The Five-Step CMMC Journey: How to Quickly Get CMMC Certified

Brief Overview

• Learn how defense contractors can quickly get CMMC certified without unnecessary scope expansion or wasted effort

• Understand CMMC requirements, levels, and timelines so your business stays eligible for DoD contracts

• Follow a proven, step-by-step roadmap to achieve certification and maintain long-term compliance

(Overview generated by AI)

Navigating the New Reality of Defense Contracting: Quickly Get CMMC Certified

Defense contractors at every tier of the supply chain are facing a fundamental shift in how they do business with the Department of Defense. The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program has moved from optional guidance to a mandatory requirement. As a result, businesses that handle Federal Contract Information (FCI) or Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) must now demonstrate cybersecurity readiness through formal certification. For many contractors, the question is no longer whether to pursue compliance, but how to quickly get CMMC certified.

Without certification, businesses cannot bid on new DoD contracts or renew existing ones. With more than 80,000 companies in the defense industrial base requiring certification, and fewer than 100 authorized assessment organizations available, businesses that act early gain a clear competitive advantage in both timing and assessor availability. While the CMMC certification process can appear complex, breaking it into clear, manageable steps creates a realistic and achievable path forward.

This guide provides a practical roadmap to quickly get CMMC certified, taking defense contractors from initial requirement analysis through certification and ongoing compliance.

Understanding Your Requirements: Building the Foundation

Every successful effort to quickly get CMMC certified begins with a clear understanding of program requirements and how they apply to your business. This foundational knowledge informs budgeting, staffing, technical decisions, and timelines. Businesses that skip this step often waste time and resources addressing controls that do not align with their actual contractual obligations.

The Department of Defense created CMMC in response to escalating cyber threats targeting sensitive defense information throughout the supply chain. The current version of the program applies to any business that stores, processes, or transmits FCI or CUI in support of DoD contracts. Unlike previous self-attestation models, CMMC requires independent validation for most companies, ensuring cybersecurity controls exist in practice—not just documentation.

Businesses should begin by reviewing the final rule and official DoD guidance. This includes understanding technical requirements, assessment methodologies, implementation timelines, and contract eligibility implications. Many companies assign a dedicated lead or small internal team to become subject-matter experts and translate requirements for leadership and operational staff.

CMMC defines three certification levels:

• Level One (Foundational): Applies to businesses handling only FCI and requires compliance with 15 safeguarding controls. Companies complete annual self-assessments while maintaining verifiable compliance.

• Level Two (Advanced): Applies to businesses handling CUI and requires implementation of 110 security requirements aligned with NIST SP 800-171. Critical CUI handlers must undergo third-party assessment every three years.

• Level Three (Expert): Applies to companies supporting the highest-priority DoD programs and includes enhanced requirements assessed directly by the DoD.

Most defense contractors will require Level One or Level Two certification. Companies pursuing Level Two should plan for a substantial increase in technical, procedural, and documentation requirements.

Engaging executive leadership at this stage is critical. CMMC certification affects contract eligibility, revenue continuity, and competitive positioning. Leadership support ensures the business allocates the authority, funding, and resources required to quickly get CMMC certified.

Identifying Your Scope to quickly get CMMC certified

Once a business understands CMMC requirements, the next step is identifying the required certification level and defining assessment scope. These decisions directly affect cost, complexity, and the ability to quickly get CMMC certified.

Certification level depends on the type of information your company handles. Businesses handling only FCI require Level One certification, while companies handling CUI require Level Two or, in rare cases, Level Three. Companies should review contracts carefully and confirm expectations with contracting officers or prime contractors when uncertainty exists.

Defining assessment scope is equally important. Scope includes all systems, people, and processes that store, process, or transmit protected information. Proper scoping can significantly reduce assessment cost and complexity when applied strategically.

Businesses typically choose between:

• Enterprise-wide scope: Apply controls across all systems, simplifying data handling at the cost of broader implementation.

• Segmented scope: Isolate protected information within a defined boundary, reducing cost but requiring strict data controls.

The best approach depends on business size, technical maturity, and operational needs. Smaller companies or those handling protected information infrequently often benefit from segmentation, while larger businesses may prefer enterprise-wide implementation.

After defining level and scope, companies should conduct a comprehensive gap assessment. This assessment identifies which required controls exist, which function properly, and which require remediation. A quality gap assessment provides the foundation for an accurate roadmap to quickly get CMMC certified.

Preparing for Success

Preparation is typically the most time-intensive phase for any business working to quickly get CMMC certified. This phase often spans six to twelve months and includes technical remediation, process development, and documentation.

Companies should translate gap assessment results into a prioritized remediation roadmap that accounts for control dependencies, operational risk, staffing constraints, and realistic timelines. Assign clear ownership and allocate appropriate resources.

Technical remediation may include system hardening, access control improvements, network segmentation, logging enhancements, or security tooling deployment. Organizational remediation often includes policy development, governance structures, training programs, and formalized procedures.

Documentation plays a central role in assessment success. Businesses pursuing Level Two or higher must develop a System Security Plan (SSP) and supporting policies that accurately reflect real-world operations. Documentation should remain accurate, maintainable, and aligned with actual practices.

Companies should also gather assessment evidence as controls are implemented. Evidence may include configurations, logs, training records, workflows, and interview preparation. Mapping evidence to each requirement reduces assessment friction and shortens timelines.

Many businesses conduct a mock assessment before scheduling a formal review. Mock assessments help identify remaining gaps and significantly improve the likelihood of passing the first formal assessment.

Undergoing the Assessment

Formal assessments validate whether a business has implemented required CMMC controls effectively. Authorized assessors conduct Level Two assessments through documentation review, technical validation, and personnel interviews.

Assessors focus on operational effectiveness rather than perfection. Businesses that answer questions honestly, demonstrate controls clearly, and acknowledge gaps tend to experience smoother assessments. Minor findings typically allow remediation before certification decisions are finalized.

Selecting Your Assessment Partner

Choosing the right assessment partner directly affects a company’s ability to quickly get CMMC certified. While all authorized assessment bodies meet baseline requirements, experience, assessor quality, efficiency, and availability vary widely.

Companies should evaluate assessors based on federal compliance experience, assessor credentials, technology use, scheduling availability, and reputation within the defense industrial base. Early engagement remains critical due to limited assessment capacity.

Maintaining Compliance

CMMC certification is not a one-time event. Businesses must complete annual self-assessments, maintain evidence, and prepare for re-assessment every three years. System changes, staff turnover, and evolving threats can quickly introduce compliance gaps without ongoing oversight.

Companies that treat CMMC as an ongoing cybersecurity program—not a compliance checkbox—maintain certification more easily and reduce long-term risk.

Tanner Security: Quickly Get CMMC Certified

CMMC certification directly impacts contract eligibility and long-term competitiveness. Attempting to quickly get CMMC certified without experienced guidance increases risk, cost, and assessment failure.

Tanner Security helps businesses quickly get CMMC certified through practical, risk-based consulting grounded in real-world defense industry experience. We support companies through every phase of the journey, including requirement analysis, scoping, gap assessments, remediation planning, documentation development, and readiness validation.

Our approach emphasizes clarity, efficiency, and accuracy—helping businesses avoid unnecessary scope expansion, failed assessments, and wasted effort. Rather than treating CMMC as a box-checking exercise, Tanner Security helps companies build sustainable cybersecurity programs that meet DoD expectations while supporting operational needs.

By partnering with Tanner Security, defense contractors gain a trusted advisor who understands both the technical and business realities of compliance—enabling faster certification, reduced risk, and stronger positioning within the defense industrial base.