The engineering-first path to ATO. Built by the Only Advisory-Only 3PAO on the FedRAMP Marketplace.

bladestack.io exclusively provides technical advisory services. No assessments. No conflicts of interest. Just engineers who embed with your team and build authorization packages that pass the first time.

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Why bladestack.io?

Not Just Another Compliance Firm.

Every FedRAMP firm claims they're different. We actually are. We do zero assessments. Not "we prefer advisory." Not "we separate the teams." Zero. We don't toggle between auditor and advisor. We don't staff projects with revolving-door resources. We don't hand you templates and wish you luck.

We hire engineers, architects, and SREs, people who are equally comfortable in a boardroom and at a command line. When your team has a question about IA-2(12) implementation in a Kubernetes environment, we don't escalate to someone who "might know." We answer it. In detail. With code examples if you need them.

Differentiators

Same Industry. Different DNA.

Advisory-only. Engineer-led. No Surprises. Custom-built. Here's what those words actually mean.

Advisory-Only. Period

Zero assessments. Not "we prefer advisory." Not "we separate the teams." Zero. This isn't a business model quirk. It's a deliberate choice that eliminates conflicts of interest entirely. When we tell you something needs to change, it's because it actually needs to change.

Engineers, Not Auditors

Ask your current advisor to SSH into a bastion host and troubleshoot a failing security group rule. We'll wait. Our team is 100% technical, people who've built production infrastructure, debugged container orchestration issues at 2 AM, and can discuss your CI/CD pipeline without reading from a script. Compliance expertise layered on engineering fluency, not the other way around.

We Create Everything

Your team isn't here to become documentation specialists. We develop your entire authorization package, SSP, policies, procedures, plans, and the authorization boundary diagrams that have earned direct praise from the FedRAMP PMO. You review and validate. We build.

Custom Documentation, Zero Templates

Every implementation statement reflects your actual architecture. Every procedure matches how your team actually operates. The result is documentation your engineers can use for onboarding and training, not compliance theater that lives in a folder until audit season.

Assessors Know the Difference

We build packages designed to withstand scrutiny, not just survive it. When assessors dig in, the evidence is there. When they cross-reference narratives against interviews, the answers match. When agencies ask hard questions, the documentation holds up. That's the difference between compliance theater and engineering discipline.

Fixed-Price, No Surprises

We prefer firm-fixed-price engagements, and so do our clients. No hourly anxiety. No scope creep invoices. No "that'll be extra." The catch? You follow our methodology. It exists because we've done this enough to know what causes rework, and we've engineered it out. For truly unique situations, T&M is available, but most clients prefer knowing the number upfront.

Service Lines

Choose your blade.

Flexible engagement models to suit your mission. From strategic advisory to fully managed platforms.

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FedRAMP · Advisory Service Components

For organizations with internal engineering capability that need FedRAMP expertise to guide the journey

Most firms hand you templates and expect your team to figure it out. We build the entire authorization package, SSP, policies, procedures, plans, diagrams, while your engineers focus on implementation. From initial assessment through ATO, we own the documentation so you can own the remediation.

  • Gap Assessment For organizations evaluating the FedRAMP journey. A technical deep-dive into the controls that matter, the ones that stop authorizations cold, the ones 3PAOs dig into hardest, and the ones that reveal architectural decisions you'll wish you'd made differently. You get a comprehensive roadmap that tells you exactly what it takes to get authorized.
  • Phase 0: Discovery Fast Track For organizations committed to the full journey. Accelerated discovery that bypasses the standalone report and flows directly into Advisory. No gap assessment gathering dust, we produce foundational artifacts (ABD, Control Ownership Matrix, Remediation Roadmap) and immediately start building.
  • Advisory The heavy lift. We create your complete authorization package, SSP with implementation-level detail, boundary diagrams that answer assessor questions before they're asked, and cloud-native documentation that reflects how your infrastructure actually operates. We don't disappear after delivery. We embed with your engineering team, work through implementation challenges together, and get hands-on when guidance isn't enough. Machine-readable when you need it. Built for Rev 5 and 20x.
  • Bastion: Assessment Support We stay until you're authorized. Evidence coordination, interview preparation, real-time finding response, and agency communication from 3PAO kickoff through ATO. The engagement ends when you have your authorization, not when our hours run out.

Every deliverable is custom-written for your architecture. Zero templates. Zero generic language. Documentation your engineers can actually use, for operations, onboarding, and audits. When assessors review our packages, evidence traces cleanly, narratives match reality, and interviews don't surface surprises.

Includes:

  • Gap Assessments
  • Phase 0 (Fast Track) Discovery
  • System Security Plan (SSP)
  • Authorization Boundary Diagrams
  • Policies, Procedures & Plans
  • Bastion Assessment Support
  • Agency Liaison Services
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Enjinia Blade Division · FedRAMP

For organizations that need technical firepower, architecture, implementation, and remediation.

Sometimes guidance isn't enough. You need engineers embedded with your team, writing infrastructure-as-code, configuring security tooling, and closing gaps before assessors find them. Our Enjinia Blade Division provides on-demand engineering capability through Bitstream Merc engagements - absurdly technical resources who understand FedRAMP at the implementation level, not just the documentation level.

  • Architecture & Design FedRAMP-aligned architecture consulting. Boundary definition, control mapping, network segmentation, and infrastructure design that passes assessment, not just looks good on a diagram.
  • Control Implementation For organizations committed to the full journey. Accelerated discovery that bypasses the standalone report and flows directly into Advisory. No gap assessment gathering dust, we produce foundational artifacts (ABD, Control Ownership Matrix, Remediation Roadmap) and immediately start building.
  • Remediation Engineering Findings don't fix themselves. We provide the engineering muscle to close gaps, findings, or vulnerabilities fast, before or during assessment, so your timeline doesn't slip and your engineers stay focused on product.
  • Infrastructure-as-Code Terraform, CloudFormation, Pulumi, whatever your stack. Compliance as code means controls are versioned, repeatable, and auditable. We build the modules your authorization requires.

Resources aren't junior consultants reading from runbooks. They're engineers who've architected multi-region deployments, troubleshot failing pods in production, and understand why your team works the way they do. Engagements are scoped to the work, whether that's a two-week remediation sprint or ongoing architecture support.

Includes:

  • Architecture & Design Consulting
  • Control Implementation Engineering
  • Remediation Support
  • Infrastructure-as-Code Development
  • Security Stack Deployment
  • Code Review & Configuration Audit
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bladeRAMP Managed Services · FedRAMP

For organizations that want FedRAMP compliance operated, not just achieved.

Authorization is a milestone, not a destination. What comes after, continuous monitoring, vulnerability management, POA&M tracking, annual assessments, is an operational commitment that never stops. bladeRAMP is our managed platform that handles the ongoing burden of FedRAMP compliance, run by the team that already knows your architecture because we built the package.

Service Lines:

  • bladeRAMP The complete managed compliance platform. Includes Platform Build (security stack, architecture, and management layer), HANZO SecOps, GENJI ConMon, and SRE infrastructure capability. Full-stack compliance operations from the team that built your package.
  • GENJI · FedRAMP Continuous Monitoring (ConMon) Continuous monitoring operational capability for organizations that manage their own security operations but need ConMon expertise. POA&M lifecycle management, scan analysis, evidence generation, agency deliverables, and annual assessment preparation.
  • HANZO · 24/7 Security Operations (SecOps) Security Operations, threat detection, incident response, vulnerability management, and infrastructure protection. Full SIEM integration, host-based IDS/IPS, container security, and FIPS-validated hardening.
  • Bastion: Assessment Support We stay until you're authorized. Evidence coordination, interview preparation, real-time finding response, and agency communication from 3PAO kickoff through ATO. The engagement ends when you have your authorization, not when our hours run out.

Platform Components

  • Platform Build The foundational deployment, landing zone architecture, security stack enablement, network segmentation, zero-trust remote access, and environment hardening. FedRAMP-ready infrastructure from day one.
  • HANZO · 24/7 Security Operations (SecOps) 24/7 threat detection, incident response, vulnerability management, and infrastructure protection. U.S.-based Security Operations Center staffed exclusively by U.S. citizens.
  • GENJI · FedRAMP Continuous Monitoring (ConMon) POA&M lifecycle management, scan analysis, evidence generation, monthly and annual deliverables, and agency reporting. Continuous monitoring on autopilot.
  • SRE Infrastructure Site reliability engineering capability for your authorization boundary. Infrastructure operations, patching, availability management, and operational support.

You didn't come this far to lose your authorization on a missed scan or a late deliverable. bladeRAMP transforms continuous compliance from a staffing problem into an operational service. Your team stays focused on product while we keep the ATO intact.

Includes:

  • Platform Build & Deployment
  • HANZO (24/7 Security Operations)
  • GENJI (Continuous Monitoring)
  • Annual Assessment Support
  • Agency Reporting & Communication
  • POA&M Lifecycle Management
  • SRE Infrastructure Operations
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FedRAMP · 20x Service Components

For organizations preparing for FedRAMP's automation-first future.

FedRAMP 20x changes everything, from narrative documentation to machine-readable evidence, from annual assessments to continuous validation, from static packages to trust repositories. While other firms scramble to understand what 20x means, we've been engineering for this future since before it had a name. Our documentation is already OSCAL-ready. Our evidence pipelines are already automated. When 20x requires machine-readable artifacts, we deliver.

  • 20x Readiness Review We map your current architecture, tooling, and processes against Key Security Indicators (KSIs). You get a technical roadmap showing exactly what automation workflows, infrastructure changes, and evidence pipelines you need to build.
  • 20x Advisory & Implementation KSI-aligned architecture design, trust repository development, and continuous evidence automation. The engineering and documentation required to meet FedRAMP's automation-first requirements.
  • KSI-Aligned Architecture Design Infrastructure that inherently meets 20x requirements, immutable resources, zero-trust networking, least-privilege access, automated configuration management. When your architecture is built for compliance, evidence generation becomes automatic.
  • Trust Repository Development FedRAMP 20x requires a centralized, machine-readable evidence hub where agencies can review your security posture in real-time. We build the infrastructure and the data schema that maps evidence to KSI validations.
  • Continuous Evidence Automation Pipelines that pull data from your environment, validate against KSIs, and format for your Trust Repository, without manual intervention. Daily validation of security controls through automated, machine-readable evidence.

The shift from Rev 5 to 20x isn't a documentation update, it's an architectural transformation. Organizations that built compliance programs around paperwork are facing a complete rebuild. Organizations that built compliance programs around engineering are ready.

Includes:

  • 20x Readiness Assessment
  • KSI Gap Analysis & Mapping
  • Architecture Alignment Consulting
  • Authorization Boundary Diagrams
  • Trust Repository Build & Deployment
  • Evidence Automation Engineering
  • Machine-Readable Formatting & Automation
  • Continuous Validation Pipeline Development
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FedRAMP APEX · Authorization Pathway EXpansion

For organizations expanding their FedRAMP footprint, higher impact levels, additional overlays, or new boundaries.

Your first ATO was the starting point, not the ceiling. APEX (Authorization Pathway EXpansion) is our service for organizations scaling their federal footprint. New agency requirements, higher impact levels, additional compliance overlays. When your authorization needs to grow, APEX provides the engineering, documentation, and assessment support required to reach the next level without starting from scratch.

  • Impact Level Uplift Moderate to High. Delta analysis, control gap remediation, documentation updates, and assessment support required to elevate your authorization.
  • Overlay Integration DoD IL4/IL5, CJIS, ITAR, CMMC, GovRAMP. Additional control sets layered onto your existing FedRAMP baseline. We map the delta, engineer the implementation, and update the documentation.
  • Boundary Expansion New modules, new services, new regions, new infrastructure. We engineer the significant change process so expansion doesn't trigger reauthorization.
  • Multi-CSO Strategy Multiple cloud service offerings under FedRAMP. We help you architect boundaries, maximize inheritance, and structure your portfolio for efficient authorization and maintenance.

Authorization expansion introduces complexity the initial ATO didn't have. Existing documentation constraints, significant change thresholds, and dependency on what's already been approved. Getting it right requires methodical engineering: delta analysis, impact mapping, and architecture decisions that satisfy new requirements without unraveling what's already in place.

Includes:

  • Moderate to High Uplift
  • DoD Overlay Integration (IL4/IL5/IL6)
  • CJIS / ITAR / CMMC Alignment
  • GovRAMP Authorization
  • Boundary Expansion Engineering
  • Significant Change Documentation
  • Multi-CSO Architecture Strategy
Our Approach

How We Get You Authorized.

Most firms treat FedRAMP like a documentation exercise. We treat it like an engineering problem, because it is. Our three-phase approach is designed to build authorization packages that don't just pass; they make everyone's job easier: yours, the 3PAO's, the agency's, and the PMO's.

00.

PHASE 0: Discovery & Architecture Review

For organizations committed to the full ATO journey

Traditional gap assessments produce a report that sits in a folder while you figure out what to do next. We skip that. Phase 0 is an intensive architecture deep-dive that flows directly into documentation and remediation, no handoff, no ramp-up, no wasted time.

Phase 0 doesn't produce a static report. It produces the foundational artifacts of your FedRAMP package: 

  • Authorization Boundary Diagram (ABD)
  • Control Ownership Matrix
  • Remediation Roadmap
  • Architecture Risk Register

Everything discovered flows directly into Phase 1. No gap assessment report to review. No second engagement to negotiate. We're already building.

01.

Gap Assessment

For organizations evaluating the FedRAMP journey before committing

Not ready to commit to the full advisory? Start here. Our gap assessment is a technical deep-dive that tells you exactly where you stand, and exactly what it will take to get authorized.

We don't spend cycles going through hundreds of controls when a subset will determine your success or failure. We focus on the controls that matter now: federal mandates, showstopper requirements, and the architectural decisions that become expansive to change later.

  • Comprehensive Technical Roadmap
  • Control-by-Control Assessment Readiness Status
  • Remediation Priorities Mapped to Authorization Risk
  • Architecture Recommendations with Implementation Guidance
  • Realistic Timeline and Resource Projections for the Full Journey

What You DON'T Need to Do:

  • Create Documentation to Impress Us
  • Fill Out Templates Before We Arrive
  • Pretend You're Further Along Than You Are

02.

Advisory & Package Development

Engineering your authorization package

Most advisors point at gaps and leave you to figure it out. We create everything required for authorization and stay embedded with your team until the package is assessment-ready.

We write SSPs with code blocks and configuration snippets, not compliance fluff. We build boundary diagrams that show data flows at the container level, FIPS validation at every cryptographic boundary, and CI/CD integration where code becomes production. We create cloud-native documentation that reflects how modern infrastructure actually operates, not how auditors imagined it worked in 2012.

And when FedRAMP 20x requires machine-readable artifacts, packages, and evidence pipelines that feed trust repositories? Our packages are already built for automation-first compliance.

  • Complete System Security Plan (SSP)
  • Aesthetically Pleasing Authorization Boundary Diagrams
  • Cloud-Native Policies & Procedures
  • Machine-Readable Formats As Neeeded
  • Parallel Engineering Support

When technical questions come up at 10 PM before a deadline, we answer them, directly, with implementation specifics, not a knowledge base link.

Every word written for your architecture. Documentation your team can actually use for assessments, operations, and the automation-first future that's already here.

03.

Bastion · Assessment Support

We stay until you're authorized

The engagement doesn't end when documentation is complete. Bastion is your hardened point of entry, we sit on your side of the table from 3PAO kickoff through ATO, standing alongside your engineering team throughout the assessment process.

Assessment is where FedRAMP journeys stall. 3PAOs request evidence that should have been obvious. Agencies ask questions that reveal assumptions you didn't know you made. The PMO pushes back on boundary definitions that seemed clear six months ago. Assessment failures follow patterns. Evidence gaps, narrative inconsistencies, interview misalignment. We engineer packages to eliminate these failure modes before they surface.

When findings hit, we don't just log them, we triage in real-time, coordinate responses, and get your team the technical guidance to close gaps fast. Your engineers focus on fixes. We handle the documentation, the communication, and the strategy.

  • Evidence Package Preparation & Organization
  • Interview Preparation & Support
  • 3PAO Coordination & Clarification
  • Real-Time Finding Response
  • Agency & PMO Communication Management

Authorization is the finish line, not documentation delivery. We stay engaged through the full assessment cycle, evidence requests, interview support, finding responses, and agency coordination.

Clean packages produce clean assessments. When evidence traces to narratives and narratives trace to reality, assessors validate instead of investigate. That's the product of engineering discipline. That's what happens when engineers build the package instead of just reviewing it.

Authorized.

The ATO is the starting line, not the finish

You're authorized. The federal market is open. The work it took to get here, the documentation, the engineering, the building, the remediation, the assessment, it paid off.

FedRAMP doesn't stop at authorization. Continuous monitoring, annual assessments, and POA&M management are now part of your operational reality.

Whether you handle that internally or want a team that already knows your architecture, the path forward is yours.

  • ConMon Advisory Services Continuous monitoring guidance, POA&M management, and annual assessment preparation, without handing off operations.
  • bladeRAMP Managed Services Full-stack compliance operations. Security monitoring, continuous compliance, and a team that already knows your boundary.
  • Bitstream Merc Engineering Support Services Ad-hoc technical resources when you need hands-on-keyboards remediation, architecture changes, or implementation work.
  • APEX · Authorization Expansion Moderate to High. New overlays. Expanded boundaries. When your authorization needs to grow, we engineer the path forward.

Ready to Talk Architecture?

Skip the sales pitch. Talk to engineers who've actually built this. We'll discuss your environment, your timeline, and whether we're the right fit. No obligation. No pressure.