The federal government’s main procurement office is asking vendors to describe how to use artificial intelligence to automate buying decisions on up to half-a-trillion dollars worth of purchases.
An opportunity notice posted by the General Services Administration is requesting white papers from industry associations, information technology service providers, back-end architecture and storage experts, front-end designers, AI and machine learning specialists, and analytics firms.
Initial documents released with the Aug. 18 request for information sketch a five-stage system design based on using data from solicitations through contract performance. It would create a shared analytical environment with real-time dashboards linked to financial transactions and outlays.
The RFI addresses several related Trump administration directives.
The purchases that would be covered by new AI tools are those categorized by the government as “common goods and services,” which make up close to $500 billion of federal procurement annually—or roughly two-thirds of total spending by all defense and civilian agencies—according to Bloomberg Government data.
That consolidation was directed by an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in March.
GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service will manage the “Procurement Ecosystem Initiative” for as many as 250,000 end users. The RFI describes a unified, dynamically updated platform that integrates disparate unstructured and structured data from agencies and suppliers.
One metric of success for the initiative will be an increase in the number of contracts managed by individual contract officers. “We want to see one contracting officer being able to absorb and deal with a much bigger load and they should be able to,” said FAS Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum in an interview with Bloomberg Government.
Future solicitation plans may include industry days, additional requests for information, draft requests for proposals, and vendor meetings as GSA clarifies its acquisition strategy.
FAS would “love to be able to put this all together before this calendar year ends, that the goal,” Gruenbaum said. The agency’s quick timeline calls for RFI responses by Aug. 29.
Buying Environment
Purchases of IT hardware, software, and related support services—including the procurement of AI itself—are priorities in a governmentwide overhaul to make the procurement process less prescriptive while consolidating purchases around preferred, pre-negotiated, and strategically sourced agreements.
Earlier: Trump Push for Federal Procurement Rules Overhaul: Explained
A draft request for quote attached to the RFI says it is issued using procedures authorized under Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 8. Changes to FAR Part 8 will require agencies to acquire commercial products and services using best-in-class and other governmentwide contracts such as GSA Schedules and blanket purchase agreements when available.
The plan also will challenge GSA to develop ways to comply with the Office of Management and Budget’s guidance calling for the protection of sensitive data from unauthorized use by government AI platforms.
Anthropic, Google, OpenAI Deals
Among these moves targeting AI adoption governmentwide, three major AI providers have new partnerships with federal agencies through GSA.
The first step, on Aug. 5, was to name Anthropic,
Read more: OpenAI, Google and Anthropic Get Approval for Civilian Contracts
OpenAI, on Aug. 6, and Anthropic, on Aug. 12, each agreed to offer versions of their software to government agencies for $1 over the next year.
An Aug. 21 agreement with Google that will be effective through 2026 allows agencies to pay $0.47 for Gemini under OneGov.
The combination of a March executive order on consolidating federal procurement and a second order in April establishing the government’s preference for commercially sourced products led to the agency’s OneGov initiative. Starting with the software industry, OneGov prioritizes negotiated agreements with individual IT manufacturers over formal solicitations leading to purchases of tools from third party resellers.
GSA also rolled out USAi.gov on Aug. 15. The platform gives federal employees generative AI tools for use in daily tasks and workflows.
USAi is designed to support the administration’s America’s AI Action Plan, which was announced in July and included a recommendation for a GSA-managed “AI procurement toolbox” to facilitate the spread of AI across government.
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