I · The commitment
On 30 April 2026, Qualified Capacity commits to a single measurable outcome. On 30 April 2031 — five years to the day — we will publish the CMMC eligibility continuity rate for every shop that joined the Qualified Capacity Roster during its founding year: 30 April 2026 through 30 April 2027.
That number is not a prediction. It is an obligation.
A category that names itself but cannot be measured is a category that cannot be trusted. This page is the instrument that makes the category answerable to the warfighter it claims to serve.
II · Why this is published today
The integrity of a five-year commitment depends on the order in which it is made.
This commitment is published on launch day — before a single shop has joined the Qualified Capacity Roster, before a single Qualified Capacity Steward has been credentialed, and before a single dollar has passed between Meridian Industrial Partners and any shop in the founding cohort as of the date of this commitment.
Every shop that joins the roster between 30 April 2026 and 30 April 2027 joins knowing the rate that will be published about them in 2031. The methodology below cannot be adjusted to flatter the cohort after the cohort is known. The cohort cannot be re-scoped to exclude shops that fall out of good standing. The measurement date cannot be moved.
A category that avoids false narratives names its measurement discipline before the narrative begins.
III · The methodology
The five-year CMMC eligibility continuity rate is calculated as follows.
A shop is in good standing on the measurement date if all of the following are true:
- It holds a current CMMC Level 2 certification (or higher), issued by an authorized C3PAO, not expired and not suspended.
- Its NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment score in SPRS is at or above the floor applicable to its active prime contracts at the measurement date.
- It is not debarred from Department of Defense contracting.
- It is not the named respondent in a publicly filed DOJ Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative matter.
Shops acquired during the measurement window are tracked under the acquirer's eligibility posture; the entry is flagged acquired in the published dataset and counts toward the numerator only if the acquirer itself is in good standing.
Shops that voluntarily depart the roster before 30 April 2031 remain in the denominator and are counted as not in good standing. A shop cannot exit the denominator by leaving.
IV · What is not measured
The commitment is narrow on purpose.
The five-year CMMC eligibility continuity rate does not measure, and will not be represented as measuring:
- The revenue growth of rostered shops.
- New certifications earned by rostered shops.
- Whether rostered shops engaged Meridian Industrial Partners for any service.
- Whether rostered shops used Qualified Capacity tools, community membership, or the diagnostic.
- The overall eligibility rate of the Defense Industrial Base.
An instrument that is asked to measure everything measures nothing. This instrument measures one thing: whether shops that adopted the Whole Shop methodology kept their eligibility intact.
V · Attestation and publication
On or before 30 April 2028, Qualified Capacity will name an independent third party to audit the 2031 calculation. The name of the auditor will be published on this page. No change will be made to the commitment or to the methodology above as a condition of that audit.
On or before 30 April 2029, a detailed calculation protocol — resolving edge cases not covered here — will be published on this page for a sixty-day public comment period. The protocol will not alter the commitment or methodology above; it will only document how edge cases are resolved consistently with them.
On 30 April 2031, the five-year CMMC eligibility continuity rate of the 2026 founding cohort will be published on qualifiedcapacity.com, with shop-level data for every entry in the cohort made available to the named auditor.
If Qualified Capacity, Meridian Industrial Partners, or any successor entity ceases to exist before 30 April 2031, this commitment survives and binds any successor custodian of the Qualified Capacity™ mark.