The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certificate (CMMC) is a comprehensive security program that requires organizations to implement numerous processes and practices to achieve compliance. For many small and mid-sized organizations, getting CMMC certified is a challenging task that requires thorough preparation, a structured approach, and significant resources.
Another essential aspect of CMMC compliance is the time investment required. Due to the program’s complexity, completing the certification process can take a while, with the exact timeline heavily influenced by factors like an organization’s size and existing security posture.
To help you efficiently evaluate the time it may take your organization to get a CMMC certificate, this guide will cover the following topics:
- Typical CMMC certification time frame
- Factors affecting the certification timeline
- Tips for achieving CMMC certification faster
How long does it take to get CMMC-certified?
The entire CMMC certification process can take anywhere between four and 18+ months, depending on an organization's current level of readiness and certification goals. The timeline can be broken down into two parts:
- Preparation (1–12 months): Most organizations spend around 3–6 months on this phase, though it can extend to 12 months for companies with significant gaps or more complex environments. This phase involves identifying the appropriate CMMC level, implementing the required practices, documenting internal processes, and addressing any security or compliance gaps
- Certification (3–6+ months): After preparation has been completed, the certification assessments can take an additional three months to over half a year, depending on the required assessment type
Organizations can face several roadblocks that can significantly delay their certification timeline. These include a lack of commitment from upper management, spending too much time defining and setting the scope, and a lack of clear guidance during the certification process.
Implementation timelines are broadly defined because potential challenges and factors like organization size, security maturity, and scope make it difficult to accurately determine how long CMMC certification will take. Understanding how these variables impact your organization’s certification process can help you anticipate bottlenecks and proactively allocate resources to prevent delays.
{{cta_withimage27="/cta-blocks"}} | CMMC compliance checklist
4 factors that affect CMMC certification timelines
The four most significant factors that can affect your organization’s CMMC certification timeline are:
- Chosen certification level
- Organization size
- Existing compliance and security posture
- Compliance and security workflows
The sections below explain how each of these factors can impact the timeline, allowing you to better predict challenges and plan accordingly.
1. Chosen certification level
Depending on the sensitivity of the data your organization handles, you will need to achieve one of the three CMMC certification levels:
- Level 1 (Foundational): Applies to organizations that handle Federal Contract Information (FCI) and focuses on basic cyber hygiene practices. Level 1 compliance requires organizations to conduct a self-assessment against the 15 practices outlined by FAR clause 52.204-21.
- Level 2 (Advanced): Intended for organizations that handle FCI and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). Level 2 requires implementing the 110 practices outlined by NIST SP 800-171 R2 and then performing a self-assessment or undergoing and passing an assessment by a certified third-party assessor organization (C3PAO).
- Level 3 (Expert): Designed for organizations that handle highly sensitive CUI. To obtain a CMMC Level 3 certificate, your organization first needs to achieve compliance with CMMC Level 2 and then implement an additional 24 practices outlined in 32 CFR 170.14.
The complexity of CMMC certification increases significantly at each level, and so does the timeline. Here's a general estimate of what to expect based on the required level:
2. Organization size
The larger your organization, the longer the CMMC certification will likely take. While larger organizations often face delays due to complexity—like more systems to evaluate and departments to coordinate—smaller organizations may also encounter delays due to limited internal resources or a lack of in-house compliance expertise. That's because size adds complexity in several ways, namely because there are:
- More systems to evaluate: Larger organizations have more complex IT structures and extensive system networks that must be scoped and evaluated against CMMC practices.
- More departments to coordinate: Compliance workflows often require cross-department collaboration to ensure all practices are consistently implemented across the whole organization.
- More people to train: Thorough training and information campaigns are core aspects of CMMC compliance. Ensuring that stakeholders at all organizational levels are aware of the required practices and have the necessary tools to perform their roles can take significant time.
Each of these factors can add weeks—or even months—to your certification timeline, especially if your current workflows aren't optimized for collaboration or visibility.
3. Existing compliance and security posture
The Department of Defense (DoD) based many CMMC practices on existing security standards, such as NIST SP 800-171 R2 and NIST SP 800-172, which outline best practices for handling CUI. Aside from these, CMMC also significantly overlaps with other industry-standard security frameworks, including:
- SOC 2
- HIPAA
- ISO 27001
- GDPR
Organizations that have already achieved compliance with some of these standards may find that they are better positioned for CMMC certification, as many of the practices align. For instance, an organization with a SOC 2 likely already meets several CMMC security practices outlined in control areas such as access controls, system monitoring, and incident response.
The same goes for organizations with mature security programs and elaborate controls, processes, and policies in place. They typically have already established risk management, continuous monitoring, and data protection policies integral for CMMC compliance, which lay the groundwork for efficient certification.
{{cta_withimage22="/cta-blocks"}} | The audit ready checklist
4. Compliance and security workflows
The efficiency of an organization’s security and compliance workflows plays a large part in predicting the timeline for CMMC certification. Inefficient workflows can result in delays, causing teams to spend more time than necessary on tasks like gathering information, assessing systems, or aligning processes with the certification practices.
Common inefficiencies that can significantly slow down the certification process include:
- Disparate documentation systems: In organizations that don’t leverage centralized record-keeping, departments may employ different methods to maintain documentation. Compliance teams then have to spend additional time consolidating these records to ensure they align with CMMC practices.
- Inefficient evidence collection: Without streamlined workflows, collecting evidence of compliance efforts for auditors is labor-intensive. Team members often have to scan through multiple documentation systems and email logs to find information, taking away time from other compliance workflows.
- Poor cross-department collaboration: CMMC certification often requires coordinated efforts from multiple departments, such as IT, HR, and risk management. Poor communication and unclear team responsibilities can lead to misaligned workflows and missed deadlines during the certification process.
Another common cause of delays is the approach to workflows. When preparing for CMMC compliance, organizations need to directly aim for their chosen level. This allows them to allocate resources and divide workloads based on the specific practices for that level, ensuring that different teams can focus on their relevant tasks and work in parallel, speeding up the process.
How to expedite CMMC certification
Once you’ve determined your organization’s required CMMC certification level, you can use these strategies to speed up the compliance process:
- Understand your security posture: Begin by reviewing the processes, practices, and policies you already have in place and compare them against CMMC practices. This will help identify and assess security gaps early in the process. Understanding your security posture is particularly important when conducting a self-assessment for Levels 1 and 2.
- Map existing controls and processes to CMMC requirements: By mapping existing controls to CMMC practices, you can identify areas that already meet them. This way, your compliance teams can avoid duplicative workflows and focus on areas that need improvement, saving resources and time.
- Assign roles and responsibilities effectively: Designate specific CMMC objectives and workflows to relevant stakeholders. Properly assigned responsibilities help team members understand their role in the compliance process, help improve accountability, and ensure tasks are done efficiently and on time.
- Schedule the third-party assessment in advance: If your chosen CMMC level requires a third-party audit, schedule it several months in advance to avoid potential delays. Scheduling early also sets a clear deadline for completing all required workflows and documentation, which can help drive the process forward.
- Leverage compliance automation software: Leveraging automation can ease some of the pressure CMMC certification puts on your compliance teams. Automation software streamlines evidence collection, tracks progress, and automatically generates reports. This saves time and provides real-time monitoring of your compliance efforts, helping you stay on track and meet deadlines more efficiently.
“
Framework changes can substantially prolong certification times. The fact that the change from CMMC 1.0 to 2.0 was given a 9-24 month rollover period should show the level of impact changes could have. Traditionally, teams would have to do gap analysis, restructure their compliance teams, get legal representatives involved in decisions on evidence, and more.”
Achieve CMMC compliance efficiently with Vanta
Vanta is a trust management platform that offers clear guidance across controls, policies, documents, and tools to help organizations save time and resources as they work toward achieving CMMC compliance.
Vanta’s dedicated CMMC solution supports organizations throughout the CMMC certification process with features like:
- Out-of-the-box support for all assessment levels
- Automated evidence collection through more than 375 integrations
- Up to 50 percent automation of CMMC workflows
- Automated gap assessments to identify shortfalls in CMMC practices
- Pre-mapped security controls aligned to NIST SP 800-171 and NIST SP 800-172
- Centralized dashboard for real-time monitoring and tracking of CMMC practices
Vanta helps you avoid duplicative workflows by cross-mapping controls and referencing existing practices across multiple frameworks, including SOC 2 and ISO 27001, allowing you to achieve compliance with multiple standards within a single solution.
If you’re preparing for CMMC Level 2 or 3, you can use Vanta’s partner network to find reputable C3PAOs that can support your compliance efforts.
Schedule a custom demo to see how Vanta streamlines CMMC compliance.
{{cta_simple33="/cta-blocks"}} | CMMC product page
A note from Vanta: Vanta is not a law firm, and this article does not constitute or contain legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. When determining your obligations and compliance with respect to relevant laws and regulations, you should consult a licensed attorney.
How long does it take to get CMMC-certified?
Looking to automate up to 50% of the work for CMMC?
The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certificate (CMMC) is a comprehensive security program that requires organizations to implement numerous processes and practices to achieve compliance. For many small and mid-sized organizations, getting CMMC certified is a challenging task that requires thorough preparation, a structured approach, and significant resources.
Another essential aspect of CMMC compliance is the time investment required. Due to the program’s complexity, completing the certification process can take a while, with the exact timeline heavily influenced by factors like an organization’s size and existing security posture.
To help you efficiently evaluate the time it may take your organization to get a CMMC certificate, this guide will cover the following topics:
- Typical CMMC certification time frame
- Factors affecting the certification timeline
- Tips for achieving CMMC certification faster
How long does it take to get CMMC-certified?
The entire CMMC certification process can take anywhere between four and 18+ months, depending on an organization's current level of readiness and certification goals. The timeline can be broken down into two parts:
- Preparation (1–12 months): Most organizations spend around 3–6 months on this phase, though it can extend to 12 months for companies with significant gaps or more complex environments. This phase involves identifying the appropriate CMMC level, implementing the required practices, documenting internal processes, and addressing any security or compliance gaps
- Certification (3–6+ months): After preparation has been completed, the certification assessments can take an additional three months to over half a year, depending on the required assessment type
Organizations can face several roadblocks that can significantly delay their certification timeline. These include a lack of commitment from upper management, spending too much time defining and setting the scope, and a lack of clear guidance during the certification process.
Implementation timelines are broadly defined because potential challenges and factors like organization size, security maturity, and scope make it difficult to accurately determine how long CMMC certification will take. Understanding how these variables impact your organization’s certification process can help you anticipate bottlenecks and proactively allocate resources to prevent delays.
{{cta_withimage27="/cta-blocks"}} | CMMC compliance checklist
4 factors that affect CMMC certification timelines
The four most significant factors that can affect your organization’s CMMC certification timeline are:
- Chosen certification level
- Organization size
- Existing compliance and security posture
- Compliance and security workflows
The sections below explain how each of these factors can impact the timeline, allowing you to better predict challenges and plan accordingly.
1. Chosen certification level
Depending on the sensitivity of the data your organization handles, you will need to achieve one of the three CMMC certification levels:
- Level 1 (Foundational): Applies to organizations that handle Federal Contract Information (FCI) and focuses on basic cyber hygiene practices. Level 1 compliance requires organizations to conduct a self-assessment against the 15 practices outlined by FAR clause 52.204-21.
- Level 2 (Advanced): Intended for organizations that handle FCI and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). Level 2 requires implementing the 110 practices outlined by NIST SP 800-171 R2 and then performing a self-assessment or undergoing and passing an assessment by a certified third-party assessor organization (C3PAO).
- Level 3 (Expert): Designed for organizations that handle highly sensitive CUI. To obtain a CMMC Level 3 certificate, your organization first needs to achieve compliance with CMMC Level 2 and then implement an additional 24 practices outlined in 32 CFR 170.14.
The complexity of CMMC certification increases significantly at each level, and so does the timeline. Here's a general estimate of what to expect based on the required level:
2. Organization size
The larger your organization, the longer the CMMC certification will likely take. While larger organizations often face delays due to complexity—like more systems to evaluate and departments to coordinate—smaller organizations may also encounter delays due to limited internal resources or a lack of in-house compliance expertise. That's because size adds complexity in several ways, namely because there are:
- More systems to evaluate: Larger organizations have more complex IT structures and extensive system networks that must be scoped and evaluated against CMMC practices.
- More departments to coordinate: Compliance workflows often require cross-department collaboration to ensure all practices are consistently implemented across the whole organization.
- More people to train: Thorough training and information campaigns are core aspects of CMMC compliance. Ensuring that stakeholders at all organizational levels are aware of the required practices and have the necessary tools to perform their roles can take significant time.
Each of these factors can add weeks—or even months—to your certification timeline, especially if your current workflows aren't optimized for collaboration or visibility.
3. Existing compliance and security posture
The Department of Defense (DoD) based many CMMC practices on existing security standards, such as NIST SP 800-171 R2 and NIST SP 800-172, which outline best practices for handling CUI. Aside from these, CMMC also significantly overlaps with other industry-standard security frameworks, including:
- SOC 2
- HIPAA
- ISO 27001
- GDPR
Organizations that have already achieved compliance with some of these standards may find that they are better positioned for CMMC certification, as many of the practices align. For instance, an organization with a SOC 2 likely already meets several CMMC security practices outlined in control areas such as access controls, system monitoring, and incident response.
The same goes for organizations with mature security programs and elaborate controls, processes, and policies in place. They typically have already established risk management, continuous monitoring, and data protection policies integral for CMMC compliance, which lay the groundwork for efficient certification.
{{cta_withimage22="/cta-blocks"}} | The audit ready checklist
4. Compliance and security workflows
The efficiency of an organization’s security and compliance workflows plays a large part in predicting the timeline for CMMC certification. Inefficient workflows can result in delays, causing teams to spend more time than necessary on tasks like gathering information, assessing systems, or aligning processes with the certification practices.
Common inefficiencies that can significantly slow down the certification process include:
- Disparate documentation systems: In organizations that don’t leverage centralized record-keeping, departments may employ different methods to maintain documentation. Compliance teams then have to spend additional time consolidating these records to ensure they align with CMMC practices.
- Inefficient evidence collection: Without streamlined workflows, collecting evidence of compliance efforts for auditors is labor-intensive. Team members often have to scan through multiple documentation systems and email logs to find information, taking away time from other compliance workflows.
- Poor cross-department collaboration: CMMC certification often requires coordinated efforts from multiple departments, such as IT, HR, and risk management. Poor communication and unclear team responsibilities can lead to misaligned workflows and missed deadlines during the certification process.
Another common cause of delays is the approach to workflows. When preparing for CMMC compliance, organizations need to directly aim for their chosen level. This allows them to allocate resources and divide workloads based on the specific practices for that level, ensuring that different teams can focus on their relevant tasks and work in parallel, speeding up the process.
How to expedite CMMC certification
Once you’ve determined your organization’s required CMMC certification level, you can use these strategies to speed up the compliance process:
- Understand your security posture: Begin by reviewing the processes, practices, and policies you already have in place and compare them against CMMC practices. This will help identify and assess security gaps early in the process. Understanding your security posture is particularly important when conducting a self-assessment for Levels 1 and 2.
- Map existing controls and processes to CMMC requirements: By mapping existing controls to CMMC practices, you can identify areas that already meet them. This way, your compliance teams can avoid duplicative workflows and focus on areas that need improvement, saving resources and time.
- Assign roles and responsibilities effectively: Designate specific CMMC objectives and workflows to relevant stakeholders. Properly assigned responsibilities help team members understand their role in the compliance process, help improve accountability, and ensure tasks are done efficiently and on time.
- Schedule the third-party assessment in advance: If your chosen CMMC level requires a third-party audit, schedule it several months in advance to avoid potential delays. Scheduling early also sets a clear deadline for completing all required workflows and documentation, which can help drive the process forward.
- Leverage compliance automation software: Leveraging automation can ease some of the pressure CMMC certification puts on your compliance teams. Automation software streamlines evidence collection, tracks progress, and automatically generates reports. This saves time and provides real-time monitoring of your compliance efforts, helping you stay on track and meet deadlines more efficiently.
“
Framework changes can substantially prolong certification times. The fact that the change from CMMC 1.0 to 2.0 was given a 9-24 month rollover period should show the level of impact changes could have. Traditionally, teams would have to do gap analysis, restructure their compliance teams, get legal representatives involved in decisions on evidence, and more.”
Achieve CMMC compliance efficiently with Vanta
Vanta is a trust management platform that offers clear guidance across controls, policies, documents, and tools to help organizations save time and resources as they work toward achieving CMMC compliance.
Vanta’s dedicated CMMC solution supports organizations throughout the CMMC certification process with features like:
- Out-of-the-box support for all assessment levels
- Automated evidence collection through more than 375 integrations
- Up to 50 percent automation of CMMC workflows
- Automated gap assessments to identify shortfalls in CMMC practices
- Pre-mapped security controls aligned to NIST SP 800-171 and NIST SP 800-172
- Centralized dashboard for real-time monitoring and tracking of CMMC practices
Vanta helps you avoid duplicative workflows by cross-mapping controls and referencing existing practices across multiple frameworks, including SOC 2 and ISO 27001, allowing you to achieve compliance with multiple standards within a single solution.
If you’re preparing for CMMC Level 2 or 3, you can use Vanta’s partner network to find reputable C3PAOs that can support your compliance efforts.
Schedule a custom demo to see how Vanta streamlines CMMC compliance.
{{cta_simple33="/cta-blocks"}} | CMMC product page
A note from Vanta: Vanta is not a law firm, and this article does not constitute or contain legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. When determining your obligations and compliance with respect to relevant laws and regulations, you should consult a licensed attorney.
Explore more CMMC articles
Introduction to CMMC
CMMC requirements
CMMC certification process
CMMC levels
Get started with CMMC
Start your CMMC journey with these related resources.
What you need to know about CMMC—from our Director of Government Strategy & Affairs Morgan Kaplan
Vanta’s director of US government strategy and affairs shares how current and future contractors for the DoD can get CMMC certified.
CMMC Checklist
This checklist will guide you through the steps to take to get CMMC certified and how to successfully implement and maintain the certification.
The ultimate guide to NIST 800-171
Jumpstart your NIST 800-171 compliance with Vanta's complete guide to this legally required security standard.
.png)
.png)
.png)