Amanda Price, Director, Unison Virtual Acquisition Office (VAO)
A seasoned contracting officer once described her day as a scavenger hunt through policy PDFs, SharePoint folders, and half-remembered email threads. The knowledge was out there—decades of statutory guidance, clause libraries, and best-practice templates—but it moved only at the speed of human recall. As mission tempo increases and acquisition teams shrink, that lag time costs money, compliance, and momentum.
Subject-matter experts bring something no search bar can replicate: the ability to interpret policy in real-world terms and recognize the subtle cues that signal when something looks compliant but isn’t quite right. In federal acquisition, nuance is everything, and that’s exactly where artificial intelligence (AI) can flounder or flourish.
As AI adoption accelerates across the federal government and seasoned professionals take the fork in the road, that expertise is becoming a priceless, elusive commodity.
Knowledge You Can’t Google or Ask ChatGPT
Many of the most impactful decisions in federal procurement come down to recognizing patterns, anticipating risks, and relying on experience. You might choose a Part 13 buy to meet a tight deadline or take more time with a Part 15 process to reduce post-award complications. You might call a contract commercial, but still monitor performance closely based on the nature of the work.
These calls are based on reasoning developed over years and shaped by specific agency environments. A general-purpose AI tool is not equipped to make such layered decisions. What’s needed is something better informed. Something grounded in the actual practice of federal acquisition rather than just generic theory.
Not all AI is smart, at least not in the way federal acquisition demands. The tools moving agencies forward are those shaped by seasoned judgment, not just artificial intelligence.
From Static Guidance to Living Expertise
Most acquisition professionals already have access to guidance: internal portals, templates, clause libraries, and other agency-specific resources. The challenge is that these tools require time, search skills, and prior knowledge to use effectively. Usually, they sit idle until someone remembers to find them.
What’s needed now is a way to make that expertise usable in the moment. Swapping people for tools won’t cut it. It's a matter of using technology to extend the reach and impact of human expertise. When seasoned insight is built into smart AI tools, guidance becomes active. It finds the user. It adapts to the task. It improves over time.
What Activated Expertise Looks Like
Agentic AI changes the way acquisition professionals interact with information. Rather than searching for a regulation summary and hoping it fits, professionals can now rely on tools that understand their intent and context. These systems interpret the rules and produce outputs that align with federal policy.
Three key components make this possible:
- Expert content – Templates, checklists, and guidance created by experienced acquisition professionals.
- Contextual awareness – Information such as agency type, acquisition method, threshold level, and socioeconomic goals.
- AI agents – Intelligent systems, like the Virtual Acquisition Office, that combine content and context to deliver tailored, relevant guidance.
The result is both practical and immediate. When working on a Limited-Source Justification for a GSA Schedule or IDIQ task order, you can enter the scope and dollar value. The tool identifies the appropriate exception to fair opportunity, pulls in the applicable statutory language (such as urgency or only one source), and highlights missing justification elements like market research, rationale, and required approvals. Writing a service acquisition plan? As you draft the PWS, the system surfaces relevant FAR 37 guidance, including performance-based acquisition requirements and considerations for inherently governmental functions. If you update fields indicating cloud services or accessibility needs, the system applies applicable FedRAMP and Section 508 clauses automatically.
Even budget thresholds are monitored in real time. If your IGCE exceeds the Simplified Acquisition Threshold or hits a level requiring additional review, the system flags it and presents the next steps, such as approval routing, competition requirements, or documentation triggers. This shifts the acquisition process from reactive correction to proactive guidance.
Make Smart the Standard
AI alone can’t modernize federal acquisition. Progress will come from tools built with a deep understanding of how acquisition professionals work, weigh risk, interpret policy, and make judgment calls under pressure.
The right tools can help teams stay consistent, respond faster, and prevent small errors from becoming larger setbacks. They guide new professionals while reinforcing the expertise of those who have spent years in the field.
That kind of impact doesn’t happen by accident. It takes a focused, curated, smart approach. One shaped by experience, responsive to context, and built to drive better outcomes across the acquisition lifecycle.
