Recommendations to OMB: Responsible AI procurement in government

Delighted to share recommendations for Responsible AI Procurement in Government! These were submitted to the US Office of Management and Budget in response to their recent RFI.

➤Background

👉 OMB, the US Office of Management and Budget, is working on AI guidance. As part of that, they issued a request for information (RFI) about responsible procurement of AI in government.

👉I am delighted to share the information and recommendations my colleagues and I submitted. 

👉Our insights are based on an ongoing research project on AI in public administration. Stay tuned for the paper about that! 

👉The team behind these recommendations: 

Nari Johnson, Jessica Kuntz, Motahhare Eslami, Hoda Heidari, Harrison Leon, CNP, Beth Schwanke, and Elise Silva. The institutions involved are multiple units at Carnegie Mellon University and Pitt Cyber at the University of Pittsburgh.

Extra shout out to Nari and Jess, who spearheaded the writing of this document!

➤ Selected recommendations

💪Pricing as a barrier to responsible AI – 

We urge OMB to limit federal agency use of the lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) process in AI procurement. We would argue that ensuring the selected service provides sufficient transparency to screen for bias and other harms proactively may be a higher priority than price.

💪Acquisition beyond formal procurement – 

OMB should consider how best to apply standards and regulations developed for AI procurements to other forms of acquisition other than formal procurement, such as purchasing cards, research collaborations, donations, piggyback contracts, and other contracts under a set dollar amount exempt from full procurement procedures.

💪 Identify AI –

Each agency's procurement officials should be trained to identify and ask vendors if they plan to use AI to complete the scope of work.

💪AI disclosure – 

Agencies should include a standard contract clause requiring vendors to notify the agencies when they incorporate new AI features into existing procurements.

💪AI opt out – 

When appropriate, agencies should include a standard contract clause requiring vendors to implement and provide "opt-out" of AI functionalities introduced after an initial purchase.

➤ Download the attached file for the full document. Comments welcome! Join the conversation in the LinkedIn post

Federal AI procurement RFI

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