Behest for government
Keep AI spending inside your agency's budget.
Behest is the control plane for enterprise AI. For agencies, that means a spending cap for every department before the invoice arrives, citizen data kept out of prompts, and a record of every AI call your oversight bodies can rely on.
The short version
What does Behest do for government?
Behest is the control plane for enterprise AI, applied to public-sector budgets. It caps AI spending per agency or department before the provider invoice arrives, removes personal information from prompts, limits which teams can use which AI models, and keeps an audit record of every AI call for oversight.
What your agency gets
AI Token FinOps is the cost-control layer of the Behest control plane. AI Governance adds the data, access, and audit controls.
Cost control before the invoice arrives
Set a hard spending limit for each agency, department, or program. When it is reached, AI calls stop, so you never learn about an overrun from the provider bill. Every dollar is tied to the team that spent it, which gives you a defensible spend record for budget reviews.
Citizen data kept out of prompts
On the Enterprise plan, personal information is found and removed before a prompt reaches an AI provider, and prompts are screened for attacks. Staff can use AI tools without putting citizen records at risk.
Model access by team, with an audit trail
Decide which AI models each agency or team may use, block everything else, and keep a record of every AI call. Auditors and oversight bodies get answers, not guesswork.
Behest vs. using AI tools directly vs. building it yourself
The controls a public-sector buyer asks for, side by side.
| What you need | Behest | AI tools used directly | Build it yourself |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spending limit per agency or team | Yes, enforced as calls happen | Per-token billing, no agency cap | Build and maintain it yourself |
| Personal information removed before the model | Yes, on the Enterprise plan | No | Build and maintain it yourself |
| Approved-model list per team | Yes | Limited | Build and maintain it yourself |
| Record of every AI call for oversight | Yes | Limited | Build and maintain it yourself |
| Time to first value for an agency rollout | Days to weeks | Days | Months to years |
Built for your security and budget reviews
Run Behest as a service in Behest's cloud, or choose the self-hosted Enterprise option and run it in your own environment, where prompts, completions, and provider keys stay inside your own environment.
Behest holds no government authorization or certification. It gives your security and compliance teams controls they can map into their own FISMA, FERPA, or GDPR programs, and the audit records those programs ask for. Your team makes the final determination for your program.
Frequently asked questions
- How does Behest keep AI spending inside our appropriation?
- You give each agency, department, or program a dollar or token limit. Behest counts every AI call against that limit as it happens and stops calls once the limit is reached, so an overrun is prevented instead of discovered on the invoice. Reports show which team spent what, for budget reviews and cost recovery between departments.
- Where is our data stored?
- Behest runs as a service in Behest's cloud on every tier. On the Enterprise self-hosted option it runs in your own environment instead, and prompts, completions, and provider keys stay inside your own environment and are never used to train public models.
- Does Behest hold a government security authorization?
- No. Behest holds no government authorization or certification today. What it gives your security and compliance teams is controls they can map into their own FISMA, FERPA, or GDPR programs: personal information removed before prompts leave, an approved-model list per team, and an audit record of every AI call.
- How is Behest priced for agencies?
- Behest is licensed as software. It is not a per-token markup. You can bring your own AI provider keys or use models through Behest at pass-through cost. Plans are sized to your annual AI spend, and self-hosting, PII scrubbing, and prompt-injection defense are included in the Enterprise plan. Contact us for a quote.
- Does this work for a small city as well as a federal department?
- Yes. The same controls apply whether you run one department or many agencies. Each one gets its own spending limit, its own approved-model list, and its own audit record, and you can add more as you go.
- How long does it take to get started?
- You point your AI applications at Behest, set spending limits and approved models per team, and you are live. The self-hosted Enterprise option adds setup time in your own environment.
Talk to our public-sector team
Tell us which agencies and AI tools you need to bring under control. We will show you Behest on your own AI stack, or you can book a demo directly.
Request a consultation
Tell us about your agency and what you need to control. We will follow up with a demo on your own AI stack.