From the commercial sector, basically manufacturers of various data processing or telecommunications related products want to sell these products within the defense industry. The zoning approach again requires either in-house employee technical support, or the use of outside consultants.
Many companies choose a combination of training supported by some outside consulting.
The least expensive support comes from design and documentation type organizations which perform all non-testing related activities for an organization, then farm out the actual accreditation test to a local test house. Overhead costs for the consulting only type firms are substantially lower then test organizations due to differences in test equipment expenses and maintenance. While consultants with substantial direct experience are rare, these organizations have become extremely popular in recent years. This approach is similar to what is taking place in the FCC equipment certification industry currently, with consultants charging considerably less then approved test organizations to redesign equipment for emission control. Major consulting firms have high overheads, and subcontracting costs, while short term in nature, will be higher then hiring in-house personnel directly.