AI in government & defense: compliance-first delivery

What's inside

Federal and defense organizations don't get to experiment loosely with AI — and the programs that treat compliance as a phase-two concern rebuild twice. This paper documents the delivery approach we use to field AI systems inside authorization boundaries the first time.

Contents

1. The authorization landscape in 2026 — where FedRAMP, CMMC 2.0, and ITAR actually constrain AI architectures, and where they don't.
2. Boundary-first design — deciding what the model can see, where inference runs, and what leaves the enclave, before any build.
3. The evidence trail — producing the documentation your authorizing official will ask for as a byproduct of delivery, not an afterthought.
4. Procurement paths — realistic contracting vehicles for AI pilots and production systems, from micro-purchase to IDIQ task orders.
5. A worked example — a proposal-automation system delivered inside a defense contractor's CMMC boundary, with the controls mapping included as an appendix.

Who it's for

Program managers, capture executives, ISSMs, and authorizing officials evaluating AI systems for national-security-adjacent environments — and the primes and integrators who deliver to them.