{
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "verifiedOn": "2026-08-25",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "SRC-PHAROS-BUILD-BUY",
      "title": "Build vs Buy AI Agent: 2026 Decision Framework",
      "url": "https://pharosproduction.com/insights/engineering/build-vs-buy-ai-agent/",
      "publisher": "Pharos Production",
      "sourceType": "first-party",
      "verifiedOn": "2026-08-25",
      "limitations": "Used to seed the topic vocabulary and six-factor starting point. Its engagement examples, universal ranges and commercial conclusions are not treated as independent validation of this tool's thresholds."
    },
    {
      "id": "SRC-NIST-AI-RMF",
      "title": "AI Risk Management Framework",
      "url": "https://www.nist.gov/itl/ai-risk-management-framework",
      "publisher": "National Institute of Standards and Technology",
      "sourceType": "primary-standard",
      "verifiedOn": "2026-08-25",
      "limitations": "Voluntary risk-management guidance. NIST states that AI RMF 1.0 is being revised; it does not prescribe build, buy or hybrid thresholds."
    },
    {
      "id": "SRC-NIST-GAI-PROFILE",
      "title": "Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework: Generative Artificial Intelligence Profile",
      "url": "https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ai/NIST.AI.600-1.pdf",
      "publisher": "National Institute of Standards and Technology",
      "sourceType": "primary-standard",
      "verifiedOn": "2026-08-25",
      "limitations": "A cross-sectoral companion profile for generative AI risk management. It informs lifecycle and acquisition questions but does not validate economic weights or sourcing outcomes."
    },
    {
      "id": "SRC-FINOPS-TCO",
      "title": "FinOps Terminology: Total Cost of Ownership and Unit Economics",
      "url": "https://framework.finops.org/assets/terminology/",
      "publisher": "FinOps Foundation",
      "sourceType": "primary-framework",
      "verifiedOn": "2026-08-25",
      "limitations": "Defines broad TCO and unit-economics concepts for technology costs. It supplies no AI-agent price ranges and does not validate this scenario's illustrative amounts."
    },
    {
      "id": "SRC-KPMG-BUILD-BUY-BORROW",
      "title": "Agentic AI Untangled: Navigating the Build, Buy, or Borrow Decision",
      "url": "https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmgsites/ie/pdf/insights/ai-artificial-intelligence/ie-agentic-ai-build-buy-borrow.pdf.coredownload.inline.pdf",
      "publisher": "KPMG Ireland",
      "sourceType": "first-party-research",
      "verifiedOn": "2026-08-25",
      "limitations": "A consultancy-authored framework with commercial interests. It supports the relevance of readiness, infrastructure, data, security, compliance and scale dimensions, not this tool's score formula."
    },
    {
      "id": "SRC-ARXIV-MAKE-BUY",
      "title": "The Buy-or-Build Decision, Revisited: How Agentic AI Changes the Economics of Enterprise Software",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.26482",
      "publisher": "arXiv",
      "sourceType": "conceptual-preprint",
      "verifiedOn": "2026-08-25",
      "limitations": "A conceptual preprint rather than an empirical calibration study. Its factor taxonomy informs coverage but cannot establish universal sourcing thresholds or expected outcomes."
    }
  ]
}