Two practices
Each practice is led by a client-focused Managing Director who owns delivery and the standards behind it. Practice leadership sits close to the work, not above it, which is how every engagement strengthens the firm's institutional knowledge and how every client benefits from the next.
ENTERPRISE SERVICES
Three OfferingsSenior executive leadership embedded inside the client's leadership team. Three named offerings, scoped to where the pain actually is. Each is a discrete engagement with its own pricing band, time commitment, and minimum term. They can be combined under a single MSA when the client needs both senior executive ownership and a fully-staffed executive office.
Operating Partner
Fractional Chief Administrative OfficerThe CAO seat. Senior executive ownership of the operational backbone of the company: HR operations, finance and budget execution, contracts and compliance, security and IT, organizational design, and the internal process maturity that keeps the business running while the CEO and the delivery team focus on winning and executing work. A C-suite role, scoped fractionally, with full accountability for outcomes.
Time: 40 to 160 hours per month · Minimum term: 12 months
Right Hand
Embedded Chief of StaffThe CEO's operational right hand. We run the front office: cadence management, decision preparation, information flow, board prep, OKR tracking, executive communications, and ownership of the special initiatives that don't have a natural home. The Chief of Staff function is the most leveraged seat in any organization, and it is the one that growing companies almost universally either get wrong or skip outright.
Time: 40 to 160 hours per month · Minimum term: 6 months
Executive Office
Office of the CEO · Build or OperateThe full personal staff function around the principal: Chief of Staff, Executive Assistant, Deputy Chief of Staff, communications support, strategy, and business management. Distinct from the CAO seat. The CAO is a C-suite executive who runs the company's operational infrastructure; the Executive Office is the staffed apparatus that makes the CEO personally effective.
Two sub-modes, scoped to what the client actually needs.
- Architect: design, build, recruit, and stand up the Executive Office, then hand off to the client's permanent team. Six to nine months.
- Operate: Tacitus delivers the seats through The Tacitus Network. Engagements scale with the size and complexity of the office.
Bundled Engagement
Operating Partner and Executive Office are commonly delivered together: the CAO owns the company's operational backbone while the Executive Office runs the principal's personal staff function. When bundled under a single MSA, the combined engagement is offered at a 5% to 8% discount against the separate retainers.
Ideal client profile
- Growth-stage IC and DoD contractors, $10M to $150M range
- Rapid scaling that has outpaced organizational infrastructure
- PE-backed integration or post-acquisition restructuring
- Gaps in back-office operational leadership
- Strong technical founder who needs C-suite operational support
PROGRAM OPERATIONS
One Seat · Three ShapesSenior program leadership embedded inside the client's delivery organization. One seat, the Fractional VP of Operations, delivered in three shapes scoped to the situation. Program Operations runs the work the company sells: the programs, the portfolio, and the delivery machine that turns won contracts into executed work. It takes the seat and operates. It is not project-manager staff augmentation, and it is not a PMO process binder.
Build
Stand Up the Delivery MachineStand up the program-management function from scratch: the PMO charter, the delivery cadence, the KPI architecture, and the operating rhythm. Recruit and onboard the internal seats, then hand off and exit. For the contractor that just won a major program and needs a real delivery operation, fast.
Term: 6 to 9 months
Run
Operate the Delivery FunctionHold the Fractional VP of Operations seat on an ongoing basis. Own delivery, the PMO, the operating cadence, and the cross-program KPIs. Run the rhythm of business that turns the contract backlog into executed work, on time and on budget. For the contractor with product-market fit and a backlog, but no delivery operation underneath it.
Time: 20 to 40 hours per month · Minimum term: 12 months
Recover
Fix the Contract in TroubleA bounded engagement to fix a specific delivery failure: a red contract, sliding milestones, CPARS recovery, recompete preparation, or a post-award startup that never started. Get in, run the triage, get it back on track, hand it back. For the contractor with a program in trouble and a customer asking questions they don't want to answer.
Term: 3 to 6 months · Posture: Intensive
Works With Enterprise Services
Run and Operating Partner are the two sides of the operating function: Enterprise Services owns the executive operating system, Program Operations owns the delivery operating system. Combined under a single MSA, the engagement carries a 5% to 8% discount against the separate retainers, with one Tacitus Review and one accountable principal across both.
Practice scope
- PMO build-out, charter, and governance
- Delivery cadence: weekly program reviews, monthly operations, QBRs
- KPI and OKR frameworks; portfolio dashboards
- Task-order startup, contract execution, CDRL and CPARS posture
- Hiring plans and delivery-team structure
- Process documentation and standard operating procedures
- Customer relationship management (COR/COTR coordination)
- Program recovery for red or sliding contracts
Ideal client profile
- Growth-stage IC and DoD contractors, $10M to $150M range
- Delivery infrastructure lagging the win pace
- Firms executing classified contracts needing delivery leadership
- Product-market fit established, but no delivery operation underneath
- PE-backed, recently acquired, or preparing for sale
THE TACITUS NETWORK
How We StaffThe Tacitus Network is the firm's affiliated group of cleared senior operators. It is the staffing layer behind both practices: when an Enterprise Services or Program Operations engagement requires named delivery beyond the firm's leadership, the seats are filled from the Network. Membership is invitation-based, not open enrollment.
Who's in the Network
Former agency Staff Directors, Chiefs of Staff, senior front office leaders, and program operations executives with active clearances and operational pedigree across the IC and DoD. Network members are vetted, briefed on the firm's delivery standards, and matched to engagements on a case-by-case basis.
How the Network is used
Network members deliver client work alongside or in place of the firm's leadership, depending on engagement structure. Most commonly used to staff Right Hand engagements, Executive Office: Operate engagements, and Program Operations engagements that require additional named senior capacity.
PROJECT-BASED ENGAGEMENTS
Defined ScopeNot every need is a retainer. We also take on defined-scope engagements within either practice for companies with a specific, bounded operational challenge.
- Organizational design and restructuring plans
- M&A target operational evaluations
- Post-acquisition integration playbooks
- Targeted operational assessments outside The Tacitus Review framework