CMMC Compliance Support for Wisconsin Defense Manufacturers
If your shop machines parts, fabricates assemblies, or builds components for a DoD prime, your customer is going to ask about CMMC. We help Southeast Wisconsin manufacturers figure out what applies, close the gaps in NIST SP 800-171, and keep the paperwork straight. We support your readiness; we do not certify you.
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CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) is the DoD's way of checking that suppliers actually protect the information they are handed. Federal Contract Information (FCI) covers the basics like purchase orders and non-public contract details. Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) covers marked drawings, technical data, and specs, and that is where the 110 NIST SP 800-171 requirements kick in.
Most machine shops and small manufacturers in Waukesha County, Milwaukee, and the Menomonee Falls and Germantown industrial parks were not built with this in mind. CUI arrives by email, lands in a shared folder, gets copied to a CAM workstation on the shop floor, and ends up on a USB stick. Every system it touches is in scope, so the first job is usually shrinking that footprint.
Your prime may ask for an SPRS score, a System Security Plan (SSP), and a Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) before it sends the next PO. A self-assessment score that does not match reality is a real legal risk: the Justice Department has already settled False Claims Act cases with contractors over inflated scores.
How We Help
IT Compliance & Gap Assessment
Scoping where FCI and CUI live, then measuring your environment against NIST SP 800-171 with a prioritized fix list.
Learn moreCybersecurity Assessment
A practical look at accounts, endpoints, firewall rules, and backups before an assessor or your prime does it for you.
Learn moreMicrosoft 365 & GCC High Guidance
Help choosing between GCC High, a scoped CUI enclave, or your current tenant, and configuring it with MFA, logging, and access controls.
Learn moreEndpoint Detection & Response
Monitored EDR on the PCs and servers that touch CUI, backed by 24/7 SOC monitoring.
Learn moreWhat We Help With on the Road to CMMC
- Scoping: finding every system, person, and vendor that stores, processes, or sends CUI, and shrinking that footprint where it makes sense
- Gap assessment against the NIST SP 800-171 requirements, with an honest SPRS-style score
- System Security Plan (SSP) and Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) drafting support
- MFA, centralized logging and log review, endpoint security, patching, and encrypted backups
- Written policies and procedures: access control, incident response, media protection, configuration management
- Microsoft 365 GCC High or CUI enclave guidance, plus firewall and network segmentation for shop-floor PCs
Why Wisconsin Shops Work With Us on CMMC
- Local team in Sussex that can walk your shop floor and see where CUI really goes
- Straight answers about what applies to your contracts, without selling you a certification we cannot give
- Controls built into your day-to-day managed IT, so the evidence exists when someone asks for it
- Experience with the plant-floor side: CAM and CNC workstations, OT networks, and vendor remote access
- First-response target of 5 minutes for critical (P1) issues
CMMC 2.0 Levels in Plain English
The level is set by the information in your contract, not by the size of your shop.
Level 1 — Foundational
Federal Contract Information (FCI)
The 15 basic safeguarding requirements from FAR 52.204-21: limit system access, use passwords, patch, run malware protection, control physical access, and so on. Assessed by an annual self-assessment, with an annual affirmation entered in SPRS by a senior company official.
Level 2 — Advanced
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)
The 110 security requirements in NIST SP 800-171. Depending on the contract, Level 2 is met by a self-assessment or by a certification assessment from an authorized third-party assessor (C3PAO), on a three-year cycle with annual affirmations.
Level 3 — Expert
CUI in the highest-priority programs
Level 2 plus selected enhanced requirements from NIST SP 800-172, assessed by the government's DIBCAC team. Few small Wisconsin shops will see Level 3 in their contracts.
Where CMMC Stands (October 2026)
The CMMC rule (48 CFR) took effect on November 10, 2025, and CMMC requirements started showing up in new DoD solicitations and contracts, mostly as self-assessments. In July 2026 the Department suspended the next phase, which would have added third-party C3PAO certification assessments, pending a reform review. A September 2026 class deviation then told contracting officers to strip third-party assessment requirements from contracts.
What has not changed: if you handle CUI, DFARS 252.204-7012 still requires NIST SP 800-171, incident reporting, and an SPRS score, and self-assessments still have to be accurate. Treat the pause as time to get ready, not a reason to stop. Check the DoD CIO CMMC site for the current rules; this page is general information, not legal advice.
How the Work Is Priced
CMMC readiness is a project, and it is quoted after the gap assessment, once we know how many people and systems touch CUI. Ongoing managed IT on our Premium plan ($125/computer/month) covers many of the day-to-day controls a CMMC program depends on: MFA, email security, vulnerability scanning, security awareness training, 24/7 SOC monitoring and EDR. Licensing changes such as GCC High, documentation, and remediation are scoped separately.
Not sure where you stand on the basics? Our IT compliance services page covers the general approach, and our manufacturing IT support page covers the plant-floor side.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Start With a CMMC Gap Assessment
Tell us what your contracts say and where CUI lands today. We'll scope it, show you the gaps, and quote the readiness work after the assessment.