AI in Contracting

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UNITED STATES

04.28.2026

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center

Category: Future Operations

Honorable Mention

by Matthew R. Jewell

The excitement (and fear) of adding AI tools to the contracting toolbox.

Overview:

When many hear the term “AI,” their thoughts go to some massive computer system that has all the answers. In reality, AI is an umbrella term that includes a variety of computer/software systems. Today, the most notable are Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT. Not as well known, but in high use, are Robotic Process Automations (RPAs). While there are other AI tools performing facial recognition or producing songs, LLMs and RPAs have the potential for the most applicability to contracting and, therefore, adding to the contracting toolbox.

An LLM can assist contracting professionals in producing the many documents that make up a contract file. Through a series of questions and responses, or prompts, a properly trained or configured LLM can assist the contracting professional in writing just about any document.

With regard to RPAs, we already have an example in the contracting toolbox with the Determination of Responsibility Assistant (DORA) bot. Simply put, RPAs automate an existing process.

What AI tools are, and are not:

Much like other tools before them, AI tools reduce the toil and time associated with completing a task. In this regard, they are no different than Microsoft Excel or computer aided design (CAD). Not specific to a particular industry or profession, both assist those with knowledge, skill and ability in a particular field to complete their work more efficiently, with increased reliability and quality. These tools do not replace the user’s core competencies, rather, they enhance their abilities.

AI tools can generate something “new” or identify patterns that are not readily discernable to a human. Imminently useful across domains, these aspects are especially helpful to the contracting professional. With a properly trained or configured LLM and good prompt engineering, a contracting professional can produce a new product in a fraction of the current time required.

Note “new” is in quotations for a reason. While “generative,” specific to LLMs, these models utilize probabilities to identify the most likely next word. These probabilities are developed across thousands (or more) of documents on which they are trained. Based on the frequencies of word combinations, the AI tool develops these probabilities to predict the next most likely word. As a result, these tools correlate to the relevancy (or frequency) of word combinations; which may or may not be “correct” and are highly dependent on being trained appropriately.

For this reason, AI tools are not a panacea that will replace the business acumen and judgement of trained and experienced professionals. Poor training will lead to poor outputs. With that, due to relevancy issues, introduction of novel ideas can produce inappropriate responses. If there is nothing in an LLM’s training relevant to this novel idea, the tool can, at times, produce a response that is not applicable or founded in the source document(s); referred to as a hallucination.

How AI tools can be utilized:

The most valuable resource available to the contracting professional is time. We are constantly asked to shorten timelines. Unfortunately, trying to do the same activities, just faster, leads to increased stress, lower morale and poorer products. On the other hand, taking weeks for market research or months to write a statement of work (SOW) is not sustainable either. Use of both LLMs and RPAs to assist the contracting professional will give back time for better uses.

This returned time will give the contracting professional the opportunity to execute a higher quality product. Improved market research will lead to improved overall strategies. Less time spent writing the SOW will create time that can be devoted to earlier or more often industry engagement; which leads to a better overall requirement; which gets a better service for, or a better product in the hands of the warfighter. Less time spent slogging through hundreds of pages of proposals or thousands of line items on a bill of materials will allow for improved evaluations and better preparation for negotiations, which leads to better decisions and cost savings, respectively.

AI tools are not a silver bullet that will save thousands of man hours from complete, overarching processes. We have to think smaller, improving individual tasks. Even the most mundane RPA can reduce a specific contract specialist task from 30 minutes to 5 minutes—across dozens, or hundreds of contract specialists—producing significant overall time savings.

Where AI tools can and should be utilized:

The most significant impact of AI tools is to aid contracting professionals in making decisions. Some examples of contracting officer decisions are:

• Fair and reasonable determinations. While the fair and reasonable determination remains with the contracting officer, the AI tool assists in multiple ways.
• Completing analyses faster. Imagine a proposal with dozens of labor categories and 1,000s of lines on a bill of material. The AI tool can both complete the mundane effort of checking, while also providing an “ideal” unit price for each cost element in a fraction of the time, allowing the analyst to focus only on variances.
• More in-depth analyses. An AI tool can quickly reach into various databases and websites to aggregate a larger amount of data and find patterns or anomalies that may not otherwise be apparent.
• Time to prepare for negotiations. By having time returned through an AI tool completing the rout tasks of reviewing a proposal, the contracting professional can devote more time to preparing for negotiations. This allows the creativity and technical skill of the contracting professional to develop improved strategies.
• Otherwise undiscovered patterns or anomalies. The AI tool can provide insights that might not have been included in the negotiating strategy.
• Serve as a mock interview partner. In preparing for negotiations, the AI tool can provide responses to the proposed government position and go through rounds of negotiations in a natural language format.
• Evaluation and selection. Summarizing large volumes of information. Assisting in down selects. Seeing what is not there. Providing draft narratives.
• As noted multiple times throughout, document generation: The goal of document generation should not be a final product. Rather, the goal should be 70-90% product which is then interrogated and discerned by a contracting or acquisition professional for completion.
• Justification and approval for other than full and open competition.
• Statement of work.
• Clause selection.
• AI tools can assist in tracking contract execution: Individual or multiple AI tools can allow an inspector or contracting officer representative (COR) to take notes using their natural language, which are then automatically summarized and loaded into an inspection or COR report. Additionally, an AI tool can review these reports and additional pertinent information, and provide a draft Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System report.

Skills necessary to use AI tools:

• Core competency. AI tools can assist professionals in completing their tasks. They do not replace the need for core competencies necessary to meet the mission at hand. While the user does not need to know or learn how AI works, they need to understand the work process and expected outputs. This is not dissimilar to using Excel or CAD, where the user does not need to know the software coding and operations that produce the tables, spreadsheets or drawings in order to use the tool. The business acumen and judgement of the contracting professional are vital and necessary, and not replaced.
• Armed with these core competencies, the contracting professional must interrogate the output of any AI tool. Is this the expected output? If not, why not? What is missing? What is inaccurate? For example, it is for the acquisition and contracting professional to complete the SOW and determine if it meets the overall objective originally intended.
• Once the AI tool produces an output, it is for the contracting professional to determine how to utilize that output. These tools produce drafts, data and (potentially) recommendations, not completed products and decisions. Even with the DORA bot, the procuring contracting officer makes the responsibility determination. The decisions remain with the contracting professional.

Conclusion:

AI tools are coming. Targeted correctly, they will save time, increase quality and ultimately provide better services and hardware to the warfighter. With any tool, it is about picking the right one for the job.

MATTHEW R. JEWELL serves as the chief of the Strategic Innovation Branch, and Army Contracting Command – Detroit Arsenal (ACC-DTA) Digital Contracting Capabilities Center of Excellence (DC3oE) Integrator. He is a DAWIA Certified Contracting Professional.

• Date Taken: 04.28.2026
• Date Posted: 05.04.2026 15:11
• Story ID: 564277
• Location: US