Google Workspace for CMMC Level 1: The Small Contractor's Survival Guide
Short Answer: Yes, absolutely. Google Workspace + a few office PCs can meet every CMMC Level 1 requirement - even when most of your team works on-site at primes.
Reality Check: But managing compliance across multiple work locations and properly scoping what's in your environment adds layers most small contractors don't expect...
The Common Small Contractor Reality
You're a small defense contractor. Most of your employees work at prime contractor facilities using the prime's systems and networks. Your actual company infrastructure is minimal:
- Google Workspace for email, documents, and collaboration
- A few PCs in your home office or small commercial space
- Maybe a company laptop or two for travel and remote work
- Some employees have company-provided phones
Your IT footprint is intentionally light. Why invest in infrastructure when your employees use the prime's systems all day?
This setup can absolutely work for CMMC Level 1. But it creates specific compliance challenges that bigger companies don't face.
What You're Actually Getting Into
CMMC Level 1 requires you to demonstrate compliance across 17 practices in 6 security domains. Here's what that actually means for a small contractor with distributed employees:
Scoping Is More Complex Than You Think
When employees work at prime sites, you need to clearly define what systems are "yours" versus "theirs." Do your people access company email from prime computers? Do they use personal devices? Every touchpoint with FCI needs to be identified, documented, and either brought into compliance scope or explicitly prohibited.
You Can't Inherit the Prime's Compliance
Many small contractors assume "my employees use the prime's secure systems, so I'm covered." That's partially true - but only for work done on the prime's systems. Your CMMC assessment is about YOUR company's systems and controls. If FCI flows through your email, document systems, or any company-owned devices, those systems need to be compliant. Contract documents, proposals, SOWs, and technical discussions typically contain FCI - and those almost always touch your systems.
Remote/Hybrid Work Multiplies Documentation
With 10-12 employees across multiple locations, you need user access management, device tracking, remote access policies, and physical security documentation for each work location. Home offices, customer sites, and your office each require different control documentation.
The "We Don't Handle FCI" Misconception
Some contractors think "we work at the prime's site with their systems, so FCI never touches our infrastructure - we don't need CMMC." Technically, if absolutely NO FCI ever touches your systems, you wouldn't need CMMC Level 1. But in practice, contract documents, proposals, statements of work, technical discussions, and email exchanges almost always contain FCI. If it's in your Gmail, on your laptop, or in your Google Drive - it's in scope and you need compliance.
The 6 Areas You Must Address
Every CMMC Level 1 assessment covers these six domains. Here's what small contractors typically underestimate:
🔐 Access Control (AC.L1-3.1.1 & AC.L1-3.1.2)
With employees at multiple prime sites, you need crystal-clear access policies. Who can access what? From where? Using which devices? You need user access matrices, role definitions, provisioning/deprovisioning procedures (especially for transitions between contracts), regular access reviews, and audit trails for all users across different locations.
Time Investment: 10-15 hours to document properly for distributed workforce, plus quarterly reviews for each user.
🔑 Identification & Authentication (IA.L1-3.5.1 & IA.L1-3.5.2)
Multi-factor authentication everywhere, unique identifiers for every user, and session management. Sounds simple, but you need device inventories, user matrices, MFA evidence, and session timeout policies.
Time Investment: 6-10 hours for initial documentation, quarterly verification checks.
💾 Media Protection (MP.L1-3.8.3)
Sanitization and disposal of equipment. You need documented procedures, disposal logs, vendor contracts (if outsourced), and evidence for every device. This catches people off guard - you need this BEFORE you dispose of anything.
Time Investment: 4-6 hours to establish process, then per-incident documentation.
🏢 Physical Protection (PE.L1-3.10.1, PE.L1-3.10.3, PE.L1-3.10.4, PE.L1-3.10.5)
This is where small contractors with distributed teams struggle most. You need physical security controls for your office space, but what about employees working from home? At customer sites? You need location-specific access policies, visitor documentation, equipment tracking for company-owned devices at multiple locations, and monitoring procedures that make sense for your distributed model.
Time Investment: 15-20 hours to document thoroughly for multiple work locations and scenarios.
🛡️ System & Communications Protection (SC.L1-3.13.1, SC.L1-3.13.5)
Boundary protection and encryption. You need network diagrams, firewall configurations, encryption verification, and data flow documentation. Even simple networks require surprisingly detailed documentation.
Time Investment: 8-12 hours for initial documentation, quarterly updates.
🔍 System & Information Integrity (SI.L1-3.14.1, SI.L1-3.14.2, SI.L1-3.14.4, SI.L1-3.14.5)
Flaw remediation, malware protection, security alerts, and software updates. This requires patch management procedures, antivirus evidence, alert response plans, and vulnerability tracking - all documented and maintained.
Time Investment: 12-16 hours initially, significant ongoing quarterly maintenance.
The Hidden Gotchas Nobody Warns You About
- The Prime Site Access Problem: Employees using customer/prime computers or networks creates scope confusion. You must explicitly document what systems employees use at customer sites and prove FCI doesn't flow there—or include those access points in your compliance scope.
- BYOD Is a Nightmare: If employees use personal devices to check company email, those devices are technically in scope. You either need to manage personal devices (unpopular) or prohibit business access from personal devices (often impractical).
- Company Phone Complications: If you provide smartphones, are they in scope? Can employees access email? What about text messages with contract info? Each device multiplies your documentation burden.
- Evidence Collection Across Locations: You need the RIGHT screenshots, logs, and records from systems at different locations. Collecting consistent evidence from distributed employees requires clear procedures and regular follow-up.
- Quarterly Maintenance Gets Messy: With a distributed team, quarterly reviews mean checking access for every user, verifying every device, updating every location. It's manageable but time-consuming if you don't have efficient processes.
- The Departing Employee Risk: In small companies with high prime-site work, offboarding often gets rushed. You need documented procedures for every device return, every access revocation, every account closure - and evidence you followed them.
- Scope Creep via Growth: Hired two new employees? Added a new laptop? That old tablet someone uses occasionally? All need to be added to your compliance documentation, not just your asset inventory.
The Real DIY Timeline
If you're doing this yourself with no prior CMMC experience and managing a distributed workforce:
Weeks 1-2: Learning & Scoping
Understanding requirements, mapping your distributed workforce, determining what's in scope vs. out of scope, identifying gaps across multiple work locations, creating document templates. Estimated time: 25-35 hours.
Weeks 3-7: Implementation & Documentation
Writing policies for distributed access, creating location-specific procedures, implementing controls across Google Workspace and devices, collecting evidence from multiple locations, building artifact library for all users. Estimated time: 50-70 hours.
Weeks 8-10: Review & Refinement
Gap analysis across all locations, documentation review, evidence validation from distributed employees, practice assessments, addressing scope boundary issues. Estimated time: 25-35 hours.
Ongoing: Quarterly Maintenance
Evidence updates for all users, policy reviews, access audits across locations, system updates, employee onboarding/offboarding documentation. Estimated time: 12-16 hours per quarter.
Total DIY Investment: 100-140 hours over 2-3 months, then 12-16 hours quarterly forever.
That's 2.5 to 3.5 weeks of full-time work—or 3-4 months of nights and weekends—for someone already running a business and managing contracts.
Or... Get It Done in Weeks, Not Months
Our Turnkey Package includes our specialized template library built specifically for small contractors, comprehensive guidance and tools customized to your distributed workforce environment, and expert support to help you implement and document everything correctly.
Investment: $2,495 one-time | Timeline: Weeks to compliant
Schedule Free Consultation Learn About Turnkey PackageWhat Makes This Actually Hard
Small contractors fail CMMC assessments not because they lack security - but because they lack compliance expertise. Here's what makes the difference:
- Proven Templates: Specialized documentation built specifically for small contractors (available only in our Turnkey Package)
- Evidence Knowledge: Understanding what assessors want to see for each practice
- Efficient Workflows: Processes that collect the right information without wasting time
- Common Pitfall Avoidance: Knowing the mistakes that fail assessments
- Assessment Readiness: Understanding how C3PAOs evaluate documentation
- Distributed Workforce Experience: Handling scope boundaries and multi-location compliance
Your Three Paths Forward
Path 1: Pure DIY (Free)
Research requirements, map your distributed workforce, create all documentation from scratch, manage evidence collection across multiple locations, figure out scope boundaries, hope you got it right.
Best for: Contractors with prior CMMC experience, strong technical documentation skills, and plenty of time.
Path 2: Self-Paced Toolkit ($1,495/year)
Access to comprehensive guidance, implementation checklists, evidence collection tools, and step-by-step workflows. You do all the documentation work yourself.
Best for: Organized contractors who can follow detailed guidance and have some technical documentation experience.
Path 3: Turnkey Package ($2,495)
Includes our specialized template library built specifically for small contractors, plus comprehensive guidance, tools, and expert support to help you customize everything for your environment. We guide you through implementation, help you document correctly, and ensure your artifact library is assessment-ready.
Best for: Contractors who want expert guidance, proven templates, and professional support - especially with distributed teams.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: "Most of my employees work at the prime's site using their systems. Do I still need CMMC?"
A: It depends on whether FCI touches YOUR systems. If contract documents, proposals, emails about the work, or any FCI flows through your company email or devices - yes, you need CMMC. In practice, almost all defense contractors have FCI in their email and document systems, even if the actual work is done at the prime's site. The rare exception: if literally NO FCI ever touches any of your systems, you wouldn't need CMMC - but that's extremely uncommon.
Q: "Can't I just use Google's documentation to prove compliance?"
A: No. Google provides the infrastructure, but YOU must document how you configured it, how you use it, and how you maintain controls. Assessors want YOUR documentation, not Google's marketing materials.
Q: "I'm a solo contractor. Do I really need all this documentation?"
A: Yes. Size doesn't reduce requirements. But being small means less complexity to document - you just need to know what to document and how to format it.
Q: "We provide company phones to employees. Do those need to be CMMC compliant?"
A: If employees can access company email or FCI from those phones, yes - they're in scope. Most small contractors find it easier to prohibit FCI access on mobile devices rather than manage mobile device compliance. Our consultants can help you make this decision.
Q: "What if I start with the toolkit and realize I need help?"
A: We offer toolkit-to-turnkey upgrade pricing. You won't lose your investment if you decide you need more support.
Q: "Is Google Workspace Business Standard really enough?"
A: For Level 1, yes. Business Standard ($12/user/month) has all required features. Don't overpay for Enterprise unless you need Level 2 or advanced DLP.
Q: "How is this different from hiring a $15K consultant?"
A: Traditional consultants charge enterprise rates because they work with enterprise clients. We specialize in micro-contractors and built efficient processes specifically for your scale. Same quality, right-sized pricing.
Q: "What happens after the initial compliance work?"
A: Compliance requires quarterly maintenance. Our toolkit includes quarterly checklists. Our turnkey package includes annual maintenance support. Either way, we ensure you stay compliant long-term.
The Bottom Line
Yes, you can achieve CMMC Level 1 compliance as a small contractor using Google Workspace with employees distributed across prime sites. The technology works. The infrastructure is sound.
But compliance isn't about technology - it's about documentation, scope management, and maintaining controls across a distributed workforce.
The challenges you face are unique to small contractors with prime site workers:
- Defining scope boundaries between your systems and customer systems
- Documenting physical security across multiple work locations
- Managing access control for distributed employees
- Collecting consistent evidence from users at different sites
- Maintaining quarterly compliance with limited administrative staff
You're deciding between three investments:
- Your Time: 100-140 hours learning, documenting, scoping, and hoping you got it right
- Guided DIY: $1,495 for implementation guidance and tools, 40-50 hours of documentation work
- Turnkey Package: $2,495 for specialized templates, comprehensive guidance, expert support, and assessment-ready artifacts in weeks
The choice depends on your available time, compliance confidence, and risk tolerance. But remember: the November 2025 deadline is approaching, and getting this wrong means failed assessments and lost contract opportunities.
⚡ November 10, 2025 Deadline Approaching
Defense contracts are requiring CMMC Level 1 compliance. Don't wait until your prime contractor demands proof or you're blocked from opportunities.
Start now. Get compliant. Stay competitive.
🚀 Ready to Get Started?
Let's discuss your specific situation and find the right path for your business.
Free Assessment
30-minute self-assessment
- Instant gap analysis
- Prioritized roadmap
- No credit card required
Self-Paced Toolkit
per year
- Comprehensive guidance
- Implementation checklists
- Evidence collection tools
- Step-by-step workflows
- Quarterly maintenance guides
Turnkey Package
one-time + annual support
- Specialized template library
- Expert guidance & support
- Customized implementation
- Assessment-ready artifacts
- Ongoing compliance support
- Built for small contractors
About Overwatch Tools
We're former defense contractors who experienced the compliance struggle firsthand. We watched small businesses pay $15K-$30K to consultants for compliance that should cost a fraction of that.
We built Overwatch Tools specifically for small contractors (2-50 employees):
- Right-sized documentation that fits your actual infrastructure
- Experience with distributed workforces and prime site employees
- Efficient processes that respect your limited administrative time
- Honest pricing that reflects your actual needs, not enterprise rates
- Real support from people who understand small defense contracting
Our Mission: Make CMMC compliance achievable for every defense contractor, regardless of size, budget, or workforce distribution.
Let's Talk About Your Compliance Path
Book a free 30-minute consultation. No pressure, no sales pitch - just honest guidance about what makes sense for your business.
📧 Email: support@overwatchtools.com
📞 Phone: (757) 577-3865
🌐 Website: overwatchtools.com
📅 Schedule: Book your free consultation