Quick Answer: Winning a defense contract can create valuable growth opportunities, but many contractors underestimate the true cost of becoming and staying compliant with the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). In this episode of Trust Issues, Christine Hopkins, President and CEO of Advanced Supply Chain International (ASCI), explains why CMMC is ultimately a business decision, not an IT project. Beyond technology investments, contractors must account for staffing, leadership attention, opportunity costs, and the cumulative impact of additional compliance requirements that often accompany federal work.
Hear the complete conversation with Christine Hopkins:
Many organizations still approach CMMC as a cybersecurity initiative.
Christine Hopkins argues that perspective can be expensive.
While IT teams may be responsible for implementing many of the technical safeguards required by NIST SP 800-171 and CMMC, leadership teams must understand why those controls are necessary and when they actually apply.
Without that business context, organizations often default to the most restrictive approach possible.
Christine shares an example where concerns around Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) could have resulted in moving proposal-related information into a compliant enclave. While that may have seemed like the safest option from a security perspective, it may not have been the right business decision.
When leadership understands CUI requirements, data flows, and contractual obligations, they can ask better questions before investing in additional infrastructure, tools, and processes.
That understanding helps organizations avoid over-compliance, one of the most common and costly mistakes contractors make during their CMMC journey.
One of the most practical insights from the conversation is Christine's approach to evaluating compliance economics.
For smaller contractors, she suggests examining whether a federal contract justifies the compliance investment required to support it.
Consider the math:
As those costs accumulate, a contract that looks profitable on the surface can become significantly less attractive.
Christine's rule of thumb is not a universal threshold, but rather a reminder that contractors should evaluate profitability after accounting for the full compliance burden, not before.
The question should not be: "Can we win this contract?"
The question should be: "Will this contract still make sense after we pay for compliance?"
When organizations build compliance budgets, they typically focus on direct expenses: technology, consulting, assessments, staffing.
However, Christine highlights another cost that often goes unmeasured: opportunity cost.
For approximately a year, much of her attention shifted toward compliance efforts and supporting existing contracts.
That meant less time invested in networking, relationship building, business development, and pursuing new opportunities.
These hidden costs rarely appear in compliance budgets, yet they can have a significant impact on growth.
For small and midsized businesses, leadership attention is often one of the most valuable resources available.
Every hour spent on compliance preparation is an hour that cannot be spent on sales, partnerships, recruiting, innovation, or strategic planning.
That does not mean CMMC is not worth pursuing.
It means organizations should account for the full investment required, including the time and focus it demands from key personnel.
Another challenge discussed during the episode is that CMMC rarely arrives alone.
Contractors pursuing defense and federal opportunities often encounter a growing ecosystem of requirements, including:
Each requirement may appear manageable when evaluated independently.
The challenge emerges when they overlap.
Processes become more complex.
Documentation requirements increase.
Additional audits appear.
Administrative workloads expand.
The result can be a level of operational overhead far beyond what many organizations originally expected.
Before pursuing a new contract, contractors should evaluate not only the immediate compliance requirement but also the downstream obligations it may introduce.
Understanding the full compliance ecosystem helps organizations make better strategic decisions and avoid unpleasant surprises.
The episode also explores a practical use case for AI within compliance programs.
Christine uses AI to help accelerate documentation and content creation, but she intentionally avoids removing people from the process.
Rather than immediately generating outputs, her approach requires employees to answer key questions first:
Only after those answers are provided does AI help structure and draft the documentation.
The approach is simple but powerful. AI handles portions of the writing workload. People remain responsible for the thinking.
As organizations increasingly embrace AI-assisted compliance workflows, this balance may become one of the most effective ways to improve efficiency without sacrificing judgment or accountability.
As Christine puts it: Less writing. More thinking.
Many conversations about CMMC focus on implementation.
Controls.
Assessments.
Policies.
Technology.
Those elements matter, but they are only part of the equation. The larger question is whether the business case remains strong after accounting for all associated costs.
Contractors must consider:
Organizations that understand this full picture can make more informed decisions about which contracts to pursue and how to build sustainable compliance programs.
In the end, successful CMMC adoption is not just about passing an assessment.
It is about ensuring compliance supports long-term business growth rather than becoming an unexpected burden.
Achieving CMMC compliance should strengthen your business, not create unnecessary complexity or expense.
👉 Book a meeting with BEMO's CMMC, cybersecurity, and compliance experts to evaluate your requirements, reduce compliance costs, and develop a practical path toward certification.
Whether you're preparing for CMMC, protecting CUI, or determining whether a federal opportunity makes financial sense, BEMO can help you build a compliance strategy aligned with your business goals.
No. While IT teams implement many technical controls, CMMC impacts contracts, business operations, leadership decisions, risk management, and organizational strategy.
Christine suggests that contractors carefully evaluate whether the total cost of compliance is justified by the value of a contract. Her estimate serves as a reminder to analyze profitability after compliance costs are considered.
In addition to technology and assessment expenses, organizations often experience opportunity costs, diverted leadership attention, reduced business development activity, and increased administrative workload.
CMMC frequently overlaps with other requirements such as NIST SP 800-171, DCAA audits, procurement obligations, and additional security or quality frameworks, creating cumulative operational costs.
Yes. AI can assist with documentation, policy development, and information gathering. However, organizations should ensure employees remain responsible for critical thinking, decision-making, and accountability.
The true cost of CMMC is not limited to technology spending. Contractors must evaluate the complete business impact, including staffing, leadership time, operational changes, and opportunity costs, before determining whether a contract is worth pursuing.