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NOVO Industries · Defense Industrial Base

Defense Industrial Base contractors operating under CMMC.

From prime contractors carrying Level 2 certification to subcontractors responding to flow-down requirements — the Defense Industrial Base operates under specific regulatory pressure, specific Microsoft platform requirements, and specific operational realities. Most CMMC engagements meet that pressure by stitching together multiple cybersecurity vendors, compliance-tracking platforms, and audit-prep consultants. NOVO's approach is structurally different: the CMMC baseline tenant delivered as a single coherent Microsoft platform deployment, with licensing, operations, compliance, and security operations integrated end-to-end.

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The NOVO difference

Single platform deployment instead of multi-vendor stitching. Compressed timeline and cost. Particularly meaningful for smaller Defense Industrial Base suppliers whose CMMC compliance economics are the most constrained.

Defense Industrial Base frameworks

  • CMMC Level 1
  • CMMC Level 2
  • CMMC Level 3
  • DFARS 7012/7019/7020
  • NIST 800-171
  • NIST 800-172
  • CUI handling
  • Section 889

The Defense Industrial Base reality

The context behind "we serve DoD suppliers."

Defense Industrial Base customers operate under regulatory frameworks, operational realities, and Microsoft platform requirements that don't exist in commercial environments. NOVO's vertical depth is concrete in three specific directions — the CMMC framework reality, the operational reality of handling Controlled Unclassified Information, and the Microsoft platform configuration that satisfies both.

Block 1 · CMMC and the broader regulatory reality

CMMC isn't a single requirement. It's a framework with three levels, multiple control families, and flow-down implications.

CMMC 2.0 establishes three certification levels based on the sensitivity of information handled. Level 1 (basic safeguarding of Federal Contract Information) requires self-assessment against 17 controls drawn from FAR 52.204-21. Level 2 (advanced — most contractors handling Controlled Unclassified Information) requires assessment against the 110 controls in NIST SP 800-171 Revision 2, with third-party assessment for prioritized acquisitions. Level 3 (expert — Critical Programs and the highest-priority acquisitions) adds the enhanced controls from NIST SP 800-172, including the Advanced Persistent Threat protections that go beyond Level 2's baseline.

The broader regulatory context goes beyond CMMC certification. DFARS clauses 252.204-7012, 7019, and 7020 establish reporting, assessment, and information protection requirements that apply regardless of CMMC level. Section 889 prohibits certain Chinese-manufactured technology in defense supply chains. Flow-down requirements push CMMC obligations from prime contractors down through subcontractor tiers — meaning even small subcontractors three layers deep in the supply chain may carry CMMC certification requirements. NOVO's vertical depth means understanding of how these frameworks interact, which controls apply to which contracts, and where the risks sit for each customer's specific contractual reality.

Block 2 · CUI handling and the operational reality

Controlled Unclassified Information has specific handling requirements that shape every operational practice.

Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) is the operational reality that drives most of CMMC's technical requirements. CUI must be marked, segregated from non-CUI environments, encrypted in transit and at rest, accessed only by personnel with documented need-to-know, audited continuously, and protected against insider threat. The operational practices around CUI handling shape the entire technology environment — not just the security controls but the identity and access management, the document workflows, the email handling, the device policies, the network architecture, and the audit trails.

NOVO's vertical depth means understanding of how CMMC obligations propagate through contractual relationships, what operational practices satisfy them, and how to scope the customer's CMMC environment efficiently — not certifying the entire enterprise when only specific business units handle CUI.

Block 3 · The CMMC baseline tenant

Microsoft 365 GCC plus G5 Security and Compliance is the CMMC baseline tenant. NOVO deploys, operates, and supports it across the Defense Industrial Base practice.

The Microsoft platform fits CMMC compliance through a specific configuration: Microsoft 365 Government Community Cloud (GCC) tenant plus Microsoft 365 G5 Security and Compliance licensing. This combination delivers the CUI-eligible cloud environment, the Defender suite that satisfies CMMC's security control requirements, the Compliance Manager that maps directly to NIST 800-171 controls, the Purview suite for data classification and protection, and the audit logging and retention that CMMC requires for evidence accumulation. Azure Government provides the corresponding regulated environment for workload deployments.

NOVO's Cloud delivers the CMMC baseline tenant as a single coherent Microsoft platform deployment. The Microsoft platform satisfies most of the cybersecurity tooling requirements through the G5 Security and Compliance suite — Defender for Endpoint replaces the third-party endpoint protection vendor; Microsoft Sentinel replaces the third-party SIEM; Purview replaces the third-party data loss prevention tooling; the Compliance Manager handles the framework mapping that compliance-tracking platforms typically charge separately for. Single deployment, single operational relationship, single integrated platform — substantially compressed timeline and cost relative to typical multi-vendor CMMC engagements, particularly meaningful for smaller Defense Industrial Base suppliers whose CMMC compliance economics are the most constrained.

How NOVO delivers for the Defense Industrial Base

Cross-portfolio NOVO services — calibrated to CMMC compliance.

Defense Industrial Base customers engage NOVO across three layers: the foundational layer (License, Cloud, Care) that runs across every NOVO engagement, the strategic entry point (Compass) where many DoD engagements typically start, and the vertical specialty (Compliance and Secure) that delivers the CMMC-specific substance. Each service delivers CMMC-specific calibration within the broader engagement.

Foundational layer · License → Cloud → Care

  • Foundational · License

    NOVO License

    Microsoft 365 GCC tenant + G5 Security and Compliance licensing — the CMMC baseline. Azure Government licensing for workload deployments. Microsoft Direct CSP relationship that typically produces immediate licensing discount opportunities Defense Industrial Base customers can verify against current invoices. License optimization analysis surfaces consolidation opportunities — Microsoft licensing replacing third-party security tools — that compress total CMMC compliance cost.

  • Foundational · Cloud

    NOVO Cloud

    Rapid CMMC baseline tenant deployment. Microsoft 365 GCC tenant provisioning with Azure Active Directory configuration, identity and access management, and Conditional Access policies CMMC requires. G5 Security and Compliance suite deployment — Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Identity, Defender for Cloud Apps, Defender for Office 365, plus Purview compliance manager. Azure Government environment for workload deployments. Configuration baselines mapped to NIST 800-171 so the deployed platform is audit-ready from day one.

  • Foundational · Care

    NOVO Care

    CMMC requires full Level 1-2-3 support coverage to keep all support work inside the framework's documented controls. NOVO Care Platinum is the required engagement model — Platinum's enhanced cybersecurity coverage requires the E5/G5 licensing the CMMC baseline tenant uses. End-to-end operational support across user, network, compute, and Teams Phone services. Operational continuity inside CMMC's documented controls — the support relationship and the compliance posture maintained as one integrated operational reality.

Where many engagements start · NOVO Compliance

Strategic entry point · Compliance

NOVO Compliance — CMMC certification, control implementation, evidence accumulation, audit support.

The CMMC-specific moment. Control implementation mapped to NIST 800-171 (Level 2) or NIST 800-172 (Level 3) — control implementation, not checkbox documentation. Evidence accumulation — operational records (configuration audits, incident response logs, change management trails) that become audit evidence when assessment time arrives. Audit support — gap analysis, pre-assessment readiness, audit-week support with the Compliance team operating alongside customer audit responses. AI-augmented compliance operations across the entire CMMC engagement.

Defense Industrial Base specialty · Compass + Secure

  • Vertical specialty · Compass

    NOVO Compass — AI advisory and project services for defense customers, calibrated to CUI handling and CMMC-controlled environments.

    Many Defense Industrial Base engagements with NOVO begin with strategic technology conversations alongside compliance work — AI strategy for defense operations, process automation in CUI-controlled environments, project services for technology transitions, advisory engagements for organizations approaching CMMC certification. Compass conversations connect Defense Industrial Base customers to NOVO's broader portfolio in ways that compound the compliance investment. Compass isn't required to engage NOVO — but it's where many of the conversations that expand a CMMC engagement into broader cross-portfolio work actually start.

  • Vertical specialty · Secure

    NOVO Secure — AI-augmented SOC operations on the CMMC baseline tenant.

    Security operations calibrated to the Defense Industrial Base reality. Managed SOC operations running on the M365 GCC + G5 platform's Defender suite — threat detection, incident response, threat hunting. Advanced cybersecurity remediation for the threats CMMC environments actually face — APT-level threats targeting the Defense Industrial Base supply chain, insider threat patterns specific to CUI environments, technology-control-evasion patterns from adversary nation-states. Threat hunting tuned to defense-sector threat intelligence. AI-augmented SOC operations across the security service portfolio.

The services work together as one integrated CMMC engagement — License procures the licensing that satisfies CMMC, Cloud builds the CMMC baseline tenant, Care operates it day-to-day under Platinum 1-2-3 coverage, Compliance certifies it against CMMC requirements, and Secure runs the SOC operations that protect it. The Defense Industrial Base reality is one integrated engagement, not five separate services.

Defense Industrial Base in the NOVO portfolio

The full integrated technology partner — calibrated to CMMC.

Defense Industrial Base customers don't engage NOVO for “CMMC compliance” as a discrete deliverable. They engage NOVO as the integrated technology partner that handles the licensing strategy, the platform deployment, the operational managed services, the regulatory framework alignment, and the security operations as one coherent engagement.

A typical Defense Industrial Base engagement flows across the portfolio

  • License procures
  • Cloud builds
  • Care operates
  • Compliance certifies
  • Secure protects

Customers engaging across multiple services experience the architecture as one integrated relationship rather than as five separate engagements. The licensing strategy (License) determines the platform tier; the platform deployment (Cloud) gets operated day-to-day (Care); the compliance posture (Compliance) accumulates evidence from the operational reality; the security operations (Secure) run on the same platform Care operates. Same coverage, fewer vendors, end-to-end ownership of the customer's CMMC reality.

Related resources

Reading and tools that go deeper.

Published resources from the NOVO Resources library most relevant to this page — read in advance of a conversation or use to evaluate your own situation.

Ready when you are

The fastest way to know what NOVO can deliver for your Defense Industrial Base reality is to start a conversation.

Tell us about your Defense Industrial Base situation — the prime contractor carrying Level 2 obligations and preparing for assessment, the subcontractor responding to flow-down requirements you weren't planning for, the defense technology firm building toward Level 3 because your contracted scope demands it, the existing CMMC environment that needs ongoing operational support and SOC coverage. Whether your priority is achieving certification, maintaining an existing CMMC posture, scaling the CMMC environment as your contracted scope grows, or assessing what your CMMC reality actually requires before committing to a path — we'll talk through what makes sense for your contractual reality, which combination of NOVO services applies, and how the engagement scope would match where your business is going.

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