If your business touches a Department of Defense contract — even as a tier-two or tier-three subcontractor — there’s a very real deadline on your horizon. The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 2.0 framework is moving from policy to enforcement, and Georgia defense contractors along the I-20 manufacturing corridor, in Marietta, Warner Robins, and across metro Atlanta, need to be ready before that requirement lands in your next contract renewal.
This isn’t a compliance checkbox that buys you time. Failing to meet CMMC requirements will disqualify your business from DoD work, full stop. Here’s what you need to know — and how Century Solutions Group helps companies like yours get to readiness without losing months of productivity in the process.
What CMMC 2.0 Means for Georgia Defense Contractors and Subcontractors
CMMC 2.0 is the DoD’s framework for ensuring that every organization in the defense supply chain — prime contractors and subcontractors alike — protects Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and Federal Contract Information (FCI) appropriately.
The critical point most subcontractors miss: if your contract flows down CUI, CMMC applies to you, regardless of your company’s size or how far down the supply chain you sit. A 40-person precision machining shop in Smyrna supplying components to a prime contractor at Dobbins Air Reserve Base is subject to the same framework as a large systems integrator.
CMMC 2.0 simplified the original five-level model into three levels. Most small-to-midsize Georgia defense contractors and manufacturers will fall into Level 1 or Level 2.
CMMC Level 1 vs. Level 2 — Which Applies to Your Business?
CMMC Level 1 — Foundational
– Applies to organizations handling Federal Contract Information (FCI) but not CUI
– Requires annual self-assessment against 17 practices drawn from FAR 52.204-21
– Think: basic cyber hygiene — access control, media protection, physical security
CMMC Level 2 — Advanced
– Applies to organizations that handle CUI — this is the majority of defense subcontractors in the manufacturing and engineering space
– Requires compliance with all 110 practices mapped to NIST SP 800-171
– For contracts involving “prioritized acquisitions” (high-value or sensitive programs), Level 2 requires a third-party assessment by a C3PAO (Certified Third-Party Assessment Organization), not just self-attestation
– Triennial third-party assessments, with annual self-attestation in between
If you’re not sure which level applies to your contracts, that determination is one of the first things a proper gap assessment resolves.
How Century Conducts a CMMC Gap Assessment
A gap assessment isn’t an audit — it’s a structured look at where your organization stands today against where the standard requires you to be, delivered in a format that gives your leadership clear, actionable priorities.
What our CMMC gap assessment covers:
- Scoping — We identify which systems, personnel, and data flows touch CUI or FCI. Scoping correctly is critical: over-scoping inflates your remediation cost; under-scoping creates certification risk.
- Control inventory — We document your current technical and administrative controls across all 14 NIST 800-171 domain families: access control, audit and accountability, configuration management, incident response, and the rest.
- Gap analysis — We map what you have against what’s required, producing a prioritized list of deficiencies with severity ratings.
- System Security Plan (SSP) review or development — If you have an existing SSP, we review and update it. If you don’t, we help you build one — the SSP is a required artifact for both self-assessment and third-party assessments.
- Plan of Action & Milestones (POA&M) — Every gap gets documented in a POA&M with a realistic remediation timeline, ownership assignment, and cost estimate.
Typical timeline: For a company in the 25–150 person range, expect a gap assessment to take two to four weeks from kickoff to final deliverables, depending on environment complexity and how well your existing documentation is organized.
Mapping Your Controls to NIST 800-171
CMMC Level 2 is built directly on NIST Special Publication 800-171, which defines 110 security requirements across 14 families. Every CMMC Level 2 practice maps one-to-one to a NIST 800-171 requirement.
Common control families where Georgia manufacturers and defense contractors typically show gaps:
- 3.3 Audit and Accountability — Log collection and retention is frequently absent or incomplete in smaller environments
- 3.11 Risk Assessment — Many SMBs have never conducted a formal risk assessment or documented one
- 3.12 Security Assessment — Ongoing monitoring and internal review processes are often informal or undocumented
- 3.13 System and Communications Protection — Network segmentation between operational technology (shop floor) and IT environments is a persistent gap in manufacturing
Century’s approach maps your existing tools and processes to these requirement numbers first, so we’re not recommending new technology to solve problems your current stack might already address — with the right configuration.
What Remediation Typically Looks Like for a 25–150 Person Manufacturer
Remediation scope varies significantly based on your starting point, but for a typical small-to-midsize defense contractor in Georgia that hasn’t previously pursued formal CMMC or NIST 800-171 compliance, here’s what the work commonly involves:
- Identity and access management improvements — Implementing or tightening multi-factor authentication, privileged access controls, and account lifecycle management
- Endpoint and server hardening — Configuration baselines, patch management formalization, and removal of unauthorized software
- Network architecture adjustments — Segmenting CUI-handling systems, implementing boundary protections, and closing unneeded ports and services
- Documentation buildout — SSP, POA&M, incident response plan, configuration management policy, and media protection procedures
- Security awareness training — Documented, role-based training that satisfies NIST 800-171 requirement 3.2
For a manufacturer with 50 employees and a reasonably modern IT environment, industry benchmarks suggest full Level 2 remediation (excluding third-party assessment fees) typically spans four to nine months and requires meaningful but manageable investment — far less disruptive when started proactively than when driven by a contract deadline.
Why Georgia Defense Contractors Should Move Now
CMMC requirements are being phased into DoD contracts through 2025 and into 2026. Prime contractors are already flowing down CMMC requirements to their supply chains ahead of formal enforcement — which means your next contract renewal or new bid may require demonstrated readiness sooner than the federal timeline suggests.
Warner Robins’ Robins Air Force Base, the Dobbins / Marietta corridor, and the broader Georgia defense manufacturing ecosystem represent billions in annual federal contract activity. The companies that complete gap assessments and begin remediation now will be the ones positioned to bid competitively when CMMC language appears in their next solicitation.
Start With a CMMC Readiness Assessment
Century Solutions Group works with defense contractors and manufacturers across metro Atlanta and Georgia to build realistic, cost-effective paths to CMMC 2.0 compliance. We don’t sell certification — no MSP or consultant can — but we do help you get your environment, documentation, and processes to the point where a C3PAO assessment is something you walk into with confidence.
Ready to understand where you stand? Download our CMMC Readiness Checklist to self-assess against the most common Level 1 and Level 2 gaps, or contact our team to schedule a scoping conversation.
Download the CMMC Readiness Checklist →
Schedule a CMMC Gap Assessment Consultation →
Century Solutions Group is an Atlanta-based managed IT and cybersecurity services provider serving defense contractors, manufacturers, professional services firms, and growing businesses across Georgia. Questions about CMMC? Contact our team.