VA seeks information on new AI interface and API for workforce

Source Domain: fedscoop.com

The Veterans Affairs Department is requesting information about front and back-end-based artificial intelligence for its next phase of AI deployment, according to contracting documents posted Friday and updated Monday.

Specifically seeking a new user interface and API services to large language models, the document said the potential acquisition would expand AI access across the VA’s workforce and support assistive, collaborative and agentic AI capabilities.

“VA is committed to harnessing AI to improve Veterans’ lives, delivering faster, higher-quality, and more cost-efficient services, while upholding the highest standards of safety, security, and equity,” the RFI said.

The department wants to expand its current AI offerings with a direct contractual relationship for commercially available tools with usage-based pricing while complying with security requirements for sensitive information.

“By deploying commercially available AI platforms from U.S.-based Frontier AI Labs at scale across one of the federal government’s largest workforces, VA contributes to the national objective of demonstrating that American AI leadership translates into measurable improvements in public services,” the RFI said.

The document detailed how three employees could potentially find value in assistive, collaborative and agentic AI uses: a knowledge worker, like an oncology clinician, could use the tool to look up drug interactions, summarize patient history or generate take-home materials. An operator, like a housing services manager, could summarize regulations, map local housing resource availability, and process referrals. Or, an engineer or quantitative analyst could use it for coding help or build test cases.

But the VA “recognizes that software alone is insufficient to apply AI to high-impact internal and external services, at scale, safely and responsibly,” it said.

The department is also looking for AI literacy and safety…

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