Draw the boundary first. Then write Terraform.
A federal customer was ready to procure. The architecture was not.
This is a redacted write-up of a real engagement: a FedRAMP Moderate authorization boundary built on AWS GovCloud for an AI SaaS vendor selling into federal buyers, against a customer-driven timeline tied to a fiscal year.
The context
The client ran production on commercial AWS with a strong engineering culture, modern Terraform practice, and zero prior federal experience. A federal customer had committed to procurement contingent on a FedRAMP Moderate path, with an aggressive deadline.
