Agencies are prioritizing flexibility and cost savings in AI purchases, GSA official says
“Agencies are telling us they value choice, flexibility, and significant discounts when adopting AI,” Lawrence Hale, the acting assistant commissioner at GSA’s Office of Information Technology Category within the Federal Acquisition Service, told Nextgov/FCW.
GSA serves as one of the primary acquisition hubs within government, managing several multiple award schedules and contracting vehicles where other agencies can purchase goods and services.
Hale said that, while he can’t speak for every individual agency, common areas of interest rotate around internal knowledge management, document drafting and analysis, customer and employee support, IT and service management and other high-volume, text- and workflow-heavy operations.
“Early demand signals within GSA-managed catalogs show strong interest in generative AI tools that support everyday work, particularly conversational AI and embedded productivity capabilities,” he said.
The specific outcomes or metrics federal customers are tracking when adopting new AI systems are relatively diverse. Ways to support productivity gains, security and data protection, workforce impact, and responsible use are all conversations happening as agencies shop for their AI products.
“Agencies are asking not just whether AI can make work faster, but whether it can do so safely, transparently, and in a way that aligns with federal values and requirements,” Hale said. He also stated that many agencies are interested in AI capabilities that are embedded in or compatible with digital tools that are already in use, preferring to adopt a new application rather than introducing a new standalone system into their networks.
A slew of advanced AI models and tools are available to federal agencies via the GSA’s USAi.gov initiative, where leading AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta sell their products in a federal marketplace. GSA also helms the OneGov procurement strategy that brokered reduced costs for advanced private sector products, such as use of Anthropic’s model Claude for a $1 fee per agency.
These vehicles have been effective in giving agencies the types of AI tools that align with their modernization needs. Hale said that government customers are leaning more towards secure, enterprise-ready AI products that can adapt quickly to a digital environment, rather than a more custom or experimental solution. Maintaining a sense of freedom is also important, as agencies are, for now, not interested in long-term financial commitments when leveraging AI.
“They appreciate having multiple, enterprise-ready options, with clear pricing and standardized terms, so they can test and scale tools without being locked into a single solution too early,” Hale said.
Outfitting federal operations with new technologies has been a policy action item for both the Biden and Trump administrations, with GSA consistently being tasked with executing such initiatives via procurement strategies.
“The goal is to let agencies focus on outcomes — better service, faster workflows, and smarter use of staff time— while GSA handles the complexity of acquisition and market engagement,” Hale said.
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