The Treasury Department is looking for feedback on an anticipated contract model that aims to establish direct relationships with frontier artificial intelligence (AI) and large language model developers.
In a new request for information (RFI), the Treasury Department said it seeks a more timely approach to contracting evolving AI capabilities, such as newly released AI models and associated offerings.
“This requirement represents a new approach to contracting for AI capabilities,” the RFI says. “Rather than procuring a fixed set of tools or models through a one-time acquisition, Treasury is exploring a structure that provides sustained, direct access to frontier AI companies through a token-based procurement approach.”
“This approach is intended to support mission-driven use while enabling the government to adapt to advances in model performance, safety, and functionality as the market evolves over the contract lifecycle,” it adds.
The Treasury Department is asking vendors responding to the notice to answer a series of questions, including whether the department should consider any on-premises or cloud considerations, limitations, or dependencies when ordering or using AI tokens.
It also wants to know how organizations define and measure tokens; how AI models are made available for token-based access; and what security, authentication, and access control mechanisms support token usage.
Among other questions, the department also wants information on the best contractual mechanisms to allow the government “to benefit from downward pricing trends” over a five-year performance period.
Responses to the RFI are due on Feb. 23.