What Is a C3PAO in CMMC Certification?

As part of the CMMC certification process, businesses in the DoD supply chain must undergo audits with strict requirements. The organizations themselves don’t conduct these audits, nor are they led by the CMMC Accreditation Body (CMMC-AB). Instead, they are conducted by Certified Third-Party Assessment Organizations (C3PAOs). (Note: As of this writing, the DoD has rolled out an updated version of CMMC for review that will slightly change how C3PAOs participate in the accreditation process, see below).