For small and medium-sized defense contractors, preparing for CMMC can feel like a much bigger undertaking than simply meeting a set of security requirements.
Organizations need to understand where CUI exists, determine what belongs within their CMMC boundary, implement and maintain the necessary security controls, document their practices, prepare for self-attestation or assessment, and sustain compliance over time.
That can require expertise across technology, compliance, infrastructure, workforce, risk management, and assessment.
Most SMBs can’t handle all of that expertise internally. They need access to the right expertise at the right time.
CMMC touches nearly every part of an organization’s security environment. Depending on its circumstances, a defense contractor may need help with everything from identifying CUI and establishing a compliant environment to implementing security technologies, training employees, managing ongoing compliance, and preparing for an assessment.
For a large organization with substantial cybersecurity and compliance teams, those capabilities may already exist. For many SMBs, they don’t.
That doesn’t mean smaller contractors are incapable of meeting CMMC requirements. It means they need to take a different approach: bringing in specialized partners where internal resources or expertise aren’t enough.
An organization might need a CMMC readiness partner to understand its gaps, a technology provider to address a specific security control, a managed service provider to maintain its environment, or an authorized C3PAO to conduct an official assessment or perform a mock assessment before self-attestation.
The challenge is figuring out which partners are needed and finding ones that understand the requirements of the defense industrial base.
Hiring, training, and maintaining a team capable of handling every aspect of CMMC can require significant time and investment. For an SMB, that may not be the most practical way to build a mature cybersecurity program.
External partners can provide access to specialized capabilities without requiring an organization to develop each one internally. This can allow businesses to direct resources toward the areas where they have the greatest need while relying on experienced providers for specialized work.
For example, an organization may need help with:
No single organization necessarily needs all of these services. But many organizations will need some combination of them throughout their CMMC journey.
The question becomes: How do you find the right partners without creating another project just to find them?
For an SMB that doesn’t have a large cybersecurity or procurement team, sourcing CMMC partners independently can be time-consuming. Organizations may need to search for providers, determine which services they actually need, evaluate experience, compare options, validate credentials, and coordinate multiple vendors.
And because CMMC involves interconnected requirements, choosing partners in isolation can create additional complexity. A technology decision can affect the CMMC boundary. A change to the environment can affect assessment preparation. A gap identified during readiness activities may require a different type of technical expertise to address.
The right expertise can accelerate the journey. Finding that expertise shouldn’t slow it down.
The CMMC Partner Assurance Network (CPAN) was created to make it easier for defense contractors to access trusted cybersecurity expertise. CPAN connects defense contractors, regardless of business size, with a network of specialized partners that can support different parts of the CMMC lifecycle.
Instead of starting from scratch every time a new need arises, organizations have a centralized place to explore partners across the CMMC ecosystem.
That includes providers offering:
This breadth matters because CMMC isn’t a single project with a single solution. It’s a lifecycle. Organizations may need different expertise at different points, and CPAN gives them a way to find that expertise without independently navigating through every cybersecurity vendor.
The path to CMMC certification looks different for every organization. What matters is having the right capabilities in place, knowing when outside expertise can help, and having easy access to trusted vendors.
CPAN makes that access easier by connecting defense contractors with a network of partners across the CMMC ecosystem. For SMBs in particular, that can mean less time searching for the right provider and more time focused on the work that matters: strengthening security, preparing for CMMC, and continuing to run the business.
CMMC may be complex. Finding trusted expertise to navigate it doesn’t have to be. Explore CPAN to find the expertise you need for your CMMC journey.