UpCISO

POA&M explained

What is a POA&M? Planning security remediation

A Plan of Action and Milestones records remediation work, owners and dates. Only specific unresolved requirements can support a conditional CMMC status.

A practical remediation record

For each gap, describe the corrective action, accountable owner, expected completion date and evidence needed to demonstrate closure. A completed task still needs assessment of the underlying requirement.

CMMC restrictions

Level 1 does not permit a POA&M for achieving CMMC status. Level 2 conditional status has both score and requirement-specific restrictions. A work plan or generated document does not itself grant conditional status.

Next step

Review the conditional-status help page and the eligibility warnings beside your POA&M. Keep the programme target date separate from any official conditional-status closeout deadline.

A practical example

Example: replace “fix access” with a specific task: review active accounts, remove unnecessary access, assign an owner, set a date and retain a review record. Closing the task does not automatically confirm the underlying assessment finding.

Official sources

Reviewed 2026-09-22. Check current sources and your contract when making assessment or eligibility decisions.