What’s next for GSA’s OneGov AI contracts

Some OneGov artificial intelligence deals will be extended and some companies will be offering new deals for others, a General Services Administration official said last week. Birgit Smeltzer, director of the agency’s Office of IT Products, asked for people to “keep working with us” as GSA negotiates bargains. “Some of the [original equipment manufacturers] have already agreed to extend some of the limited-time offers, and some are looking at producing new offers for us,” she said. “We continue to work very closely with the OEMs to get extension of those offers, or maybe get new offers in place. We look very much at what makes sense for the government and what may not have taken flight so much, and put some offers out there that work for our agencies.” Smeltzer told FedScoop that some of the OEMs include the AI offerings, as well as other deals, but did not say when the new deals will be announced. Three popular deals — for OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude — are expiring next month. Touting prices as little as $0.47 to $1 per agency, the barrier to entry to state-of-the-art technology has all but vanished — by design. Founded in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order for more “cost-effective” solutions in federal contracts, the GSA has said OneGov deals accelerate AI adoption across agencies. Smeltzer also said the AI limited-time offers alone have saved the government $1.4 billion, and some agencies have used the deals to negotiate their own contracts outside of GSA.

Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg’s new instruction for the Pentagon to provide nearly $244 million through March for undisclosed Palantir products was influenced by the Trump administration’s Business Operators for National Defense program, according to two sources who said it also illustrates the government’s plans to further fast-track the tech giant’s military offerings. The somewhat vague, one-page memorandum — entitled “Funding Palantir” — was issued Aug. 4 and viewed by DefenseScoop last Wednesday. “Palantir is providing valuable support to improve efficiencies with the defense industrial base,” Feinberg wrote. “Their efforts are improving Department of War and prime contractor understanding of delays in production and maintenance of critical munitions and delivery vehicles, which are already resulting in process improvements.” Officially changing the Defense Department’s name requires an act of Congress, but President Donald Trump rebranded DOD as the Department of War last year. In the memo that surfaced last week, Feinberg directed the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment and the Pentagon comptroller to “fund up to $243.9M for Palantir services through March 31, 2027” and to “work with the Military Departments to identify funding options for the period April 1, 2027 through December 31, 2028, as needed.” The deputy secretary did not indicate what specific Palantir products and services this fresh funding would enable and advance, or identify which pools of money across the agency the investments would flow from.

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