As the military speeds up AI integration, lawmakers are whittling down the tools available to the Department of Defense to negotiate fair and reasonable prices and scrutinize contractors’ claims about their products and services. This year’s defense policy bill—the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)—would roll back data disclosures that help the department understand the real costs of what they are buying, and testing requirements that establish whether what contractors promise is technically feasible or even suited to its needs.
Artificial intelligence (AI) contracting makes up a sliver of military spending, but it is growing quickly. Last month, the Pentagon awarded contracts totaling up to $800 million for four tech companies to develop military applications of their general purpose AI models. The news comes on the heels of the Army’s announcement that it plans to buy up to $10 billion in software capabilities from the data analytics giant Palantir. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has directed the military to fast-track its acquisition of AI and related software to “maximize lethality” while setting ambitious targets for the Army to overhaul its weapons systems and battlefield decision-making with the technology.
As the military speeds up AI integration, lawmakers are whittling down the tools available to the Department of Defense to negotiate fair and reasonable prices and scrutinize contractors’ claims about their products and services. This year’s defense policy bill—the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)—would roll back data disclosures that help the department understand the real costs of what they are buying, and testing requirements that establish whether what contractors promise is technically feasible or even suited to its needs.
Some lawmakers have framed these changes as an effort to “improve efficiency” and “unleash innovation.” They have broad support from the defense industry, which has long criticized the acquisition process as excessively bureaucratic. Tech companies are also calling for changes to the process they say will help the military field innovative capabilities faster.
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