Northwest Aerospace News April | May Issue No.14 | Page 64

D
efense contractors will no longer be
able to self-attest, take security control
shortcuts, meet only some information
assurance requirements, or have non-com-
plete plans of actions and milestones
(POA&M). Instead, every organization will
be required to obtain a CMMC certifica-
tion, at one of five compliance levels, prior
to contract award. Katie Arrington, CISO,
Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
for Acquisition and Sustainment (OUSD)
(A&S), put it this way: “Every DoD con-
tract that goes out for proposal will have a
CMMC pre-qualification requirement and
every vendor on that contract must have a
CMMC certification!”
The DoD’s CMMC guidance highlights:
• Cybersecurity effectiveness will
carry equal weight to price,
performance and other product/
service factors in winning DoD
business
• Organizational effectiveness will
depend on programmatic factors
such as defined policies, pro-
cesses, procedures, metrics and
evidence that cybersecurity plans
are monitored and executed as
defined
• Any company demonstrating the
highest level of cyber maturity
will be considered a lower-risk
supplier and have a competitive
advantage
Executive leaders that do not embrace
CMMC are at significant risk. CMMC is
a critical business and information protec-
tion challenge for most organizations, not
just an internal IT issue — suppliers not
acting to implement will be evaluated as
too risky and may be disqualified or lose
contracts to lower-risk competitors.
64
NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS
At a recent Pacific Northwest Defense Coalition (PNDC) event, CORTAC Group
helped our region’s defense contractors understand CMMC. Sarah Garrison, Pres-
ident and CEO of PNDC shared, “Cybersecurity is now a foundational requirement
for doing business with the DoD.” Garrison continued, “PNDC is helping inform
our industry of the regulations, train individual member companies, and facilitate
getting originations help with experts to assure their compliance. We appreciate
CORTAC Group, and our other members, who are helping Pacific Northwest busi-
nesses to comply with these requirements.”
Upcoming Seminars on Understanding the New CMMC
— Hosted by PNDC —
April 9, 2020 in Puget Sound
See www.pndc.us for more information.