SSP & POA&M development.
System Security Plans and Plans of Action & Milestones engineered to assessor expectations. Most SSPs fail not because controls are missing — but because the documentation cannot withstand inspection.
The problem with most SSPs
We have reviewed SSPs from dozens of small and mid-size DIB contractors. The pattern is consistent: the controls are largely in place, but the documentation that describes them is thin, generic, or misaligned with the actual environment. Authorized assessors will not pass an SSP that reads like a template fill, regardless of whether the underlying technical controls are sound.
A System Security Plan is a document that has to defend itself in front of strangers. We write SSPs for that audience.
What we deliver
- System Security Plan : a complete, environment-specific document covering all 110 controls (or the subset relevant to your assessment level), with control descriptions, implementation details, evidence references, and assessment objective alignment.
- Plan of Action & Milestones : a working tracker for any controls not yet fully implemented, with target dates, accountable owners, and assessor-quality language.
- Evidence index : a cross-referenced map of which artifact, in which system, supports which control. This is what assessors actually examine.
- Network and data flow diagrams : current-state diagrams that accurately reflect your environment, including CUI boundaries.
- Supporting policy and procedure documents : drafts of any required policies you do not yet have, written in a voice that matches your organization rather than copied from a generic template.
How we work
Discovery (1–2 weeks)
We work from your existing gap assessment, technical configurations, and operational interviews. We do not write SSPs from imagination. Every control description references the specific implementation in your environment.
Drafting (3–5 weeks)
Iterative drafting with weekly working sessions. You see the document take shape. We do not deliver a final document at the end and call it done; you sign off on each major section as it is completed.
Internal review (1 week)
You and your team review the complete document. We revise based on your feedback. The goal is a document you understand and can defend, not a document we hand you to nod at.
Final packaging
Final delivery in the formats your assessor will expect: a primary narrative document, supporting appendices, and a structured evidence index. Source files remain in your control.
What we do not do
We do not deliver template-based SSPs that have been lightly customized with your company name and logo. If the document we produced for you could plausibly be produced for any other contractor with minor edits, we have failed.
What it costs
SSP and POA&M development is fixed-fee, scoped against environment complexity and assessment level. Most engagements run four to seven weeks. Pricing is provided in writing during the initial scoping call.
Your contract eligibility is on a clock. Let’s get to work.
A 30-minute scoping call with a senior consultant. No pitch. We listen, scope honestly, and tell you what we’d do — including whether we are the right fit.
Request a scoping call →