Less than two weeks after the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a draft version of NIST SP 800-171A, Assessing Security Requirements for Controlled Unclassified Information, on November 28, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) announced today that the comment period has been extended to January 15, 2018.  This gives interested parties an extra three weeks from the original deadline to provide input on what contractors and their customers may use as a guide to assessing future compliance with the security standard and – importantly – the government contracts regulations that incorporate that standard, including DFARS 252.204-7012 and FAR 52.204-21.