Security program leadership and IT strategy for defense contractors. Both functions, one engagement.
A defense contractor at 10 to 300 people typically needs two things it rarely has: someone who owns the security program and compliance posture, and someone who provides strategic direction on technology decisions. In a larger organization those are separate roles. At this scale, the same advisor can cover both. The overlap between security, compliance, and technology decisions is often where the real gaps are.
What goes wrong without security and technology leadership in place: compliance deadlines arrive as surprises because nobody owns the calendar. DCSA reviews catch the organization unprepared because there is no point person maintaining readiness between reviews. Technology decisions get made without evaluating the compliance implications: a new platform, a GCC High migration, an AI tool the business wants to adopt. Vendors get approved without a security review because there is no process for it. When something goes wrong, there is no incident response plan because nobody built one.
The fractional model delivers what a full-time hire would deliver at the strategic and compliance level: program ownership, board reporting, regulatory interface, technology roadmap, vendor oversight, without the overhead of two executive searches in a labor market where people who understand both security and operational technology inside a cleared defense contractor are scarce.
Our background across FOCI, CMMC, GCC High, and AI deployment means the engagement covers the full landscape a defense contractor actually faces. When the conversation moves from CMMC scoping to a platform decision to a FOCI compliance review, there are no handoffs between advisors.
The scope is defined at engagement start and adjusted as the organization's needs change. Most engagements draw from both the security and technology leadership functions below.
Strategic direction, program roadmap, and accountability for security outcomes. Someone owns the program, not just the tasks someone else assigned.
Executive-ready reporting on security posture, compliance status, and risk. Leadership gets clear answers to the questions they need to ask, not a technical briefing they cannot interpret.
Primary point of contact for DCSA FOCI engagements, C3PAO CMMC assessments, and external compliance reviews.
Tracking CMMC, FOCI, and contract compliance deadlines. FOCI annual recertification support, SPRS score updates, SSP reviews, and contract action monitoring. Nothing falls off the calendar.
IRP development, tabletop exercises, and playbook maintenance. When something goes wrong, the organization has a tested plan, not a document nobody has looked at in two years.
Security guidance for IT staff, escalation path for security questions, and a knowledgeable resource for the operational questions that come up between scheduled advisory sessions.
IT direction, platform decisions, and technology investment priorities aligned to the organization's growth, compliance trajectory, and operational requirements. A structured view of where technology needs to go and in what sequence.
Assessment of proposed vendors, SaaS tools, and technology contracts against your CMMC boundary and FOCI obligations, and against whether the tool actually fits the problem. No significant technology commitment made without a documented evaluation.
Guidance on M365, GCC High, cloud infrastructure, and AI platform decisions before they are made. A second opinion on major technology commitments, the kind that are expensive to undo if they turn out to be wrong for your compliance environment.
Security program assessment, risk register review, compliance calendar audit, and stakeholder interviews. We map the current state of the program: what exists, what is missing, and what the immediate exposure is. Deliverable: current-state report and 90-day prioritized roadmap.
Defined monthly advisory hours, compliance monitoring, board reporting package, vendor security reviews, compliance calendar management, and incident response availability. Scope is adjusted as active compliance events (DCSA reviews, C3PAO assessments, contract modifications) require additional attention. Deliverable: monthly security posture update and rolling compliance calendar.
Quarterly program reviews, annual CMMC recertification support, annual FOCI recertification review and DCSA engagement support, and scope adjustments as the organization's contracts, systems, or ownership structure changes. Deliverable: quarterly security program review and updated risk register.
What's the difference between a vCISO and a CMMC consultant?
A CMMC consultant delivers a project: gap assessment, SSP, assessment prep, with a defined start and end date. A vCISO provides ongoing security leadership. We offer both. The vCISO engagement typically includes CMMC compliance calendar management, SSP maintenance, and C3PAO assessment coordination as part of the retainer scope. If your organization has already completed its initial CMMC build-out and needs someone to own ongoing compliance, the vCISO model is more appropriate than another project engagement.
How many hours per month does the retainer include?
Advisory hours are defined at engagement start based on the organization's size, compliance posture, and active requirements. A typical engagement for a 10 to 300 person defense contractor includes 10–20 advisory hours per month, plus availability for escalations. Engagements that include active compliance events (a DCSA review, C3PAO assessment, or major contract action) can be scoped with additional hours for the duration of that event. The goal is to right-size the engagement to what the organization actually needs.
We already have an IT director. Do we still need a vCISO/vCIO?
An IT director focuses on operations: keeping systems running, managing day-to-day infrastructure, handling tickets and vendor relationships. The vCISO function sits above that: security strategy, compliance accountability, regulatory interface, and board-level risk reporting. The vCIO function sits alongside it: technology roadmap, platform decisions, and ensuring technology investments align with where the organization is going. Most defense contractors with an IT director and no executive-level IT or security leadership have a strategy and accountability gap that surfaces clearly during a DCSA review or C3PAO assessment. The IT director will tell you what systems exist. The vCISO/vCIO tells you whether the program is sound and whether the technology is pointed in the right direction.
Can the vCISO engagement cover FOCI compliance as well?
Yes. Our background spans FOCI, CMMC, and AI. The engagement can include FOCI compliance monitoring, contract action reviews, annual FOCI recertification review support, and DCSA engagement interface. This is what makes the engagement particularly valuable for defense contractors facing both CMMC and FOCI obligations simultaneously. Most vCISO providers have deep security expertise. Very few have the FOCI operational background that comes from extensive time inside a DCSA-scrutinized, FOCI-mitigated contractor.
Most defense contractors at this size need both functions and can't justify two executive hires to get them. Let's talk about what a fractional vCISO/vCIO engagement looks like for your organization: compliance posture, active obligations, technology decisions on the table, and what it would cost to have someone own both.
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