The practice
One director who owns the outcome.
Northbend Compliance is Scott Mann's federal-compliance practice for architecture, engineering, and construction firms. The model is simple: a single, accountable director runs the roadmap and pulls in the right accredited specialists, instead of handing you a stack of forms and wishing you luck.
Scott Mann
Federal procurement fluency, AEC experience, and a security clearance background.
Scott has spent 30-plus years around federal and AEC work, long enough to know that the firms losing government contracts rarely lose on engineering. They lose on eligibility: a lapsed SAM registration, a self-certification that no longer counts, a solicitation naming a CMMC level they can't affirm.
As a DCSA-trained Facility Security Officer with hands-on federal procurement experience, Scott speaks the language of the agencies and the rules. He uses it to build a firm a deliberate roadmap, register cleanly, certify in the right lane, and stand up a CMMC program against a real deadline, so compliance becomes a moat instead of a fire drill.
- FSO / DCSA (Facility Security Officer)
- FAA Part 107 Commercial Drone Operator
- Federal procurement
- 30+ yrs in federal & AEC
- SAM.gov & set-aside registrations
- CMMC / NIST 800-171 readiness
How we think
Three convictions that shape the work.
Federal work is gated, not just won
A firm wins design work on talent and licensure. Federal work adds two disciplines that have nothing to do with billable engineering: procurement mechanics and cybersecurity compliance. Miss either and you never see the field.
One owner, not a handoff
You don't get passed to a portal and a checklist. Scott owns the roadmap, the sequencing, and the agency relationships, and stays accountable for whether you clear the gate.
Readiness and certification stay separate
By rule, the firm that prepares you can't be the one that certifies you. Northbend does the readiness work and coordinates an independent, accredited C3PAO. We're not a C3PAO, and that separation is the point.
Sister practice
BD-AEC wins the work. Northbend gets you cleared to do it.
Scott also runs BD-AEC, a fractional business development practice for AEC firms. The two are built to pair: BD-AEC opens the pipeline, Northbend Compliance clears the federal gate. Many firms work with one, some with both.