Compliance tools confirm your controls exist on paper. We confirm they perform under real-world adversarial conditions. Integrated AI governance, cybersecurity validation, and quality engineering assurance. At prices Ontario SMEs can actually access.
The Problem
Organizations deploy AI systems without any real way to validate whether their governance and security controls actually hold up under pressure.
No other Canadian provider combines quality engineering discipline, AI behaviour validation, and cybersecurity control effectiveness testing in a single offering at SME-accessible pricing.
Validation of AI system behaviour, bias, drift, and decision transparency against regulatory and ethical frameworks. We test what compliance tools only document.
ABVF FrameworkABVF + aigrc · open sourceAdversarial testing, red team exercises, control effectiveness verification, and resilience stress-testing of AI-enabled infrastructure under simulated attack conditions.
CEVP FrameworkCEVP + Qopilot · open sourceTest automation audits, release quality validation, and production resilience assessment for AI-integrated software pipelines — from an 18-year practitioner lens.
RES ScorecardRES Scorecard · 18-year practitioner lensThree proprietary methodologies under active development. The core differentiator that no advisory firm, compliance tool, or security testing specialist can replicate.
A structured methodology for assessing AI model behaviour under production conditions — including adversarial inputs, prompt injection scenarios, and distribution shift detection. Original research into AI failure mode taxonomy specific to enterprise deployment.
A structured testing approach that validates security and governance controls under simulated attack conditions. Developed from first principles, combining quality engineering and penetration testing disciplines for AI-specific risks.
A benchmarking tool enabling clients to measure their AI system resilience against industry standards and regulatory expectations — producing a defensible, board-ready scorecard with prioritized remediation roadmap.
We don't ask clients to trust a black box. The runtime layer of our ABVF and CEVP frameworks is open source on GitHub under MIT licence. Engineering teams can read the code, run it, and verify exactly how their evidence is produced — the opposite of how closed-source platform players operate.
Executable AI governance checks mapped to NIST AI RMF, EU AI Act, ISO 42001, and OWASP LLM Top 10. Powers the ABVF behaviour validation layer. Produces audit-grade evidence in JSON and Markdown for every run.
github.com/connectsmartconsulting/aigrc →AI copilot that translates aigrc evidence into business-language audit narrative and prioritised remediation. Two commands: author and interpret. Powers the CEVP audit layer. Anthropic, OpenAI, or fully offline.
Every engagement is fixed-price and outcome-oriented. Tier 1 is deliberately within the discretionary budget of a senior technology manager.
Compare: Big Four advisory engagements run $80,000 – $500,000 (advice only). Closed-source platforms (Credo AI, HiddenLayer, Robust Intelligence) run $50,000 – $200,000/year for tooling you cannot audit. We deliver methodology-driven, practitioner-led assurance starting at $3,500 — with the runtime open-sourced on GitHub.
Advisory firms advise from the outside. We validate from inside the same delivery mindset that built the systems you need assurance on.
18 years building and transforming the exact AI-enabled enterprise systems we are now hired to validate. We see vulnerabilities as defects waiting to happen — not as an afterthought.
Our methodology runtime is on GitHub under MIT licence. Engineering teams audit the code, run it themselves, and verify exactly how their evidence is produced. No black-box scoring. No proprietary lock-in. The opposite of how the platform players in this space operate.
Every engagement is fixed-price and outcome-oriented. No surprise invoices. A Tier 1 assessment can be approved in a single conversation without board sign-off.
| Capability | Big Four | MDR Providers | Connect Smart |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Behaviour Validation | Advisory | ✕ | ✓ |
| Adversarial Control Testing | Limited | Partial | ✓ |
| Quality Engineering Lens | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Integrated Assurance Model | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| SME-Accessible Pricing | ✕ | Partial | ✓ |
| Open Source Methodology Runtime | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Ontario SME Focus | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
Our frameworks are designed to help organisations meet their compliance obligations with executable evidence — not just documented policies.
Algorithmic discrimination law. NIST AI RMF named as the explicit safe harbour. Documentation no longer enough.
High-risk AI obligations live. Robustness and cybersecurity testing mandated by statute.
Already in force. NIST AI RMF is the explicit safe harbour for Texas-active organisations.
Ontario's Responsible AI and Data Act. Demonstrable AI governance, not documented policy.
Strengthening enforcement around AI-driven decisions and personal data, replacing PIPEDA.
I have spent 18 years inside enterprise delivery teams as a QA and DevSecOps leader, building, testing, and transforming the exact kinds of AI-enabled systems that organizations now need to govern and secure.
During that time I watched organizations deploy increasingly complex AI systems without any real way to validate whether their governance and security controls actually hold up under pressure. Compliance tools tell you the controls exist on paper. Nobody is testing whether they perform when something goes wrong.
That gap is what Connect Smart Consulting is built to fill. The founding perspective is not borrowed from a textbook. It was developed through nearly two decades of enterprise delivery at the intersection of quality, security, and regulated system design.
Certified SA and SP. Led QA strategy within Agile Release Trains, aligning delivery speed with quality, security, and compliance across distributed enterprise programmes.
AWS Cloud Practitioner and AWS DevOps Engineer certified. Designed scalable DevSecOps pipelines embedding security-first practices and translating SLAs into actionable NFRs.
Certified AIGP and ISO/IEC 42001 Lead Implementor. Qualified to design and audit AI management systems against the global standard for responsible AI deployment.
Post-Graduate Diploma in Cybersecurity. Treats vulnerabilities as defects waiting to happen and security as a foundational engineering requirement. Eighteen years in the making.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call. We will identify your most pressing AI assurance gaps and recommend the right starting point. No commitment required.
Ottawa-based · Remote delivery worldwide · Response within 1 business day
// Currently accepting two design-partner engagements at reduced pilot pricing in exchange for case-study rights.