By Travis Goldbach, VP of CMMC at Coalfire Federal
The Department of War’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program is now a contractual requirement for thousands of Defense Industrial Base (DIB) suppliers. While the objective of CMMC is straightforward, protect Federal Contract Information (FCI) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), the path to certification is often anything but simple.
Organizations across the DIB continue to face significant challenges as they navigate compliance, implement cybersecurity controls, prepare for assessments, and sustain long term security programs.
At the same time, no single company, consultant, technology vendor, or assessor can solve every challenge alone.
This is why the CMMC Partner Assurance Network (CPAN) was created.
CPAN connects organizations with a reputationally sound ecosystem of proven partners that support every phase of the CMMC journey, from initial planning and readiness through certification and continuous compliance.
Below are the five most common CMMC challenges organizations face today and how CPAN helps address each one.
One of the most common reasons organizations struggle with CMMC is simply understanding what applies to them.
Questions frequently include:
A poor scoping decision can dramatically increase compliance costs, create unnecessary operational burdens, and extend certification timelines.
How CPAN Helps
CPAN provides access to experienced advisory partners, training providers, and assessment professionals who help organizations:
■ Immediate access to trusted partners
■ Simplified decision making
■ Reduced cost through coordinated offerings
■ A faster, more predictable path to certification
By connecting organizations with experienced professionals early in the process, CPAN helps prevent costly mistakes before implementation begins.
Many suppliers, particularly small and medium sized businesses, lack dedicated compliance personnel, cybersecurity teams, or in house CMMC expertise.
Common concerns include:
For many organizations, CMMC is not their core business. Their focus remains supporting mission critical defense programs.
How CPAN Helps
CPAN gives organizations access to a broad ecosystem of specialized partners that can augment internal capabilities, including:
■ CMMC advisory firms
■ Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs)
■ Managed Service Providers (MSPs)
■ Authorized Training Providers (ATPs)
■ Security awareness providers
■ Technical implementation partners
Rather than spending months searching for qualified resources, organizations can quickly connect with reputationally sound providers that align with their specific needs and budget. This accelerates readiness while allowing internal teams to remain focused on supporting business operations.
Many organizations know what controls must be implemented but struggle determining how to implement them.
Questions often include:
The cybersecurity marketplace is crowded, making technology decisions difficult and expensive.
How CPAN Helps
CPAN provides access to technology partners and solution providers that specialize in supporting CMMC environments, including:
■ Cloud Service Providers (CSPs)
■ Continuous Monitoring Platforms
■ Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) solutions
■ Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) technologies
■ Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) platforms
■ CUI discovery and data protection solutions
Organizations can learn from partners who have successfully supported similar environments and gain practical implementation guidance based on real world CMMC experience.
This helps reduce technology risk, improve decision making, and avoid costly rework.
Even organizations that have implemented controls often struggle with assessment readiness.
The most common issues include:
Many organizations underestimate the level of preparation required before entering a formal assessment.
How CPAN Helps
CPAN connects organizations with readiness and assessment support resources, including:
■ Gap assessments
■ Mock assessments
■ Readiness reviews
■ SSP development support
■ POA&M remediation planning
■ Assessment preparation services
Organizations gain valuable insight into what assessors are looking for before undergoing a formal certification assessment.
This reduces surprises, improves assessment outcomes, and increases confidence throughout the certification process.
Achieving certification is not the finish line. Organizations must continuously maintain their cybersecurity posture, monitor environments, train personnel, collect evidence, manage risks, and prepare for future assessments.
Common concerns include:
Many organizations discover that sustaining compliance is often more challenging than achieving certification.
How CPAN Helps
CPAN provides access to partners that support long term compliance operations, including:
■ Managed security services
■ Continuous monitoring providers
■ GRC platforms
■ Security training organizations
■ Compliance automation tools
■ Ongoing advisory support
By leveraging CPAN, organizations can build a sustainable compliance program that remains effective long after certification is achieved.
The reality is that no single organization has all the expertise required to successfully navigate every aspect of CMMC.
Achieving compliance often requires a coordinated approach involving advisory services, technical implementation support, training, managed services, cloud solutions, assessment readiness, and certification expertise.
CPAN was created to simplify that journey.
CPAN serves as a no-cost resource for the DIB, connecting organizations with reputationally sound partners that can support every phase of compliance while preserving independence, promoting choice, and reducing risk.
Organizations gain access to experienced providers, proven solutions, educational resources, and practical guidance designed to accelerate readiness and improve outcomes.
Most importantly, CPAN helps organizations focus less on finding the right support and more on protecting sensitive information, strengthening cybersecurity, and maintaining eligibility for future Department of War contracts.
In a rapidly evolving threat landscape, collaboration is no longer optional. It is essential.
CPAN brings together the expertise, capabilities, and resources necessary to help the DIB meet the challenges of CMMC with confidence.
Travis Goldbach is a cybersecurity and compliance leader with 20 years of experience driving growth and go-to-market strategy for federally regulated industries. He currently leads Coalfire Federal’s unified GTM strategy and previously guided AWS toward CMMC certification while helping customers advance secure, scalable compliance in the cloud.
