The Delivery Standard for AI Agent Work
Before agent work can be called delivery, these conditions must be met.
Agent work is not delivery because it ran.
It is delivery when it can be reviewed, accepted, and traced. Execution proves capability. Delivery proves accountability.
Six conditions for accountable delivery
All six must be present. A partial set is execution, not delivery.
Scope
The work has defined boundaries: what is in, what is out, and what constitutes a complete deliverable.
Authority
The plan was confirmed by a human with the authority to authorize it before autonomous execution began.
Evidence
A record exists that supports review, replay, dispute, and acceptance of the outcome.
Review
The outcome was reviewed against the original intent, constraints, and evidence before acceptance.
Accepted Outcome
The outcome was formally accepted by an authorized party, not inferred from task completion.
Responsibility Traceability
If the outcome is disputed, the responsible party can be identified from the evidence chain.
What does not qualify as delivery
These forms of output are incomplete by the Delivery Standard. They may be useful. They are not delivery.
Apply the test before claiming delivery.
If any of the six conditions is missing, name the gap. A missing condition is not a minor omission. It is the difference between execution and delivery.
Protocol path
MPLP makes these six conditions protocol-native. Scope, authority, evidence, review, acceptance, and responsibility traceability are not post-hoc requirements in MPLP. They are lifecycle stages.
Source and boundary
This page defines a conceptual delivery discipline for agentic work. It is not a formal standards-body publication, certification, legal compliance proof, or regulator-approved standard. The GAIC white paper supplies the lifecycle governance vocabulary behind Evidence Chain, Accepted Outcome, and lifecycle responsibility objects.