Deloitte Wins $106M JAIC Contract To Build AI Toolkit

WASHINGTON: Inventing artificial intelligence algorithms shouldn't require reinventing the wheel but in the fractured, bureaucratic world of the Defense Department it all too often does. That's why the Pentagon's Joint AI Center has hired Deloitte Consulting to build the Joint Common Foundation, a cloud-based AI development kit for any DoD organization to use. Awarded yesterday but announced this afternoon, the contract names Deloitte as the one and only "prime integrator" for "Systems Engineering, Technology, and Innovation." That makes the company responsible for pulling together all the technologies and subcontractors required to build the Joint Common Foundation and keeping it updated, secure and operational. The minimum scope of the contract is $31 million over one year (starting Aug. 17), but if the Pentagon is pleased with Deloitte's performance, it can exercise annual options that could grow the contract to a maximum of $106.4 million over four years (through 2024).