Friends From The City

What Friends From The City does

Friends From The City is a Chicago-headquartered, fully remote civic technology professional services firm founded in 2020 by Lapedra Tolson (CEO, a U.S. Air Force veteran) and Tamara Tolson (COO). The firm delivers four integrated service lines — Strategy, Design, Development, and Product Management — to U.S. federal and state government clients, with named work for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA.gov Financial Management, Streamlined Waiver, 526ez PACT Act toxic exposure, My VA inbox dot indicator, Clinical Decision Support Collaborative), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (QPP website redesign, CMS Chat and AI Workspace under the Enterprise AI Initiative), the U.S. Department of State, the IRS, HHS, the State of Maryland (Maryland Digital Service OneStop research and SDAT plain-language rewrites), the New York State Department of Parks, the New Jersey Office of Innovation (ResX qualified bidder), the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the American Board of Family Medicine. Technical delivery targets FedRAMP-authorized cloud environments (AWS GovCloud, Azure Government), applies federal design systems (CMS Design System, USWDS, VA Design System), and is built to ATO, FISMA, Section 508, and WCAG 2.1 AA standards, with proprietary reusable components that have been adopted upstream by USWDS and the VA Design System.

The firm's business model is government professional services delivered primarily under a GSA MAS Schedule (#47QTCA23D0076) covering SINs 54151S, 541910, 541611, and 518210C, supplemented by subcontractor roles under federal prime contractors (Agile Six Applications on VA.gov Financial Management through 2028 and Skyward IT Solutions on the CMS Enterprise AI Initiative through 2029) and by participation in state qualified bidder pools (NJ ResX from October 2025). Pricing is contract-based and not publicly disclosed. The firm holds SBA 8(a), SBA Women-Owned Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, and multiple state and city M/WBE and SDVOB certifications, giving it material procurement advantages in set-aside federal and state contracting. Its competitive positioning rests on a trauma-informed research methodology developed with VA clinicians for Veterans with PTSD, TBI, and MST, reusable design patterns that scale across the federal ecosystem, and direct founder experience as former federal staff and a service-disabled veteran who uses VA services personally. Reported impact metrics include 2 million+ Veterans using a streamlined benefits form, 30,000+ Veterans resolving debt through an online portal, 80,000+ post-release check-ins, 570,000+ clinicians navigating quality reporting, an 88% increase in waiver submissions with 95% instant approval, and a 95% reduction in WCAG 2.1 AA violations on the QPP site.

Name

Friends From The City

Legal name

Friends From The City LLC

Website

https://friendsfromthecity.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Friends From The City is a Chicago-based, fully remote civic technology firm that delivers strategy, design, development, and product management services to U.S. federal and state government agencies, including VA, CMS, IRS, HHS, Maryland, and New Jersey.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civic Technology Professional Services

NAICS

Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139), Professional Organizations (81392), Civic and Social Organizations (8134)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Facilities Support Management Services (8744)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Centers & Neighborhood Support Services (BPAGAEAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Community/Group Chat Platforms (BPAMACAH)

Keywords

• Civic technology services
• Government digital services
• Human-centered design
• User experience research
• Federal contract services

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Government professional services contracts: Primary revenue stream: time-and-materials and fixed-price professional services contracts for strategy, design, development, and product management delivered to federal and state agencies. Delivered via GSA MAS Schedule #47QTCA23D0076 under NAICS 541511, 541512, 541519, 54151S, 541910, 541611, and 518210C. Includes multi-year engagements through 2028 (VA.gov via Agile Six) and 2029 (CMS via Skyward IT Solutions).
2. Subcontractor revenue under prime contractors: Subcontracted human-centered design and research services under prime contractors (Agile Six Applications for VA.gov Financial Management; Skyward IT Solutions for CMS Enterprise AI Initiative), where the prime holds the master contract and Friends delivers scoped workstreams.
3. State qualified-bidder pool placements: Revenue generated via participation in state qualified bidder pools (e.g., New Jersey Office of Innovation Resident Experience Initiative / ResX, October 2025), where Friends was one of eight selected vendors alongside Nava PBC, Ad Hoc, Fearless and others; future task orders are issued on an as-needed basis.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Friends From The City is a civic tech professional services firm that delivers four integrated service lines — Strategy, Design, Development, and Product Management — to U.S. federal and state government agencies. The company sells human-centered research, UX/UI design, secure web application development, and product management delivered under government contracting vehicles, with a focus on accessible, plain-language public services for Veterans, residents, and clinicians.

Product overview

Friends From The City is a civic tech company that delivers four integrated service lines — Strategy, Design, Development, and Product Management — for state and federal government clients. The Strategy service line provides discovery research, content strategy, service design, and digital strategy. The Design service line provides UX/UI design, form redesign, and accessibility work. The Development service line builds secure web applications, APIs, and cloud infrastructure on FedRAMP-authorized environments. The Product service line delivers feature prioritization, agile delivery, MVP development, and product roadmapping. The four service lines are sold and delivered as a unified practice rather than as a platform-plus-modules product. Friends From The City has also contributed human-centered design to named CMS AI products including CMS Chat, a conversational AI that answers CMS policy questions, and AI Workspace, a platform for data scientists building predictive healthcare models. Among named federal digital products the company has helped deliver are the VA Streamlined Waiver for Veteran debt resolution, the digital 526ez toxic exposure feature for the PACT Act, and the redesigned Quality Payment Program website for clinicians.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategy Discovery research, content strategy, service design, policy and process alignment, audience strategy, and digital strategy services for government agencies. Capabilities include interviews, workshops, surveys, plain-language writing, end-to-end service mapping, and roadmaps that connect technology decisions to program goals.
• Design UX/UI design, form redesign, accessibility, interaction and systems design, and early validation services for government websites and applications. Designs are tested for use under poor conditions (old phones, slow connections, stress) and built to WCAG standards.
• Development Secure web application, API development and integration, performance optimization, cloud infrastructure, automated testing and deployment, and technical documentation services. Builds to ATO, FISMA, Section 508, and WCAG requirements and deploys to FedRAMP-authorized environments including AWS GovCloud and Azure Government.
• Product Management Feature prioritization, agile delivery, MVP and pilot development, product roadmapping, measurement and iteration, and capacity building services. Product managers prioritize, unblock, and ship alongside the rest of the team.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2 million+ Veterans applying for benefits through a streamlined form
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability8 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered qualified state-level procurement relationship (no contract awarded yet), flagship multi-year subcontractor relationship (through 2028), flagship multi-year subcontractor relationship (through 2029), one-time flagship workshop partner (medicare/medicaid payment reform), one-time workshop collaborator and adoption-level component partnership (inbound).

• New Jersey Office of Innovationqualified state-level procurement relationship (no contract awarded yet)GTM or Marketing Partner · 1 October 2025The New Jersey Office of Innovation has qualified Friends From The City for its Resident Experience Initiative (ResX) bidder's list. Friends was one of eight vendors selected (alongside Nava PBC, Ad Hoc, Fearless and others); future task orders will be issued as needs arise.
• Agile Six Applicationsflagship multi-year subcontractor relationship (through 2028)Implementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2025Agile Six Applications is the prime contractor on VA.gov Financial Management work. Friends provides human-centered design under Agile Six, covering benefit overpayments and copay debt for Veterans. Friends researches how Veterans experience debt notifications, tests new ways to surface financial information earlier, and designs interfaces that make resolution straightforward.
• Skyward IT Solutionsflagship multi-year subcontractor relationship (through 2029)Implementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 March 2024Skyward IT Solutions is the prime contractor on the CMS Enterprise AI Initiative. Friends provides human-centered design for CMS's AI-powered knowledge management tools (CMS Chat and the AI Workspace), leading user research and interface design.
• American Board of Family Medicineone-time flagship workshop partner (medicare/medicaid payment reform)Strategic or Co-development PartnerCo-designed and facilitated two workshops (one Medicare, one Medicaid) with 40 federal and industry experts to design payment models that account for social risk. Findings published as two publicly available reports informing federal payment policy discussions.
• Social Innovation Venturesone-time workshop collaboratorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developed and co-facilitated the Medicare/Medicaid payment reform workshops alongside Friends and Agile Six, focused on aligning payment models with social determinants of health.
• U.S. Web Design System (USWDS)adoption-level component partnership (inbound)Technology or IntegrationSix reusable clinical decision support components developed by Friends for the VA Clinical Decision Support Collaborative have been adopted by the U.S. Web Design System and the VA Design System, where they now support teams across the federal government.
• VA Design Systemadoption-level component partnership (inbound)Technology or IntegrationSix of the components Friends developed for the VA Clinical Decision Support Collaborative have been adopted by the VA Design System, supporting product teams across the VA ecosystem.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Peers

• 18F (GSA):

Direct peers

• Fearless: Digital services firm focused on building software for federal, state, and local government agencies, with deep civic-tech credentials and a similar contract-vehicle-driven GTM. Co-selected with Friends on the NJ ResX bidder list.
• Nava PBC: Civic technology public benefit corporation that designs and builds digital services for federal and state agencies. Directly comparable in mission, client base, and human-centered design practice; explicitly co-selected alongside Friends on the NJ ResX qualified bidders list.
• Civilla: Civic design nonprofit that partners with state and local governments to redesign public service delivery through human-centered research and design. Directly comparable service model and mission focus on improving resident experience.
• Ad Hoc: Government digital services firm building user-centered software for federal and state agencies. Directly comparable service lines, agency clients, and civic-tech positioning; named alongside Friends on the NJ ResX bidder list.
• Agile Six Applications: Civic tech firm and federal prime contractor delivering digital services for VA.gov and other federal clients. Both a direct competitor for VA human-centered design work and Friends' prime contractor on VA.gov Financial Management through 2028.
• Code for America: Nonprofit civic tech organization that builds digital services for safety-net programs and state governments. Highly comparable mission, target users (Veterans, residents, beneficiaries), and human-centered service design practice.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/friends-from-the-city
• Xx.com/friendsfromcity

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Friends From The City