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Pentagon seeks TurboTax-like tool for artificial intelligence purchases

It’s part of a new acquisition model that would explore the potential of pursuing contracts outside the Federal Acquisition Regulation, mixed with traditional contracts.

The Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center set sights on producing a new-and-improved business model for purchasing artificial intelligence tools in hopes of driving quicker procurement from both typical and non-traditional companies through a means that’s scalable across the Defense Department.

Together with Army Contracting Command Rock Island, the AI-strategizing center is considering launching a competition for a 501(c) or non-profit manager of the prototype model and would like to engage potential partners, according to a request for information published August 28.

The to-be-created model would incorporate a TurboTax-like automated system to streamline buying information.

The JAIC is also interested in hearing from organizations that would want to participate in a consortium-like body that could deliver AI capabilities for defense-driven missions under the model. Through the new approach, the center would leverage other transaction authorities, a contracting method that bypasses traditional federal procurement rules in an effort to attract new, innovative vendors and solutions.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2020/08/pentagon-seeks-turbotax-tool-artificial-intelligence-purchases/168114/

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Pentagon’s central AI office wants to standardize its acquisition process

The Pentagon’s top artificial intelligence office released a request for information Aug. 28 outlining interest in establishing a new acquisition approach for standardizing the development and procurement process for AI tools.

According to the solicitation, the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center is “considering” starting a competition for a 501(c) nonprofit manager or managers of its prototype “Artificial Intelligence Acquisition Business Model” that looks to use other transaction authorities to more quickly purchase AI products.

The JAIC’s prototype business model could deliver “AI capabilities through meaningful market research/front-end collaboration and optimal teaming arrangements of both traditional and non-traditional companies for AI product procurement,” the RFI said.  If the plan moves forward, the JAIC would also “explore the possibilities of using the model to enable agile AI acquisition processes to the DoD at scale.”

The JAIC is the Defense Department’s main hub for artificial intelligence and is responsible for increasing adoption of AI across the department. It works with the services and combatant commands to develop AI tools that have practical use.

To meet the military’s needs, the JAIC uses the traditional government contracting process, known as Federal Acquisition Regulation-based contracts, and works with the General Services Administration, the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Defense Innovation Unit.  The traditional acquisition strategy currently being used is unlikely sufficient enough to help the JAIC carry out its mission, the RFI stated.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.c4isrnet.com/artificial-intelligence/2020/09/01/pentagons-central-ai-office-wants-to-standardize-its-acquisition-process/

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DoD’s AI center setting itself up to be a more agile buyer, use of OTAs

The Pentagon’s entity for injecting artificial intelligence into the military is considering adopting a new acquisition model that has been championed by the Defense Department for its speed over the past few years, but also concerns government watchdogs for its lack of accountability.

The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) may use a consortium of companies and academic institutions to procure technologies and services needed to make AI a ubiquitous force within the military. The model pays a consortium manager to oversee a group of companies that pay a small fee to be part of the club.

The advantage of the consortium is it allows JAIC to exercise other transaction authority (OTA), a contracting method that has gained considerable steam since Congress expanded its use for the military.  OTAs let DoD skip federal acquisition regulations to research, tests, prototype and even produce weapons at a faster speed.  OTAs also put an emphasis on partnering with companies that DoD does not usually do business with.

“Up to now, JAIC has primarily worked through traditional defense contractors and traditional Federal Acquisition Regulation-based contracts,” Chris Cornillie, federal market analyst at Bloomberg Government, told Federal News Network. “Given some of the challenges that it’s facing with COVID, and the need to start to scale its production to the Pentagon’s requirements, it’s considering a change in its business model.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2020/09/dods-ai-center-setting-itself-up-to-be-a-more-agile-buyer-use-of-otas/

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How the government is using AI to help procure trillions of dollars of products and services

The United States government is one of the largest buyers in the world, if not the largest, spending over $4.1 trillion annually overall with hundreds of billions spent on technology.

As part of all this, the General Services Administration (GSA), a key agency in the US federal government is responsible for managing many of the operations of the federal system including many aspects of procurement.

Increasingly the GSA is leveraging AI and machine learning to help optimize, manage, and advance procurement functions. AI and ML are providing key ability to optimize procurement processes, provide visibility into key metrics, and generate insights and forecasts to procurement trends. In this article, Keith Nakasone, Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Acquisition, Office IT Category at the GSA shares insights on how AI is impacting federal government procurement as a follow-up to a recent podcast interview on this topic.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2020/08/16/how-the-us-government-is-using-ai-to-help-procure-trillions-of-dollars-of-products-and-services-an-interview-with-keith-nakasone-gsa/#5e8607f370ac

 

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DoD’s AI center seeks own acquisition authorities

Having its own mechanism for purchasing artificial intelligence will increase speed, according to the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center’s chief.

In the two years since its conception, the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center has built out its staff from four people to 175 and now commands an annual budget of approximately $240 million.

And while the JAIC has been able to meet the Defense Department’s mission demands so far, its chief — Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan — believes that the JAIC will need its own acquisition authorities to meet future technological demands.

“What I need honestly is our own acquisition authorities in the JAIC, I don’t have them right now,” Shanahan said Thursday, speaking at a virtual event held by AFCEA. “If I project another year or two forward, we are going to have to come up with different models.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2020/05/defense-departments-ai-center-seeks-own-acquisition-authorities/165657/

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