How Government Contractors Can Use Knox to Fast-Track Their Subcontractors’ FedRAMP Compliance

The Challenge: Federal government and DoD Prime Contractors and the Compliance Burden

Government contractors are increasingly under pressure to ensure their subcontractors meet FedRAMP and DISA requirements when cloud services are involved. Whether it’s an integrator responding to a large IDIQ or a solutions prime onboarding innovative SaaS vendors, compliance bottlenecks can jeopardize proposals, timelines, and delivery.

The reality is that most subcontractors, especially startups or small SaaS vendors, do not have the time, infrastructure, or budget to pursue FedRAMP authorization on their own. Primes are left with a choice: exclude those vendors, absorb risk, or delay.

Knox offers a better way.

The Solution: Extend Knox’s FedRAMP-Authorized Boundary to Your Vendor Stack

Knox Systems provides a FedRAMP-authorized boundary-as-a-service that prime contractors can leverage to accelerate compliance for their entire delivery team. With Knox, subcontractors can plug into a pre-authorized infrastructure and inherit up to 80% of the security controls they would otherwise have to implement and document from scratch.

This means:

• No need to re-architect their platform
• No costly FedRAMP consulting engagements
• No 12- to 18-month delays

Instead, subcontractors can align with FedRAMP Moderate or DISA IL4 requirements in 90 days or less, with Knox providing the inherited controls, automated documentation, and continuous monitoring support.

Benefits for Prime Contractors

When you include Knox in your proposal stack:

*De-risk your subcontractors: Knox brings them into FedRAMP alignment quickly

*Win faster: Meet agency compliance expectations without the lag

*Improve scoring: Strengthen your response with a documented compliance plan

*Reduce program cost: Shared security means no redundant control implementation

*Offer scale: Knox supports multi-tenant onboarding for repeatable use

Whether you’re responding to a DoD RFP or a civilian agency task order, Knox can be the compliance muscle behind your modernization play.

The Knox Advantage: More Than Infrastructure

In addition to our FedRAMP boundary, Knox provides:

• KnoxAI Platform — our compliance automation tool that simplifies documentation, POA&M tracking, and evidence generation
• Compliance Onboarding Kits — built specifically for subcontractors joining a FedRAMP or DISA-authorized solution
• Professional Services — advisory and documentation support to ensure each vendor is audit-ready

We work directly with primes to create pre-approved onboarding paths that your sub-awardees can follow.

Ready to Include Knox in Your Proposal Stack?

If you’re a government contractor looking to strengthen your proposals and accelerate delivery with compliant subcontractors, Knox is your trusted partner. We enable you to bring innovation to the table without compromising trust, security, or compliance.

Let’s talk about how to include Knox in your next bid.

Contact us today to build your compliance-enabled delivery team.

Key Highlights

• Compliance bottlenecks often delay government proposals and limit innovation across prime contractor teams.
• Knox allows subcontractors to inherit up to 80% of FedRAMP and DISA controls through a shared, pre-authorized boundary.
• Prime contractors can strengthen proposals, reduce risk, and accelerate timelines by including Knox in their delivery stack.
• The KnoxAI Platform automates documentation and supports scalable, multi-tenant onboarding for subcontractors.
• By partnering with Knox, primes can move faster, cut costs, and build compliance-ready teams with confidence.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why is FedRAMP compliance challenging for government subcontractors?
Most subcontractors lack the time, infrastructure, and resources to achieve FedRAMP or DISA authorization independently, which can delay or jeopardize contract delivery.

2. How does Knox help prime contractors accelerate subcontractor compliance?
Knox extends its FedRAMP-authorized boundary to subcontractors, allowing them to inherit up to 80% of required security controls and align with compliance standards faster.

3. What are the benefits of including Knox in a proposal stack?
Prime contractors can de-risk subcontractors, improve proposal scoring, cut costs through shared security, and achieve faster alignment with agency compliance expectations.

4. How does the KnoxAI Platform support subcontractor compliance?
The KnoxAI Platform automates documentation, tracks POA&Ms, and generates evidence in real time, ensuring subcontractors are always audit-ready.

5. How quickly can subcontractors achieve FedRAMP or DISA alignment using Knox?
By leveraging Knox’s boundary-as-a-service and compliance automation tools, subcontractors can reach alignment in as little as 90 days without major infrastructure changes.

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TL;DR

Prime contractors can significantly reduce risk and proposal delays by extending Knox’s FedRAMP-authorized infrastructure to their subcontractors. With Knox’s boundary-as-a-service and compliance automation tools, vendors can inherit key security controls and align with FedRAMP or DISA requirements in as little as 90 days—without rebuilding their tech stack or hiring consultants. It’s faster, cheaper, and purpose-built for government contracting success.

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