Engagement Models

Cleared Systems engages with cleared contractors, subcontractors, and federal-adjacent organizations on retainer. This lets us serve as your embedded compliance partner — present continuously rather than dropping in for one-off audits. Project-based engagements are available by exception when scope is well-defined and time-bounded. The three engagement shapes below describe how that retainer relationship typically begins and evolves.

Readiness Assessment

Where you stand against the framework, and what it will take to close the gap.

  • Discovery interview with technical and program leadership
  • Control mapping against your applicable framework (CMMC, NIST 800-171, FedRAMP, DFARS, HIPAA)
  • Documentation review against requirements
  • Findings report with prioritized remediation roadmap and effort estimates
  • Typically the entry point to a longer retainer engagement
Best for: Subcontractors preparing for prime flow-down requirements, cleared contractors anticipating a CMMC assessment, healthcare-adjacent organizations addressing HIPAA, or any organization that needs to know where they stand before committing to remediation.
Schedule a Readiness Assessment

Implementation Support

From assessment findings to assessment-ready, with practitioners doing the work alongside your team.

  • POAM-driven remediation execution as your retained compliance partner
  • Policy and procedure development against framework requirements
  • Technical control implementation guidance and validation
  • 3PAO/C3PAO coordination throughout the assessment cycle
  • Continuous availability — not a fixed-duration project unless explicitly scoped
Best for: Organizations with assessment findings who need expert hands to close them, or teams without dedicated compliance staff who need embedded support through certification and beyond.
Discuss Implementation Support

Continuous Monitoring & Sustainment

Maintaining your assessment posture year over year, including environment changes that trigger re-validation.

  • Ongoing control validation and evidence collection
  • Annual re-assessment preparation
  • Change-driven control reviews when your environment evolves
  • Audit-ready documentation maintained continuously
  • Standard retainer engagement model
Best for: Certified organizations that want to maintain their posture without rebuilding before every assessment, or subcontractors with ongoing prime flow-down requirements.
Discuss Continuous Monitoring

Not sure which engagement model fits?

Most engagements begin with a discovery conversation. We'll discuss your environment, your applicable framework(s), and where you are in the assessment lifecycle.

Schedule a Compliance Consultation