FORT BELVOIR, Va. –
The Defense Logistics Agency awarded three synthetic intelligence contracts, collectively price $3.5 million, to Accenture of Arlington, Virginia; Knexus of Nationwide Harbor, Maryland; and Scale AI of San Francisco, California. This completes the ultimate part of the company’s first-ever Hackathon that started within the spring.
The contracts assist exploration of AI instruments that can create reporting mechanisms for demand planning use circumstances, a custom-made chatbot app and digital brokers for acquisition enterprise programs.
The Hackathon gave distributors the prospect to display how their AI and machine studying capabilities might present progressive options to DLA’s day by day operations. One of many key targets was to create the acquisition mannequin wanted to take a look at, pilot and procure AI and ML applied sciences for particular DLA necessities.
“DLA’s purpose to develop into a digital group is a journey that begins with standardizing how the company makes use of rising applied sciences to reply DLA’s important logistics challenges,” DLA Chief Info Officer Adarryl Roberts mentioned. “These awards are our first try to develop our use of AI and create a repeatable end-to-end procurement resolution.”
DLA launched a broad company announcement in March, inviting firms to present a white paper on their capabilities after which requested for technical and price proposals for papers it accepted.
“We had been searching for vendor submissions to present data on their knowledge scraping methods, utilizing AI-powered instruments with giant language fashions and transitioning AI capabilities to a cloud atmosphere,” DLA Analysis and Growth Director David Koch mentioned.
Distributors that greatest tailor-made expertise options with a well-informed understanding of the company’s enterprise and provide chain dynamics had been of specific curiosity, he added.
A DLA workforce of consultants in analysis and growth, AI, and cybersecurity reviewed 46 submissions based mostly on standards together with general scientific and technical advantage, feasibility, viability, desirability, and expertise and efficiency in AI. Submissions had been additional scaled down to 17 entries after which to 12.
Based mostly on these assessments, DLA chosen six distributors to current proposals on the in-person occasion June 24 to roughly 50 leaders representing the Defense Division, the army providers, DLA and academia.
“This course of is extra than simply the expertise, it’s additionally about how we consider the distributors’ methodology, strategy and processes to guarantee we’re advancing in the best path and asking the best questions and dealing with these applied sciences in one of the simplest ways,” Roberts mentioned.
The technical analysis workforce then re-reviewed data introduced from distributors’ white papers, technical and price proposals, and in-person demonstrations to choose the three firms as winners.
“DLA acknowledges AI, automation and machine studying will carry important adjustments throughout the company,” DLA Chief Digital and Synthetic Intelligence Officer Linda VanDyke mentioned. “We should look at acquisition of those applied sciences by this lens of accountable AI so we will totally perceive future impacts to our mission.”
Embracing these applied sciences and making use of them to applicable use circumstances shall be important as DLA focuses on constructing extra adaptive and resilient world provide chains, she added.
DLA expects to conduct its subsequent Hackathon in 2025.