How to join the C3PAO Stakeholder Forum

Step 1: Read the charter and Code of Professional Conduct

Charter

Encouraging and facilitating consistency and understanding of the CMMC assessment process is critical to promoting and ensuring the ongoing integrity and credibility of CMMC certification. With participation from C3PAOs across the CMMC ecosystem, this forum facilitates communication and professional practices among its members, and educates Organizations Seeking Certification (OSCs), prospective C3PAOs, assessors, and others about the CMMC accreditation, assessment and certification processes. All members must meet the requirements of the CMMC-AB by achieving certification as a C3PAO or provide evidence of being a C3PAO applicant. Members agree to sign and abide by the CMMC Code of Professional Conduct.

Code of Professional Conduct

  • By validating your identity in our Discord forum you signal your agreement with the charter. This means we can count you as a member when we advocate on C3PAO topics of concern. If you do not agree with the Stakeholder Forum, you should not join the Discord server, or otherwise “leave the server” which is an option in the server menu.
  • This is a professional forum. You are representing both your organization as well as C3PAOs overall. Business standards for communication and conduct are expected.
  • Your nickname must reflect your true identity and organization at all times.
  • Write with full sentences and correct grammar.
  • Be respectful of others.
  • Do not use “GIFs” in this forum (these are pictures or small video snippets from pop culture used to accentuate a point). GIFs are unprofessional and will be deleted by admins. Unfortunately, it is not possible to disable them at the server level while allowing open communication. Tasteful use of emoticons is acceptable.

Step 2: Create an account on Discord (or connect your existing account)

When you first set up your account, use a simple username with no special characters like JohnSmith.

Click the button to get the invite link for our forum in Discord

Join the C3PAO Stakeholder Forum on Discord

Step 3: Update your nickname

Only perform this step once you can see the “introductions” and “read-me” channels inside Discord

Your nickname in this forum must be your real name. It must show your affiliation with a C3PAO, the CMMC-AB, or the DoD. Standard name format is

FirstName LastName – Organization
For example: John Smith – AssessmentsRUS

Changing your nickname here will not affect the rest of your Discord channels (in case you are L33tG4m3r in a different forum).

To change your nickname, select the “CMMC C3PAO Stakeholder Forum” drop-down menu from the top left. Select “Edit Server Profile”.

Step 4: Verify your identity

You must verify your identity by proving you are a member of (or sponsored by) a C3PAO organization or the CMMC-AB or DoD CIO. The easiest way to do this is email nate@regolaconsulting.us from your organization’s email and confirm it is really you. Make sure that your name matches your nickname in Discord, or we won’t be able to find you.


C3PAOs can sponsor non-employees (such as 1099s and independent Provisional Assessor). Your nickname must show the C3PAO that sponsored you. This doesn’t mean you can’t work for other companies, it just provides us some accountability.

If your C3PAO is not yet listed on the CMMC-AB Marketplace, you will need to send a picture of your application confirmation or other proof from the CMMC-AB. Make sure to redact any information you don’t want to share.

Step 5: Now you can communicate with your peers

Once you are verified, your account will be able to see the full C3PAO Forum channels inside Discord. Inside the forum are hundreds of pages of questions and answers about various topics relevant to C3PAOs. You can see all archived conversations. This is incredibly helpful as you are trying to understand what it takes to become an Authorized !! or Accredited !! C3PAO.

We also have a standing brunch meeting every Thursday at 12-1pm EST, attended by 20-40 C3PAOs. This is an open forum where any member can ask questions or discuss their experiences with CMMC, the AB, or DoD. We also discuss topics like standardization of assessment and latest news about CMMC.

Outlook (.ics) invite for Thursday brunch meetings

Step 5: Having trouble? Troubleshooting tips

Having trouble? Check this page for troubleshooting tips.

Sign up for our newsletter!

You will need to be a member to join the meetings, but our newsletter is the best way to know what is coming up!