RapidFort Announces New ATO Readiness and Literacy Cohort

Written by

Chief Marketing Officer, RapidFort

Published on

April 17, 2026

Following the success of our first masterclass on practical steps to achieve an Authority To Operate (ATO), we're excited to announce a second ATO cohort - a free, three week webinar for leaders seeking a winning strategy for an ATO. RapidFort is excited to partner with CrowdStrike, Carahsoft, THE BR-DGE, and Plug and Play Tech Center to bring you a proven framework to identify the fastest and most cost-effective path to sell into Federal organizations. You'll learn how to navigate the Federal innovation ecosystem and shorten the path to an ATO.

ATO Readiness and Literacy

Our new masterclass "Authorization as Leadership Decision" is the brainchild of lead instructor Henry Sienkiewicz, former CIO/AO for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). It focuses on identifying and addressing challenges start-up companies face entering DoW environments.

"What vendors get wrong is, most vendors approach authorization as a compliance exercise, assuming that meeting control requirements is enough. But authorization decisions are not made on completeness alone - they are made on how risk is understood and explained. Strong technical solutions still fail when their risk cannot be interpreted in context. This course shows you how authorization decisions are actually made - and why that matters."

- Henry Sienkiewicz, former CIO/AO, DISA

Jump the Hurdles and Get to the Finish Line

For companies competing for Federal government contracts, an ATO can be one of the most daunting terms faced. Any digital deliverable, especially in the DoW, addresses the need to have, obtain, or maintain ATO accreditation. The ATO hurdle startups face as a bureaucratic blocker often seen as prioritizing compliance on paper over actual system security.

Sienkiewicz comments on why good systems fail authorization:

"Many capable systems fail authorization not because they are insecure, but because they do not align to how risk is evaluated. Authorizing Officials are not approving technology - they are accepting responsibility for its behavior over time. If your system cannot clearly express how it manages exposure, dependency, and change, it creates hesitation. This course helps you understand what decision-makers need to see - and how to show it."

- Henry Sienkiewicz

One of the first steps is in visualizing and preparing for hurdles, including:

Documentation challenges

Manual approval cycles

Financial burdens

On-site physical requirements

Our cohort addresses each of these challenges with a renowned expert who has experienced both sides of the ATO process. Addressing these elements changes ATO applications from one-time approval to model continuous authorization and delivery.

Mission-Driven Strategies for Optimal Outcomes

The teachings don't just check the boxes but dive deeply into topics with conceptual rigor, practical structures, and mission-aligned decision frameworks.

Module 1

Where Authorization Risk Is Created

Understand why authorization as a leadership risk decision not a late-stage compliance activity. Examine how architectural assumptions, ownership decisions, and governance structures create authorization risk early.

Module 2

How Executives Evaluate Authorization Readiness

Learn how Authorizing Officials evaluate trust in commercial systems under uncertainty. Examine governance visibility, ownership clarity, system boundaries, and signals to build authorization confidence.

Module 3

Executive Decisions That De-Risk Federal Market Entry

Explore how executive decisions influence authorization outcomes and federal market readiness, including sponsorship, timing, governance discipline, and organizational accountability.

Each module uses examples to build a consistent framework supporting your ATO journey. Those topics can be hurdles for many seeking ATO approvals but with the right strategies, can be overcome.

What This Course Enables

"Authorization is not won by producing more evidence, but by producing the right kind of confidence. Vendors who succeed understand how their systems will be judged under pressure, not just how they perform in testing. The ability to communicate risk clearly becomes as important as the technology itself. This course develops that capability so your system can be understood, trusted, and approved."

- Henry Sienkiewicz

How Does RapidFort Enable Authority to Operate (ATO)?

RapidFort helps enable ATO success with tools that eliminate Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) counts by up to 99.9% and attack surfaces by up to 90%, minimizing extraneous paperwork in your ATO package. End-to-end scanning and continuous profiling helps take ATO challenges from overwhelming to automated. Simply running our tool can reduce ATO timelines by up to 9 months.

RapidFort began by providing vulnerability elimination services to Federal markets. Use our expertise to your advantage. We are eager to help find ways to bring great technology into Federal government spaces. This cohort is free of charge, open to all, under Henry's guidance, to share valuable best practices. Understanding is the key to acceleration, and with this, RapidFort hopes to improve everyone's path to ATO success.

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