[COMMUNITY] Generate a Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) compliance assessment for Australian Government entities and contractors against the four security outcomes and 16 core requirements.
Scanned 6/11/2026
Install via CLI
openskills install tractorjuice/arckit-codex---
name: arckit-au-pspf
description: "[COMMUNITY] Generate a Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) compliance assessment for Australian Government entities and contractors against the four security outcomes and 16 core requirements."
---
> ⚠️ **Community-contributed command** — not part of the officially-maintained ArcKit baseline. Output should be reviewed by a PSPF-experienced security officer or government accreditation specialist. PSPF is updated via Attorney-General's Department releases — verify version against current AGD publication.
You are an enterprise architect generating a **Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) compliance assessment** for an Australian Government entity or contractor handling government information.
## User Input
```text
$ARGUMENTS
```
## Context
The Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) is the Australian Government's overarching security policy framework administered by the Attorney-General's Department. It establishes the security policy environment for all non-corporate Commonwealth entities and is increasingly cited in tender requirements for contractors, service providers, and panel members. PSPF compliance is a primary input to DISP attestation and to IRAP scope statements.
PSPF is structured around **four security outcomes** with **16 core requirements**:
- **Outcome 1: Security Governance** (4 core requirements)
- **Outcome 2: Information Security** (4 core requirements — ISM is the technical instantiation)
- **Outcome 3: Personnel Security** (4 core requirements)
- **Outcome 4: Physical Security** (4 core requirements)
**Authoritative anchor**: Protective Security Policy Framework — <https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/>
**Key references**:
- PSPF (current edition) — Attorney-General's Department
- ASD Information Security Manual (ISM) — instantiates Outcome 2
- ASD Essential Eight — minimum cyber baseline supporting Outcome 2
- DISP (Defence Industry Security Program) — adjacent framework
## Process
1. Read prerequisites:
- The project's E8 posture (`ARC-{P}-AUE8-v*`)
- The project's ISM applicability (`ARC-{P}-AUISM-v*`) — primary input
- The project's PIA (`ARC-{P}-AUPIA-v*`)
- The project's RISK artefact
- The project's DIAG artefacts (`ARC-{P}-DIAG-*`) — deployment, facility, boundary, and working-off-site evidence
- The project's DATA artefact (`ARC-{P}-DATA-v*`) — classification, sensitivity, retention, and information-owner evidence
- The project's ServiceNow artefact (`ARC-{P}-SNOW-v*`) if available — CMDB ownership, support groups, supporting services, incident/change workflows
- The project's TRAC artefact if available — core-requirement evidence mappings
- The project's maturity-model artefact if available — security governance capability baseline
- `.arckit/templates/_partials/RENDERING.md`
2. Read the template:
- First: `.arckit/templates-custom/au-pspf-template.md`
- Then: `.arckit/templates-custom/au-pspf-template.md`
- Fallback: `.arckit/templates/au-pspf-template.md`
3. Use `scripts/bash/create-project.sh --json <project-name>` if the project does not yet exist; otherwise locate it.
4. Use `scripts/bash/generate-document-id.sh <PROJECT_ID> AUPSPF --filename` for the artefact filename.
5. Resolve the `<!-- DOC-CONTROL-HEADER -->` marker per `RENDERING.md`. Use the Australian classification scheme (UNOFFICIAL / OFFICIAL / OFFICIAL:Sensitive / PROTECTED / SECRET) — replace the standard UK line in the header.
6. Generate the following sections:
- **Entity Profile** — entity name, type (non-corporate Commonwealth / corporate Commonwealth / contractor / panel member / state-government with PSPF flow-down), PSPF applicability driver (direct / contractual flow-down), Chief Security Officer (CSO) designation, security maturity self-assessment level.
- **Outcome 1: Security Governance** — assessment of the 4 core requirements:
1. CR1: Role of accountable authority (security governance leadership)
2. CR2: Management structures and responsibilities (CSO, security committee, executives)
3. CR3: Security planning and risk management
4. CR4: Security maturity monitoring (Annual Self-Assessment + reporting to AGD)
- **Outcome 2: Information Security** — assessment of 4 core requirements (ISM is the primary instantiation here):
1. CR5: Sensitive and classified information (information classification, marking, handling)
2. CR6: Access to information (need-to-know, security clearances)
3. CR7: Safeguarding information from cyber threats (E8 + ISM)
4. CR8: Sensitive and classified discussions and communications
- **Outcome 3: Personnel Security** — assessment of 4 core requirements:
1. CR9: Eligibility and suitability (vetting + AGSVA clearance process)
2. CR10: Ongoing assessment (continuous suitability)
3. CR11: Separation of personnel (off-boarding clearance debrief)
4. CR12: Insider threat
- **Outcome 4: Physical Security** — assessment of 4 core requirements:
1. CR13: Entity facilities (physical security zones)
2. CR14: Working off-site (remote work + travel)
3. CR15: Physical security risk
4. CR16: Supporting services (cleaning, maintenance, contractor access)
For each Core Requirement document:
- Compliance status: ✅ Fully Compliant / ⚠️ Partially Compliant / ❌ Non-Compliant / N/A
- Evidence supporting status (cite ARC-{P}-AUISM, AUE8, AUPIA, AUDISP where applicable)
- Specific gap description
- Remediation actions with owner and target date
- PSPF Self-Assessment Level achieved (if relevant — Compliant / Substantially Compliant / Partly Compliant / Not Compliant)
- **PSPF Annual Self-Assessment** — for non-corporate Commonwealth entities, document Annual Self-Assessment Report status, last submission to AGD, current self-assessed maturity level, gaps.
- **Compliance Summary** — 16-row table covering all four outcomes; overall PSPF maturity statement.
- **ArcKit Evidence Integration** — map `$arckit-diagram`, `$arckit-data-model`, `$arckit-servicenow`, `$arckit-risk`, `$arckit-traceability`, `$arckit-graph-report`, and `$arckit-maturity-model` outputs to PSPF outcomes, CMDB ownership, supporting services, annual self-assessment evidence, and remediation tracking.
- **Recommendations** — prioritised remediations by Quick Wins / Short-Term / Medium-Term, each tagged to specific Core Requirement.
7. Populate the External References section per `.arckit/references/citation-instructions.md`. PSPF (with edition) MUST appear in the Document Register.
8. Write the artefact via the Write tool to `projects/<project-id>/<filename>`.
9. Show only a summary to the user (one paragraph plus the four-outcome compliance summary table).
## Important Notes
- PSPF directly applies to **non-corporate Commonwealth entities**. Corporate Commonwealth entities, state/territory governments, and contractors are not directly bound but commonly inherit PSPF requirements via tender flow-down or direction.
- PSPF Annual Self-Assessment is a hard requirement for non-corporate Commonwealth entities. Reports are submitted to AGD; the report against each Core Requirement uses a 4-level self-assessment (Compliant / Substantially Compliant / Partly Compliant / Not Compliant).
- **ISM is the technical instantiation of Outcome 2 Information Security.** The recipe should defer to the ISM applicability statement (`ARC-{P}-AUISM-v*`) for technical-controls evidence rather than duplicating it.
- For Outcome 3 Personnel Security, the AGSVA (Australian Government Security Vetting Agency) is the primary clearance authority. Cleared personnel records reference clearance levels (Baseline / NV1 / NV2 / PV) not individual identities.
- For pure-cloud systems and contractors with no physical facilities, Outcome 4 Physical Security largely inherits from cloud provider IRAP attestations + host-organisation facilities. Document the inheritance explicitly.
- For contractors handling Defence-related work, the PSPF assessment dovetails with DISP attestation — cite the DISP pack where it exists rather than re-evidencing.
- Use embedded ArcKit artefacts as evidence: diagrams for deployment and physical/logical boundaries, data models for classification, ServiceNow/CMDB for ownership and supporting services, risk and traceability for remediation governance, graph-report for coverage, and maturity-model for security uplift.
## Suggested Next Steps
After completing this command, consider running:
- `$arckit-diagram` -- Architecture and deployment diagrams support PSPF information, physical, facility, and working-off-site evidence.
- `$arckit-data-model` -- Data model evidence identifies information classification, sensitivity, owners, retention, and handling requirements.
- `$arckit-au-ism-controls` -- ISM is the technical-controls instantiation of PSPF Information Security outcome — primary input to PSPF Outcome 2.
- `$arckit-au-e8-posture` -- E8 supports PSPF Information Security outcome.
- `$arckit-au-pia` -- APP 11 + PSPF Personnel Security overlap; PIA cross-reference.
- `$arckit-au-disp-attestation` -- DISP attestation pack draws on PSPF compliance evidence.
- `$arckit-servicenow` -- ServiceNow/CMDB evidence supports service ownership, supporting services, support groups, facilities dependencies, and incident/change evidence.
- `$arckit-risk` -- PSPF gaps and annual self-assessment findings should feed the project risk register.
- `$arckit-traceability` -- PSPF core requirements should trace to policies, controls, owners, evidence artefacts, and remediation actions.
- `$arckit-maturity-model` -- PSPF self-assessment results can seed security governance maturity uplift planning.
- `$arckit-graph-report` -- Graph reporting should show AUPSPF coverage alongside AU compliance, risk, traceability, and operations artefacts.
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