“Small business owners warned members of Congress on Thursday that uncertainty over the costs and timeline of the Department of Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program could push their enterprises out of the defense industrial base.
In testimony given to a House Committee on Small Business subcommittee, they also raised concerns over the department’s communication strategy for the scheme, saying it has allowed information to trickle out through social media, rather than contacting affected contractors directly…”
“CMMC will require third-party certification that contractors meet a five-tiered range of security controls. Critics say that the cost of meeting those standards could fall unfairly on small businesses because they have fewer resources to deploy on cybersecurity than large defense firms…”
“In testimony, the CEO of professional services contractor T47, Tina Wilson, warned that uncertainty over costs and the implementation timeline for the regime had left many small businesses fearful of being shut out of the defense industry…”
“In response to the concerns, subcommittee Chair Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Penn., called for the creation of a platform through which the DOD can hear concerns over the implementation of the scheme.
‘I think we can conclude that these measures are overly harsh and we do need to create a forum to have this discussion with DOD,’ he said…” Read the full article here.
Source: CMMC uncertainty threatens small contractors, business leaders warn – By Jackson Barnett, June 24, 2021. FedScoop.
