Fixed price, fixed scope
£25K, one week, four documents that unlock decisions: principles, requirements, risk and stakeholders. No open-ended discovery, no per-week retainer.
Forward Deploy Engineering for UK public sector
ArcKit FDE
Bootstrap any UK public sector project in a week. A small embedded FDE team uses real agentic AI to produce the principles, requirements, risk and stakeholder pack that unlocks the next decision. Fixed price, fixed scope, board-ready by Friday.
Bootstrap in a week
from embed to executive readout
Small embedded team
senior architects, real agentic AI in the room
Accelerated programmes
through the gates that usually stall
What forward deploy means here
Senior architects deployed inside the programme, not pitched at it.
Forward deploy engineering brings a small number of senior architects into the constraints that public sector programmes actually live inside. Classification rules, legacy estates, supplier contracts, assurance routes, departmental governance, ministerial timelines and AI policy boundaries are not edge cases. They are the operating environment.
ArcKit FDE runs the toolkit alongside your team. We use ArcKit to compress the discovery, evidence and traceability work that traditionally needs a large consultancy bench. You get senior judgement applied where the programme is making decisions, not a deliverables backlog produced offsite.
Why a £25K bootstrap sprint works
The same decision evidence that can take traditional suppliers months to assemble.
Real agentic AI does the heavy lifting
ArcKit runs 117 agentic AI commands on Claude Code. The structural work is automated. The FDE spends the week on judgement, not on inventing headings.
Small team, in the room
One or two senior architects, embedded with your delivery team. No off-site delivery centre, no project management overhead, no status reporting cadence.
Senior synthesis is the product
You are buying concentrated architecture judgement deployed inside the programme, not a large team learning the context from scratch.
Principles
Decision rules that connect policy intent, service outcomes, technology constraints and delivery trade-offs.
Requirements
A structured requirement set that separates user, policy, data, security, integration and operational needs.
Risk
A board-readable risk view covering delivery, security, data, supplier, assurance and public trust exposure.
Stakeholders
A practical stakeholder model that shows influence, duties, decisions, evidence needs and likely objections.
Built for public accountability
Public sector programmes need evidence before acceleration.
The bootstrap sprint is shaped for the realities of government, health, local authority and regulated public service delivery. Embedded follow-on keeps that evidence current as the programme moves.
Board confidence
Creates a shared view of what the programme is trying to protect, prove and deliver.
Procurement readiness
Clarifies requirements and constraints before supplier conversations turn into implied commitments.
Assurance evidence
Frames artefacts so they can support architecture review, service assessment and technology governance.
Risk visibility
Highlights the risks that usually stay hidden until late delivery: ownership, policy fit, data, security and adoption.
After the bootstrap
Embedded delivery that stays with the programme.
Most programmes use the bootstrap sprint to unlock a single decision: a gate, a procurement, an assurance review, a board paper. The work after that is where forward deploy engineering earns its name.
ArcKit FDE can stay embedded after the bootstrap to keep the architecture position alive as evidence changes. Typical follow-on work includes ADRs and high-level design, vendor evaluation, service assessment preparation, AI and data governance, risk register maintenance, and onboarding the client team to operate ArcKit independently when the engagement ends. Follow-on engagements are scoped and priced on the work involved, not on time billed.
Design and decisions
ADRs, high-level design, traceability matrices and conformance reviews carried through ArcKit.
Procurement and vendor
SOW, evaluation frameworks, scoring, G-Cloud and DOS clarification, build versus buy support.
Assurance and AI
Service assessment readiness, Secure by Design, DPIA, ATRS records and AI Playbook compliance.
Team enablement
Standing the client team up to run ArcKit, Claude Code and the governance cadence after the FDE leaves.
Policy alignment
Evidence shaped around the assurance routes public teams already use.
ArcKit FDE is not a compliance certificate. It is a structured evidence base, kept current by an embedded architect, that helps teams prepare for scrutiny against the policy, appraisal, risk and digital standards that drive public sector decisions.
HM Treasury
Green Book
Connects requirements and principles to options, benefits, costs, risks and business-case evidence.
HM TreasuryOrange Book
Frames risk ownership, controls, assurance questions and escalation routes in language boards recognise.
GOV.UK Service ManualService Standard
Surfaces evidence for user needs, security, privacy, open standards, reliability and whole-service thinking.
GDS and CDDOTechnology Code of Practice
Maps architecture decisions to technology, data, cloud, security, sustainability and procurement criteria.
Government functional standardGovS 005 Digital
Supports accountable management of digital, data and technology across services, products and platforms.
Worked examples
Real ArcKit outputs from UK public sector test programmes.
NHS Appointment Booking
End-to-end architecture pack covering requirements, principles, risk, decisions, design, AI and assurance for an NHS-grade booking service.
HMRC Tax Assistant
Conversational AI architecture for tax queries, with NCSC, Service Standard and TCoP evidence assembled in the ArcKit cadence.
Cabinet Office GenAI Platform
Cross-government GenAI platform shaped around AI Playbook, ATRS, Secure by Design and the Cabinet Office agentic AI framework.
Scottish Courts GenAI Strategy
AI strategy and architecture for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, with devolved-government policy, data and assurance considerations.
Reference docs
The four guides behind the bootstrap pack.
Architecture principles
How ArcKit captures principles that connect policy intent, service outcomes and delivery constraints.
Requirements engineering
Structured business, functional, non-functional, integration and data requirements with assurance traceability.
Risk register
Orange Book aligned risk capture covering cause, event, effect, owner, controls, treatment and escalation.
Stakeholder analysis
How influence, duties, decisions, evidence needs and likely objections are modelled across the programme.
The bootstrap week
A tight cadence from embed to board-ready outputs.
The bootstrap is designed to produce usable documents, not a discovery backlog. Workshops are short, evidence is captured, decisions are traced into the pack, and the whole pack is delivered by Friday.
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Day 0
Embed
Confirm scope, decision horizon, known constraints and stakeholders. Provision access and share internal context — strategy, policies, prior architecture material and standards.
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Days 1-2
Evidence capture
Review existing material, interview decision makers and map obligations.
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Day 3
Synthesis
Draft the principles, requirements, risk and stakeholder artefacts inside ArcKit.
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Day 4
Challenge
Run a structured review with sponsors, architecture and delivery leads.
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Day 5
Readout
Hand over the pack, unresolved decisions and recommended next actions or follow-on scope.
When it fits
Deploy us before the programme becomes expensive to change.
New service or platform
Establish a governing architecture position before delivery teams split into workstreams.
Procurement or supplier reset
Turn unclear intent into requirements and risks that can shape market engagement.
Assurance concern
Create the missing evidence base when boards, auditors or technical authorities need clarity quickly.
Forward deploy engineering