CMMC Consulting That Gets You Certified — and Keeps You That Way

01 — Scope: Find where CUI actually lives

Identify where CUI and FCI actually live in your business and shrink the assessment boundary before you spend a dollar on controls. Most contractors are over-scoped — they drag an entire network into an assessment that only a handful of systems belong in. Scoping is the single biggest cost lever in CMMC, and it comes first.

02 — Assess: Score yourself against all 110 controls

A CMMC readiness assessment scores you against every NIST SP 800-171 control, produces the SPRS number you're required to report, and prioritizes remediation by risk and effort. You leave knowing exactly what stands between you and certification — no guesswork, no padding.

03 — Build: Remediate or deploy a secure enclave

Close the gaps in your existing environment — or skip years of retrofit with a purpose-built CMMC secure enclave on Microsoft GCC High that isolates your CUI and dramatically shrinks what an assessor has to examine. Our engineers stand it up; you keep working.

04 — Certify and operate: Pass, then stay passed

We assemble your evidence package, sit beside you through the C3PAO assessment, and keep the program audit-ready year-round with managed security operations — because a certification you can't sustain is just an expensive photograph.

Which CMMC Level Do You Need?

If your contracts involve only Federal Contract Information — the routine data of doing business with the government — Level 1 applies: 17 practices and an annual self-assessment with an executive affirmation.

If you touch Controlled Unclassified Information — technical drawings, specifications, export-controlled data — you're in Level 2 territory: all 110 NIST SP 800-171 practices and, for most contractors, a triennial assessment by a certified third-party assessor organization (C3PAO).

Not sure which data you actually hold? That's the first question our consultants answer — and the answer can change your compliance budget by an order of magnitude. New to the framework entirely? Start with the plain-English explainer below.

Why Timing Matters

CMMC became enforceable in new DoD solicitations on November 10, 2025, and requirements expand again when Phase 2 begins in November 2026. Certification isn't a form you file — for most Level 2 contractors it's a third-party assessment of 110 controls, and certified-assessor capacity is already the bottleneck.

Contractors who start readiness work now choose their assessment date. Those who wait take whatever slot is left — often after the contract they wanted has passed them by. If CMMC language is showing up in your RFPs, the clock has already started.

Proof, Not Promises

The record: our client RPS Defense scored a perfect 110/110 on its CMMC Level 2 assessment with A-LIGN, a certified C3PAO — no POA&M required. Essendis designed the enclave, built the security program, and prepared the evidence the assessors sampled.

The credentials: Essendis is a Microsoft Government Cloud reseller and AOS-G partner, with advisors drawn from Big Four audit practices and engineers who build and run secure government cloud environments. Federal Small Business Concern Control ID 002263271 · Federal Unique Entity ID GZEHUQR13DE7 · DoD CAGE Code 9DX02. Our team works across the standards that matter to regulated businesses — CMMC 2.0, NIST SP 800-171, DFARS, FedRAMP, FISMA, SOC 2, ISO/IEC 27001, HIPAA, and more.

And in a client's words: "Essendis is the best. Essendis has accelerated our growth, helped us prove out new technologies and completely taken information security off of our plate. We could not have done it without them!" — CortiCare

CMMC Questions We Hear Every Week

How long does CMMC certification take?

It depends on your starting point and your scope. A contractor with a contained environment and a head start on NIST SP 800-171 moves far faster than one retrofitting a flat network. A readiness assessment replaces guesswork with a realistic, sequenced timeline.

Do we need a consultant, or can we do this ourselves?

Some contractors self-manage Level 1. Level 2 is a different animal: 110 practices, a defensible evidence package, and an outside assessor sampling your proof. Our advisors are former Big Four auditors who've sat on both sides of the table — that experience is the shortcut you're buying.

Is Essendis a C3PAO?

No — by design. C3PAOs assess and certify; they can't build your program for you. We prepare your environment and evidence, then support you through the assessment your C3PAO conducts.