Roughly 20 named Campbell procurement principals — county fiscal court plus ~15 home-rule cities plus 5-6 K-12 districts plus 6-8 municipal police departments plus public-housing offices — buy IT-MSP, CJIS, KORA, and cyber-insurance compliance services that no single principal supports alone.

The principal set the operator builds toward: Campbell County Fiscal Court under Judge-Executive Steve Pendery (incumbent since 1999; the 2026 Republican primary is May 19, contested by Tom Schabell, with a debate scheduled May 8); the City of Newport (Mayor Tom Guidugli Jr., about 14,150 residents, 998 Monmouth Street); the City of Fort Thomas (about 16,000 to 17,000 residents, 130 N Fort Thomas Avenue, inherited the former Army-post grounds including Tower Park); plus Bellevue, Dayton, Alexandria, Cold Spring, Highland Heights, Wilder, Southgate, Crestview, Woodlawn, Mentor, Melbourne, California, Silver Grove, and Camp Springs. The home-rule city count lands at roughly 15 to 17 once we confirm against the Department for Local Government roster.

Five K-12 districts plus a sixth small district: Campbell County Schools (county-wide; Superintendent Shelli Wilson retiring effective the end of the 2025-26 school year, with a July 1, 2026 successor contract start); Fort Thomas Independent (Superintendent Brian Robinson since July 2021); Newport Independent (Interim Superintendent Matt Atkins from June 25, 2025; the permanent search advanced to 12 applicants in Q1 2026, with a February 2026 target hire); Bellevue Independent (Superintendent Misty Middleton); Dayton Independent (Superintendent Rick Wolf); and Southgate Independent (the K-8 versus K-12 status needs confirmation).

Six to eight municipal police departments: Newport, Bellevue, Dayton, Fort Thomas, Cold Spring, Highland Heights, Alexandria, and Southgate. Wilder and smaller-city department status still needs confirmation. Each department carries Criminal Justice Information Services Security Policy v5.9-plus compliance, LEADS-KY connectivity, and Kentucky Open Records Act (KRS 61.870 to 61.884) records-management work — including body-camera redaction, which runs $30 to $120 per minute depending on complexity.

Public-housing principals: the Campbell County Department of Housing ($19.12 million across 64 HUD awards — the single largest HUD-channel disbursement coded to Campbell), the Housing Authority of Dayton ($1.91 million across 12 HUD awards), and a Newport public-housing agency whose separate existence still needs confirmation. The lattice rounds out with NKU specialty-trade pass-through work (pest control, fire-alarm inspection, locksmithing, AED resupply, playground inspection for campus recreation, custodial sub-tier on classroom buildings), the NKY Health Department branch site in Campbell (the headquarters sits in Edgewood, Kenton County), Northern Kentucky Water District coverage in Campbell, and Sanitation District No. 1 inflow-and-infiltration inspection sub-tier work in the Campbell service area.

Cyber-insurance underwriting has shifted from cost-of-business to a procurement driver. Kentucky League of Cities Insurance Services reporting shows 30 to 80 percent premium increases across small-municipal accounts from 2024 to 2026. Carriers now require multi-factor authentication, endpoint detection and response, written information-security programs, and CJIS personnel-screening documentation as renewal conditions. Each Campbell principal carries a 60 to 90 day renewal-cycle compliance push that the operator bills as recurring work.

ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Project & Expenditure quarterly reporting runs through the December 31, 2026 expenditure deadline. That drives accelerated reporting and reallocation work across the fiscal court, the roughly 15 NEU-allocated cities, the County Department of Housing, and the Housing Authority of Dayton through Q4 2026. After 2026, the perpetual book pivots to HUD CDBG-Small-Cities, USDA Rural Development, Kentucky Department for Local Government, and Northern Kentucky Area Development District pass-through programs.

The two superintendent transitions — Campbell County Schools effective summer 2026 and Newport Independent targeting a February 2026 hire — open a Year-1 and Year-2 procurement window rather than a standalone opportunity. Incoming superintendents typically run a 12 to 18 month elevated vendor review covering IT-MSP contracts, helpdesks, cybersecurity plans, professional-development technology, and Infinite Campus integration. An operator already holding two or three mid-tier municipal IT accounts when those reviews open arrives with documented compliance evidence and neighboring-city-hall references that national rollups cannot match.

Year 1 stack-build underwriting: 4-6 anchor principals (CCFC IT + 2 mid-tier cities + 1-2 K-12 sub-buildings + 1 PHA) at $1,500-$3,500 per principal per month MRR = ~$12K-$17K monthly = $150K-$210K ARR; project overlay $80K-$150K (firewall + M365 + first KORA build); total Year-1 revenue $230K-$360K; founder draw $80K-$160K.

Year 3 mid-stack: 10-12 principals plus 4-6 PD CJIS engagements at $2,000-$5,000 per principal per month = ~$25K-$50K monthly = $300K-$600K ARR; project overlay $180K-$320K (M365 migrations + EDR + CJIS rollouts + cyber-incident retainers); total $480K-$920K; founder draw $150K-$300K.

Year 5 mature: 15-18 principals plus 6-8 PD CJIS plus 4-6 K-12 sub-engagements plus SLFRF tail at $2,500-$6,500 per principal per month = ~$45K-$80K monthly = $540K-$960K ARR; project overlay $400K-$700K (perpetual project mix plus body-camera redaction throughput); total $1.0M-$1.8M; founder draw $240K-$400K.

Cost structure dominated by 4-6 person CJIS-screened technician roster — fingerprint-based criminal-history checks (FBI plus KY State Police) at $40-$80 each plus internal background-screening costs; CompTIA Security+ plus Microsoft AZ-104 plus AZ-700 plus CJIS Network Awareness plus cyber-insurance carrier-approved frameworks (CIS Controls / NIST CSF) $12K-$25K Year-1 training plus certification investment.

Initial-capital deployment $300K-$800K total founder-equity-plus-debt cost basis. M365 GCC tenant plus Azure subscription plus RMM/PSA stack (ConnectWise / Datto / Kaseya / NinjaOne or equivalent) plus EDR (SentinelOne / CrowdStrike / Huntress) plus ticketing plus documentation (IT Glue / Hudu) $35K-$75K Year 1. Vehicles 2-3 light service vehicles (used; $25K-$35K each) $60K-$100K. Workspace (small Campbell-resident office plus secure equipment room plus evidence-handling space for CJIS work) $30K-$70K Year 1. Working-capital cushion for 60-90 day government-AR cycle $80K-$160K reserve. Cyber-insurance plus E&O plus general-liability plus bonding for smallest-city back-office work $25K-$55K Year 1.

Explicit non-PE. SBA 7(a) plus community-bank SBA-Express financing structured against founder-scale government-contract receivables; founder draw is the primary return mechanism, not enterprise-value-exit. Cross-county expansion to Boone + Kenton + Pendleton + Bracken + Grant principals is natural from a Campbell base and extends the mature-stage revenue ceiling beyond the $1.8M Campbell-only ceiling for operators who keep building.

• Campbell County Fiscal Court (Alexandria), Judge-Executive Steve Pendery, and Commissioners Brian Painter, Geoff Besecker, and Tom Lampe

  County government — IT, procurement, and SLFRF compliance

  Active in market

  Judge-Executive Pendery has held the seat since 1999. The 2026 Republican primary is May 19, with a debate May 8 against Tom Schabell. The County Department of Housing carries $19.12 million across 64 HUD awards — the largest single Campbell HUD disbursement. Department-head-level IT procurement typically continues through judge-executive transitions.
• City of Newport (Mayor Tom Guidugli Jr.), City of Fort Thomas, City of Bellevue, City of Dayton, City of Highland Heights, City of Alexandria, City of Cold Spring, City of Wilder, City of Southgate, and roughly six smaller home-rule cities

  15 to 17 home-rule cities — the multi-municipal procurement surface

  Active in market

  Newport sits at 998 Monmouth Street. Fort Thomas sits at 130 N Fort Thomas Avenue on the former Army-post grounds. Alexandria is the county seat. Highland Heights hosts NKU. Bellevue and Dayton are Ohio-River streetcar suburbs. Cold Spring sits on the US-27 corridor. Wilder sits at the I-471 / I-275 interchange. Each mayor's term, city clerk, and IT-procurement contact still need confirmation. Kentucky League of Cities Buying Network cooperative purchasing routes most of the smallest-city procurement instead of standalone bids.
• Newport, Bellevue, Dayton, Fort Thomas, Cold Spring, Highland Heights, Alexandria, and Southgate police departments

  Municipal police departments — CJIS Security Policy, LEADS-KY, and KORA workload

  Active in market

  Each department carries CJIS Security Policy v5.9-plus compliance, LEADS-KY connectivity, and Kentucky Open Records Act work spanning body-camera footage, dispatch audio, and personnel records. Cyber-insurance carriers now treat CJIS audit-letter documentation as underwriting input; premium increases ran 30 to 80 percent from 2024 to 2026 per Kentucky League of Cities Insurance Services reporting. The Newport Fire Department holds a $908K DHS award (likely SAFER or AFG).
• Campbell County Schools, Fort Thomas Independent, Newport Independent, Bellevue Independent, Dayton Independent, and Southgate Independent

  Six K-12 districts

  Active in market

  Two simultaneous superintendent transitions open a Year-1 and Year-2 vendor-review window: Superintendent Shelli Wilson retiring at the end of the 2025-26 school year with a July 1, 2026 successor contract start, and the Newport Independent permanent superintendent search targeting a February 2026 hire from a 12-applicant pool (Matt Atkins has served as interim since June 25, 2025). Campbell County Schools holds $4.39 million across six FCC E-Rate awards.
• Campbell County Department of Housing, Housing Authority of Dayton, and a possible Newport PHA

  Public-housing authorities — HUD REAC compliance

  Active in market

  The County Department of Housing carries $19.12 million across 64 HUD awards; the Housing Authority of Dayton carries $1.91 million across 12 HUD awards. HUD multifamily compliance, cyber posture, and tenant-records management run through this operator's recurring book alongside the Brighton Center, Brighton Properties, and Neighborhood Foundations nonprofit-housing stack at roughly $59.5 million cumulative across six awardees.
• NKU procurement, NKY Health Department Campbell-resident branch, Northern Kentucky Water District Campbell coverage, Sanitation District No. 1 Campbell service area, and the Northern Kentucky Cooperative for Educational Services (NKCES)

  Sub-principal regional pass-through bench

  Out-of-county

  NKU's primary academic procurement runs through the clinical-workforce candidate; this operator picks up small-trade specialty pass-through work — pest control, fire-alarm inspection, locksmithing, AED resupply, playground inspection, and custodial sub-tier. The Health Department is headquartered in Edgewood (Kenton) with a Campbell branch. Sanitation District No. 1 and the water district run inflow-and-infiltration inspection and flow-monitoring sub work. NKCES carries $24.29 million across four DoJ awards (school-safety pass-through to Northern Kentucky districts, including Campbell).
• Marco Technologies, ProArch, Ntiva, Sourcepass, and Tyler Technologies adjacencies

  National managed-service-provider competitive set

  Out-of-county

  These firms typically prioritize $50K-plus monthly recurring revenue single accounts. Campbell's smallest-city accounts at $1,200 to $3,500 per month sit below their entry threshold. Mid-tier accounts at Bellevue, Dayton, Fort Thomas, Highland Heights, and the Fiscal Court are within reach if a national firm picks up one anchor and grandfathers smaller principals onto an enterprise platform. Cross-county entry through Boone or Kenton (Florence-Erlanger-Edgewood corridor) is the more likely vector.

Two viable founder paths. (1) Existing operator already running a NKY or Cincinnati-metro muni-IT-MSP practice layering a Campbell-resident operating address plus 2-3 anchor Campbell principals onto an existing CJIS-screened technician roster. (2) Returning-home professional with prior NKADD / KLC / KIT (Kentucky Office for Technology) administrative tenure or prior in-house IT director role at a NKY city hall or K-12 district pursuing founder-launch with documented muni-procurement-channel relationships.

Relationship-portfolio target at launch: documented working relationships with CCFC IT director + at least three mid-tier city IT/finance contacts (Newport plus Fort Thomas plus one of Bellevue / Dayton / Highland Heights / Cold Spring / Alexandria) plus at least two K-12 directors of technology plus at least one PD chief or assistant chief plus the CCDH executive director. Eight to ten relationships minimum at launch; fifteen to eighteen by end of Year 1.

Entity plus licensing posture. CJIS personnel-screening (fingerprint-based criminal-history checks; FBI plus KY State Police) is the binding gate for any PD-touching work; 60-90 day re-screening lag during which the affected technician cannot work on PD scope is the operational risk to plan for. Cyber-liability plus E&O plus general-liability plus workers'-comp plus commercial-auto plus umbrella insurance (the literal insurance noun set) carried at policy inception. NKADD plus KLC Buying Network plus KIT cyber-grant program enrollment are the procedural channels the operator joins at launch — not optional.

Year-1 SLFRF Project & Expenditure quarterly reporting cycle through December 31 2026 expenditure deadline drives accelerated client-acquisition through CCFC plus the 15 NEU-allocated cities. The dual-superintendent transition window (CCS July 2026 plus NISD February 2026) opens K-12 vendor-review cycles for documented-compliance MSPs with neighboring-principal references; the operator who holds 2-3 mid-tier muni IT accounts at the moment the K-12 windows open positions credibly into both districts' re-bid cycles. Defamation discipline: the prior NISD administration EPSB action referenced strictly as EPSB-administrative-action-of-record; no commercial-positioning copy that builds on the personnel matter.

• — The exact home-rule city count in Campbell (15, 16, or 17) and each mayor's current term against Kentucky Department for Local Government records.
• — Each city's police arrangement (independent department versus sheriff coverage), including Wilder, Silver Grove, Camp Springs, and the smaller cities.
• — The Fiscal Court's FY27 adopted budget, named department heads, procurement officer, and IT director.
• — Fort Thomas Mayor and Council 2026 composition, and the same for Bellevue, Dayton, Alexandria, Cold Spring, Highland Heights, Wilder, Southgate, and the smaller cities.
• — Superintendent Wilson's successor at Campbell County Schools (board action expected before the July 1, 2026 contract start).
• — The permanent Newport Independent superintendent (target February 2026 hire from a 12-applicant pool).
• — Southgate Independent's K-8-versus-K-12 status and current enrollment.
• — Each K-12 district's Director of Technology, Director of Finance, and Kentucky School Boards Association agency ID.
• — The May 19, 2026 Republican primary and general-election outcomes for the Fiscal Court — refresh post-primary for vendor-continuity review.
• — Executive Director, board, RAD-conversion status, and voucher count at the Campbell County Department of Housing.
• — Executive Director, board, and voucher count at the Housing Authority of Dayton. Whether a separate Newport public-housing agency exists, and the executive director if so.
• — The NKU Director of Procurement Services and the small-trade specialty-vendor onboarding workflow. Health Department procurement decision-routing between the Edgewood headquarters and the Campbell branch.
• — The Northern Kentucky Water District service map for the Campbell coverage area and the Campbell-resident-vendor procurement schedule.
• — CJIS Security Policy v5.9-plus compliance-audit status across the six to eight municipal police departments.
• — The cyber-insurance carrier roster and 2024 to 2026 premium escalation for each Campbell municipal account (Kentucky League of Cities Insurance Services reporting if accessible).
• — ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Q4 2025 reports for the Fiscal Court and the 15 to 17 NEU-allocated cities.
• — Which Campbell anchors are currently held by national managed-service providers (Marco, ProArch, Ntiva, Sourcepass, Tyler adjacencies, plus local Northern Kentucky competitors).

Tonight, this week, this month — in that order. Each step produces a yes/no or a number, not a deeper understanding.