What We Did:
The objective of this evaluation was to determine whether the Army Contracting Command (ACC), the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), and the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team (AWCFT, also known as Project Maven) monitored Project Maven contracts in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), and DoD policy.
What We Found:
The ACC-Aberdeen Proving Ground Contracting Center KO appointed a Contracting Officer Representative (COR) for Project Maven’s four contracts and one cooperative agreement in accordance with the FAR, and the Army Research Laboratory COR and the AWCFT TM successfully monitored and managed Project Maven’s four contracts and one cooperative agreement in accordance with the FAR, DFARS, Defense Grant and Agreement Regulatory System, and contract requirements. Specifically, the TM, with the support of the AWCFT, actively monitored contract deliverables using AWCFT developed reporting, metrics, processes, and procedures to monitor and manage the Project Maven contracts and meet Project Maven objectives.
However, the AWCFT did not document its approach to monitoring by formalizing the reporting metrics, processes, and procedures for monitoring and managing Project Maven contracts.
Without formalized and documented processes, there is an increased risk of lapses occurring in the monitoring and management of the Project Maven contracts as the program grows and as project personnel change. This could negatively affect the long-term success and growth of the project.
In addition, as AI and machine learning programs expand within the DoD, future DoD acquisitions related to this complex, rapidly moving technology may not benefit from the monitoring and management lessons learned.
Best practices that can further refine and develop these types of acquisitions, as well as help provide continuity for management and monitoring of emergent technology, could be lost if these processes are not documented.
What We Recommend:
We recommend that the Chief of the AWCFT formalize Project Maven’s processes and procedures for monitoring and managing AI development contracts to ensure knowledge management, continuity, and efficiency when the project is transferred to a mission owner and for reference by subsequent novel technology projects and cross-functional teams.
We recommend that the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition conduct a review of the AWFCT’s emerging technology acquisition processes and procedures to evaluate whether any of the processes and procedures used by the AWCFT should be further formalized in acquisition policies, implemented by other programs and cross-functional teams, or incorporated into relevant curriculum and training.