What is CMMC compliance?

For any company that expects to win – or even bid on – contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), CMMC compliance is a must-have.  It stands for Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification and is the measurement standard the government uses to put structure around what’s expected from its contractors. The newly-released CMMC 2.0 standards have amended and streamlined some of these requirements but they remain based on the type of information your company deals with and has access to. Some organizations need only the basics. Others must pass rigorous audits and maintain strict control measures over sensitive data. And it affects more than IT. It touches procurement, operations, cloud infrastructure, staffing, and even vendor relationships. The better your systems and processes align, the easier it becomes to meet the requirements – and prove you’re ready to go.

Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification is a U.S. Department of Defense framework that mandates cybersecurity standards for contractors and suppliers in the defense industrial base. It verifies an organization’s ability to safeguard Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and Federal Contract Information (FCI) through a tiered certification process.

DFARS stands for Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement and NIST is National Institute of Standards and Technology. They are the standards for guiding cybersecurity framework. CMMC 2.0  isn’t a replacement for DFARS or NIST 800-171. It’s a formalization of them. It has clearer enforcement, tiered certification, and far less ambiguity. To understand how they relate, it’s important to know what’s changed, what hasn’t, and what’s now required for compliance. Here is a summary of the new set-up:

What’s new in CMMC 2.0 (vs. CMMC 1.0)

• Fewer levels, sharper focus: CMMC 2.0 reduces five levels to three. This eliminates vague middle ground and aligns more closely with real-world contract needs.
• Stronger ties to existing standards: Drops custom maturity processes in favor of 1:1 alignment with NIST SP 800-171 (Level 2) and NIST SP 800-172 (Level 3).
• More flexibility in certification: Allows self-assessments at Level 1 and for some Level 2 non-prioritized acquisitions. This lowers the cost and timeline for small and mid-sized contractors.
• Use of POA&Ms: Permits Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) for some unmet controls, with conditions. This is something CMMC 1.0 did not allow.
• Faster rulemaking: Introduced via DFARS Case 2019-D041, CMMC 2.0 is being fast-tracked for full implementation by 2026.

What hasn’t changed

• DFARS is still law: Contractors must still comply with DFARS 252.204-7012, including rapid reporting of cyber incidents and implementation of NIST 800-171 for systems handling CUI.
• SPRS remains key: Companies must register self-assessment scores in the Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) which primes now routinely use to evaluate subcontractor eligibility.
• CUI is still the dividing line: If you handle Controlled Unclassified Information, you still need to meet the full 110 controls in NIST 800-171 – now validated via CMMC.

Why this matters

CMMC 2.0 clarifies what contractors have technically been required to do for years, and now enforces it through tiered certification. For DoD contractors, this means your systems must do more than support policies – they must help to enforce the technical controls that will be audited, including access and encryption to workflows, audit trails, and supply chain traceability, and much more.

An assessment of CMMC compliance will depend on your organization’s overall posture regarding cybersecurity. That said, the tools and solutions you use play an absolutely essential role. A CMMC-ready  platform  isn’t just one that supports your compliance journey, it must also be part of the certified environment itself.

For software that handles CUI or FCI, this infrastructure is crucial. You’ll want to look for solution providers that offer cloud services meeting security requirements equivalent to those established by the Government for the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). The most effective solutions – whether ERP, document management, or other operational platforms – include safeguards such as role-based access, encryption at rest and in transit, audit trails, and workflow-level controls that align with the major CMMC control families.

But CMMC compliance requires more than the purchase of secure tools. The way they are configured, monitored, and used is also very important. Let’s put it this way: software alone won’t guarantee certification, but software that’s designed and leveraged with compliance in mind, can significantly reduce risk and effort. That’s why it’s important to evaluate not just whether a platform is “secure,” but whether it helps maintain traceability, enforce access restrictions, log activity, and support the kind of shared responsibility that’s crucial for FedRAMP and CMMC-aligned environments.

In short, compliant software doesn’t replace your cybersecurity program, but it can make that program more consistent, defensible, and efficient to run.

Conclusion

Today’s business leaders are living through unprecedented changes, challenges, and competition. And while CMMC can seem daunting and complicated, it’s actually pretty straightforward once you have the right tools and structure in place. It takes planning, teamwork, and systems that hold up under scrutiny and evolve as requirements change. But once you get there, you’ll be freed up to focus on the innovation and strategy you need to thrive and lean into the future.