- On retainerA few days a month. Open-ended, cancellable. No end date.
- Fixed scopeOne problem, one written answer. Named starters live here.
- By the hourA straight answer. Ends when the hour does.
The three shapes against the same axis of time. A retainer is a repeating claim on a few days a month, open-ended and cancellable — the shape you want when a programme has to be held rather than delivered. A fixed scope is one bounded block with a start, an end and a written answer at the far side, and no obligation after it. An hour is an hour. Named starters (evidence pack, first slice, StoryMap packages when the GIS gate is on) sit inside the fixed-scope bar. What the drawing is really showing is where the commitment ends in each case, which is the thing worth knowing before the first call.
Named startersby practice — accessibility has its own fixed-price offers — the scope sheet
- Systems
Accessibility offers
Fixed price, on the offers page
Snapshot, Pages, Stamp, and Keep. Each price is on the offers page.
- Quality
IT service-flow diagnostic
One process
One service flow, mapped and diagnosed.
- Quality
Procedure control reset
Fixed scope
The procedures people actually follow, rewritten against the work.
- Quality
Quality evidence pack
Fixed scope
Records a reviewer can quote, under your technical authority.
- Quality
Workflow automation pilot
Fixed scope
Small, human-reviewed. You keep the source.
- Resilience
One-topic StoryMap
Coming online / teaming only
GIS production is not a live public offer. No priced StoryMap NTE until the partner gate is on.
- Resilience
Multi-map / hazard set
Coming online / teaming only
A set, not a program. Not hydrology, not a PE seal. No public NTE while the GIS partner gate is off.
GO, TEAM, NO-GOthe perimeter, stated up front
- GO
- Named-scope work the firm takes: accessible public systems, operational quality, and resilience communications.
- TEAM
- GIS is coming online / teaming only — not a live public offer and not a priced StoryMap lane. Quality records for one process sit under the buyer’s technical authority. This is not a nuclear quality program.
- NO-GO
- No PE or hydrology seals
- No BESS EPC or electrical design as prime
- No nuclear QA prime or licensed-ops authority
- No auditor stamp, accreditation, or legal-compliance stamp
- No set-aside status is claimed
- No overlays, no citywide conformance stamp
- No inventing clients or past performance
The three shapes
- On retainerA senior quality lead a few days a month, holding the program and reachable when something goes sideways.
- Fixed scopeA defined look at one problem, a defined amount of time, a written answer. No obligation after.
- By the hourAn hour with someone who has built the thing you are asking about. Straight answers, no deck.
What this covers6 areas, and where each one bites
- On retainerA few days a month, holding the programme and reachable when something goes sideways. Open-ended, cancellable.
- Fixed scopeNamed starters live here: evidence pack, first slice, diagnostics, StoryMaps. A written answer. No obligation after.
- By the hourAn hour with someone who has built the thing you are asking about. Straight answers, no deck.
- GO / TEAM / NO-GONamed-scope work the firm takes; teammate GIS and perimeter QA writing; and the list of seals and stamps the firm will not pretend to hold.
- Before work startsScope in writing, the decision points named, and what happens if the answer turns out to be that you do not need the firm.
- The referralIf the honest answer is that this is not a fit, you get that answer and a direction to go instead. That answer is part of the first conversation.
Named starters live on this sheet and the practice pages. Dollar prices publish only for live delivery lanes. A rate card is not published. The work starts in writing.
What the firm turns downstated up front, so nobody finds out on a call
- No PE or hydrology seals. If the work needs a licensed engineer’s stamp, that is not this firm.
- No BESS EPC or electrical design as prime. Conflict of interest, and it is not the work.
- No nuclear QA prime and no licensed-ops authority. We write docs and evidence under your technical authority; we do not hold NQA-1 program authority.
- No auditor stamp, accreditation, or legal-compliance stamp. The file is yours to stand behind.
- No set-aside status is claimed.
- No overlays, no citywide conformance stamp, no inventing clients.
What holds this workstandards we know, not certifications we hold
- Scope firstAgreed in writing before work starts, including what is not in it. Changes are a conversation, not an invoice surprise.Each scope
- Named startersEvidence pack and first slice as advisory named-scope work; StoryMap packages when the GIS partner gate is on; quality diagnostics. On this sheet so nobody has to guess the first move.Fixed scope
- No lock-inSource, documents and deploy control are yours throughout, so leaving is a decision rather than a project.The work we take
- The noWork outside what one engineer can do properly, or outside the GO/TEAM line, is declined up front.Before the start
Where it stopsan empty row is work this firm does not take
Capacity
One engineer is the capacity and the constraint, and both are stated before the scope is written rather than discovered inside it. Machines carry the reading and the drafting.
There is no bench and no staffing plan. If a scope needs more than that, the answer is a name to call instead, given in the same conversation.
The methodUnderstand → map → improve → evidence and a handoff
Understand
Map
Improve
Evidence & handoff
Start a conversationTell the firm the problem. If it is not a fit, that answer comes with a direction to go instead.
One standard, more than one practicewhy these are three sheets and not three firms
- Section 508Section 508 — Accessible Public Systems: we write toSection 508 — Operational Systems & Quality: does not applySection 508 — Resilience & Technical Communication: we write to
- ADA Title IIADA Title II — Accessible Public Systems: we write toADA Title II — Operational Systems & Quality: does not applyADA Title II — Resilience & Technical Communication: does not apply
- WCAG 2.1 AAWCAG 2.1 AA — Accessible Public Systems: we write toWCAG 2.1 AA — Operational Systems & Quality: does not applyWCAG 2.1 AA — Resilience & Technical Communication: we write to
- ISO 9001ISO 9001 — Accessible Public Systems: does not applyISO 9001 — Operational Systems & Quality: we write toISO 9001 — Resilience & Technical Communication: does not apply
- NQA-1 / App BNQA-1 / App B — Accessible Public Systems: does not applyNQA-1 / App B — Operational Systems & Quality: we write toNQA-1 / App B — Resilience & Technical Communication: does not apply
- CMMC Level 2CMMC Level 2 — Accessible Public Systems: does not applyCMMC Level 2 — Operational Systems & Quality: we write toCMMC Level 2 — Resilience & Technical Communication: does not apply
- Human sign-offHuman sign-off — Accessible Public Systems: we write toHuman sign-off — Operational Systems & Quality: we write toHuman sign-off — Resilience & Technical Communication: we write to
Human sign-offThe line that crosses all three. Models may draft; a person decides and signs; the record says who. None of the others survive without it.