Regulatory Consulting at Leidos

Overview

Leidos is one of the largest U.S. federal technology and national-security contractors — roughly 47,000 employees and about $16.7 billion in annual revenue — and in 2025–26 it moved aggressively to the center of federal AI delivery. Historically a mission-and-engineering firm rather than a policy shop, Leidos has built an AI strategy (its NorthStar 2030 growth plan) around embedding generative and agentic AI into defense, intelligence, health, and civilian workflows — and, crucially for an AI-policy audience, around AI governance and assurance. The firm has partnered with OpenAI to deploy secure generative and agentic AI for federal missions, teamed with CoreWeave for sovereign AI cloud dedicated to the intelligence community and defense, and — most relevant to governance — partnered with Trustible to automate AI-governance workflows for government customers, compressing compliance reviews from weeks to hours. Combined with cleared talent and deep mission knowledge, this positions Leidos as a major real-world test of how responsible AI actually gets fielded inside the government’s most sensitive systems.

AI-Focused Regulatory Work

Leidos’s 2025–26 arc shows how a traditional integrator becomes an AI-policy actor. On the delivery side, its January 2026 OpenAI partnership integrates OpenAI’s most powerful models — in a secure configuration designed to protect Leidos and customer data — into core workflows across digital modernization, health, national security, and defense, with CTO Ted Tanner framing it as moving ‘beyond the provisioning of a ChatGPT Enterprise service into actual, cutting-edge AI for large-scale government missions.’ Its July 2026 collaboration with CoreWeave targets secure, sovereign AI cloud for the intelligence community and the Department of War, letting agencies build, train, and operate AI at mission scale. But the governance moves are what make Leidos genuinely relevant to AI policy: its partnership with Trustible automates AI-governance workflows — the reviews and documentation that determine whether an AI system can be authorized — cutting them from weeks to hours, while its integration of RegScale’s automated risk management for the U.S. Air Force and a ~$142 million DISA award to modernize secure IT with AI-driven tools and Zero Trust place it squarely at the intersection of federal AI policy, cyber requirements, and large-scale modernization. In other words, Leidos is building not just the AI but the compliance machinery that governs it — the operational layer where responsible-AI mandates either become real or remain paperwork. For a directory reader, Leidos is a leading window into how AI governance is being automated and embedded inside the defense and intelligence systems where the stakes are highest.

Notable AI Policy Work

• Partnered with OpenAI (Jan 2026) to deploy secure generative and agentic AI across defense, intelligence, health, and civilian workflows — the foundation of its NorthStar 2030 growth strategy.
• Teamed with CoreWeave (July 2026) to provide secure, sovereign AI cloud dedicated to the Intelligence Community and Department of War, enabling agencies to build, train, and operate AI at mission scale.
• Partnered with Trustible to automate AI-governance workflows for government customers — compressing compliance reviews from weeks to hours — and integrated RegScale’s automated risk management for the U.S. Air Force.
• Secured a ~$142M DISA award to modernize secure IT operations with AI-driven tools and Zero Trust compliance for sensitive defense and intelligence web applications.
• Positions AI governance, cybersecurity, and Zero Trust as core to mission-critical federal systems — embedding responsible-AI controls into delivery rather than treating them as add-ons.

Thought Leadership

1. Leidos, OpenAI Deploying AI to Transform Federal Operations (Jan 2026)
   Announces the OpenAI partnership integrating secure generative and agentic AI into federal workflows across defense, intelligence, health, and civilian missions.
2. Leidos & CoreWeave Advance Secure Federal AI (July 2026)
   Details the sovereign AI-cloud collaboration for the Intelligence Community and Department of War — secure infrastructure for mission-scale AI.
3. 4 Keys to Unlocking the Power of AI for Mission Acceleration
   Leidos’s practical guidance on responsible, trusted AI adoption for government missions — building user trust, leveraging data, and embedding governance.

Clients

U.S. defense, intelligence, health, and civilian agencies, including the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and the U.S. Air Force. AI ecosystem partners include OpenAI, CoreWeave, Trustible (AI governance), and RegScale (automated risk management). ~47,000 employees; ~$16.7B annual revenue.