FAQ
Answering your agency's questions up front
Rather than three meetings in.
Where does our data live?
Wherever your security posture requires. We deploy on-premises, into sovereign cloud, or into commercial cloud, and we have experience with sovereign LLM deployments that keep sensitive operational data local.
Can an AI system act without a person approving it?
Not in anything we build. We enforce human-gated AI autonomy with mandatory human-in-the-loop gates, informed by the emerging NIST CAISI AI Agent Standards Initiative. Hard-coded constraints mean a system cannot adjust critical infrastructure, such as chemical dosing or water treatment parameters, without a certified operator signing off.
How do you handle our security review?
We expect it and we would rather do it early than late. Our control planning is informed by the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and SP 800-53, with Zero Trust access informed by NIST SP 800-207, and we can walk your team or your counsel through the architecture before anything is committed.
Do you hold federal small business certifications?
Not at present. We are registered with a UEI and a CAGE code, both listed with our NAICS codes on the governance page, and pursuing certification is on our roadmap. We would rather tell you that plainly than have you find out during a procurement review.
What does an engagement cost?
It depends on scope, and we would rather scope it properly than quote a number that turns out to be wrong. We work in budget-ready phases so you can approve one at a time rather than committing to a whole program up front. A capability briefing is free.
How long before we see anything working?
A readiness assessment is measured in weeks rather than months, and a scoped pilot follows it. We deliver in phases with defined outcomes precisely so you are not waiting until the end to find out whether it works.
What happens when the project finishes?
Your choice. We provide long-term MLOps and maintenance support, or we hand over to your own team with documentation someone can still follow in five years. We do not build things designed to keep you dependent on us.
Will our staff actually use it?
That is the question most vendors do not answer. Technology fails on adoption more often than on architecture, so change management is built into every engagement: honest expectation-setting, role-based onboarding, and support for the people who did not ask for a new system.
Bring us a workflow that is not working.
We will tell you honestly whether AI is the right answer for it, and what it would take. The briefing is free, and we take on a handful of clients at a time.