Compliance infrastructure for the Defense Industrial Base
From CMMC certification to classified system authorization, SAP security to OPSEC compliance. Thalorin unifies defense contractor compliance across classification levels and program types.
Defense contractors operate across a spectrum of security requirements. Unclassified CUI programs require CMMC certification. Classified systems demand RMF authorization with NIST 800-53. SAPs add compartmentalization and ICD 503 overlays. OPSEC programs protect critical information across all levels. Most primes manage all of these simultaneously.
Each framework brings its own assessment body, documentation requirements, and evidence artifacts. DCSA inspections, C3PAO assessments, IC authorization—compliance teams drown in overlapping requirements while program schedules slip waiting for security approvals.
The Feynman Engine maps control relationships across frameworks. Evidence collected for one authorization satisfies requirements in another. Unified compliance infrastructure replaces six disconnected tools with a single source of truth.
Defense compliance spans CUI protection, classified system authorization, and program protection. CMMC builds on 800-171. RMF uses 800-53. SAPs layer IC requirements. The Feynman Engine maps control inheritance across all of them.
CMMC 2.0 Level 1
Automated15 FAR 52.204-21 controls
CMMC 2.0 Level 2
Automated110 NIST 800-171 controls
CMMC 2.0 Level 3
Automated110 + 24 enhanced controls
NIST 800-171 Rev 2/3
AutomatedCUI protection baseline
DFARS 252.204-7012
IntegratedCUI safeguarding, incident reporting
Full RMF lifecycle from categorization through ATO. NIST 800-53 control implementation, eMASS integration, and continuous monitoring for systems processing classified information. Support for IC overlays and CNSSI 1253 categorization.
Real-time SPRS score calculation as controls are implemented. Track progress toward certification, identify high-value controls, and prepare for C3PAO assessment. Automated evidence collection eliminates manual artifact gathering.
Special Access Program security compliance with ICD 503 controls, need-to-know enforcement, and compartmentalization documentation. Track SAP-specific requirements alongside enterprise security baselines.
Critical information identification, threat analysis, vulnerability assessment, and countermeasure implementation. OPSEC indicators and warnings integrated with security monitoring. Program protection aligned with operational requirements.
DFARS 7012 flowdown tracking, subcontractor SPRS monitoring, Section 889 screening, and SCRM compliance. Identify supply chain vulnerabilities before they impact contract performance or program security.
CPI identification, threat assessment, and countermeasure selection per DoDI 5000.83. Anti-tamper planning, horizontal protection coordination, and technology protection throughout the acquisition lifecycle.
A Tier 1 prime with 300+ active programs across classification levels consolidated compliance from six disconnected tools into unified management. Classified system ATOs, CMMC certification, and OPSEC programs now share evidence where controls overlap. Audit response dropped from weeks to hours. DCSA inspection findings decreased 40%.
Contractors without certification will be ineligible for contract award.
Common questions
When does CMMC actually apply to a contract?
When the clause is in the solicitation, which is now a live possibility rather than a future one. The acquisition rule adding DFARS 252.204-7021 took effect on 10 November 2025, and the requirement phases in over three years. The first phase brought Level 1 and Level 2 self-assessment into applicable solicitations, with the Department retaining discretion to require a third-party assessment earlier; from 10 November 2026, Level 2 certification by a C3PAO enters applicable solicitations as a matter of course. Reading only the current phase is how a contractor is late for the next one.
How do DFARS 7012, 7019, 7020 and 7021 fit together?
They stack rather than substitute, and each binds at a different moment. 252.204-7012 requires you to safeguard covered defense information and to report a cyber incident to the Department within 72 hours of discovery. 252.204-7019 conditions award consideration on a current summary level score in SPRS — not more than three years old. 252.204-7020 defines the assessment methodology behind that score and carries the flow-down to subcontractors. 252.204-7021 adds CMMC where the contract carries it.
Which revision of NIST SP 800-171 are we assessed against?
Scoring today runs against the 110 requirements of Revision 2, notwithstanding that Revision 3 was published in May 2024. That gap is the source of most of the confusion in the market: Revision 3 restructured the requirements and introduced organisation-defined parameters, so an organisation that reorganised its documentation around it can find its evidence no longer lines up with the requirement numbers it is actually scored on. The workable approach is one control state projected into both, rather than two sets of documents.
Does a subcontractor need the same level as the prime?
Not automatically — the level flows from what information the subcontractor actually handles. A supplier that receives only federal contract information sits at a lower requirement than one receiving controlled unclassified information, and the prime is responsible for making and documenting that determination rather than applying its own level uniformly down the chain. Both errors are expensive: over-flowing pushes cost into suppliers who cannot carry it, and under-flowing leaves CUI at a supplier with no obligation to protect it.
What happens if our SPRS score has aged out?
You are not considered for award under the clause that requires a current score, which is a proposal-stage failure rather than a compliance finding. Scores have a three-year life, and the practical trap is that nothing prompts you — the score sits in SPRS looking valid until a bid team checks it against the date. Because a re-assessment takes real work if the underlying evidence has drifted, the date is worth tracking as a contractual deadline rather than an administrative one.
Regulatory state described as of August 2026. Requirements change; verify against the current rule before relying on any date above.
Defense compliance is a mission requirement
From CUI to classified, from CMMC to SAP security. The contractors who unify compliance win programs.