Maintenance (MA): Why Your Systems Staying Healthy Could Make or Break Your Next DoD Contract

The Day the Line Went Down

Picture your manufacturing floor: a critical piece of milling equipment – vintage but reliable – hasn’t been serviced in months. One day it fails mid-production, halting the entire line. Engineers scramble, parts need ordering, downtime mounts. Meanwhile, a competitor swoops in, meets the deadline, and wins the contract. 

Now transpose that image into the cyber domain. In the midst of a high-stakes project for the Department of Defense, your systems that process Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) are not being maintained: patches are delayed, remote maintenance tools are uncontrolled, logs are missing. A vulnerability is exploited and you lose integrity of your systems – or worse, the government flags your environment as non-compliant. You’re out of the running, maybe for years. 

That’s the power of the Maintenance (MA) control family in Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification 2.0. It may sound operational and low-glamour. But if you ignore it, it becomes the story of the failure. When you treat it proactively, you gain resilience, reputation, trust… and access to contracts. 

What Meeting the Objectives Might Look Like

Here’s how auditors and assessors view MA for CMMC 2.0 (and the underlying NIST SP 800‑171) in practical SMB language. Meeting the objectives means you implement the following basics: 

• You have a documented maintenance policy & procedures stating how system hardware, firmware and software will be maintained.
• You maintain a schedule (or at least evidence) of system and equipment maintenance (local or remote) that is tracked.
• Only authorized personnel and tools conduct maintenance; you’ve controlled and monitored the use of those tools. 
• If equipment or media is removed from the system boundary for off-site maintenance or disposal, you sanitize it to remove CUI or data remnants.
• You inspect maintenance tools/media for tampering or malicious code before restoring them to production systems.
• You log or otherwise record maintenance activity such that an assessor can trace who did what, when, and how.

In short: you’ve turned reactive incident response into proactive maintenance… so your information systems are safe, reliable, and can be proven to be so. 

Why It Matters: When Your Systems Stay Healthy, So Does Your Business

For SMBs in the U.S. Defense Industrial Base (DIB), this is more than cybersecurity jargon. Here’s the business case: 

• Protecting contract eligibility: Many DoD contracts now demand compliance with CMMC 2.0. If you mishandle maintenance controls, you risk failing assessment, losing your certification – and thereby losing access to federal work. 
• Reducing downtime and cost: Just as that milling machine failure costs thousands per hour, a failure in your IT/OT environment due to unmanaged maintenance can cost far more – lost productivity, reputational damage, regulatory fines. 
• Avoiding supply-chain vulnerabilities: Adversaries often gain access through lesser-maintained systems (patch gaps, unmonitored remote tools, etc). A weak maintenance program means you’re the weakest link in the chain and your prime contractor can lose a deal because of you. 
• Enhancing credibility and trust: When you demonstrate you have mature maintenance processes, you signal reliability and maturity to primes, primes’ customers, and DoD stakeholders. That becomes a differentiator in bids. 
• Supporting resilience and scalability: Maintenance isn’t a one-time fix; it’s ongoing. When you build the discipline around it, you create an environment that can absorb change (new systems, new contracts) without operational panic. 
• Mitigating risk of data loss or incident: Maintenance controls protect the integrity of your systems – they’re not just “keeping things running,” they’re security controls. A breach via poorly maintained system can cost more than missed contract… it can cost reputation, legal liability and long-term viability. 

In short: this isn’t a “compliance tax”; it’s a business enabler. It helps you stay in the game, win contracts, and reduce risk. 

Where Most Companies Slip Up

In our work with SMBs, we see a lot of teams stumble on maintenance. Here are common pitfalls: 

• No formal maintenance process or documentation: “We’ll fix it if it breaks” – but nothing scheduled, nothing tracked. 
• Allowing remote/non-local maintenance without controls: A vendor logs in, works on your system, but you don’t monitor or record what was done. 
• Maintenance tools and media uninspected: USB drives or laptop tools used for diagnostic purposes aren’t scanned or tracked. 
• Removing hardware or systems off-site without sanitizing: Equipment leaves your boundary, comes back with CUI still on it – or built-in data. 
• Little to no evidence of “who did what”: Auditors ask “show me,” and you say “uh…I think Bob handled it.” No logs, no records. 
• Maintenance seen as IT tech work only, not part of cybersecurity: Because it’s “just work,” no one connects it with the CUI risk or contract requirement. 
• Reactive culture: If it works, don’t touch it. Patches get delayed, updates skipped, remote sessions unchecked… creating vulnerabilities. 

These missteps often mean a failing grade in the MA domain, which risks the whole CMMC assessment… even if everything else looks good. 

How to Start Strong (and Grow Stronger)

Here’s a two-tiered roadmap: basic compliance actions (“Starting Point”) and advanced maturity practices (what we call the NEX Level). 

A Starting Point: The Minimum to Meet Compliance

• Develop and publish a Maintenance Policy & Procedure document covering system maintenance, tool/media handling, off-site maintenance, and authorized personnel. 
• Create a maintenance schedule for systems that process, store or transmit CUI: patches, firmware updates, hardware servicing. 
• Record each maintenance event: date, system/component, action taken, person responsible, outcome. Store logs for review. 
• For any remote or vendor maintenance, require approval before work begins, require documentation of the work, and ensure secure connection (VPN, MFA). 
• Implement a simple tool inspection process: scan maintenance media (USB, diagnostic laptops) for malicious code before use on CUI-systems. 
• When equipment leaves the premise (for off-site maintenance or disposal), sanitize or wipe CUI from hardware and document the action. 
• Agree with vendors/third parties that remote maintenance will be logged and reported/approved. If you use a vendor, include their tools in your maintenance tool tracking. 

These actions typically satisfy the assessment objectives for the maintenance family in CMMC 2.0 / NIST 800-171.

The NEX Level: Turning Compliance into Competitive Advantage

Once the basics are in place, elevate your MA program from paperwork to performance with these NEX Level practices:

• Implement automated maintenance tracking and alerts: use your ITSM system, or a simple dashboard, to flag overdue maintenance, remote sessions initiated, and media used. 
• Integrate a vendor-maintenance portal or dashboard: let external service providers request access, log sessions, and report back into your own maintenance register. 
• Establish segmented maintenance zones/enclaves: separate your CUI systems from general use, and apply stricter controls for maintenance tools/media and sessions in the CUI enclave. 
• Create a forensic readiness process: after each major maintenance event, perform a mini post-maintenance integrity check (e.g., hash validation, tool inventory, media check) and log results. 
• Conduct periodic independent reviews (quarterly) of maintenance tool inventories, remote session logs, off-site equipment movement, and tie this into your risk assessment. 
• Use predictive maintenance: for key systems (especially OT/ICS in manufacturing), monitor system health and plan maintenance based on metrics (failure probability, patch backlog) rather than strictly calendar-based. 
• Treat maintenance as part of your supply-chain resilience posture: map your vendors, components, remote tools, firmware updates in your supply chain; apply maintenance controls to those suppliers too (vendor dashboards, audit logs, contract clauses). 
• Link your maintenance register into your System Security Plan (SSP) and Plan of Action & Milestones (POA&M) so that maintenance deficiencies automatically feed into risk planning, status updates and CUI-compliance dashboards. 

By elevating maintenance from “just a checklist item” to a proactive, managed capability, you turn compliance into an operational strength. 

The Healthcare Lesson – Preventive Care for Your Systems

Think of your organization’s systems like the human body. They run day and night, processing information, managing operations, and supporting the mission. When everything’s working, you barely notice the heartbeat of the network… until something goes wrong.

Skipping system maintenance is like skipping your annual physical. You can feel fine while underlying issues quietly develop – outdated firmware, unpatched software, a vulnerable remote access tool. Eventually, one small problem turns into a full-blown emergency, and now you’re paying for intensive care instead of a quick check-up.

Maintenance is your preventive care. Regular updates, scheduled inspections, and monitored tools are the blood tests and screenings of your digital ecosystem. They catch issues early, keep systems performing at their peak, and prevent “silent failures” that only show up when it’s too late.

And just like you wouldn’t let an unlicensed doctor perform surgery, you shouldn’t let unauthorized personnel perform maintenance on critical systems. Credentials, logging, and review are your equivalent of hospital procedures and medical records – they ensure every action is authorized, documented, and recoverable if something goes wrong.

Healthy systems don’t happen by accident; they result from disciplined, ongoing care.

Takeaway: Preventive maintenance costs less than emergency recovery… and it keeps your business heartbeat strong.

Helpful Resources

Maintaining compliance with CMMC 2.0 isn’t just about checking boxes – it’s about having the right references, tools, and guidance at your fingertips. The Maintenance (MA) control family, in particular, involves multiple moving parts: policies, schedules, logs, vendor interactions, and off-site hardware handling. It can be challenging to know where to start or how to scale your program.

This curated collection of resources gives you practical, actionable support for both getting started and taking your maintenance practices to the next level. We’ve grouped them into four categories to make it easier to find what fits your needs:

Framework & Standards

• DoD CMMC Resources – Official documentation from the DoD covering CMMC Model v2.0.
• NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2 – Full text from NIST, the source standard that CMMC maps to.

Free Resources

• Peak InfoSec – Free Starter Pack templates – Downloadable checklists and spreadsheet templates to perform a gap analysis and generate a POA&M for maintenance-related controls. Fast way to capture evidence you’ll need for assessors.
• Apptega – Maintenance Policy Template – Ready-to-use maintenance policy/procedure template you can adapt for your organization (scope, approval, inspection, media handling). Good starting point if you don’t have documented MA processes.
• POA&M and remediation templates – Purpose-built POA&M templates and examples help you track maintenance gaps (e.g., overdue firmware updates, vendor session controls) with owners, deadlines and risk scoring.

Paid Resources

• ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus – Strong balance of features and price for SMBs (asset tracking, change management, reports). Practical for compliance evidence collection.
• CYYNC – A centralized system to plan and track evidence collection, conduct and document self-assessments, manage POA&M items through remediation, and maintain a continuous audit trail.
• CyberArk Vendor Privileged Access Manager – Secure, audited vendor (third-party) access without adding vendor identities to your AD; strong session recording and tamper-proof audit trails – directly addresses MA requirements for authorized & logged maintenance.

CyberNEX Resources

• CMMC Decoded: Maintenance Reference Sheet – A concise one-page guide for defense contractors that outlines the MA control family, explains why it matters, highlights examples of evidence auditors might expect, provides quick-win actions to get started, and includes links to available resources.
• CyberNEX Blog Archive – Explore all 14 CMMC control families with in-depth explainers, practical recommendations, and actionable insights tailored to defense contractors.

Take the NEXt Step

In healthcare, regular checkups don’t just detect illness… they prevent it. The same is true for your cybersecurity maintenance program. Skipping updates, ignoring logs, or letting vendors connect without oversight may seem harmless in the moment, but over time those small lapses can become systemic vulnerabilities that put your entire operation at risk.

At CyberNEX, we help small and mid-sized businesses turn maintenance from an afterthought into an operational strength. Whether it’s formalizing your maintenance policy, implementing privileged access monitoring for vendors, or setting up automated patch validation across your network, our team can help you build a healthy, resilient environment that stands up to CMMC 2.0 scrutiny.

If you’re unsure where your organization stands or what it would take to reach CMMC Level 2 readiness, CyberNEX can help.

👉 Get clarity on your compliance gaps and a clear plan forward. Book a Discovery Session with our experts today.

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FAQs

1. What exactly does the MA family cover under CMMC 2.0?
The MA family covers controls around system maintenance – hardware, firmware, software – particularly those that process, store or transmit CUI. It includes authorized personnel, tracking tools/media, off‐site maintenance, sanitization when equipment leaves the system boundary.

2. Do I need special tools or big budgets to meet MA controls?
Not necessarily. At minimum you need documented procedures, logs/tracking of maintenance, tool/media inspection, and sanitization when needed. Many SMBs start with spreadsheets and approval workflows. The “NEX Level” enhancements (automation, dashboards, vendor portals) come later as you scale.

3. If we don’t do remote maintenance at all (everything onsite), does MA still apply? 
Yes. Whether maintenance is remote or local, you still must control it: authorize the person, tool, record the activity. If equipment leaves the boundary (even for local service), sanitization and tracking still apply. The focus is on controlled, documented, secured maintenance.

4. How will an assessor evaluate our MA practices during a CMMC 2.0 audit?
They will ask to see your maintenance policy and procedures, review logs of recent maintenance events, inspect how you approve and record vendor/remote sessions, see evidence of tool/media inspection, and sample a device that left your boundary to verify sanitization. Gaps mean a finding in MA.

5. We’re already doing patch management and vendor updates; is that enough for MA?
It’s a good start – but patching is only part of MA. You also need control of maintenance tools/media, records of who did what & when, offline/off‐site equipment handling, and formal processes. If you treat maintenance as “just updates,” you likely miss key controls.