Register:Glossary3 recordsSHA3-256 chainedhead sha3:0528dad004c75aa3d461847c862cd0e73f1d8a07bda13d72e202e43e7e5e79efIntact
REC 0001DEFINITIONsha3-2562fe880aa69298f6a1b9f0586dd7433ed2ef798dcfa6c7333e67564c695223dcaprev:8e0aa73ab67b

C3PAO stands for CMMC Third-Party Assessment Organization.

A CMMC Third-Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO) is the entity that performs your formal Level 2 assessment and issues certification. C3PAOs are authorized and listed on the Cyber AB Marketplace.

C3PAOs continue to conduct authorized Level 2 assessments, but the Department suspended the Phase II transition and future implementation milestones on July 13, 2026. Contractors should schedule against actual contract and prime requirements rather than the former November deadline.

A C3PAO cannot both consult for and assess the same client within a defined window, which is why readiness partners (RPOs) and assessors work as separate roles in the ecosystem.

REC 0002RELATED RECORDSsha3-2560528dad004c75aa3d461847c862cd0e73f1d8a07bda13d72e202e43e7e5e79efprev:2fe880aa6929

Related records

Guides and articles describe the work. The evidence that work produces is described in three proof pages and one architecture page.

proof.state
Proof of State. What the environment was, as of a date someone else picks: point-in-time records, content hashed and chained.
proof.change
Proof of Change. Who or what altered the environment, under what authority, with before and after state hashes.
proof.agency
Proof of Agency. What a machine was permitted to do before it acted, what it did, and what would have stopped it.
architecture
Architecture. How the chain is built and where it lives: inside your tenant, with no egress of evidence.

Related terms and reading

  1. CUI: Controlled Unclassified InformationCUI is government-created or -owned information that requires safeguarding under law, regulation, or government-wide policy, but is not classified.
  2. DIBCAC: Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity Assessment CenterDIBCAC is the DoD organization that conducts government-led high assessments and CMMC Level 3 assessments.
  3. POA&M: Plan of Action and MilestonesA POA&M is a tracked plan for remediating security controls that are not yet fully implemented, with owners and target dates.
  4. The C3PAO Backlog Math & Work-Back Schedule
  5. CMMC Contract Readiness Planner

Know the term. Then see the record behind it.

Request AccessBook a call
Sealed
Last amended
Register colophonRecomputable by a second party
SeqLabelSHA3-256Prev
REC 0000HEAD8e0aa73ab67b7320efc35e8c
REC 0001DEFINITION2fe880aa69298e0aa73ab67b
REC 0002RELATED RECORDS0528dad004c72fe880aa6929

The record headers on this page are SHA3-256 digests of this page's own copy, chained in sequence from a fixed genesis value. Edit one word of any record's copy above and every digest after it changes. Head of chain: sha3:0528dad004c7. The product does the same thing to your evidence.