A focused workshop for defense contractors preparing for a CMMC Level 2 third-party assessment. Covers scope determination, the 110 NIST 800-171 practices, common assessor findings, evidence packaging, and remediation planning to close gaps before the C3PAO arrives.
A successful CMMC Level 2 third-party assessment does not begin when the C3PAO arrives — it begins months earlier with deliberate scoping, honest gap analysis, and disciplined evidence collection. This four-hour workshop compresses that preparation cycle into a structured, practitioner-focused session led by Carl B. Johnson, President and CISO of Cleared Systems, who works with defense contractors at every stage of the assessment lifecycle.
Assessors evaluate what is in scope, so defining that boundary accurately is the first place contractors win or lose points before a single control is tested. The workshop walks through how to identify systems, personnel, and third-party services that process, store, or transmit Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), and how to document those boundaries in a way that holds up to C3PAO scrutiny under DFARS 252.204-7012 obligations.
Every CMMC Level 2 requirement maps directly to one of the 110 security practices in NIST SP 800-171. Rather than surveying all 14 domains at a surface level, this session focuses on the practice families where assessors most frequently find deficiencies — including Access Control, Audit and Accountability, Configuration Management, Identification and Authentication, and System and Communications Protection. You will examine what "met" actually looks like for each practice type and where partial implementations create scoring risk.
Drawing on real-world assessment patterns, this section identifies the documentation gaps, policy-versus-practice mismatches, and missing system security plan (SSP) entries that drive the most findings during C3PAO reviews. You will learn how assessors evaluate objective evidence, what makes an artifact credible versus questionable, and how to self-identify the same weaknesses before they appear in an official finding.
Knowing which controls you satisfy is not enough — you must be able to prove it. This module covers how to structure an evidence package that maps artifacts to specific practices, including policies, procedures, configuration screenshots, access control lists, audit logs, and training records. You will also review common mistakes in System Security Plan narratives that undermine otherwise solid implementations.
For contractors who identify gaps during preparation, a credible Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) is both a compliance artifact and a negotiating tool. The session covers how to prioritize remediation efforts, set realistic milestones, and document progress in a way that demonstrates good-faith effort and organizational commitment to assessors.
This workshop is designed for the people inside a defense or federal contracting organization who are directly accountable for assessment outcomes. That includes compliance managers and program managers coordinating CMMC readiness efforts, information system security officers (ISSOs) and IT leads responsible for implementing and documenting the 110 practices, and contract administrators who need to understand DFARS 7012 obligations in context. It is equally valuable for quality and risk managers who own the SSP, POA&M, or vendor oversight processes that assessors will review.
If you manage a compliance team and are evaluating whether this session fits their development needs, consider that practitioners who attend will return with structured checklists, a remediation prioritization framework, and a clearer picture of where your organization stands relative to a real C3PAO assessment — not a theoretical one. Organizations looking for deeper ongoing support after the workshop can explore CMMC, CUI & DFARS compliance services or regulatory vCISO services that extend preparation work into full program execution.
Defense contractors at any stage of CMMC Level 2 readiness — whether assessment is six months out or two years away — will leave this session with a more accurate picture of what "ready" requires and a concrete plan to get there.
Ask about group rates, private delivery of this curriculum for your team, or whether this session fits your compliance roadmap.
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