Booz Allen and Credo AI Make AI Governance Accessible

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform government operations, effective governance is not just a regulatory requirement—it’s a fundamental necessity for maximizing AI’s potential. Our approach to AI governance goes beyond mere compliance. At Booz Allen, we believe that governance becomes a catalyst for innovation when done right.

Our partnership with Credo AI is a key focus of our effort to help federal agencies manage the complex landscape of AI governance, allowing them to harness AI’s power with confidence and clarity. The introduction of our joint Jumpstart offerings makes effective AI governance more accessible. 

The challenge for many organizations is their reliance on manual governance processes, like spreadsheets, that are error-prone, lack real-time visibility, and provide limited intelligence or insight. And governance is not simply compliance—effective governance across the AI lifecycle requires real-time collaboration and intelligent workflows to scale. Doing governance well, intelligently, and systematically will accelerate the critical AI work agencies want to do and underpin our approach to AI governance.

We have partnered with Credo AI to address this need, as it offers a proven, best-of-breed solution for AI lifecycle governance. Credo AI’s AI Governance Platform includes a centralized registry/repository of AI use cases, automated risk assessments, policy-based governance, and standardized reporting. Available as either an on-premise or software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering, it provides federal agencies with a flexible, scalable, and extensible approach to AI governance.

A key strength is the use of dedicated policy packs to implement appropriate guardrails and controls for specific AI use cases. The platform offers standardized policy packs for common regulations but also the ability to author custom packs addressing organization or use-case-specific requirements.

A strategic value of the platform is helping to define organizational components and best practices of an end-to-end strategy and program. It provides a framework for effective AI governance that enterprises can adapt to their unique requirements.

AI governance isn’t one-size-fits-all—agencies often vary in their overall maturity or how they approach enterprise adoption. To address this divergence, we are introducing several different Jumpstart offerings leveraging the Credo AI Governance Platform to meet specific requirements.

Without a clear overview of how AI is being used within an organization, agencies risk encountering ethical, financial, and legal pitfalls. These risks can lead to potential discrimination, harm to citizens, misinformation, security issues, and wasted resources.

As a result, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has created specific requirements for U.S. federal agencies, under OMB M-24-10, to catalog their AI use cases fully:

While some agencies are exempt from the public reporting provisions, they are still required to publish aggregate metrics, which necessitates a comprehensive inventory of AI use cases, albeit non-public.

The AI Governance Jumpstart by Credo AI and Booz Allen—Inventory is designed to meet these and other mandates. Agencies can leverage the AI registry offered with the Credo AI Governance Platform to catalog AI use cases with their associated metadata. With this repository, they can automatically assess use cases for their safety-impacting and rights-impacting potential, and easily import and export inventory data for OMB-mandated reporting.  

In many federal agencies, AI use cases are federated across the organization with different owners. Across this diverse portfolio, specific regulatory requirements and risks can vary dramatically, as well. In some instances, teams must balance the need to rigorously govern their AI use cases while maintaining confidentiality. 

The AI Governance Jumpstart by Credo AI and Booz Allen—Limited Use Case is designed to fill this void. It combines Booz Allen’s expertise in AI governance, risk, and compliance management with the full capabilities of the Credo AI Governance Platform. However, it’s restricted to supporting a limited number of use cases.

This makes it an effective solution for smaller teams needing to establish direct governance for a subset of their agency’s AI use cases. In many cases, these are especially sensitive or high-profile. It can also be the right solution for an agency looking to develop and assess its AI governance processes and policies before fully implementing them across its entire portfolio.  

We understand that AI governance in the federal sector comes with unique challenges. From the diversity of missions across agencies to the stringent compliance requirements set by the OMB, federal AI governance demands a nuanced approach.

Furthermore, AI governance doesn’t operate in a vacuum; it overlaps with cybersecurity, IT governance, privacy, risk management, and more. A key challenge in the federal AI landscape is what we call “governance debt.” Similar to technical debt, governance debt accumulates when organizations delay implementing proper governance structures. Jumpstart offerings are designed to help agencies avoid this pitfall.

As an AI ecosystem grows, the complexity of what must be managed will also grow. Taking the time now to establish a coherent governance strategy and approach that has future growth will help prevent governance debt over the long run.

Our collaboration with Credo AI brings together Booz Allen’s deep expertise and Credo AI’s cutting-edge, simple, and intuitive governance platform. It allows us to offer a comprehensive toolkit for every aspect of AI governance, advanced risk assessment capabilities, continuous monitoring solutions, and world-class practitioners to address complex ethical questions and tailor governance strategies to specific agency needs.

The platform also provides scalability and visibility. It allows agencies to manage and monitor their entire AI ecosystem from a single pane of glass. You can’t govern what you can’t see, and if you can’t see, map, measure, and track the risk of your AI work, then you can’t govern it.

Good intentions alone aren’t enough to ensure good outcomes. At Booz Allen, we’re not simply advising on AI governance—we’re living it. We’ve adopted the OMB’s AI governance guidelines for our own AI initiatives, using the very tools we offer to our clients.

We look forward to partnering with agencies across the government to build a future where AI serves the public interest effectively, ethically, and securely. By jumpstarting AI governance today, we're paving the way for responsible innovation tomorrow.