How to Handle a Failed Vector Set in Production

Vector Set Failures

Important: While the ACVTS Demo environment, as a feature of its development-and-testing-oriented focus, allows for resubmission of a vector set after a failure, the production environment does not allow such resubmissions.

Once a vector set has failed in production, if a user does not wish to simply abandon the entire test session, re-register and re-test, the correct course of action is to delete the failing vector set from the test session (ACVP Specification Section 10.17.3), as resubmission in not allowed in production.

After deleting the vector set from the test session, the user may then register another test session containing only that vector set and complete testing. When certifying, as per the standard ACVP Specification, if the user certifies both test sessions using the same OE and implementation, the algorithms of both test sessions will end up on the same certificate/validation.

Billing Considerations

In the ACVTS, users are billed at the time of vector set registration, not certification. As such, it is in the best interest of the user to avoid situations in which deleting a vector set is necessary. Regardless of whether a vector set fails, it's billed the same as any other vector set, so it is wise to be prudent in ensuring that no vector sets are wasted.