Federal Enclave for CMMC, DFARS and NIST 800-171 Compliance
Leverage the power and convenience of Federal Enclave by CyberSheath. This purpose-built CUI enclave is a fully managed cloud environment that isolates CUI and in-scope systems to reduce CMMC scope and cost.
If your organization is not exclusively in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), chances are you are struggling with balancing the need for CMMC compliance and the associated costs and security requirements. You need a cloud-based CMMC enclave solution for full compliance that’s easier, faster, and more economical than overhauling legacy infrastructure. CyberSheath’s exclusive, compliant Federal Enclave is the solution.
Why an enclave is the answer and how it helps
An enclave is a secure environment designed to support NIST, DFARS, and CMMC requirements by segregating DOD project data from commercial systems. It’s like a safe deposit box for project-related information that’s secured, managed, and maintained by a U.S.-based MSSP 24/7/365—while your legacy systems continue operating in parallel.
If you do not need your entire enterprise environment to meet CMMC requirements, an enclave is an effective approach. It isolates Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and in-scope systems into a secure, controlled environment, and allows you to keep the rest of your business systems unchanged where appropriate. Your organization can then achieve compliance more quickly and cost-effectively while minimizing operational disruption, reducing cost and complexity, and providing a more efficient path to achieving compliance.
Meet CyberSheath’s Federal Enclave
Designed and built to meet NIST 800-171 and CMMC Level 2 requirements using FedRAMP moderate solutions, our Federal Enclave is delivered using a proven, audit-ready model aligned to DOD expectations.
Federal Enclave is CyberSheath’s purpose-built CMMC enclave, designed specifically for defense contractors throughout the DIB. This solution enables your organization to quickly take advantage of a Microsoft Azure-based cloud-enabled tenant to establish a compliant environment.
Backed by CyberSheath’s proven experience:
- Thousands of NIST SP 800-171 assessments and implementations completed.
- 100% perfect 110 scores on all C3PAO audits to date.
- CMMC Level 2 certified, meeting the same standards as our customers
With this offering, you can leverage a trusted team of experts to help prevent, detect, respond to, and hunt for threats in your environment. The result: Your DOD customers will have full confidence that your business is compliant and secure.
A turnkey compliance solution
Our Federal Enclave is complete with Managed CMMC and NIST Regulation, Managed Security and Managed IT. It allows your business to operate in a compliant manner continuously and provides high-value custodial security of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) with minimum business interruptions to people, processes, and procedures. We provide a fully managed CMMC/DFARS-compliant Microsoft Azure GCC High or GCC tenant on a tenant-by-tenant basis.
CMMC compliance and IT security is a team effort
Our shared responsibility model for CMMC attestation is fundamental to our partnership with clients. This management framework dictates the security obligations of a CMMC-compliant environment and its users to ensure proper accountability. CyberSheath takes ownership of CMMC compliance. Your organization will be tasked with other important functions to meet our mutual goal of gaining or leveling up CMMC compliance.
Our goal is to ensure there is no ambiguity around ownership, particularly for NIST 800-171 control implementation, ongoing control execution, and evidence generation. The matrix is tailored and specific to each company we engage with and a critical component of maintaining accountability and ensuring nothing falls through the cracks as we work together toward and through a CMMC assessment.
What CyberSheath generally owns:
- CMMC Compliance: Ownership is established through CyberSheath’s responsibility matrix.
- Security and Infrastructure: We design security controls and manage the Azure Government (GCC or GCC High) environment in leveraging FedRAMP-authorized solutions, with continuous monitoring and alerting.
- Operations and Maintenance: We deliver continuous Microsoft 365 operations, help desk services, and compliance-focused program support to maintain alignment with evolving requirements.
- Audit Success: We offer proven audit support, backed by dozens of successful third-party assessments and audits where our team is assessed alongside your staff.
What Customers generally owns:
- The Environment: Although designed, implemented, and managed by CyberSheath, the enclave and tenant belong to the customer.
- The Score (or Certification): Once the environment is stood up and assessed, either through a self-assessment supported by CyberSheath or through a formal C3PAO assessment, the results belong to the organization.
How Federal Enclave reduces CMMC assessment scope
Not every employee, application, or system may need to be part of your Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) scope.
Consider a defense contractor with 150 employees, but only 20 who regularly handle CUI. Without a clearly defined CUI environment, the organization could face the cost and complexity of bringing a much broader portion of its IT infrastructure into compliance.
With Federal Enclave, those 20 employees can access a dedicated environment for CUI-related work while the remaining 130 employees continue using existing commercial systems, provided those systems do not introduce additional assessment scope.
This approach can reduce the number of systems, applications, and endpoints requiring assessment, while minimizing disruption to everyday business operations. The actual assessment boundary depends on how CUI is accessed, processed, stored, and transmitted, including connected systems, shared services, and supporting infrastructure.
Federal Enclave vs. Full GCC or GCC High Migration
Federal Enclave is the more practical option for most DIB contractors, providing several advantages for any business that does not require a full-scope environment:
| Federal Enclave by CyberSheath | Full GCC or GCC High Migration | |
| Scope of environment | Isolates CUI and in-scope systems/users into a secure, segregated environment, keeping the rest of the business on existing systems | Entire enterprise (email, collaboration, endpoints, identity) is moved into the GCC or GCC High tenant, regardless of whether all users touch CUI |
| Best fit | Organizations that are not exclusively focused on DOD work and don't need their whole enterprise to meet CMMC requirements, especially small to mid-sized DIB contractors | Organizations that are DOD-only or where virtually the entire workforce/business handles CUI |
| Underlying platform | A fully managed CMMC/DFARS-compliant Microsoft Azure GCC or GCC High or GCC tenant, provisioned on a tenant-by-tenant basis | Microsoft 365 GCC or GCC High across the whole organization |
| Speed to deploy | Can be deployed rapidly, helping organizations maintain eligibility for new contract awards, recompetes, and extension years | Slower as it requires migrating all users, data, and legacy workflows enterprise-wide |
| Disruption to legacy systems/business | Legacy systems can operate in parallel; minimizes operational disruption to the broader business | Potential disruption as commercial and DOD workflows are unified onto one restricted platform, often affecting non-DOD operations |
| Cost/complexity | Reduces cost and complexity by shrinking the overall compliance footprint versus rebuilding the whole environment | May incur a higher cost and complexity with licensing, migration, and management scale to the entire organization, not just the CUI-handling subset |
| Management model | Secured, managed, and maintained by a U.S.-based MSSP 24/7/365, with CyberSheath taking ownership of CMMC compliance under a shared-responsibility model | Typically managed internally or via a VAR/reseller focused on licensing rather than full compliance ownership |
| Compliance coverage | Fully NIST SP 800-171, DFARS 252.204-7012, and CMMC 2.0 compliant repository for DOD project data | Also achieves compliance, but by extending controls across the entire enterprise rather than a segmented enclave |
CyberSheath’s Federal Enclave: The only credible fast track to sustained CMMC compliance
Enclaves are the fastest, most affordable and least disruptive solution to deliver full compliance for most DOD contractors, particularly small to mid-sized businesses whose customers are not exclusively in the DIB. Get our free white paper on the Federal Enclave.
FAQs
What is a CUI enclave and how does it work?
A CUI enclave is a secure environment that segregates DOD project data from legacy systems, backed by a U.S.-based MSSP with 24/7/365 support. Employees access it via a virtual desktop with a separate login from their commercial email, and it restricts screenshots, copy/paste, and printing to prevent CUI from leaking into commercial systems.
What is the difference between a CUI enclave and a federal enclave?
There is no real difference as "CUI enclave" is the generic architectural concept, and "Federal Enclave" is CyberSheath's version of it. Federal Enclave is a turnkey, managed Microsoft Azure-based tenant purpose-built for DIB contractors.
How does the Federal Enclave reduce CMMC assessment scope?
By isolating CUI and in-scope systems into a segregated environment, only the users and workflows that touch CUI fall inside the assessment boundary. Staff not exposed to CUI stay on a commercial tenant for everyday work; only CUI-related activity happens in the CMMC-compliant GCC/GCC High tenant, allowing the rest of the business to stay out of scope.
How much does Federal Enclave cost?
Leveraging Federal Enclave can be a more economical option than overhauling legacy infrastructure, and the real risk is overpaying for licenses you don't need or under-complying with what you have. Get in touch with us to schedule a no-cost scoping consultation so that we can provide pricing guidance.
How long does implementation take?
We start with scoping your environment for CUI touchpoints and assessing current protection status, and then match your use case against enclave capabilities. Based on our experience, we have found that Federal Enclave can be deployed rapidly to preserve contract eligibility. We suggest a direct conversation with our team so that we can provide a real timeframe for your project and your environment.
What is included in Federal Enclave—GCC or GCC High?
It depends on your data. We provision a GCC or GCC High tenant based on your needs. GCC generally covers CMMC Levels 1–2 without export-controlled data; GCC High is required when ITAR, EAR, or other export-controlled categories are involved.
Can legacy applications be used inside Federal Enclave?
Legacy systems aren't migrated into Federal Enclave—they run in parallel outside the enclave, which is part of what keeps costs down. Inside the enclave, only CUI-related applications belong; connecting outside systems (like a shop-floor tool or print server) requires deliberate planning, since each connection erodes the boundary's protection.
What is the shared responsibility model for CMMC compliance?
CyberSheath contractually takes ownership of assured CMMC compliance and defines how security measures should be applied, especially around CUI. This is formalized in a tailored responsibility matrix that is customized to each client’s needs, ensuring every control has a named owner and documented evidence.
Is Federal Enclave right for subcontractors?
Yes, any DIB member needing to secure CUI can use an enclave, including our Federal Enclave. Our compliance training serves both prime and subcontractors.
Federal Enclave can be an effective option for subcontractors that handle Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) but don't need their entire IT environment operating within a CMMC-compliant boundary.
Prime contractors may flow down applicable DFARS cybersecurity requirements and CMMC obligations to subcontractors, depending on the contract and the information being shared. For subcontractors supporting multiple primes, Federal Enclave provides a dedicated environment for protecting CUI while allowing commercial operations to continue on existing systems where appropriate.
This approach can be particularly valuable for subcontractors with a limited number of CUI-handling employees, legacy applications, or a mix of commercial and defense contracts. CyberSheath helps subcontractors evaluate their contractual requirements, CUI workflows, and existing infrastructure to determine whether an enclave-based approach is the right fit.
How does Federal Enclave compare to migrating our entire environment to GCC High?
Federal Enclave is the leaner default. Rather than moving the whole org into GCC/GCC High, you build a tightly scoped environment just for CUI-handling users, keeping the rest of the business on standard commercial tools—improving cost efficiency for most contractors. Jumping straight to GCC High when standard GCC would suffice adds unnecessary cost and complexity. Full migration mainly makes sense when nearly the entire organization is export-controlled or DOD-only.
Every solution begins with a conversation.
Contact our experts today for a no-obligation discussion of CMMC 2.0 compliance, what's required, what you may need, and what we can do to provide it. We've helped hundreds of DOD contractors. We can help you.