JAIC Announces Funding for Commercial AI Prototypes

The Department of Defense's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center has announced plans to fast-track its funding and acquisition of commercially available AI technologies for government use. 

JAIC officials issued a commercial solutions opening to seek information on commercial AI prototypes from several key fields. 

CSOs are an acquisition method that allows some federal agencies to award critical-technology contracts without going through the traditional procurement process. 

The Army Contracting Command in Rock Island, Illinois, will serve as a broker between JAIC and vendors offering solutions in different technology areas.

JAIC said it is specifically looking for tools that can improve the quality of DoD data, help explain AI's decision-making, generate training data for AI, automatically label data, integrate AI with 5G capabilities, use AI for modeling and simulations and use AI for cybersecurity. 

The center called on interested offerors to submit a one-page response detailing their solution and describe how DoD leaders can test them. 

The funding period will be open for one year, and vendors may submit their proposals until Oct. 26, 2021. 

JAIC recently announced a new business model that involves greater reliance on Other Transaction Authorities, guidance from think tanks and venture capital firms, a new vendor-facing portal and support services from small businesses. 

CSOs work similarly to OTA deals, which is a concept pioneered by the Defense Innovation Unit. Bloomberg Government reported that DoD has so far spent over $168M through CSOs in fiscal 2020.   

Lawmakers have recently recommended that DoD include AI development in all of its major projects going forward. Rep. Anthony Brown, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the Pentagon must aggressively field AI to accelerate its modernization efforts. 

“This might require significant changes to the Pentagon’s force structure, our posture, operational plans and surely to the acquisition system. But now is the time,” Brown said during a Brookings virtual event.