Five Important CMMC Factors For DoD Contractors
What are the top 5 CMMC factors DoD contractors must be aware of? Discover what are the most important factors are by checking out our CMMC blog.
Request A CMMC Readiness AssessmentLearn More About CMMC and NIST Compliance
Check out some of our technology and DOD cybersecurity articles.
Contact us
About SSE
SSE is a certified Women-Owned Small Business with over 30 years of experience in both the technology and training industries, serving commercial and government markets.
5 Important CMMC Factors You Need to Know About As A DoD Contractor
Has your IT Company made you aware of the DOD’s new certification standard? If you are just learning about it, here’s what you need to know.
At the start of this year, the department of defense declared that contractors and other organizations in the defense industry now have to comply with a new security standard. The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) was rolled out in January 2020 as a means of ensuring businesses prioritize network security as much as safety and quality. Unlike previous regulations which also incorporated cybersecurity aspects, CMMC was explicitly designed to address IT security concerns.
What does this mean for your business? CMMC compliance will be crucial to securing business with the Pentagon going forward. This, therefore, means you need to learn all you can about it.
SSE Inc is a St. Louis-based tech company dedicated to helping businesses in the defense industry meet the required security guidelines and regulations. With decades of experience under our belt, we take it upon ourselves to equip business IT decision-makers with the information they need to remain compliant.
As part of our mission to accelerate business through reliable technology solutions, our IT experts came up with this blog article. We’ve painstakingly combed through the available documents and news releases and managed to condense them to 5 items you need to take note of as the model starts to come into play.
CMMC Applies to All Defense Contractors, Although the Rollout Will Be Gradual
Likely, the first question that pops up in your mind is whether you need CMMC in the first place. And if so, exactly when? It’s a good question but one that needs to be answered in parts, starting with the simplest. For starters, any ongoing businesses will not be affected by the new CMMC requirements. As such, the DOD will allow such work to be conducted as per the previously agreed-upon terms.
However, a minimum of fifteen contracts must include CMMC requirements by the end of this year. What’s more, this number is expected to grow quickly over the coming years. The DOD predicts there will be an estimated 479 contracts containing CMMC clauses and more than 48,000 certified contractors by 2025.
What do these figures mean for your business? Whether you are a DOD contractor or a subcontractor on a DOD project, expect these guidelines to apply to your business soon.
Assessments Will Be Conducted By C3PAOs Designated by The CMMC Accrediting Body
The defense department is still formulating the steps by which you can attain certification. Although it’s still a work in progress, there currently exists an accrediting body comprising 13 members from various backgrounds such as:
At the moment, the CMMC Accrediting Body is yet to designate any third-party accrediting organizations (C3PAOs). To avoid conflicting interests in how the C3PAOs themselves achieve certification, the Accrediting Body is still working out its roles and responsibilities.
Subsequently, C3PAOs have to be chosen and trained to offer certifications to the organizations that need them. If an organization would like to be a CMMC assessor, they need to get in touch with their local Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs) for consideration for training.
Furthermore, the PTACs will play a crucial role in connecting certified C3PAOs to contractors after the training has been completed.
Your Organization Will Be Responsible for Achieving Certification Through a Designated Assessor
If you’d like to continue working on defense contracts, the burden of ensuring your business meets CMMC requirements rests on your shoulders. To attain certification, you will need to contact and hire a qualified C3PAO. They will proceed to assess your security practices against the required certification levels before issuing the all-important green light. The same goes for subcontractors looking to work on DOD projects with primary contractors. The only difference being that they won’t be required to achieve the same certification standard.
To illustrate the point, let’s take an example. Say, to bid on a project, a primary contractor needs Level 3 certification. However, if a portion of the same project only requires Level 1 CMMC, a subcontractor with that level of qualification could tackle that particular aspect.
This is meant to minimize disruptions to defense projects by ensuring the CMMC roll out is as smooth as can be.
Level 1 CMMC Follows the Basic Cybersecurity Practices You Should Be Following Already
Any change in our personal or business lives can seem daunting at first. However, if you’ve worked with the DOD previously, you should be familiar with many of the CMMC requirements. Although the defense department now prioritizes certification, a lot of the Level 1 certification requirements are similar to FAR Basic Safeguarding Requirements.
Because your organization is probably observing these practices already, it should be relatively easy to attain Level 1 certification.
These are the basic cybersecurity best practices, including:
Many CMMC and NIST 800-171 Requirements Are Very Similar
If you are keen on attaining higher certification standards for your business, you can look, once more, to your current security protocols for guidance. However, this only applies to Levels 1 through 3. If your organization needs Level 4 or 5 CMMC, you’ll be expected to present evidence of stringent and comprehensive protocols. On the upside, this standard of certification will not apply the majority of DOD contracts.
Are You Looking to Leverage Expert CMMC Consulting?
SSE Inc provides cybersecurity, compliance, and technology services for organizations across the United States. Our experienced team of IT experts is eager to help your business remain compliant with all the requirements of CMMC and any other necessary regulations. Contact us to get started right away.