PE-14: Environmental Controls

PE-14: Environmental Controls requires you to define acceptable environmental conditions (typically temperature, humidity, and related facility parameters) for the spaces where your system resides, then maintain those conditions through monitored, managed building controls. To operationalize it quickly, assign a facilities-and-security control owner, set measurable ranges, monitor them, and retain evidence that exceptions are detected, escalated, and corrected. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

Key takeaways:

• Define environmental “levels” for the specific rooms that host system components, not just for the building.
• Prove operation with monitoring, alerts, maintenance records, and incident tickets tied to excursions.
• Audit readiness depends more on evidence cadence and scoping than on fancy tooling. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

The pe-14: environmental controls requirement sits in the Physical and Environmental Protection (PE) family and is assessed like an operations control: auditors look for clear thresholds, clear scope, continuous or routine monitoring, and a repeatable response when conditions drift out of range. The fastest path to pass an assessment is to treat PE-14 as an engineering-and-facilities control with security governance, not as a “policy-only” checkbox.

PE-14 is easy to under-scope. If your “system” includes on-prem servers, network closets, telecom rooms, storage arrays, backup devices, or physical security systems, the facility conditions in those areas become part of the control boundary. If you are hosted in a colocation facility or rely on a cloud provider, you still need to show how you inherit environmental controls and how you verify them contractually and operationally.

Your objective is simple: define the environmental levels you must maintain, implement controls that keep conditions within those ranges, detect exceptions, and document corrective action. The practical challenge is coordinating Facilities, IT Operations, and Security so evidence is consistent and reviewable during an exam.

Regulatory text

Text excerpt: “Maintain {{ insert: param, pe-14_odp.01 }} levels within the facility where the system resides at {{ insert: param, pe-14_odp.03 }} ; and” (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

What that means operationally:

• You must define what “environmental levels” are for your context (for example, temperature and humidity ranges, dust control expectations, airflow, or other relevant conditions for the areas housing system components).
• You must maintain those levels in the facility areas where the system resides, using building systems (HVAC, humidification/dehumidification), local devices (rack sensors), and operational processes (monitoring, alerting, response).
• You must be able to show evidence that you monitor conditions and correct excursions, not just that you “have HVAC.” (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

NIST uses parameter placeholders here, which is a signal that your organization must set the actual values (ranges, frequency, and locations) as part of your control definition and system security plan. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5)

Plain-English interpretation (what PE-14 is asking you to prove)

Auditors will test whether your environment can damage systems or data availability and whether you manage that risk like an operator:

• Defined thresholds: You have documented acceptable conditions for each in-scope space.
• Monitored conditions: You measure conditions on a schedule or continuously, with records.
• Managed response: You detect, escalate, and correct conditions outside the acceptable range, and you retain proof. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

Think of PE-14 as “environmental SLOs for physical spaces.”

Who it applies to (entity and operational context)

PE-14 commonly applies to:

• Federal information systems operated by an agency.
• Contractor systems handling federal data, including systems in the scope of federal contracts and authorizations. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

Operational contexts that typically bring PE-14 into scope:

• On-prem data centers (owned or leased)
• Server rooms / network closets / MDF/IDF telecom rooms
• Lab environments hosting production-like systems
• Colocation footprints where you own the cages/racks but the facility is operated by a third party
• Hybrid environments where some components are on-prem while others are cloud-hosted (you may inherit parts of PE-14 from the cloud provider, but you still must govern what is in your boundary). (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5)

What you actually need to do (step-by-step)

Use this sequence to implement PE-14 in a way that holds up in an assessment.

1) Set the scope: “where the system resides”

Create a short list of in-scope locations, mapped to your system inventory:

• Room/building name and address
• Space type (data center floor, network closet, wiring closet, storage room)
• What system components are present (racks, servers, network gear, storage)
• Who operates the space (you vs a third party such as a colocation provider)
• What evidence source exists (BMS logs, sensor platform, colocation reports). (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

Deliverable: PE-14 location scope register (table format).

2) Define “environmental levels” as measurable acceptance criteria

Document:

• Which parameters you control (temperature, humidity, etc.)
• Acceptable range(s) per location type
• Trigger thresholds (warning vs critical)
• Any special requirements (for high-density racks, storage media, or legacy gear)
• Any approved exceptions and compensating controls (for example, local cooling units). (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

Deliverable: Environmental Control Standard (1–3 pages plus a table).

3) Assign ownership and RACI that matches reality

PE-14 fails in practice when Security “owns” it but Facilities runs the tools.

• Control owner: usually Facilities/Workplace/Real Estate Ops, with a Security control manager.
• Operators: facilities engineers, data center techs, IT operations for rack-level sensors.
• Approvers: CISO/CCO delegate for exceptions.
• Assurance: GRC validates evidence cadence and stores artifacts. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

Deliverable: RACI + escalation matrix (names, not just roles).

4) Implement monitoring and alerting

Pick monitoring sources based on your environment:

• Building Management System (BMS) logs and alarms for HVAC and room sensors
• Rack-level sensors for hot-aisle/cold-aisle conditions
• Periodic walk-through checks with calibrated instruments where automation is limited. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

Minimum expectation to be assessment-ready:

• A defined monitoring method per in-scope space
• Alerting to a ticketing or on-call channel
• Retained logs or exported reports that show readings over time.

Deliverable: Monitoring architecture note (what monitors what, and where the records live).

5) Build an exception-response workflow you can evidence

Define what happens when conditions exceed thresholds:

• Who receives alerts
• Time expectations for acknowledgement and triage (document your internal targets)
• Common corrective actions (HVAC reset, dispatch, move workloads, power down at-risk equipment if needed)
• How you document root cause and closure (ticket categories, required fields). (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

Deliverable: Runbook for environmental excursions + ticket template.

6) Establish preventive maintenance and periodic review

Auditors often ask for proof you maintain the systems that maintain the environment:

• HVAC maintenance schedules and completion records
• Sensor calibration or validation records (where applicable)
• Periodic review of thresholds and scope when you add racks, increase density, or move sites. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5)

Deliverable: Maintenance plan + completed work orders.

7) Map PE-14 to control owner, procedure, and recurring evidence

Operationalize governance:

• Identify the single accountable owner
• Document the procedure (monitor, alert, respond, maintain)
• Define what evidence is captured on a recurring basis and where it is stored for audits. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

Practical note: Many teams track this mapping in Daydream so the owner, evidence tasks, and audit exports stay consistent release to release, especially when facilities evidence lives outside GRC tooling.

Required evidence and artifacts to retain

Keep artifacts tied to each in-scope location.

Design evidence (shows intent)

• Environmental Control Standard with defined levels and thresholds (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)
• Location scope register (rooms, systems, boundaries)
• RACI and escalation matrix

Operational evidence (shows it runs)

• Monitoring logs or exported reports showing readings for in-scope spaces (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)
• Alert records (BMS alarms, sensor alerts) and the associated incident/ticket trail
• Tickets for excursions with timestamps, actions taken, and closure notes
• Preventive maintenance work orders and completion confirmations
• Third-party colocation attestations or service reports, plus your review record (if you inherit controls)

Assurance evidence (shows governance)

• Periodic control checks performed by GRC (evidence review checklist)
• Exceptions register with approvals and compensating controls. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5)

Common exam/audit questions and hangups

Expect these lines of questioning:

1. “Show me your defined environmental levels.”
   Hangup: teams point to a generic facilities policy without explicit ranges, locations, or triggers. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

2. “Which rooms are in scope, and why?”
   Hangup: missing network closets, storage rooms with backup media, or security system rooms.

3. “How do you know controls worked last quarter?”
   Hangup: you have live dashboards but no retained exports, or logs roll off quickly.

4. “Show an example of an excursion and response.”
   Hangup: facilities handled it informally without a ticket, or tickets lack detail.

5. “What do you inherit from your third party colocation or cloud provider?”
   Hangup: contracts/SOCs are collected but not reviewed, or you cannot map inheritance to your system boundary. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5)

Frequent implementation mistakes and how to avoid them

Mistake	Why it fails	Fix
Writing a policy with no measurable levels	Auditors cannot test it	Put ranges and trigger thresholds in a standard tied to locations (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)
Monitoring only the building, not the system rooms	“Facility” scope becomes ambiguous	Identify each in-scope room and its sensor/monitoring source
No evidence retention	Dashboards don’t equal records	Schedule exports or log retention aligned to your audit needs
Excursions handled off-system	No ticket trail means no proof	Require a ticket for each critical excursion and link alerts to it
Ignoring third party operations	Inherited controls still require governance	Collect third party reports and document your review and acceptance criteria

Enforcement context and risk implications

No public enforcement cases were provided in the source catalog for this requirement, so this page does not cite enforcement outcomes.

Risk-wise, PE-14 failures tend to show up as:

• Availability incidents (overheating, HVAC failures, emergency shutdowns)
• Equipment degradation and increased hardware faults
• Audit findings for missing monitoring evidence, unclear thresholds, or poorly defined boundary. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5)

Practical 30/60/90-day execution plan

Use this as an execution sequence. Adjust to your environment complexity.

First 30 days (stabilize scope and ownership)

• Confirm in-scope locations where system components reside; publish the scope register. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)
• Assign a primary control owner and finalize RACI with Facilities, IT Ops, and Security.
• Draft Environmental Control Standard with defined “levels,” triggers, and exception process.
• Identify current monitoring sources and gaps per room (BMS, sensors, manual checks).

Days 31–60 (instrument, alert, and evidence)

• Enable alerts for excursions and route them to a ticketing workflow. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)
• Define required ticket fields for environmental incidents (location, readings, timestamps, action taken).
• Implement a repeatable log/export routine so you retain monitoring evidence for audits.
• Collect preventive maintenance records and confirm they cover HVAC and sensor upkeep.

Days 61–90 (prove operations and pass an audit drill)

• Run a tabletop or live drill: simulate an excursion and produce the end-to-end evidence package.
• Review a sample of closed tickets for completeness; fix documentation gaps with Facilities.
• Formalize third party inheritance: collect colocation reports/attestations and document your review. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5)
• In Daydream (or your GRC system), map PE-14 to the control owner, procedure, and the recurring evidence artifacts so evidence requests are automatic and consistent. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

Frequently Asked Questions

What counts as “environmental levels” for PE-14?

Treat them as measurable conditions that could affect system operation in the spaces where components live, commonly temperature and humidity. Your implementation must define the actual thresholds and where they apply. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

Does PE-14 apply if everything is in the cloud?

If your system boundary truly has no organization-controlled facilities (no network rooms, no on-prem appliances), PE-14 may be largely inherited or not applicable, depending on your authorization boundary. Document that boundary and the inheritance rationale. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5)

We’re in a colocation data center. What evidence is acceptable?

Keep the colocation provider’s environmental control reports/attestations and document your review, plus any cage-level monitoring you operate. Auditors want to see both inheritance and your governance over it. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5)

How detailed do our logs need to be?

Detailed enough to show conditions are monitored and maintained for each in-scope space, and that exceptions generate an actionable record. If dashboards exist, export or retain logs so you can produce historical evidence on request. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

Who should own PE-14: Security or Facilities?

Facilities usually owns operation because they control HVAC and building systems, while Security/GRC owns oversight, scoping, and audit readiness. Write this split into your RACI so evidence collection does not break during staff changes. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)

What is the quickest way to fail an assessment on PE-14?

Having “good facilities” but no retained evidence: missing scope definition, missing thresholds, and no tickets showing you detected and corrected excursions. Fix evidence capture before you buy new tools. (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 OSCAL JSON)