What Happens When a CMMC Self-Assessment Is Wrong
The question sounds simple. The answer is not.
When a CMMC Level 1 self-assessment turns out to be inaccurate, meaning the contractor's actual systems don't match what they certified in the federal scoring system, what happens next depends on how the inaccuracy is discovered, by whom, and how long it has been in place.
There is no single consequence. There is a cascade.
The first layer is contractual. Most defense contracts now include cybersecurity requirements by reference. The self-assessment score recorded in the system is part of the contractor's eligibility for those contracts. An inaccurate score means the contractor may have been awarded contracts they weren't eligible for. The government can terminate those contracts for cause, not for convenience. The distinction matters because termination for cause triggers repayment obligations and bars the contractor from rebidding.
The second layer is statutory. The False Claims Act applies to knowing or recklessly inaccurate submissions to the federal government. A self-assessment is a submission. If the inaccuracy reflects a failure to verify rather than a deliberate lie, the "reckless disregard" standard may still apply. The penalties can exceed the value of the contracts themselves.
There are additional dimensions to this exposure that most contractors haven't mapped yet, and the ones who have aren't discussing them in detail.
The contractors who understand this aren't treating their self-assessment as a checkbox they completed once. They're treating it as a living certification that has to remain accurate every day their contracts are active.
The ones who don't understand this are the ones who signed once, filed the score, and haven't looked at their actual systems since. For some of them, what they signed is still true. For a concerning number of them, it's not.
The question is not whether inaccurate self-assessments exist. The question is what triggers the mechanism that finds them. And the triggers are multiplying.