capabilities of a technology in an agency’s environment.” That wording matters. A laboratory demonstration can show that a feature exists; an agency pilot must show how the feature behaves with the agency’s identity systems, networks, data, users, support model and constraints.
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Use the sections below as a working document. Put an owner and an evidence location beside every item; an unchecked statement without an owner is not a control.
1. Define the purpose and the decision
Write the problem statement
- Describe the service, security or resilience problem in observable terms. For example: privileged remote access lacks phishing-resistant authentication; analysts cannot see suspicious east-west traffic; or endpoint investigations take too long.
- Identify the affected mission, users and risk. Explain what could happen if the problem remains unresolved.
- State the proposed capability without assuming it is the answer. The pilot tests the capability and its configuration, not the vendor’s marketing claim.
Specify the decision the pilot enables
Choose the decision before testing starts. Typical outcomes are:
- Proceed: evidence meets the agreed criteria and the agency can fund, operate and govern the capability.
- Revise and retest: the concept is useful, but configuration, integration, scope or safeguards require another controlled test.
- Pause: an external dependency, procurement issue, staffing gap or unacceptable risk prevents a responsible decision now.
- Stop: the capability fails a critical criterion, introduces disproportionate risk or cannot be sustained.
Name the executive sponsor and the person, committee or board authorized to make that decision. Record the decision rights in the project plan; do not assume that the technical lead can authorize production deployment or a purchase.
2. Set scope, boundaries and stop conditions
Describe what is in scope
- Systems, networks, cloud tenants, applications, endpoints and identity stores.
- Users, administrators, contractors, sites and business units.
- Data classifications and flows, including any regulated, sensitive or public records.
- Integrations such as security information and event management, ticketing, directory services, network controls and backup systems.
- Environments: development, test, staging, production or a segregated pilot enclave.
- Supplier components, subcontractors, support channels and data-processing locations.
State exclusions and dependencies
Write down what the pilot will not touch. Examples include safety-critical systems, election infrastructure, unsupported operating systems, third-party networks, legacy devices, or data classes that cannot be sent to a hosted service. List dependencies such as firewall changes, certificate issuance, identity federation, maintenance windows, procurement approvals and staff availability. An exclusion is useful only when someone verifies that the pilot cannot silently expand into it.
Define pause and stop conditions
- Unauthorized access, exposure of sensitive data or loss of required audit records.
- Service degradation beyond the approved tolerance or an inability to execute the rollback plan.
- A critical vulnerability in the pilot component or an integration that cannot be mitigated within the agreed window.
- Material scope change, loss of required support, or a dependency that invalidates the test.
Give the incident commander or named sponsor authority to pause testing immediately. Specify who must be notified, how evidence is preserved and what approval is required to resume.
3. Establish the baseline before deployment
Measure the current state while the existing process is still operating. Without a baseline, a post-pilot number has no meaning.
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- Record current coverage, such as the percentage of remote and privileged accounts protected by the existing control.
- Capture current detection, response or remediation times using a defined sample and measurement period.
- Document service availability, help-desk volume, analyst workload and recurring failure modes.
- Inventory relevant assets, identities, data flows, policies and support contracts.
- Save the configuration and reports that produced the baseline so the result can be reproduced.
For every metric, write a definition, data source, owner, baseline value, target or acceptable range, measurement period and evidence artifact. Decide in advance whether a result is calculated from all in-scope records, a random sample, a scenario set or a time window. CISA’s measurement guidance frames the practical questions as: “How do we define when Goals are achieved? How is measurement conducted and quantified? How often should measurement be performed?” Answer all three before the first test.
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4. Choose a small, defensible set of success measures
Do not turn the pilot into a dashboard of every available statistic. Select measures tied directly to the problem statement and tailored to the agency’s risk, maturity and technology context. Useful categories include:
- Security effectiveness: a defined test detection, prevention, containment or recovery outcome.
- Coverage: the proportion of agreed systems, users, sites or data flows actually protected.
- Speed: time to identify, triage, contain or remediate a tested issue.
- Availability and user impact: service interruptions, authentication failures, latency, tickets and accessibility effects.
- Operational effort: analyst hours, alert volume, tuning effort, maintenance and training required.
- Integration and support: time and labor to connect existing systems, quality of logs, escalation response and documentation.
- Sustainability: whether the agency has staff, funding, skills, licensing, governance and replacement plans to operate the capability after the pilot.
Set the target before viewing results. If a target must change, record who approved the change, why the original target was invalid and which results remain comparable.
Illustrative FY 2025 SLCGP targets
CISA’s FY 2025 State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program guidance provides target ranges that can help a grant-funded project discuss ambition. They are recommended performance targets in that grant context, not national outcome statistics and not automatic pass marks for a pilot.
| Recommended FY 2025 target | Measure in the SLCGP context | How to use it in a pilot |
|---|---|---|
| 80% | Entities conducting annual cyber risk assessments | Use only if the pilot addresses assessment workflow; define which entities, assessment method and completion evidence count. |
| 70% | Entities performing phishing training | Specify the staff population, completion record and training period rather than treating attendance alone as improved resilience. |
| 70% | Entities implementing MFA for all remote access and privileged accounts | Measure the agreed account and access population, including exceptions and their approvals. |
| 60% | Entities able to analyze network traffic and activities related to potential threats | Define the traffic sources, analytic capability and evidence that an analyst can investigate a test activity. |
| 90% | Entities with endpoint detection and response systems funded for implementation | Distinguish funding or implementation status from demonstrated detection quality in the pilot environment. |
| 40% | Entities conducting annual tabletop and full-scale exercises to test cybersecurity plans | Record exercise completion, scenario scope and corrective actions; an exercise does not prove that every control works. |
Verify the current grant notice before using these figures for an active award because guidance and targets are fiscal-year specific. Do not describe them as requirements for agencies outside the grant program.
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List the security capabilities that apply to the use case and explain how the pilot will demonstrate each one. This is an explicit expectation in the CISA pilot handbook.
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- Translate the requirement into an observable behavior. “Protect privileged access” might become “block a password-only sign-in to an in-scope administrative account from an untrusted network and generate an auditable event.”
- Define the safe test condition. Identify test accounts, synthetic or approved data, maintenance windows, rate limits and an emergency contact. Never use an uncontrolled attack against production to create a dramatic result.
- Specify the evidence. Name the log, alert, ticket, configuration export, screen capture, packet record, test transcript or signed observation that proves the result.
- Set acceptance criteria. State what constitutes pass, partial pass, fail and not tested. Include time limits, coverage thresholds and quality requirements such as analyst usability.
- Repeat critical tests. Run representative positive and negative cases, failure and recovery scenarios, and at least one case that exercises an integration or dependency.
Separate a measured finding from a supplier assertion. A product statement can explain intended behavior; only an observed, reproducible test establishes what happened in the agency’s configuration.
6. Assign governance, privacy and delivery roles
Create a responsibility matrix that names a person, not only an office. A typical pilot may need:
- Accountable executive sponsor and technical project manager.
- Security architect, system owner, network and identity engineers, security operations and service desk.
- Privacy, legal, procurement, accessibility, records-management and risk officials, as applicable.
- Business representatives and user testers from every affected mission area.
- Supplier technical, security, support and incident contacts.
This list is not a universal legal requirement. Each jurisdiction and agency decides which offices must approve data handling, accessibility, records retention, procurement, authority to operate and production change. Document approval gates, escalation routes, separation of duties and the person who can authorize a pause.
7. Build a schedule, resource plan and exit path
Use a defined timeline
Set start and end dates, entry criteria, milestones, test windows, review points and a final decision meeting. Include time for baseline collection, integration, user orientation, tuning, retesting, evidence review and decommissioning. CISA’s TIC guidance emphasizes a structured timeline and agency leadership support; an open-ended trial cannot establish comparable results.
Budget the whole pilot
- Staff time for engineering, security operations, privacy review, procurement, training and documentation.
- Temporary licenses, hardware, connectivity, test environments and professional services.
- Support coverage outside business hours and an incident-response retainer if the capability changes exposure.
- Data migration, log storage, accessibility remediation and records handling.
Design the exit before installation
Specify how agents, connectors, accounts, certificates, routes, firewall rules, data copies and supplier access will be removed. State what happens to logs, tickets, configurations and test data. Estimate the time and cost to return to the baseline. Reversibility is a decision factor, not an administrative detail.
8. Assess operational impact and pilot risk
Record expected and observed effects on people and services. At minimum, assess:
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- Potential interruption, latency, lockouts, alert fatigue and changes to user workflows.
- Data collection, processing location, retention, access, deletion and secondary use.
- Dependencies on identity, DNS, network paths, APIs, endpoint agents, backup and recovery.
- Accessibility for employees and members of the public who use affected services.
- Records-retention, public-records, legal-hold and discovery implications.
- New attack paths, concentration risk, supplier access and failure modes.
Tailor the baseline and safeguards to the actual environment and risk. CISA’s Cross-Sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals (CPGs) are a prioritized, voluntary set of practices that can help select objectives, but completing a CPG does not necessarily fulfill an entire referenced NIST Cybersecurity Framework subcategory. Use the CPGs as a starting point, then document the agency-specific interpretation and any gap.
9. Run the pilot and preserve an evidence trail
- Hold an entry review. Confirm scope, approvals, baseline, test cases, contacts, rollback steps, monitoring and stop conditions.
- Implement the minimum configuration. Enable only the components needed for the stated use case. Record every change, version, policy setting and exception.
- Train participants. Tell users and operators what will change, how to report problems and how to recognize a pilot-related event.
- Execute planned scenarios. Capture timestamps, inputs, expected results, actual results, operator actions and evidence identifiers.
- Monitor unintended effects. Review service health, help-desk contacts, alerts, performance, privacy events and control bypasses throughout the window.
- Re-test after tuning. Keep the original result and the retest result; do not overwrite an unfavorable observation with a later configuration.
- Hold a closeout review. Confirm that evidence is complete, access is removed or transitioned, open risks have owners and the decision package is ready.
10. Track findings, exceptions and residual risk
Use a register with one row per issue or exception. Recommended fields are:
| Field | What to capture |
|---|---|
| Identifier and date | Unique reference, discovery time and affected test case. |
| Observation | What was measured, including system, user, configuration and evidence location. |
| Impact and severity | Mission, confidentiality, integrity, availability, privacy, accessibility or compliance effect. |
| Cause and scope | Configuration defect, integration limitation, process gap, false positive or unsupported condition. |
| Mitigation | Temporary safeguard, compensating control, retest plan and residual exposure. |
| Owner and due date | A named accountable person and a date or approved risk-acceptance period. |
| Disposition | Corrected, accepted, transferred, deferred, not reproducible or unresolved, with approver. |
Keep false positives and missed detections visible. A lower alert count is not automatically better if the capability failed to see the test activity. Likewise, a high count can reflect useful visibility combined with poor tuning. Explain the trade-off with evidence.
11. Make the continuation decision with a scorecard
Summarize each agreed measure against its baseline and target, then add the constraints that a percentage cannot show. A decision package should include:
- Scope actually tested and any material deviation from the approved plan.
- Results, method, sample or scenario set, measurement period and evidence references.
- Security findings, vulnerabilities, control gaps, exceptions and residual risk.
- Service availability, user and accessibility impact, workload and support experience.
- Integration effort, staffing, training, recurring costs and procurement or funding considerations.
- Privacy, records, legal and data-handling conclusions.
- Lessons learned and changes required for a broader use case.
Then record one of the four decisions—proceed, revise and retest, pause or stop—with the decision-maker, date, conditions and next review. CISA’s handbook treats conclusion, use-case development and lessons learned as part of the lifecycle; do not treat the final demo as the end of the work.
How to compare two pilot candidates
When more than one technology or approach could address the same problem, evaluate each against identical dimensions. This is a practical synthesis of CISA’s emphasis on environment-specific capability, planning, execution and lessons learned, not a CISA-prescribed scoring formula.
| Comparison dimension | Questions to answer with evidence |
|---|---|
| Security outcome and evidence quality | Which candidate meets the defined test cases, with reproducible logs and fewer unverified assertions? |
| Architecture fit | Can it operate with the agency’s identity, network, endpoint, cloud and logging architecture? |
| Implementation and integration effort | What engineering changes, dependencies, migration work and specialist skills are required? |
| Service and user impact | What interruption, latency, lockouts, accessibility issues or workflow changes occurred? |
| Staffing and ongoing support | Can the agency monitor, tune, patch, investigate and obtain help at the required times? |
| Procurement and funding fit | Does the acquisition path, term, data clause and funding source fit the agency’s rules and award conditions? |
| Privacy, accessibility and records | What data is collected, how is it retained, and can obligations be met without exceptions? |
| Reversibility and exit cost | How quickly can the agency remove it, recover data and return to the baseline? |
| Transferability | Will results and operating procedures transfer to other departments, sites or agencies? |
If you use weighted scoring, publish the weights and the evidence behind every score. A high total cannot erase a failed safety criterion or an unresolved legal restriction.
Relevant public-sector resources and their limits
Cross-Sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals
CISA positions the CPGs as a prioritized subset of practices intended to meaningfully reduce risk and provide a baseline or benchmark for critical-infrastructure operators. They are voluntary and should be tailored to the entity’s maturity, technologies and risks. They are useful for selecting a pilot objective, not for claiming complete conformity with the entire NIST CSF.
Nationwide Cybersecurity Review and other SLTT services
CISA describes the Nationwide Cybersecurity Review as a free, anonymous annual self-assessment for state, local, tribal and territorial governments, based on the NIST CSF and sponsored by DHS and MS-ISAC. CISA also lists CSET, tabletop-exercise packages and services such as Malicious Domain Blocking and Reporting. Eligibility, enrollment and availability can change, so verify the current service page and your agency’s eligibility before relying on any offering.
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Federal directives and grant playbooks
CISA’s Binding Operational Directive 23-01 is a federal example of measurable requirements for asset visibility and vulnerability detection on federal networks. It is binding within its federal scope and does not generally bind state or local governments.
CISA’s federal grant playbook describes an adapted CPG checklist for grant-project risk assessment and planning, including annual project-assessment updates under its model language. Whether that process applies depends on the specific program and award terms.
Scope distinctions to put on the approval page
| Guidance or program | What it is | What it is not |
|---|---|---|
| TIC 3.0 Pilot Process Handbook | Federal TIC program guidance describing a structured pilot lifecycle and expectations for testing capabilities in an agency environment. | A universal checklist mandate for every public-sector organization, or proof that a capability is suitable without local testing. |
| FY 2025 SLCGP performance measures | Grant-program objectives and recommended target ranges for state and local cybersecurity work. | National adoption statistics, observed outcomes or pass thresholds for every pilot. |
| Cross-Sector CPGs | Voluntary, prioritized practices that can help establish a tailored baseline. | A complete substitute for the NIST CSF, agency risk analysis or jurisdiction-specific requirements. |
Final pre-decision checklist
- Problem, use case, sponsor, decision authority and decision date are written.
- Systems, users, data, integrations, exclusions, dependencies and stop conditions are approved.
- Baseline values, definitions, sources, owners, targets, periods and evidence artifacts are fixed before testing.
- Security requirements have safe, repeatable test cases and acceptance criteria.
- Technical, security, operations, privacy, procurement, legal, accessibility, records and supplier contacts are assigned as applicable.
- Timeline, staffing, support, change control, rollback, recovery and decommissioning plans are funded.
- Operational, privacy, accessibility, records and supplier risks have owners and mitigations.
- Findings distinguish measured evidence from assertions and show residual risk.
- The closeout package compares every result with the agreed measure and records lessons learned.
- The authorized decision-maker has documented a proceed, revise, pause or stop outcome with conditions.
A checklist earns its value when it makes an uncomfortable decision easier to defend. If the pilot cannot show what was tested, against which baseline, with what evidence, under whose authority and with what residual risk, it has not yet produced a decision-quality result.
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