Method, scope, and disclosures.
Meridian Compass is a buyer-side reference for small and mid-sized defense contractors evaluating CMMC cost, readiness, and provider fit. The site is published by Meridian Compass LLC, a Wyoming limited liability company. It is not on commission to any vendor in the directory.
- ✓An independent reference for buyers, written by people not selling assessments, RPO services, MSP contracts, or enclave software.
- ✓A directory of providers with sourced facts and retrieval dates.
- ✓A set of decision tools that produce plain-English readouts from self-reported inputs.
- ✓A short reading list of buyer guides, with citations.
- ✗Not a Certified Third-Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO).
- ✗Not a Registered Practitioner Organization (RPO).
- ✗Not an MSP, MSSP, enclave provider, or law firm.
- ✗Not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense, the Cyber AB, or any C3PAO.
- ✗Not a substitute for qualified CMMC, legal, or contracting advice.
- ✗Not a ranking. We do not publish a “best provider” list.
How provider records are sourced
Every factual claim in a provider record carries a reference to a source. Each source has a publisher, a URL, a retrieval date, and a quoted excerpt. The page renders those as numbered citations next to the claims they support.
The rule: if a claim cannot be tied to a public source on the retrieval date, it is softened, flagged as a gap, or left out. A “What we don’t know” section appears under every provider record where relevant.
Vendors change their websites. The “last verified” date on each record indicates when the cited pages were last reread. If a record looks stale, the vendor’s own site is the authoritative version.
What we do and don't accept money for
Meridian Compass does not accept money from providers for inclusion in the directory, ranking position, or listing treatment. The directory is ordered alphabetically; category filters are unweighted.
If sponsored placements, affiliate links, or paid promotion are introduced at any point, they will be labeled at the point of display in a way a buyer cannot miss. They will not be retrofitted into the editorial directory.
Lines we don’t cross
- Selling “best provider” rankings or scores.
- Claiming to certify, assess, or guarantee compliance for any buyer.
- Implying official affiliation with the U.S. Department of Defense, the Cyber AB, or any C3PAO.
- Publishing provider claims from a model without citation.