The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is continuing a prototyping effort focused on using artificial intelligence to help improve a system designed for managing data on contractors’ past performance.
The DHS Procurement Innovation Lab will work with 10 agencies to assess seven AI technologies intended to modernize the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) and simplify its data management operations, FedScoop reported Tuesday.
DHS will allocate $50,000 for phase 2 awards which will cover further development of the selected AI tools to meet requirements for software-as-a-service (SaaS) and security accreditation.
Matthew Blum, associate administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), told attendees at a recent ACT-IAC event that the effort seeks to reduce time allocated for navigating CPARS and obtaining relevant information.
“So if we can use AI to shorten that timeframe and get this information much more rapidly, it saves the workforce a tremendous amount of time, but you still get all the value," he noted.
DHS first announced plans to test nine AI systems for the CPARS effort in January 2021.
