DoD Moves Closer to CMMC and Sooner Than Some Thought
Good news and bad news —
After five years and many false starts, it looks like CMMC may happen this fall – MAY HAPPEN.
That is good news if you are concerned about national security.
But bad news if you will have to comply, likely some time in 2025, with CMMC and get certified.
A very quick primer on CMMC. There are two parts to it:
- CFR Title 32
- CFR Title 48
CFR refers to the code of federal regulations, the repository of federal rules and regulations.
Title 32 defines how the program will work, what you have to do to comply, how you get certified, how the certifiers get certified, etc.
Title 48 defines how Title 32 gets integrated into contracts and becomes binding on contractors.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has published the fact that Title 32 has moved into its last phase of approval before being published. It moved into OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) last week and is expected to be published in September.
Then Congress has 60 days to veto the whole thing. Given how effective Congress is these days at passing anything and the fact that vetoing that right before the election would make them look weak on national security, I don’t predict that will happen. But, as the say, no one is safe when Congress is in session.
The smarter minds say that the September date is important so that the 60 window ends on the watch of this Congress and won’t be affected by the elections.
The Title 48 part of the process is also in OMB, but has not been published for comment, so that will go into effect later. Rumor has it that DoD would like both parts of the rule to become effective at the same time, so that moves the overall timeline to later in 2025. BUT, that is not a legal requirement. They could make the Title 32 part effective at the end of the 60 day window.
Then of course, we have to consider the presidential election. If Biden wins then likely nothing will change. If Trump wins, then all bets are off. He does not like regulations and if his first term was any indicator, he does not mind chaos, which revoking the rule would cause. Of course, if any president tries to mess with this, the press would likely crucify that person as weak on national security. May we live in interesting times.
With each step we get closer to some level of certainty, but we won’t get real certainty until next year some time. Still, this is an important step in the right direction. Credit: Washington Technology
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