---
title: "CMMC Contract Readiness Planner 2026"
description: "Free CMMC and NIST 800-171 readiness planner: work backward from a contract, prime, or internal target date, with optional C3PAO lead time."
url: https://policycortex.com/tools/cmmc-deadline-calculator
sealed: 2026-07-01
register: tools/cmmc-deadline-calculator
records: 3
digest: sha3:48d7ef06c7ef6e5078d486f3d72284f256de6abc0e62196278899e441e75101c
---

# CMMC contract readiness planner

Register / Tools

The former November 10 Phase II transition is suspended. Pick the date that governs your work, a solicitation, a prime flow-down, a recompete, or an internal assurance target, and the planner works back from it to the dates remediation, the SSP, and the evidence package must land. Add C3PAO lead time only when your target requires an assessment.

PolicyCortex Team · Sealed 2026-07-01

Filed under: CMMC planning, C3PAO wait time, contract readiness, work-back schedule, NIST 800-171

## Will Your Timeline Close Before the Date That Actually Applies?

The Department suspended the former **November 10, 2026 Phase II transition** on July 13, 2026. Use the date that still governs your work: a solicitation, prime flow-down, recompete, planned assessment, or internal assurance milestone. Your preparation time includes gap assessment, remediation, SSP and evidence, and readiness review. Add a C3PAO lead time only when your actual target calls for one.

This calculator runs both clocks against your target date and tells you which one is your constraint, when each milestone must land, and how many days of slack - or deficit - your current plan carries.

---

## Methodology

The schedule model reflects typical mid-size Defense Industrial Base contractor timelines:

- **Scoping + gap assessment:** 6 weeks
- **Remediation:** 14 weeks (7 weeks if already underway)
- **SSP + evidence package:** 6 weeks
- **Readiness review / mock assessment:** 3 weeks
- **Certification processing + SPRS posting:** ~4 weeks after assessment

Preparation runs in parallel with any assessor lead time you enter. Use zero for a Phase I self-assessment or internal readiness target, and use a current quote from your selected C3PAO when planning a third-party assessment.

**Why a mock assessment is in the base model:** contractors who compressed preparation under 6 months show roughly a 35% assessment failure rate versus 8% on normal timelines. A failed assessment costs the fee, the slot, and months of re-queue time - the readiness review is the cheapest insurance in the schedule.

---

## Reading Your Result

- **On track (30+ days of slack):** protect the schedule. Slack evaporates fast when remediation uncovers scope you didn't know about.
- **Tight (0-30 days):** your plan has no room for a failed control family or a slipped slot. Compress the preparation phases and consider a readiness partner.
- **Behind:** you will not make day-one eligibility on the current plan. The queue penalizes every month of delay, so the move is to book a C3PAO slot now anyway and compress everything you control - not to wait for the picture to improve.

For the full scheduling picture, read [The C3PAO Backlog Math](https://policycortex.com/blog/c3pao-backlog-2026-cmmc-work-back-schedule). To locate your gaps before you plan, take the [free readiness assessment](https://policycortex.com/cmmc-assessment). And to compress the remediation-and-evidence phase from months to weeks, see the [30-day CMMC pilot](https://policycortex.com/engagement).

## 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](https://policycortex.com/proof/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](https://policycortex.com/proof/change). Who or what altered the environment, under what authority, with before and after state hashes.
- **proof.agency**: [Proof of Agency](https://policycortex.com/proof/agency). What a machine was permitted to do before it acted, what it did, and what would have stopped it.
- **architecture**: [Architecture](https://policycortex.com/architecture). How the chain is built and where it lives: inside your tenant, with no egress of evidence.

### Related records in the content registers

| Entry |
|---|
| [CMMC Compliance Cost Calculator](https://policycortex.com/tools/cmmc-cost-calculator): Estimate the total Level 2 program cost over three years. |
| [The C3PAO Capacity Math After the Phase II Suspension](https://policycortex.com/blog/c3pao-backlog-2026-cmmc-work-back-schedule): The dated 2026 market snapshot and how to plan against it. |
| [CMMC Readiness Assessment](https://policycortex.com/cmmc-assessment): A ten-question Level 2 self-check. |
| [CMMC Phase II Is Suspended: What Still Applies](https://policycortex.com/blog/cmmc-phase-ii-suspension-what-defense-contractors-do-now): What paused on July 13, 2026 and what remains in force. |

Plan the dates here. Keep the evidence in your tenant. [Request Access](https://app.policycortex.com/auth?mode=request-access) · [Book a call](https://policycortex.com/book)

Dates of record

- **Sealed**: 2026-07-01
- **Last amended**: Unchanged since sealing
- **Author**: PolicyCortex Team
- **Record**: https://policycortex.com/tools/cmmc-deadline-calculator

## Register colophon

| Seq | Label | SHA3-256 | Prev |
|---|---|---|---|
| REC 0000 | HEAD | 1791c3819edf | add80aeff4c8 |
| REC 0001 | INSTRUMENT | c38fd965337e | 1791c3819edf |
| REC 0002 | RELATED RECORDS | 48d7ef06c7ef | c38fd965337e |

Head sha3:48d7ef06c7ef6e5078d486f3d72284f256de6abc0e62196278899e441e75101c. Each digest is SHA3-256 over the previous digest, the register key, the record label, and the record copy; a second party can recompute it from this document.