A full CMMC assessment conducted by Stehrling CCAs and CCPs, with the same rigor a government or third-party assessor will apply. Every control reviewed. Every piece of evidence checked. Every interview rehearsed. In a regime of self-attestation and government spot assessments, you no longer choose your assessment date. You find out what an assessor will find, before the assessor finds it.
Stehrling Mock Assessment is a structured simulation of a formal CMMC assessment, conducted with the same rigor, methodology, and evaluation criteria that a government-led assessor or Certified Third-Party Assessment Organization will apply. The work is led by our CCAs, who are credentialed in the same assessment methodology an assessor applies.
What your posture rests on is your own assessment, the SPRS score that comes out of it, and an annual affirmation an executive signs. A scheduled assessment can be prepared for. Being asked at short notice cannot. An affirmation is only as good as the evidence sitting behind it, and the time to find out how good that is, is before someone signs.
Most "readiness checks" are paper exercises. A consultant reviews your SSP, scans your policies, and tells you it looks fine. That's not what assessors do, and it's not what we do either. A real Mock Assessment evaluates your controls the way an assessor will: by inspecting evidence, validating technical implementations, and interviewing your team against the exact standards in NIST 800-171A.
The output is a clear, defensible picture of where you actually stand: what will hold up, what will get flagged, and what needs remediation before an assessor, a prime, or your own signature puts it to the test.
CMMC assessments evaluate organizations across three dimensions: the documentation that describes your program, the technical controls that implement it, and the people who operate it. A Mock Assessment evaluates all three with assessor-level rigor, whether the assessment that follows is government-led, contract-required, or the one you conduct on yourself before signing.
We review every document an assessor will request, evaluated against the precise requirements in NIST 800-171A. Not just whether it exists, but whether it says what it needs to say in the way an assessor will accept.
Our CCAs inspect your technical environment the way an assessor will. Configurations checked against documented baselines. Access controls validated. Evidence captured to prove each control is actually operating as the SSP describes.
Assessors interview your team to validate that documented procedures are actually followed. We conduct the same interviews, with the same questions, and identify where your team needs additional preparation before it counts.
Mock Assessment engagements typically run two to four weeks depending on organizational complexity. The work follows the same sequence and methodology a formal assessment will use, so the experience itself becomes preparation.
Mock Assessment outputs are designed to be immediately actionable. Not a glossy report that sits on a shelf. The documentation a remediation team can pick up and execute against, and the confidence to know exactly what stands between you and a defensible compliance posture.
Detailed assessment of every control, every piece of evidence, every interview. Written in the same language a formal assessor will use, so you can map findings directly to the standards an assessor applies.
Prioritized, scoped, and time-estimated remediation items. What to fix first, what can wait, and what should be documented in your POA&M for transparent disclosure.
A clear yes-or-no on whether your organization could stand behind its attestation in front of an assessor today, with the reasoning behind the determination. If we say you're ready, we mean it.
Role-based preparation guides for the personnel an assessor will interview. What to expect, how to answer, what to demonstrate. Your team enters any assessment knowing what's coming.
Straight advice on your verification posture: how to prepare for government-led assessments, whether a C3PAO certification still makes sense where a contract or prime requires one, and how to sequence either.
Optional support during any formal assessment, government-led or third-party. We can be on standby for questions, observe sessions remotely, or attend in person depending on your engagement scope.
Most engagements come from one of these scenarios. Each is a legitimate reason to want assessor-level validation before your compliance posture gets tested for real.
An executive at your company signs an annual affirmation of compliance in SPRS. Before that signature goes on the line, a CCA-led assessment tells you whether the affirmation is defensible, and documents the diligence behind it.
The Department has said it will verify self-assessments through select government-led assessments. Those do not come with a preparation window. A Mock Assessment is how you make sure the answer is already yes when the question arrives.
The natural conclusion of a Stehrling Readiness engagement. Before you attest, or before you commit to a C3PAO where one is still required, we run the assessment ourselves. Most Readiness clients move directly into Mock Assessment as the final validation step.
You worked with another firm or built your program internally. The work is done, the documentation exists, and you want an outside CCA to validate readiness honestly before you rely on it. We come in fresh, evaluate honestly, and tell you where you stand.
Most consulting firms offer something called a "readiness check" or "pre-assessment review." Almost none of them are conducted by actual Certified CMMC Assessors. The work is done by general compliance consultants applying their best interpretation of what assessors will look for.
Stehrling is different. Every Mock Assessment is led by a Certified CMMC Assessor, working to the same methodology and NIST 800-171A objectives an assessor uses, with leadership that has been through DIBCAC assessments from the contractor side. That changes what gets caught, what gets challenged, and what your team is actually prepared for.
That is why the Mock Assessment works. It follows the same process and standards an assessor will use, so that whenever your posture is tested, you have already been through it once.
Whether you're facing a government-led assessment, a contract that still requires certification, or an annual affirmation your leadership has to sign, a Mock Assessment removes the uncertainty. Talk to a CCA about your current state and get the honest answer before anyone else asks the question.
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An independent firm building NIST 800-171 compliance programs and AI governance for defense contractors and the DIB.