Fixed-price delivery. Working systems. No discovery phase.
Government & Public Sector
What the compliance landscape actually demands.
Federal technology procurement operates under a framework defined by FISMA, FedRAMP, and the Federal Acquisition Regulations — with agency-specific requirements that vary by mission classification and data sensitivity. FISMA requires federal agencies to implement information security programs satisfying NIST SP 800-53 controls. FedRAMP provides a standardized approach to security authorization for cloud services: a cloud vendor must achieve FedRAMP authorization before federal agencies can use their services. The FedRAMP Moderate baseline requires 323 controls; the High baseline requires 421 controls. The average time to achieve FedRAMP Moderate authorization has historically been 12–18 months — but organizations that architect compliance from the start can compress this timeline because they are producing authorization evidence during the build, not reconstructing it after the fact. CMMC 2.0 adds cybersecurity maturity requirements for DoD contractors — Level 2 requires implementation of all 110 NIST SP 800-171 controls and third-party assessment by a C3PAO. StateRAMP provides a FedRAMP-aligned framework for state government cloud authorizations. CJIS compliance is mandatory for any system handling Criminal Justice Information, with more prescriptive authentication, encryption, and access control requirements than most general IT security frameworks. Executive Order 13960 and subsequent AI governance directives create requirements for federal AI systems that map to NIST AI RMF categories — with increasing state legislation adopting the same framework.
The Beltway Bandit delivery model is collapsing under DOGE scrutiny — and agencies that have relied on cost-plus consulting contracts to build technology are discovering that their systems don't work.
The Beltway Bandit model is collapsing. $65B in consultant contracts under DOGE review. Pentagon cancelled $5.1B in contracts with Accenture, Deloitte, and Booz Allen. Government needs lean, outcome-focused technology partners who deliver working systems at fixed prices — not cost-plus billing pyramids.
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The federal technology procurement environment has shifted materially following post-DOGE budget scrutiny. The historical model — award a large IDIQ contract, deploy hundreds of consultants, spend 18 months in discovery and requirements gathering before writing a line of code — is no longer politically viable in an environment where $65B in consultant contracts are under review and the Pentagon has cancelled $5.1B in contracts with Accenture, Deloitte, and Booz Allen. Agencies that have modernized fastest have the most defensible budget positions, because they can demonstrate working systems rather than assessment documents. The procurement environment now favors fixed-price contracts with working system deliverables over time-and-materials engagements with deliverables measured in documents. State and local government technology operates under a different but increasingly demanding regulatory overlay: StateRAMP adoption is growing, CJIS compliance is mandatory for law enforcement technology, and NIST AI RMF is being adopted by state AI governance legislation in California, Colorado, Illinois, and others. The vendors who built their government practices on cost-plus billing pyramids are losing the market to teams that deliver working systems at fixed prices with compliance built in from the first architecture decision.
How We Approach Government & Public Sector
The Algorithm approaches government engagements with fixed-price delivery and compliance-native architecture as non-negotiable constraints. FedRAMP authorization begins at the architecture phase: NIST SP 800-53 control families are mapped to infrastructure decisions, system security plan documentation is produced during the build, and the 3PAO assessment package is assembled from evidence generated during system development rather than created retroactively. This approach compresses authorization timelines because every piece of evidence the 3PAO needs already exists in documented form. CMMC 2.0 Level 2 compliance is implemented as a byproduct of building systems with NIST SP 800-171 controls fully implemented — not a separate compliance exercise bolted on after the build. CJIS compliance for law enforcement systems includes the authentication, audit logging, and access control implementations the CJIS Security Policy requires, with documented evidence for the CJIS Systems Officer audit. The AI systems we deliver for federal and state agencies are documented against NIST AI RMF — with the model documentation, bias testing, and monitoring infrastructure that agency AI governance review boards require. Delivery is fixed-price with working systems as the deliverable. Not roadmaps. Not assessments. Working systems.
What Success Looks Like
A successful engagement delivers a FedRAMP-authorized system — or a system architected for authorization — that passes the 3PAO assessment on the first attempt, with the System Security Plan, Security Assessment Report, and Plan of Action and Milestones ready before the assessment begins. Continuous monitoring requirements are satisfied by automated evidence collection, not manual quarterly exercises. CMMC 2.0 Level 2 assessment passes because the controls were implemented during the build, not documented after the fact. The agency's IT team can operate and maintain the system after the engagement closes without retaining a vendor support contract. The contracting officer has the ATO documentation. The security team has the control evidence package. The agency's mission is served by a working system, not a strategy deck.
Duration: 6 - 18 months
Output: Enterprise infrastructure + compliance certification
A federal agency modernizing mission-critical infrastructure typically engages at Tier III — large team, fixed price, working systems delivered.
What We Deploy in Government & Public Sector
Government & Public Sector Compliance Assessment
A structured checklist for evaluating your AI and software vendor's readiness across the key regulatory frameworks in Government. Free — no email required.
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