Your government contract depends on your ATO. One failed control can freeze your entire deployment pipeline.
The average FedRAMP authorization takes 12–18 months and costs $1–4M. Continuous ATO maintenance requires ongoing evidence of working controls — every single release.
Industry insights last refreshed: March 12, 2026
The QA Problems Every Government Team Faces
We've seen these patterns across every government company we've worked with. They're not unique to you — but they are fixable.
ATO Maintenance Requires Evidence Every Release
Continuous ATO and FedRAMP Rev. 5 require ongoing evidence that your security controls are functioning. Most govtech teams have no systematic process for generating this evidence as part of their release cycle — it's assembled manually before each assessment.
NIST 800-53 Control Drift Goes Undetected
Infrastructure changes, dependency updates, and new features can inadvertently disable or weaken NIST 800-53 controls between audits. Without automated validation, these drift events aren't discovered until a formal assessment.
Legacy System Integration Creates Untestable Complexity
Government platforms integrate with legacy mainframes, COTS software, and agency-specific APIs that have no sandbox environments. Integration failures surface in production or during government acceptance testing, both of which are catastrophic.
Section 508 Accessibility Is a Contract Requirement, Not a Goal
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act is legally mandated for government software. Non-compliance can void contracts. Yet accessibility is rarely tested systematically across releases.
Security Scanning Finds Vulnerabilities After Deployment
Government customers run their own vulnerability scans on deployed software. Findings surface post-deployment and require emergency patches that disrupt operations and damage the vendor relationship.
The Cost of Doing Nothing
These aren't hypothetical risks. They're the real costs other government companies have paid.
Average time to initial FedRAMP Authorization to Operate
FedRAMP PMO Annual Report 2024
Typical cost of FedRAMP authorization process for a cloud service provider
FedRAMP Cost Case Study / Cloud Security Alliance 2024
Average cost of a public sector data breach in 2024
IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024
Of government software deployments experience ATO-related delays due to incomplete test evidence
ACT-IAC Modernization Study 2023
What You Get — Mapped to Government
Three deliverables, every release cycle, built specifically for government requirements.
Automated Regression Suites
AI-generated test suites covering NIST 800-53 control validation, legacy system integration points, Section 508 accessibility, security configuration checks, and core application workflows — updated every release cycle.
Compliance Validation
Every release cross-referenced against your FedRAMP boundary controls, NIST 800-53 baseline (Low/Moderate/High), and Section 508 accessibility requirements — with evidence packages formatted for ATO maintenance.
Pre-Release Readiness Reports
Pre-release report covering NIST control status, security configuration validation, accessibility test results, legacy integration health, and a ship/no-ship recommendation structured for government program managers and AO review.
How It Works
From zero to audit-ready releases in under three weeks.
We access your repo, map your stack, identify compliance requirements, and define critical test paths.
We deliver your first regression suite, compliance check, and readiness report as proof of value — at no commitment.
Updated test suites, compliance validation, and readiness reports every release cycle.
The First Audit is your proof of value — delivered in one week with no commitment required.
Get a Free Release AuditWhy Not Just Hire a QA Team?
Enterprise-grade release confidence at startup-friendly pricing.
- $120K–$160K per engineer per year
- 2–3 months to ramp up and learn your codebase
- Recruiting fees of $20–30K per hire
- Benefits, equipment, PTO overhead
- No compliance specialization by default
- Institutional knowledge walks out the door with them
- AI-generated regression suites, updated every release
- FedRAMP and compliance validation included
- Pre-release readiness report before every deploy
- Onboarded in 1–2 weeks, first audit in week 3
- No recruiting, no benefits, no ramp-up time
- Scales up or down with your release cadence
See how Government companies ship 3x faster with audit-ready releases
Case studies and client testimonials coming soon. In the meantime, let's talk about your specific situation.
Ready to stop worrying about your next release?
Get a Free Release Audit — we'll analyze your last release and deliver a government readiness report.
No commitment. Delivered in one week.