The GovAI Coalition, which launched just more than a year ago, has teamed with procurement services firm Pavilion on what they call the AI Contract Hub.
The hub offers what a statement describes as centralized “access to curated AI contracts,” which can help public agencies “streamline procurement” and implement best practices and “ethical AI solutions more efficiently.”
Pavilion operates a shared contracting platform for state and local agencies, along with schools. The GovAI Coalition, which late last year held its first summit, includes 1,700 members from 600 state, local and federal agencies.
It notes that more than half of government workers use AI applications at least weekly, a data point that underscores the group’s mission, which also includes “responsible” use of the technology.
The new hub is meant to help agencies buy AI-based tools before they become outdated, along with reducing costs, increasing procurement transparency and expanding the list of potential AI vendors, according to the coalition.
The hub sources contracts from public data and coalition members, according to Emily Royall, senior IT manager of emerging technology for the city of San Antonio and a member of the coalition.
“This is truly a crowdsourced effort led by the public sector that allows us to keep the pulse of how public agencies are purchasing and using AI across the country,” she told Government Technology via an email interview. “By pooling access to contract data, we can learn from each other, and in the longer run, leverage our collective purchasing power to set evaluation criteria and terms and conditions that better reflect our realities on the ground.”
Neither the coalition nor Pavilion charges a fee to use the hub or add contracts to it.
This isn’t the only time that Pavilion has teamed with another operation to expand access to procurement data. Last April it came together with OpenGov to build a larger online library for contracts.
“The AI Contract Hub aligns well with our mission to empower public agencies with tools that deliver better, faster services to their communities,” said Pavilion CEO and founder Mariel Reed, also via email. “By providing free access to curated contracts — and inviting public entities to share their own — we’re fostering a shared resource to accelerate responsible AI adoption across government.”
