High Side Technology, Inc. (HST) has achieved a Final CMMC Level 2 certification with a perfect score of 110 out of 110, assessed by Kratos Technology & Training Solutions as the Certified Third-Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO). The enterprise-wide certification covers all 110 security requirements of NIST SP 800-171 Revision 2, with no outstanding POA&Ms, and is valid for three years. HST reached the milestone with Peerless Tech Solutions, its managed services provider (MSP) and compliance partner, over an eighteen-month engagement.
For a small, rapidly growing provider of engineering, analytical, and programmatic solutions to the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community, the result is more than a milestone. In HST's own words, it is validated trust.
CMMC Level 2 measures a defense contractor's information system against 110 security requirements drawn from NIST SP 800-171. The assessment is conducted by an accredited third party and leaves no room for partial credit on the controls that matter most. A score of 110 out of 110, with Final status and no outstanding Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&Ms), places a contractor at full conformance across the enterprise.
For HST, that means every control the Department of Defense expects for safeguarding Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) has been implemented, documented, and verified by an independent C3PAO. Final status, rather than Conditional, confirms there is no remediation left to complete after certification.
HST's path to Peerless began with a frustration familiar to many small defense contractors. The company had been working with an MSSP whose model, built around a stack of cybersecurity technologies the MSSP had acquired, created more friction than fit. For a geographically distributed company already invested in Microsoft GCC High, the one-size-fits-all approach was neither cost-effective nor aligned with the environment HST had already built.
In HST's words:
"We made the switch to Peerless at the end of 2024 to take a more diverse technical approach that built on our earlier investments. We researched the market and selected Peerless for their IT and Cybersecurity MSSP solutions offerings as they were a much better fit for a small, rapidly-growing company with a geographically-distributed footprint. Peerless' tailored technical solutions and ongoing partnership was a key element to achieving our Final CMMC Level 2 status."
The phrase that matters there is "tailored technical solutions." Templated stacks look efficient from the vendor side. From the client side, they often create a slow friction between how the business actually operates and what the compliance program insists on. A partner who starts from the client's existing environment, rather than fitting the client into a predetermined one, is a different kind of engagement from the start.
The HST and Peerless partnership began in late 2024 with an independent NIST SP 800-171 Gap Assessment. That assessment established HST's self-assessment baseline, identified the gaps across the 110 controls, and shaped the Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) that drove remediation. From there, the two teams worked through structured remediation across technical hardening, policy alignment, logging and evidence collection, and assessment readiness.
Peerless also stood up the managed services supporting HST's environment day to day, from managed IT and security operations in GCC High through continuous monitoring. Kratos Technology & Training Solutions then conducted the separate, formal CMMC Level 2 certification assessment that confirmed the perfect 110 out of 110.
In HST's words, what mattered most across those eighteen months was consistency:
"What mattered most was the way Peerless showed up as a true partner rather than a vendor. They consistently created clarity during complex phases, helping us tune logging, align policies, centralize evidence, and stay ahead of assessment expectations. Ismail's monthly touchpoints ensured every technical and procedural item was tracked and resolved before it could become a blocker."
Those monthly touchpoints with Ismail McCowin, Peerless' Director of Cybersecurity and Compliance, created the operating rhythm the engagement needed. The initial assessment and remediation planning established the baseline. The month-over-month cadence is what kept a complex, multi-phase program on track from technical hardening and evidence collection through assessment readiness.
A perfect 110 out of 110 is a remarkable headline. For HST, the more lasting outcome is what the certification unlocks going forward.
"Achieving Final CMMC Level 2 gives us validated trust, something essential for DoD and IC partnerships. It strengthens our credibility, clears contractual barriers, and signals to our customers and partners that HST meets the highest bar for safeguarding controlled information."
That matters because HST operates at the serious end of the Defense Industrial Base, supporting mission-critical work for the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. In that market, certification is not just a procurement checkbox. It is a precondition for being considered on sensitive contracts, and a signal to customers that the information they entrust to HST is being safeguarded to the full standard the government requires.
For other DoD and IC contractors weighing the same path, HST had this to share:
"The process is demanding, but the outcome is transformative. It forces discipline, maturity, and repeatability in security and operations. With the right partner, the journey is far less daunting. Peerless was the right partner for us."
"We couldn't have reached this milestone without the collaboration and commitment from Peerless. Their expertise and consistency helped ensure we were fully prepared, and the achievement reflects the strength of that partnership."
Mandy Redman, Administration & Operations Director, High Side Technology
The CMMC market is crowded with consultants who write policies and MSPs who manage devices, and a real shortage of partners who do both well. That separation is exactly where certifications fall apart. A policy nobody operates is a finding waiting to happen. A managed environment with no compliance discipline is a risk nobody is tracking.
Peerless was built for the space in between. As a compliant MSP and MSSP focused exclusively on the Defense Industrial Base, Peerless runs one continuous program rather than a series of disconnected projects. It starts with a comprehensive, independent NIST SP 800-171 Gap Assessment to establish an honest baseline, moves into structured remediation against a clear POA&M, and continues through long-term managed services and engineering that keep every control operating, not just documented.
Some controls are not satisfied by a policy at all. They have to run every day. Continuous monitoring is one of them, which is why Peerless' managed services include a compliant SIEM, a fully managed, U.S. citizen-operated platform hosted in GCC High that aggregates and correlates security events across a client environment. It is a working example of what we mean by built to operate, a control that produces evidence on its own, every day, instead of a binder that goes stale the moment the assessment ends.
A perfect score is not luck. It is what happens when the gap assessment, remediation, implementation, documentation, and ongoing operations are handled by the same partner, with the same standard, all the way through. HST's certification reflects an approach Peerless has refined across engagements in the Defense Industrial Base, and one Peerless continues to apply as more contractors reach and maintain this milestone.
HST's result shows what is possible when the right partner is in place from the beginning, and HST is in good company among the DoD and IC contractors Peerless supports. If your organization is preparing for a CMMC Level 2 assessment, or simply trying to understand where you stand today, the right first step is a comprehensive NIST SP 800-171 Gap Assessment. From there, Peerless can help you build a realistic path from your current SPRS score to a certification you can defend, and keep it that way.
Let's talk about what your assessment-ready environment looks like.
High Side Technology, Inc. name and logo used with permission. Certification details published with client approval.