Military Planning for CMMC Success: Driving Unified Action in Defense Compliance

In the complex defense contracting world, achieving CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) can feel like navigating a minefield. The complexity of compliance requirements, strained resources, and lack of unified action across departments make success seem elusive, even for the most capable defense vendors.

At VetNet Global, we’ve turned to a tool that served us well on active duty: the Five-Paragraph Order (OPORD)—a cornerstone of military strategy—to help defense contractors simplify complexity, drive unified action, and chart a course to CMMC success.

The Five-Paragraph Order: Your CMMC Battle Plan

The OPORD format, traditionally used in military operations, provides a straightforward, structured approach to organizing complex missions (like cybersecurity and compliance).

Here’s how to apply this battle-tested framework to your CMMC certification journey:

1. Situation: Know Your Terrain

In military operations, the Situation paragraph provides a comprehensive overview of the battlefield, including friendly and enemy forces, terrain, and conditions. Commanders use this information to identify potential threats and advantages.

For CMMC, this translates to understanding your cybersecurity landscape.

• Assess where your Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) is stored, how it’s processed, and who needs access to it.
• Use CMMC documentation to conduct proper scoping and asset categorization.

Example: One of our clients discovered they had CUI scattered across 15 different systems, including personal devices and downstream vendor systems. We developed a targeted plan to consolidate and secure CUI. This allowed us to shrink the CUI attack surface by more than 60%—scoping matters.

2. Mission: Define Your Objective

The Mission statement in military planning clearly and concisely describes the essential task and its purpose. This is critical for military commanders because it provides clear, concise direction and aligns all efforts toward a common goal.

For CMMC, your mission should align all departments of your business and ecosystem around your goal of protecting CUI and maintaining proper certification.

• Create a mission statement, including your certification target and timeline. For example, “Achieve CMMC Level 2 certification by Q4 2024.” This provides a focused goal for every department and helps track progress toward this unified goal.
• Ensure the mission statement is communicated across all levels of the organization. Hold kickoff meetings with leadership and working teams to discuss the mission and confirm that each department understands how their role contributes to certification and mission success.

Example: We helped one of our clients define a CMMC mission statement for their CUI protection and preparation efforts. This simple statement was an anchor that aligned all departments, from IT to legal, around a common objective, reducing interdepartmental conflicts and confusion. This statement helped save over $35K in preparation by reducing rework and misaligned priorities.

3. Execution: Implementing the Gameplan

In military operations, the Execution paragraph outlines how the mission will be accomplished, including the commander's intent, concept of operations, and tasks for subordinate units. It provides a step-by-step plan and clarifies the responsibilities of units to work together to achieve unified action and collective success.

For CMMC, this means breaking down your certification journey into manageable phases with milestones to indicate the completion of critical checkpoints on the path to mission success.

• You can start with a gap analysis to identify where your current CMMC practices fall short. Prioritizing critical focus areas allows you to streamline efforts and address the highest risks first.
• Develop a detailed implementation roadmap to keep teams aligned and on track. This roadmap keeps teams focused on immediate goals, ensuring steady progress without overwhelm.

Example: For a mid-sized contractor, we developed a three-phase, 12-month roadmap that was managed as a fully integrated and synchronized program similar to this.

• Months 1-3: Gap analysis and planning
• Months 4-8: System upgrades and policy implementation
• Months 9-12: Training, assessment, and certification

This phased approach provided clear milestones and a visible path to certification, protecting over $100M in existing contracts and setting the conditions for ongoing success in securing CUI and maintaining CMMC readiness.

4. Sustainment: Lifecycle Support for Continued Excellence

In military operations, Sustainment covers how forces will be supplied and maintained throughout the mission. It ensures troops have the necessary resources to complete their mission as conditions evolve.

For CMMC, getting certified isn’t the end goal—maintaining certification and continuously protecting CUI is part of your ongoing mission.

• Implement regular reviews and updates to maintain your compliance posture. Monthly and quarterly reviews help ensure that evolving threats are addressed and compliance remains.
• Establish transparent reporting processes to track compliance and security metrics. Regular leadership reporting facilitates adaptability, ensuring you can proactively address any issues.

Example: We helped one of our clients implement monthly compliance metrics reviews and quarterly compliance executive reporting cadences. This helped maintain readiness and quickly adapt to new threats, reducing security incidents by 50% over the reporting cycle.

5. Command and Control: Establish Unified Leadership

Command and Control (C2) defines leadership roles in military operations and establishes formal communication channels. This is essential to ensuring clear lines of authority and decision-making during operations to ensure mission success.

For CMMC, this means creating a centralized "CUI Command Team" team to oversee compliance efforts. Your CUI Command Team should include representatives from the following areas (not a complete and exhaustive list):

• Executive Leadership Team: Provides overall strategic oversight and allocates the necessary resources for compliance efforts.
• CUI Executive Agent: Responsible for developing and enforcing CUI protection policies across the organization.
• CMMC Program Manager: Manages day-to-day CMMC-related tasks and ensures progress toward certification goals.
• ISSO (Information Systems Security Officer): Oversees technical security and ensures systems meet CMMC standards.
• Legal Department: Ensures contracts and compliance measures adhere to all legal requirements, including the CMMC flow-down clauses.
• Contracts and Business Development Teams: Ensures that contracts meet compliance requirements and that future business development considers CMMC needs.
• External Service Providers: Work with third-party vendors or managed service provider leaders to fill technical expertise and compliance gaps and ensure service agreements are on par.

Example: We helped a global defense contractor charter a CUI Command Team with representatives from IT, legal, business development, and others to work together across organizational boundaries. This improved communication accelerated readiness by three months, reducing miscommunication-related issues by 70%. CMMC is indeed a team sport.

OPORD: A Whole-of-Business Approach

By adopting the OPORD for CMMC, you’re streamlining compliance and aligning with the DoD’s strategic goals. This whole-of-business approach mirrors the DoD’s emphasis on interagency coordination, positioning you as a trusted partner in the defense ecosystem.

Next Steps: Your Path to CMMC Success

1. Assess Your Current State
2. Define Your Mission
3. Create Your OPORD
4. Establish Your CUI Command Team
5. Engage Expert Support

Ready to Bring Military-Grade Planning to Your CMMC Mission?

At VetNet Global, we leverage military experience and best practices to help defense contractors simplify the CMMC process. We are veterans and CMMC Certifed Professionals.

If you’re curious how battle-tested military strategies can help you streamline CMMC compliance and strengthen your resilience as a critical player in the Defense Industrial Base, contact us for a complimentary 30-minute CMMC planning session.

We’re standing by to help you strategize your path to CMMC success!

One team, one mission. DIB strong.