The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is looking to industry to help it launch an AI program and implement governance support, according to a request for information (RFI) posted last week by the VA Office of the Chief AI Officer (OCAIO).
“The complexity of this effort stems from the need to manage, operationalize, and implement a governance process that not only assesses safety impacting and rights impacting issues in AI use cases but also offers actionable remediation strategies when appropriate,” the RFI states.
The VA is looking for feedback from industry by Oct. 10 on the draft performance work statement which the agency will use to finalize a task order for an AI program and governance support.
According to the draft document, the contractor will “develop and operate a comprehensive, robust AI governance process and program at VA” and at the same time “support VA’s current AI use case intake, inventory, and review processes.”
The VA said it is looking for five full-time contractors – an AI policy expert, a project manager, two senior technical policy analysts, and a senior communications specialist – to sign onto one six-month base period, with two 12-month option periods.
The draft document offers half a dozen deliverables the VA expects a contractor to complete when developing and implementing the new AI governance program:
- Within three months, create protocols for identifying, assessing, and mitigating safety and rights impacting concerns arising from AI systems;
- Within three months, design a streamlined AI review process for reviewing and approving AI use cases ensuring they are consistent with current Federal regulations and VA standards;
- Within four months, manage the existing case management tool used for AI use case review as well as implementing improvements in alignment with design best practices;
- Within four months, create comprehensive AI review process documentation and training materials that explains: the processes for how submission to the VA use case inventory and the safety and rights impacting assessment and review occur; the technical details of case management tool and any support requirements; and the governance process and case management tool;
- Within five months, develop AI procedures for swiftly addressing and resolving issues with AI technologies in use within VA, including guidelines for when to revert back to previous versions of a system or switch to manual operations if necessary; and
- Operationally run both the current AI inventory and review process, as well as the new process that they develop.
“The mission of OCAIO is to deliver world-class AI-enabled IT products and services to VA and Veterans. AI instituted in a responsible manner has enormous potential to benefit Veterans, VA healthcare providers, and VA employees,” the VA wrote in the RFI. “Our vision is to prepare VA to leverage AI tools for enhancing the services it provides to Veterans, driven by a commitment to transparency, accountability, and compliance with federal standards.”
