How we work with Canberra clients
We do not maintain a Canberra office. We are Brisbane-headquartered and we are honest about it. Most modern engineering work happens remote with structured face-to-face for the moments that need it, and pretending otherwise is dishonest. For Canberra engagements, the cadence we typically run is — on-site kickoff workshop with stakeholders to walk the operational map, key milestone reviews in person (one or two during a typical build), remote day-to-day engineering with daily standups and structured async communication, on-site operational hand-off when the build transitions to operate, and ad-hoc travel for sensitive discussions or stakeholder alignment as the engagement warrants. The travel cost is bundled into the engagement, not invoiced separately at month-end.
The Canberra business landscape
Canberra's economy is dominated by the Commonwealth government workforce — agencies, departments, and the broader ecosystem of policy think tanks, research institutions, and government-adjacent consultancies. The ANU and University of Canberra add research-active workloads. Defence concentration through the Department of Defence, ASD, ADF Headquarters, and the defence industry primes operating in the ACT and surrounding region. The CSIRO has substantial Canberra presence. Beyond government, Canberra carries a smaller commercial sector concentrated in professional services, defence industry, and aged-care. The AI engagement profile is therefore overwhelmingly sovereign and regulated, with the architectural and operational requirements that come with that posture.
Industry mix and AI demand in Canberra
Canberra AI demand concentrates in four areas. Commonwealth government departments and agencies, where IRAP-assessment-ready deployment, OFFICIAL through PROTECTED handling, and PSPF-aligned access controls are baseline expectations — see our AI for government and defence and sovereign AI Australia pages for the architectural detail. Defence industry primes, where DISP-cleared engagement structures and capability-classification handling apply. Research institutions, where data sovereignty and research integrity frameworks apply. Professional services, where APRA-adjacent obligations may apply for clients in the financial services chain. We design every Canberra engagement against this regulatory stack from the architecture phase.
What we build for Canberra businesses
Same engagement types as our Brisbane and national work, scoped to Canberra operational realities.
- AI agents and automation. Agents that read across your stack, decide, and act. Common for Canberra operators in customer-facing or operational workflows where the team is spending hours per week on repetitive cross-system work.
- Custom software development. Operational tools, customer-facing systems, and internal platforms built around how your business actually runs. Common where off-the-shelf tools don't fit and your team is operating through spreadsheets and email.
- Financial systems. Quote-to-cash, invoicing, reconciliation, board-pack automation. Particularly common for Canberra operators integrating across multiple finance and CRM systems.
- Security audits. Application, infrastructure, cloud, and process audits. IRAP-aware variants for Canberra clients in regulated industries.
- Penetration testing. Adversarial testing against the actual systems your business runs.
- Cloud infrastructure. AWS, Azure, GCP design, deployment, and operation. AU-region by default, with sovereign and IRAP-assessed patterns for Canberra clients in government or regulated industries.
- Bedstone OS. Private internal AI workspace at your own subdomain, connecting every business system you run. Common for mid-market Canberra operators looking for the unified AI surface across their stack.
- Sovereign AI deployment. For Canberra clients in government, defence, or regulated industries where IRAP-aware infrastructure, AU-controlled data, and on-shore inference are non-negotiable.
Why a Brisbane-headquartered AI agency makes sense for Canberra
For Canberra engagements specifically, our being Brisbane-based is rarely the binding constraint. The binding constraint is whether the architecture can clear an IRAP assessment and whether the engineering team understands the ISM, the PSPF, and the operational reality of Commonwealth procurement. We can. Senior engineers on every call. Documentation produced contemporaneously to the standard your IRAP assessor or internal audit team expects. Travel for kickoff and key reviews where security clearance and sensitivity warrant it. For cleared work above the level we can engage on directly, we work through DISP-cleared primaries with the appropriate engagement structure. Honest about clearance status, no posturing.
How we engage commercially
Same engagement types we use nationally. Discovery sprint from $15,000 producing a recommended architecture and fixed-price quote for the build. Fixed-price builds from $40,000 (AI agents) or $60,000 (custom software). Monthly retainer from $12,000 per month for continuous build and operate work. Embedded engineering from $25,000 per engineer per month, three-month minimum. Build-operate-transfer where you want eventual ownership but lack the team today. Default payment terms are 100% on signature, with 50/50 staged payment available where procurement requires it. The pricing page covers the full breakdown.
What week one looks like for a Canberra engagement
On-site kickoff workshop in Canberra, typically a full day with stakeholders, walking the operational map of the systems and workflows in scope. Identity integration scoped and validated against your existing identity provider. First system connection completed. Internal test queries running against real data. Pilot user onboarding plan agreed. We leave Canberra after week one with the architecture set, the immediate work scoped, and the cadence for the rest of the engagement agreed. Most of weeks two through eight or twelve are remote. We come back for the key milestone review and the operational hand-off.
Common questions about working with us in Canberra
Is Bedstone based in Canberra?
No. We are Brisbane-headquartered. We deliver Canberra engagements remote-first with on-site travel for kickoff, key reviews, and operational hand-off. We are honest about this because we know operators value honest delivery over local posturing. If you specifically need a Canberra-physically-resident provider for a particular reason, we will tell you we are not the right fit on the first call.
Will senior engineers actually work on my build?
Yes. The engineer who scopes the engagement is the engineer who ships it. There is no SDR layer, no junior backfill after the proposal is signed, and no offshore subcontracting. The depth of practice across multiple verticals comes from senior people doing the actual delivery work.
How often will you be in Canberra?
Typically on-site for kickoff (one or two days), key milestone reviews during the build (one or two trips), and operational hand-off at the end of the build. Day-to-day engineering work runs remote because that is how your own engineering and operations teams work most days. The cadence is agreed during scoping and varies by engagement.
What does an engagement cost?
Engagement cost depends on scope. AI agent builds start at $40,000. Custom software starts at $60,000. Bedstone OS deployments start at $80,000. Security audits start at $15,000. The discovery sprint starts at $15,000. We do not cap engagements at the upper end. The figure for your build is set at scoping. The pricing page covers the full breakdown.
Are these engagements eligible for the R&D Tax Incentive?
Most custom AI agent builds and novel software work qualify. We document the technical experimentation that the RDTI requires contemporaneously. See our R&D Tax Incentive piece for the eligibility detail.