Two companies. One team.
ByDesign is a joint venture between BLEN and Ad Hoc. Agencies get a small business they can contract with directly, and the capacity of a company that has built services used by millions of people.
The venture is set up under the SBA Mentor-Protégé Program. BLEN is the protégé and Ad Hoc is the mentor. Agencies can award 8(a), SDVOSB, and HUBZone set-aside work to ByDesign, and both companies do the work.
BLEN is an 8(a), SDVOSB, and HUBZone certified small business founded in 2004. It builds and modernizes software for agencies including USPTO, GSA, HHS, and the White House. At the Department of Veterans Affairs, BLEN built an AI-enabled clinical summarization capability and an AI Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, both now part of VA’s clinical-AI infrastructure.
Ad Hoc has spent more than a decade improving how government delivers public services, including HealthCare.gov, VA.gov, VA’s flagship mobile app, Medicare Plan Finder, and Search.gov. Its Medicare enrollment systems have processed more than 10 million enrollments since 2019. Its AI-enabled delivery model, Activate, pairs experienced teams with AI-assisted workflows, reusable foundations, and human oversight to get from idea to working service faster.