Paying for Document Packages Isn't the Problem. Incorporating Them Is.

When we ask organizations pursuing CMMC whether they're using a document package, we get a strange mix of reactions.

Some act like we asked if they're wearing dirty underwear. Others look down like we caught them cheating.

That's not the point.

Especially for smaller contractors, this CMMC stuff can be overwhelming. Using a document package is fine. But it can't be a binder that sits in the corner doing nothing.

A document package only helps if the company actually makes it their way of doing business.

What "incorporating it" actually takes

First, replace every [Company Name] placeholder. Use the Find feature in Word and clean it up. A policy that still reads like a template is a policy nobody owns.

Second, actually read what the documents say. Understand the new process your company is supposed to follow. You cannot live a process you have never read.

Third, and this is the hard part, incorporate those processes into the business. That takes more than paperwork.

Someone inside the company with real clout has to champion it, teach it, reinforce it, and sometimes flat out say: "This is how we do it now."

Why a champion matters

I've owned a company for over 25 years. Setting a new path is never easy.

Habits get ingrained. Good habits grow like flowers. Bad habits grow like weeds. But something is always growing.

If a contractor wants to grow its DoD business, someone in leadership has to get in front of the company and make the new process real.

Because paying for the documents is easy. Living them is the work.

This is the way.