By Industry · Aerospace & Defense

GRC where no certification means no contract

For the defense industrial base, cybersecurity is now written into the contract. CMMC has become a binding requirement enforced through DFARS, ITAR governs the technical data you hold, and all of it rests on the 110 controls of NIST 800-171. Certification is becoming a condition of winning work.

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The landscape

Compliance is now a contract term

Defense and aerospace suppliers operate under the most direct compliance mandate there is. DFARS clause 252.204-7012 has long required safeguarding covered defense information; now DFARS 252.204-7021 makes CMMC certification itself a contractual obligation, phased into solicitations through 2026 and 2027. CMMC Level 2 requires all 110 NIST 800-171 controls across 14 domains, verified by a third-party assessor. ITAR adds strict controls on export-controlled technical data on top.

CMMC Level 2 NIST 800-171 DFARS 7012 DFARS 7021 ITAR EAR NIST 800-53 CUI
220K
the number of defense industrial base contractors and subcontractors now contractually bound by CMMC, from primes to the smallest machine shop, as certification becomes a condition of award.

The clock is the problem. By early 2026, only a small fraction of the tens of thousands of organizations that need CMMC Level 2 certification had achieved it, with a handful of accredited assessors and waitlists running well over a year. As certification becomes a condition of award, readiness is the difference between bidding and being shut out.

Why it is hard

The clock, the assessor, and 110 controls

CMMC is not a checkbox. It means implementing and evidencing all 110 NIST 800-171 controls, passing a third-party assessment, and maintaining it, while a scarce pool of assessors and long waitlists make timing tight. A single missed control can stall a certification, and a stalled certification can cost a contract.

Managed as a last-minute scramble, that is months of evidence-gathering, gaps found too late, and a supply chain where one uncertified subcontractor holds up a prime.

How SimpleRisk fits

One control library, every obligation

SimpleRisk treats defense GRC the way it should be treated: as one set of NIST-based controls, mapped once and kept certification-ready, for you and the suppliers beneath you.

  • Map the 110 controls once. Through the Secure Controls Framework, NIST 800-171 maps to CMMC and across ISO 27001, NIST 800-53, and 250-plus frameworks, so nothing is tracked twice.
  • Stay assessment-ready. Keep control evidence current, so a C3PAO assessment is a review, not a months-long rebuild.
  • Track your supply chain. Bring subcontractor status into the same program, so one unready supplier does not stall a prime.
  • Prove it on demand. Produce exactly the evidence an assessor and a contracting officer require, when they require it.
Compliance in SimpleRisk → Risk Management → Secure Controls Framework →

Get certified, stay certified, keep the contract

Start a free trial or book a demo, and see how SimpleRisk maps your controls to CMMC and every mandate a defense supplier has to meet.

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