Virtual CISO services for defense contractors and regulated SMBs.
For DoD prime contractors, sub-primes, govtech vendors, and regulated industries pursuing CMMC Level 2, NIST SP 800-171, and DFARS 252.204-7012 compliance.
CMMC Level 2 readiness, System Security Plan authoring, POA&M tracking, NIST 800-171 control review, and the program that actually gets you through a C3PAO assessment without an 18-month consultancy engagement.
- CMMC Level 2 readiness against the 110 NIST SP 800-171 controls
- System Security Plan authoring tied to your real architecture
- POA&M tracking and remediation oversight
- C3PAO assessment prep and mock audit
What we do for regulated SMB specifically.
CMMC Level 2 readiness
Pre-assessment against the 110 NIST SP 800-171 controls. Scoping review (which systems handle CUI, which do not). Control gap analysis. Mock audit before the C3PAO shows up. We have prepped contractors of every size for CMMC and know which controls catch first-timers off guard.
System Security Plan authoring
The SSP is the document the C3PAO will read first. Most contractors have an SSP that is either generic boilerplate or aspirational fiction. We write it from your actual architecture, with the language that survives the assessor's pen.
POA&M creation and tracking
Every gap that is not fully implemented goes on the Plan of Action and Milestones. We create the POA&M, track remediation against milestones, and update it through the assessment cycle. The POA&M is what separates a program in motion from a program that exists on paper.
DFARS 252.204-7012 compliance
Beyond CMMC, DFARS clauses define the contract obligations: incident reporting timelines, evidence preservation, government access. We map your contracts to your controls and document the compliance posture every prime asks about during diligence.
Risk management and continuity
CMMC-based risk management framework, business continuity planning, recovery planning, incident response planning under DFARS 252.204-7012 and other applicable federal directives. Tied to your real operating model.
Incident response leadership
DoD contractors operate under specific reporting timelines (72 hours for cyber incidents under DFARS) and evidence preservation requirements. We write the playbook, run the tabletop, and lead response when something happens.
The four moments Regulated SMB companies pick up the phone.
A prime contractor flowed down a CMMC Level 2 requirement.
You are a sub on a federal contract and the prime just sent a flowdown clause requiring CMMC Level 2 attestation. You have 9 months. Most contractors have not seriously prepared. The C3PAO shortage is real and assessment slots are booked out.
You are pursuing a DoD contract and need an SSP.
A government RFP requires a System Security Plan and a documented compliance posture. You have a generic security policy and a Vanta dashboard. Neither will survive contract diligence or a CMMC assessment.
You had a cyber incident and now DFARS reporting clocks are running.
DFARS 252.204-7012 requires reporting cyber incidents to DC3 within 72 hours, preserving images, and granting government access. Most contractors have never read the actual clause. We have, and we have led DFARS-compliant incident responses before.
You are scaling from one contract to many and the program needs to scale too.
A small program that worked for one DoD contract does not survive 10 contracts with different prime flowdowns and different scoping decisions. The CMMC L2 program needs to be the same regardless of which contract surfaces the requirement.
Frameworks we run for Regulated SMB.
CMMC Level 2
110 NIST SP 800-171 controls. Scoping review, gap analysis, SSP authoring, POA&M tracking, mock audit. We prep you for a C3PAO assessment without an 18-month engagement.
NIST SP 800-171 (CUI handling)
The underlying control set behind CMMC L2. We map controls to your real architecture and document the implementation in language that survives federal diligence.
NIST CSF 2.0
Risk-based assessment against the six functions: Govern, Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover. Useful when prime contracts reference NIST broadly or when board-level risk reporting needs alignment with engineering controls.
A typical regulated SMB engagement.
A 50-person defense sub-prime building software for a tier-1 prime gets a CMMC Level 2 flowdown clause. They have 9 months until the prime audits them. They have an outdated SSP from a previous contract and a tabletop exercise nobody has run in two years. We start with a 4-week readiness review: gap analysis against the 110 controls, scoping decision (most of their corporate IT is out of CUI scope; the engineering environment is in), and an SSP rewrite that reflects their actual AWS GovCloud setup. We draft the POA&M, prioritize the 14 partial-implementation items, and run a mock C3PAO audit. They pass the prime's pre-assessment 6 months later. We continue as a retainer through the actual C3PAO assessment.
Score your Regulated SMB security readiness in 4 minutes.
Twenty questions, scored PDF in your inbox, realistic timeline to audit. Free.
Regulated SMB-specific questions.
How long does CMMC Level 2 readiness take?
Depends on starting posture. A contractor with a recent NIST SP 800-171 self-assessment and reasonable hygiene can be ready in 3 to 4 months. A contractor starting from scratch typically needs 6 to 9 months. Most of the timeline is implementation work, not documentation: MFA enforcement, encryption-in-transit gaps, IAM cleanup, audit logging.
Do you handle the C3PAO assessment itself?
No. C3PAO assessments are conducted by accredited third-party assessors, not consultancies. We prep you for the assessment, run the mock audit, write the SSP and POA&M the assessor will read, and represent you during interviews. The actual scoring is the C3PAO's call.
Can you scope us to a smaller CMMC footprint?
Yes. Most defense contractors over-scope their CMMC environment because nobody walked them through the design. CUI flows are rarely as wide as default scoping suggests. A scoping review can sometimes shrink the assessment footprint by 50% or more, with corresponding savings on assessment fees and ongoing compliance burden.
What does a defense contractor vCISO retainer cost?
Strategic vCISO at $5,000/mo. Embedded vCISO is custom-scoped (Inquire). Founding cohort pricing puts Strategic at $2,500/mo for 12 months. CMMC readiness engagements typically run as project-fee scoped work on top of retainer, depending on starting posture.
Do you work with primes or just sub-primes?
Both. The work shape is similar: scope the CUI environment, write the SSP, build the POA&M, run mock audits, lead incident response under DFARS. The diligence pressure is different: primes face more frequent program reviews, sub-primes face more flowdown clauses from different primes.
Ready to talk about your regulated smb program?
Three doors. Start with a $2,500 Sprint, apply for a founding retainer slot at 50% off, or take the free 4-minute SOC 2 Readiness Scorecard if you want a snapshot before talking to anyone.