Hi fellow 1102s,

I created this ChatGPT AI bot - https://chatgpt.com/g/g-uGQB9NS2n-usaid-a-a-bot . A free account login should be able to access it now.

I uploaded the FAR, USAID's acquisition policy (AIDAR), 100 pages of USAID Ombudsman Q&A, the Foreign Assistance Act, 2 CFR, and several other policy documents into it, and trained it to overcome some obvious misinterpretations.

If you are so inclined, please feel free to challenge the bot with questions and let me know if it misses anything. I can "train" it to get it right next time. The tone, how it references material, its brevity, accuracy... comment on anything.

These bots are getting more and more powerful. Try asking it to write requirements for you or load in a public sol and see how it responds drafting a proposal with a bit of guidance. I am convinced that 100% of our offerors will be using AI to generate or improve their proposals before the year is out. I'm exploring how to train bots to at some point dissect incoming proposals. Hence, this bot is a personal exploration outside office hours, but, perhaps, I might convert its lessons into something actionable to improve our 1102 workforce (cost analysis, proposal review, contract/SOL drafting, etc.).

Cheers!

Bryan

Thanks for sharing.  I’ll take a look later.

I agree AI will be very useful in writing proposals.  So many companies get excited thinking they know what the customer wants and bragging about themselves, they miss key elements of the solicitation.  So very often, proposals fail to address what the solicitation asks for.

I recently heard a company that’s a major player in contract writing systems.  They’ve been toying with the idea of using AI but hesitated each time.  They felt an overwhelming need to get it right the first time.  At one point they estimated a need for six or so contracting “experts” to teach the system over a six month period.  They felt that level of resources is needed to resolve needed details and avoid wrong interpretations when clauses are needed and when they aren’t.  Plus they felt another long period of testing is required to verify it works properly.  After all this they knew that market wouldn’t accept the prices they needed to charge.

@ConTraCula

I have not dug in yet.  This comment is based on a quick view, your post and a different Forum discussion.

It appears  USAID does acquisitions through the SBA 8(a) program.  If so has the the "training" included 13 CFR 124 along with USAIDs 8(a) Partnership Agreement?  If not you might want to consider.   Possibly even  13 CFR 121, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, and 129 as well.

Basis for my suggestion is many times issues related to 8(a) and other small business programs leads the acquisition workforce to utilizing the CFR (and the partnership agreement) for guidance.

Nice job so far.  I think it will require lots more work but perhaps your management will get you help.

Quote

I'm exploring how to train bots to at some point dissect incoming proposals.

Some very elemtary proposal evaluation tools used this concept.  Offerors were required to tag sections of RFPs they were responding to in their proposals.  The evaluation software then flags those portions of responses against the specific evaluation criteria for the government evaluators to utilize in completing their worksheets.  One pitfall was offerors failing to completely identity their responses.  In some cases they forgot and in other instances responses were spread across multiple sections of their proposals.  But this all occurred before AI and perhaps advances now can make it more effective. 

On 6/1/2024 at 9:07 AM, ConTraCula said:

I created this ChatGPT AI bot - https://chatgpt.com/g/g-uGQB9NS2n-usaid-a-a-bot . A free account login should be able to access it now.

You want personal information for an account. Yet I don't know who you are. 

I declined.