DoD paused CMMC Phase 2 in July 2026 and pointed to cost. Federal News Network has now reported what DoD's own request for information (RFI) shows, from DoD's internal summary of the responses. The data points somewhere specific: the cost is in the NIST SP 800-171 controls your contract already requires, not in the certification.

What the RFI data shows

Federal News Network reported, in a two-part investigation published Oct 26 and Oct 27, 2026:

DoD reviewed 997 responses, 509 (51%) of them from the defense industrial base.- The average CMMC assessment cost cited by respondents was $47,000.…