The certified person who conducts your assessment. Assessors test objectives against evidence, and they do not advise you on how to fix gaps.
Also called assessors, CMMC Certified Assessor, CCA, assessment team.
Official Source Material
Assessment Team means participants in the Level 2 certification assessment (CMMC Certified Assessors and CMMC Certified Professionals) or the Level 3 certification assessment (DCMA DIBCAC assessors). This does not include the OSC participants preparing for or participating in the assessment.
An assessor tests your claims, and does not tell you how to meet a requirement.
The role is to examine, interview, and test against the assessment objectives, then record what was found. An assessor who designed your controls could not do this impartially, which is why the organization that builds your environment cannot also certify it. Expect findings rather than advice.
Certified people work within an authorized organization.
A Level 2 certification assessment team consists of certified assessors and certified professionals working for a C3PAO. A Level 3 team consists of Government assessors from DCMA DIBCAC. An individual holding a certificate is not an assessment organization, and that distinction matters when you read a proposal.
Assessors interview your people, not only your documents.
The person who performs the work is asked how the work happens. Where their answer differs from your procedure, the answer is what counts. Prepare your team by making the documents describe what they actually do, rather than by coaching them on what to say.
Make the assessor's job easy, because a shorter assessment is a cheaper one.
An indexed evidence set, a plan that matches the environment, and people who are available when scheduled all shorten the work. Time spent hunting for a record is time you pay for. This is the part of the cost you control after the scoping decision.
What falls short
Evidence produced during the assessment for a control claimed to run continuously. The dates are examined.
A plan that describes a system the assessor cannot find. Every claim invites a test.
Key people unavailable during the assessment window. Interviews are part of the method.
Edge cases
An assessor reads an objective differently from you. Name the objective letter, show the evidence, and ask which determination statement is unmet.
Your evidence contains controlled information. Arrange in advance how it will be shown inside your assessed environment.
A finding rests on a misunderstanding of your environment. Correct it during the assessment, because reopening it afterwards is harder.
Over-engineering
Preparing scripted answers for interviews. Assessors ask follow-up questions and inconsistency is what they notice.
Hiring a second firm to shadow the assessment. Your own evidence is what decides the result.