Case Studies | GovTech

An UK-only DevSecOps partnership for regulated digital delivery

DevSecOps Managed Cloud Service

About

A GovTech business working with Cloud Combinator on AWS. The client is anonymised at their request.

Challenge

The engagement had three focus areas, each essential to serving the client's regulated client base.

A trusted, UK-only, cleared partner

Government and regulated work requires UK-based personnel holding the requisite security clearances. The client needed a partner it could put in front of those clients with confidence, operating entirely within the United Kingdom.

A secure, scalable AWS platform, delivered per project

Each new website or application needed a resilient, cost-efficient AWS design, provisioned as code, with security controls and CI/ CD built in from the start rather than bolted on later.

Continuous security, compliance and support

Between project deliveries the platform still needs monitoring, patching, incident response and governance. The client needed ongoing managed support aligned to ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus, not just a build-and-leave engagement.

Solution

Cloud Combinator runs each the client's project through a consistent four-stage lifecycle, with a named Service Manager, UK-based and cleared staff where required, and monthly Service Management Reviews wrapping the whole engagement. Between projects, the same team stays on retainer to keep the estate healthy.

24x7

Monitoring, patching and incident response on retainer

UK-only

SC-cleared personnel for government and regulated work

6

Core requirements addressed under one integrated service

By the numbers:

  • 24x7 - Monitoring, patching and incident response on retainer
  • UK-only - SC-cleared personnel for government and regulated work
  • 6 - Core requirements addressed under one integrated service
Changes

The partnership gave the client a single, UK-only DevSecOps service covering the full lifecycle of every project and the continuous operations in between, aligned to the compliance standards its regulated clients require.

  • A cleared, UK-based partner — Every engagement is staffed by UK-based personnel, with key team members holding SC clearance for government work, giving the client a partner it can stand behind with regulated clients.
  • Secure delivery by design — Infrastructure as code, CI/CD with embedded security scanning and CREST-certified penetration testing make security a property of every build rather than an afterthought.
  • Compliance alignment — ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus controls are applied to each project's scope, with governance packs and security reporting to evidence posture.
  • Continuous optimisation — Retained 24x7 operations, monthly Service Management Reviews and semi-annual Well-Architected Reviews keep cost, capacity and security under active control between projects.
  • Handover — Runbooks, topology documentation and lessons-learned sessions feed a shared roadmap, so knowledge compounds across the partnership rather than being lost at project close.

With the pilot validating the model, the partnership is structured to scale to further initiatives as the client grows, flexing between retainer and time-and-materials engagements. The client has an UK-only cloud partner able to secure, deliver and continuously optimise each new project on AWS.

AWS Stack

Amazon VPC

For isolated, secure network foundations designed per project.

AWS CloudFormation

For provisioning resilient environments as infrastructure as code.

AWS Security Hub

For daily security alert triage and consolidated posture reporting.

Amazon CloudWatch

For 24x7 monitoring, event-log collection and alerting.

AWS Well-Architected Framework

For go-live and semi-annual workload reviews.

AWS resource

Tagging for cost governance, capacity management and asset tracking.

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