How Knowtex Secured a $15M Federal Contract with the VA in 85 Days by getting FedRAMP Moderate-aligned with Delve

The Problem

Knowtex is building a voice AI operating system for healthcare systems. Their platform automates clinical documentation, coding, and orders, allowing providers to focus on patient care instead of manual data entry.

By mid-2025, Knowtex was approaching a major inflection point.

Their voice AI platform was gaining traction with clinicians, pilots were showing meaningful time savings, and conversations with federal healthcare organizations were accelerating. The opportunity in front of them was larger than anything they had pursued before.

But there was a hard constraint.

To deploy inside federal environments—starting with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)—Knowtex needed to meet federal cloud security authorization requirements aligned to FedRAMP Moderate (300+ controls, extensive documentation, and ongoing monitoring).

FedRAMP is not a checkbox. It is a gate. Without it, Knowtex could not operate within the Department of Veterans Affairs or engage with other federal agencies. Every federal opportunity would remain inaccessible.

Then the stakes escalated.

Knowtex was awarded a $15 million contract with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States. The deal came with a strict timeline. Knowtex had roughly 90 days to achieve FedRAMP readiness. If they missed that window, deployment would stall and the contract itself would be at risk.

“We had a $15 million contract on the line, and the only thing blocking us from deployment was compliance,” says Caroline Zhang, CEO and co-founder of Knowtex.

For a fast-moving startup actively shipping an AI product, the challenge was speed. FedRAMP requires 300+ controls, extensive documentation, and continuous monitoring. Tackling that alone would mean pulling engineers off core product work and slowing momentum at a critical moment.

Knowtex needed a way forward that did not compromise velocity or security.

They needed a partner that could help them move fast while doing things the right way.

The challenge was not just complexity, but speed. Once the contract was signed, Knowtex had a 90-day window to meet federal security requirements. FedRAMP is one of the most demanding compliance frameworks in existence, with more than 300 security controls and strict expectations around continuous monitoring.

The team needed to move quickly without compromising security, product velocity, or the deal itself.

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The Solution

Knowtex partnered with Delve to fast-track its FedRAMP Moderate-aligned readiness work and meet the VA timeline.

The team already had a smooth experience working with Delve on SOC 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA compliance, and they knew Delve could handle complex frameworks while minimizing internal lift. As soon as the VA contract was approved, Knowtex reached out to Delve to begin the FedRAMP process.

Delve immediately built a clear execution roadmap and worked closely with Knowtex’s engineering team to deploy a new AWS GovCloud environment, implement required controls, aligned to FedRAMP Moderate / NIST 800-53, and prepare documentation for agency review.

“FedRAMP has over 300 controls,” says Jocelyn Kang, CTO and co-founder of Knowtex. “Having Delve working on that while we focused on building the product was a huge weight off my shoulders.”

Delve’s platform continuously scanned Knowtex’s infrastructure, mapped controls directly to their AI architecture, and surfaced precise remediation steps. The team received custom, actionable instructions tailored to their specific environment, backed by expert support available 24/7 to answer questions and provide guidance in real time.

Delve also acted as an extension of the Knowtex team, coordinating with cloud providers and third parties, answering security questions in real time, and managing audit readiness end to end.

“They did not just help us check boxes,” Jocelyn says. “They helped us move fast while still meeting the highest standards of federal security.”

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The Result

With Delve, Knowtex reached federal readiness milestones fast enough to support deployment, resulting in an Interim Authority to Operate (IATO) from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in 85 days.

Shortly after the Interim ATO, Knowtex deployed its platform to its first VA site and began rolling out to additional facilities. Within weeks, the company was on track to serve multiple hospitals, an unusually fast deployment timeline in healthcare.

Clinicians using Knowtex are already seeing measurable impact, including time savings of more than two hours per day and improved patient interactions by allowing providers to stay present instead of focused on documentation.

Beyond the initial deployment, completing this federal readiness work changed Knowtex’s go-to-market motion. Federal buyers could engage with higher confidence because the product was operating within a federal authorization path aligned to FedRAMP Moderate.

“Securing FedRAMP compliance, starting with this IATO, puts us in a position where agencies can look at us and say, when can you begin” Caroline says.

Delve continues to support Knowtex with continuous monitoring, documentation management, and ongoing compliance support, ensuring the company remains audit-ready as it scales.

“Delve felt like an extension of our team,” Jocelyn says. “They were responsive, proactive, and deeply understood both the technical and regulatory complexity of what we were building.”

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Conclusion

Delve helped Knowtex move from blocked to deploying in 85 days, supporting a FedRAMP Moderate-aligned readiness program that culminated in a VA Interim ATO, enabling a $15M federal contract without derailing product velocity.

By combining AI automation, a TurboTax-like platform, and 1:1 Slack support from compliance experts, Delve allowed Knowtex to meet the most demanding security requirements without slowing down product development or execution.

With Delve as a long-term compliance partner, Knowtex is now positioned to expand across additional VA hospitals and pursue new federal opportunities.

“Delve is an enabler,” Caroline says. “They unlocked our ability to deliver for our customers quickly, thoroughly, and at enterprise scale.”