Young Bang, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, said the military branch is considering developing a separate path or a sub-path within the software acquisition pathway for artificial intelligence to accelerate the development and deployment of AI tools to warfighters, Federal News Network reported Thursday.
“Let’s figure it out. Let’s be creative. Let’s put things together. Let’s put a [Middle Tier of Acquisition pathway] with a software pathway and work with [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] to get to something faster for AI because as fast as the software pathway is, we need a faster path for algorithms,” said Bang.
According to FNN, the current software pathway requires programs to achieve a minimum viable capability release, or MVCR, within a year.
With the MVCR, the initial version of a functional capability is handed over to service personnel.
“What we’re saying is there’s great utility in a software pathway, but if we use a software pathway for algorithms — overnight is a good example, but some of these can actually take a little bit longer, but still a week. And if we think about that, a week versus an MVCR in a year — the timelines don’t align,” the 2024 Wash100 awardee noted.