procurement

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On September 14, 2023, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs hosted a hearing called “Governing AI Through Acquisition and Procurement” (Hearing).  Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) opened the Hearing, explaining that the purpose was to explore how the U.S. government would purchase AI technologies and establish guidelines and standards for the development and use of those technologies.  Sen. Peters noted that over half of AI tools used by the federal government are purchased from commercial vendors and that the U.S. government should be careful in its procurement and use of these tools.

The hearing covered a wide range of topics, including:  (i) how the U.S. government can establish standards for AI data to better serve the needs of AI vendors/contractors when procuring AI technology; (ii) potential changes to procurement training; (iii) how the acquisition process can be changed to adapt to the unique demands of AI procurement; (iv) how the procurement process can be used to influence the development of AI technologies; and (v) other topics including potential censorship, AI bias, and government overreach as discussed below.Continue Reading Congress Discusses How To Govern The Acquisition of AI

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On September 21, 2023, the White House directed federal agencies to incorporate interim Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (SC-GHG) estimates into a wide range of federal agency actions, including each agency’s procurement function.  This most recent direction builds upon the Administration’s ongoing and wide-reaching effort (examples discussed here and here) to leverage federal procurement spending in pursuit of climate change and sustainability policy objectives.  The hallmark of that effort to date had been a proposed rule that would, if finalized, require thousands of federal contractors to inventory, publicly disclose, and, in some cases, seek reductions in GHG emissions (see our prior discussion here).  However, the White House’s incorporation of SC-GHG into the federal procurement process has the potential to be just as significant to the contracting community by providing a cost metric (in dollars) needed for contracting agencies to evaluate and confer a preference on bids and contractors with lower GHG emission profiles.Continue Reading Biden Administration Moves Closer to Establishing Framework for Giving Preference to Bids and Contractors with Lower GHG Emissions

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Crowell & Moring’s “All Things Protest” podcast keeps you up to date on major trends in bid protest litigation, key developments in high-profile cases, and best practices in state and federal procurement. In this episode, hosts Christian Curran and Rob Sneckenberg highlight a recent GAO decision in which an agency’s limited record production went a…

A recent GAO report highlights the fact that when a solicitation and procurement strategy prioritize (1) capabilities and the quality or level of service to be procured over (2) the dollars to be paid, government contracting, project, and source selection personnel are forced to earn their paychecks.  In these situations, two or more proposals, with…