Plan for 6-18 months end to end: 3-9 months of remediation for a typical SMB starting from a low SPRS score, 1-3 months of evidence maturation, then the C3PAO assessment itself — where scheduling backlogs of several months are now common as demand outstrips assessor capacity.
Timeline by starting point
- SPRS 100+: 3-6 months to assessment-ready
- SPRS 50-100: 6-12 months, MFA/logging/backup projects dominate
- SPRS below 50 or negative: 12-18 months; consider an enclave to compress scope
Every month of delay is contract risk: primes are pre-qualifying now. Get your dated, station-by-station roadmap from the CMMC World planner — it schedules kickoff to assessment automatically.