AI for Federal Acquisition & Contracting Course

Module 1: AI Foundations for the Acquisition Professional (Approx. 50 minutes)

• Define key AI terms relevant to acquisition work, including large language models, generative AI, prompts, tokens, and hallucinations.
• Describe, at a high level, how large language models generate text in a non-technical way.
• Recognize how AI is being adopted across the federal landscape, including OMB guidance and the evolving policy environment.
• Apply responsible AI practices to protect PII, CUI, and contractor proprietary information.
• Identify AI limitations such as hallucinations, bias, and confidentiality risks, and explain why human review is required.
• Locate and follow agency acceptable use policies for AI tools.
• Hands-On Activity: AI Guardrails Check, identify sensitive data in an acquisition scenario and rewrite prompts to remove restricted information.

Module 2: Drafting Performance Work Statements and Statements of Work with AI (Approx. 60 minutes)

• Compare performance work statements and statements of work, and identify when each is appropriate, with a brief reference to FAR Part 37.
• Build effective prompts for acquisition documents using context, constraints, and formatting instructions.
• Structure prompts for common PWS sections, including objectives, scope, tasks, deliverables, performance standards, and quality assurance.
• Use iterative follow-up prompting to improve, expand, and reorganize AI-generated drafts.
• Recognize common pitfalls such as generic language, missing compliance elements, and overreliance on AI outputs.
• Apply a human-in-the-loop review checklist to validate AI-assisted acquisition document drafts.
• Hands-On Activity: Draft a PWS Section, generate a section from a scenario and refine the output through review and improvement.

Module 3: AI-Assisted Requirements Generation and Market Research (Approx. 60 minutes)

• Generate and organize functional and technical requirements based on stakeholder inputs.
• Use AI to support market research activities, including identifying potential vendors, summarizing capabilities, and drafting market research narratives, with a brief reference to FAR Part 10.
• Draft evaluation criteria and rating scales with AI support.
• Develop an IGCE framework and create prompts to support pricing research.
• Apply prompt strategies to convert vague needs into structured and actionable requirements.
• Perform quality control by cross-checking AI-generated outputs against program objectives and FAR compliance.
• Hands-On Activity: Requirements Generator, produce requirements, a market research summary, and draft evaluation factors using an iterative prompt and refine workflow.

Module 4: Putting It All Together, Capstone Exercise and Toolkit (Approx. 50 minutes)

• Apply an end-to-end workflow that uses AI to support acquisition planning and documentation.
• Build a reusable personal prompt library for PWS, SOW, requirements, market research, and evaluation criteria.
• Identify change management considerations for introducing AI tools to an acquisition team.
• Use resources to stay current on evolving federal AI policy and acquisition-related AI developments.
• Summarize key takeaways and apply best practices through discussion and Q and A.
• Capstone Activity: Mini Acquisition Package, create a small documentation package including a PWS or SOW section, key requirements, and draft evaluation criteria, then present for peer and instructor feedback.