Guides for federal contractors
Practical, plain-English references for CMMC, NIST 800-171, and the compliance frameworks that govern federal work.
Cybersecurity & Compliance
14What Is Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)?
A practical guide to CUI for defense contractors — what it is, why it matters for CMMC and NIST 800-171, and how to handle it correctly.
Read guideCMMC 2.0 Levels Explained
How Levels 1, 2, and 3 map to your contracts, what assessments each requires, and how to scope your environment accordingly.
Read guideHow to Get CMMC Certified: A 7-Step Guide
Scope, C3PAO selection, SSP, assessment team, planning, assessment, and remediation — the end-to-end path to a CMMC certificate.
Read guideBuilding a Defensible SSP and POA&M
What a credible System Security Plan looks like, how to document the 110 controls, and how to manage gaps without inflating your SPRS score.
Read guideGCC High vs. Commercial M365 for CUI
When you actually need GCC High, what the alternatives look like, and the migration pitfalls that derail contractor compliance programs.
Read guideReporting Cyber Incidents Under DFARS 7012
The 72-hour clock, what counts as a reportable incident, evidence preservation, and how to file through dibnet.dod.mil without missteps.
Read guideBuilding a Compliant Federal IT Environment
Network architecture for defense contractors — segmentation, zero trust, and the infrastructure required to pass a CMMC or NIST 800-171 assessment.
Read guideThe RMF Process Explained
A practical guide for defense contractors on navigating the NIST Risk Management Framework, from categorization to continuous monitoring.
Read guideATO Sprints: Accelerating Authority to Operate
DevSecOps integration, control inheritance, and rapid authorization strategies that compress the ATO timeline from months to weeks.
Read guideContinuous Monitoring Under RMF
Keeping your ATO alive — vulnerability scanning, POA&M remediation, and configuration management in federal IT environments.
Read guideNIST SP 800-53 for Contractors
The federal security controls catalog — how it differs from 800-171, the 20 control families, and tailoring baselines for federal systems.
Read guideFedRAMP Explained
Cloud authorization, the JAB vs. Agency paths, FedRAMP Moderate equivalence, and how to navigate the FedRAMP Marketplace.
Read guideDFARS Compliance End-to-End
A complete roadmap to DFARS — the key cybersecurity clauses and how to build a sustainable contractor compliance program.
Read guideAudit Readiness: From Panic to Continuous Compliance
Living SSPs, artifact management, POA&M discipline, and scoping decisions that hold up under DIBCAC and CMMC.
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Business Operations
11Flowing DFARS and CMMC Down to Subcontractors
Contract language, vendor questionnaires, and oversight practices to keep your supply chain aligned with federal cybersecurity requirements.
Read guideHow Federal Cybersecurity Contracts Are Won
Capture strategy for defense contractors — shaping the RFP, building winning teams, pricing, and proposal execution.
Read guideTeaming Agreements and Prime/Sub Relationships
How to build winning teams, navigate NDAs and Teaming Agreements, and manage prime/sub dynamics on federal cybersecurity programs.
Read guideDCAA Compliance for Small Defense Contractors
What "DCAA compliant" actually means, the SF 1408 criteria, and how small businesses build compliant accounting without bankrupting themselves.
Read guideIndirect Rate Structures: Fringe, Overhead, G&A
Building DCAA-compliant indirect rates that recover your true costs without inflating unallowables or triggering False Claims exposure.
Read guideHR and Payroll Compliance for GovCon
SCA wage determinations, H&W fringe, OFCCP affirmative action, and DCAA timekeeping — the compliance landscape that defines GovCon HR.
Read guideBuilding SOPs for a Cleared GovCon Organization
Why every audit starts with "show me your written procedures" — and how to build an SOP library that survives DCAA and DCSA inspection.
Read guideThe GovCon Back Office: What Breaks and How to Fix It
Accounting, HR, contracts, and security operations behind every federal contractor — what fails as firms scale and how to rebuild it.
Read guideScaling a GovCon Business: Operations Infrastructure for Growth
Why GovCon firms stall at $5M and what to invest in across finance, recruiting, and compliance to break through to prime-level execution.
Read guideGovCon Operations for Small Businesses: Competing at the Prime Level
Past performance, DCAA accounting, cleared recruiting, CMMC, and contracts — what small businesses must build before they bid prime.
Read guideSupporting DoD Programs: What Contractors Need to Know Before They Bid
FCL sponsorship, cleared workforce realities, OPSEC, program-office dynamics, and the back-office burden — before you submit.
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Workforce Solutions
09Hiring and Retaining Cleared Cybersecurity Talent
Sourcing strategies, compensation models, and retention practices that keep federal programs fully staffed in a tight cleared talent market.
Read guideSecurity Clearance Levels Explained
Confidential, Secret, Top Secret, SCI, and Polygraph — what they mean, how they're obtained, and how contractors manage them.
Read guideOnboarding Cleared Employees: A Step-by-Step Process
From DISS verification through indoctrination, briefings, VARs, and program read-ins — the complete cleared-onboarding workflow.
Read guideDoD 8140 / 8570 Certification Requirements
How the IAT/IAM legacy framework maps to the new 8140.03 Work Role model — and how to keep your cyber workforce compliant on Day 1.
Read guideThe ISSM Role: Managing IA Across a Portfolio
Programmatic leadership, RMF execution, AO interface, and what separates a great ISSM from a mediocre one.
Read guideThe ISSO Role: What It Looks Like Day-to-Day
Continuous monitoring, POA&M management, configuration control, and incident triage inside a live federal program.
Read guideStaff Augmentation vs. Contract Staffing
The practical differences between renting capacity and buying outcomes — and when each model is right for cleared federal work.
Read guideProgram Manager vs. Project Manager in Federal Contracting
How federal contracts make a rigid distinction between strategic Program Managers and tactical Project Managers — and how to staff each role correctly.
Read guideHow to Evaluate a Federal Staffing Partner
What primes and agencies should actually ask — clearance verification, certification validation, retention, and back-office compliance maturity.
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Security Operations
07Running a Cleared Service Desk
ITSM, SLAs, and security for a Tier 1–3 help desk supporting classified environments without violating security protocols.
Read guideThe FSO Role Explained
Facility Security Officer duties and best practices for managing cleared facilities, personnel security, and DCSA compliance.
Read guideNISPOM Compliance for Cleared Facilities
A practical guide to the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual — what it requires and how DCSA enforces it.
Read guideWorkforce and Operations Support for ITAR Programs
ITAR's deemed-export rule and US Person mandate reshape recruiting, facility design, and IT architecture for aerospace contractors.
Read guideBuilding an Insider Threat Program for a Cleared Contractor
NISPOM 32 CFR §117.7 requirements: ITPSO, integrated reporting, UAM, behavioral indicators, and a culture of reporting without paranoia.
Read guideThe DD254: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Complete It Correctly
A line-by-line walkthrough of the DD Form 254 — the legal instrument that authorizes contractor access to classified information.
Read guideDISS Administration: A Practical Guide for FSOs
Crossover, investigation initiation, VARs, adverse-information reporting, Continuous Evaluation, and the workflows every cleared facility runs on.
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