AI-augmented regulatory documentation

Regulatory documentation, delivered in weeks instead of months.

A specialist services practice for defense, pharma, medtech, and rail. We combine fourteen years of systems engineering experience with modern AI tooling to produce the documentation your regulators and program offices demand.

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3–5×
Faster than manual documentation workflows
14 yr
Founder experience across defense and engineering
100%
Human review on every deliverable
VOSB
Veteran-Owned, active U.S. Secret clearance
01 — The Problem
Compliance documentation has become the bottleneck.
In regulated industries, engineering teams spend more on producing compliance documentation than on the engineering itself. Internal teams are buried; external consultants are expensive and slow.
Manual traceability

Engineering teams spend months building requirements traceability matrices by hand, cross-referencing thousands of documents across DOORS, SharePoint, and legacy archives.

Revision cycles compound

Every specification revision triggers cascading downstream work: impact assessment, test re-validation, RTM rebuild, and change board documentation. The cycle repeats with every design change.

Generic AI is not enough

Foundation models can draft documents but cannot certify compliance. Domain expertise, accountable human review, and regulatory pattern recognition are required to produce documentation regulators will accept.

02 — How we work
A structured methodology, backed by AI.
Trace AI is a services practice. We work alongside your existing requirements management environment, apply our codified regulatory methodology, and deliver audit-ready documentation. The founder reviews every deliverable before it reaches your team.
01

Intake

We work from your existing documents. Send us a sanitized sample of your requirements, design, hazard, or test artifacts in whatever format your team uses today.

  • PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint
  • ReqIF, CSV, XML exports
  • DOORS exports, ELM extracts
  • SharePoint and Teamcenter archives
02

Map and structure

We organize your documentation into a structured representation, linking every requirement, design element, hazard, and test. This is the working model behind every deliverable we produce.

  • Cross-document linkage
  • Subsystem-level decomposition
  • Version history captured
  • Founder review at every step
03

Apply regulatory methodology

We apply the relevant regulatory framework to your documentation, drawing on the rule libraries we have codified from fourteen years of working in these domains. Every gap is flagged for review.

  • FDA 21 CFR 820, Part 11, ISO 14971
  • MIL-STD-881, MIL-HDBK-217F
  • DoD Major Capability Acquisition
  • EU AI Act Articles 11 through 15
04

Deliver and review

We produce your deliverables in the formats your reviewers expect. The founder reviews every output before delivery. You receive audit-ready artifacts with full source traceability.

  • Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF
  • RTM, FRD, CDR briefing, FMEA
  • 510(k), DHF, RMF for medtech
  • Source provenance on every claim
03 — Deliverables
What you receive.
Every Trace AI engagement produces concrete artifacts in the formats your reviewers, regulators, and program offices expect. Nothing exotic. Everything auditable.

Defense and aerospace

  • RTMRequirements Traceability Matrix with full upstream and downstream linkage
  • FRDFunctional Requirements Document with subsystem decomposition
  • CDR pkgCritical Design Review entry package, briefing, and supporting docs
  • FMEAFailure Modes and Effects Analysis cross-referenced to requirements
  • SE planSystems Engineering Plan aligned to DoD MCA pathway

Pharma, medtech, and rail

  • 510(k)Substantial Equivalence narrative, comparison tables, eSTAR-ready package
  • DHFDesign History File compilation per 21 CFR 820.30
  • RMFRisk Management File per ISO 14971 with hazard analysis
  • CSV/GxPComputer System Validation and GxP-aligned validation packages
  • SFS/SDSSystem Functional and Design Specifications for rail and transit
04 — Engagement models
Three ways to start working together.
Every engagement is scoped, priced, and delivered as a defined services contract. No long-term lock-in, no software subscriptions, no surprises.
Option A

Discovery sprint

A two-week engagement to assess your current documentation environment, identify the highest-leverage opportunities, and produce a tailored roadmap for further work. Best for organizations exploring whether AI-augmented documentation services fit their needs.

$15K–$25K
Two-week engagement with written deliverable
Option B

Single deliverable

A four- to six-week engagement producing one complete deliverable end to end. Examples: a 510(k) Substantial Equivalence narrative, a CDR entry package, a complete RTM build from existing source documents. Best for organizations with a specific upcoming regulatory or program milestone.

$40K–$80K
One deliverable, founder-reviewed, audit-ready
Option C

Program engagement

A multi-deliverable engagement supporting a complete regulatory submission or program milestone. Includes multiple linked artifacts, revision cycles, and ongoing review support across a program phase. Best for organizations approaching a major milestone such as 510(k) submission or DoD Milestone B or C.

$100K–$200K
Multi-artifact engagement, scoped per program
05 — In plain language
What we are, and what we are not.
We believe the best client relationships start with honest expectations. Here is how we describe ourselves.

Trace AI is a specialist services practice, not an enterprise software product. We do not sell software licenses or platform subscriptions. We do not ask you to migrate off DOORS, Polarion, Jama, or any other tool you already use.

Our work is AI-augmented but human-accountable. We use Claude and other modern AI tools as force multipliers to accelerate the production of regulatory documentation. The founder reviews every deliverable before it reaches your team. You are paying for codified domain expertise and accountable quality, not for autonomous AI output.

Our differentiation is fourteen years of systems engineering experience across Navy submarine combat systems, locomotive controls, and Marine Corps acquisition, combined with a disciplined methodology and a deep regulatory rule library that we have built from real program work.

If you need a software platform with deterministic verification engines, we are not the right partner. If you need senior systems engineering judgment applied at speed to your regulatory documentation, we are exactly what you are looking for.

Addis Kassie · Founder · Trace AI
06 — Founder
Built by an engineer who has lived this work.
Trace AI is a founder-led practice. Every engagement is delivered with the founder's direct involvement.
Addis Kassie
Founder & Principal

"For fourteen years I watched brilliant engineering teams stall on documentation. Trace AI is the practice I wish I could have hired then."

Trace AI is led by Addis Kassie, a systems engineer with fourteen years of experience across U.S. Navy submarine combat systems through Lockheed Martin's ARCI program, Marine Corps Systems Command, Wabtec locomotive controls, and adjacent regulated industries.

His technical background spans MBSE, SysML, IBM DOORS, Teamcenter, V-Model verification and validation, MIL-HDBK reliability methodology, and DoD acquisition lifecycle management. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from WVU Institute of Technology and is completing a Master of Engineering in Engineering Management at the University of Louisville.

Clearance
Active U.S. Secret
Status
Veteran-Owned Small Business
Domain
14 yrs DoD and engineering
Location
Fairfax Station, Virginia
07 — Request a call
A 30-minute conversation, no obligation.
Tell us about your current documentation challenge. We will respond within one business day with a brief assessment of whether Trace AI is the right fit and what a starting engagement might look like.
We respond within one business day. Your information stays private and is never shared.