The US Coast Guard is seeking to overhaul its procurement processes by integrating generative AI and advanced commercial technologies, aiming to boost efficiency, transparency, and operational readiness amid a broader push towards autonomous and robotic systems.
The U.S. Coast Guard is actively pursuing advanced commercial technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) to modernize and streamline its procurement and acquisition processes, a move aimed at addressing longs...
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tanding operational inefficiencies and accelerating the delivery of cutting-edge capabilities. According to a recent request for information (RFI) published in November 2025, the Coast Guard seeks to overhaul its largely manual, fragmented workflows by developing an “Acquisition Superhighway” , an integrated system that leverages generative AI and other advanced tools to boost efficiency, transparency, and decision-making across the entire procurement lifecycle.
The Coast Guard, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security but is a military service, faces several challenges within its acquisition community. These include heavy reliance on manual business methods, limited visibility into workflow status and reporting, dispersed knowledge management, and a lack of tools to support requirement development and industry communications. The RFI highlights a marked deficit in the use of advanced technologies like AI, which the service intends to address by maximising the adoption of commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) and AI technologies in alignment with its Force Design 2028 Executive Plan.
The envisioned AI tools are expected to perform a range of functions previously carried out manually, such as drafting and reviewing procurement documents, decision support through automated response assessments, detecting potential contractual issues, identifying redundancies, tracking peer workflow performance, and highlighting opportunities for coaching and improvement. This initiative reflects the Coast Guard’s strategic priority to streamline, automate, and improve the quality and efficiency of contracting workflows, thereby achieving cost savings and improved schedule outcomes.
This procurement-focused AI initiative aligns with broader Coast Guard investments in robotics and autonomous systems, demonstrating a clear intent to integrate advanced technology across operational domains. In September 2025, the Coast Guard announced nearly $350 million in investments under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) to upgrade robotics and autonomous systems, including the procurement of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), and short-range unmanned aircraft systems (SR-UAS). These efforts underscore a comprehensive modernization strategy aimed at enhancing mission execution capabilities through advanced technological tools.
Additional modernization efforts include contracts like the recent award to Parsons Corporation in November 2025 to upgrade the Coast Guard’s Biometrics at Sea System (BASS 2.0). This critical platform supports maritime law enforcement by enabling biometric data collection and analysis, such as fingerprints and facial recognition, to verify identities and enhance security by interfacing with national and international databases. Parsons will provide strategic planning and technical support, as well as deploy new biometric devices to Coast Guard units.
The Coast Guard’s adoption of AI and robotics is part of a broader federal trend. For example, in mid-2025, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded significant contracts to leading AI firms including OpenAI, Alphabet’s Google, Anthropic, and Elon Musk’s xAI, aiming to enhance national security capabilities through advanced AI workflows. Elon Musk’s start-up, xAI, later secured a contract with the U.S. General Services Administration to supply its Grok AI chatbot to federal agencies at a lower cost compared to rivals, illustrating increasing competition and government interest in integrating AI across federal operations.
In terms of unmanned systems, the Coast Guard’s strategic plan published earlier in 2025 emphasizes the integration of unmanned and counter-unmanned systems across operations, advocating for capability-centric frameworks, innovative research and development, and partnership-building across government agencies. This includes initiatives such as the successful operational testing of Shield AI’s V-BAT unmanned aircraft system aboard Coast Guard cutters, part of an ongoing effort to deploy advanced UAS capabilities fleet-wide.
Together, these initiatives signal a dedicated Coast Guard commitment to embracing AI and automation not only in acquisition and contracting functions but across broader operational and enforcement capabilities. The goal is to achieve a force that is more agile, technologically advanced, and capable of meeting emerging maritime and security challenges efficiently. Industry stakeholders are invited to respond to the Coast Guard’s AI acquisition RFI by November 25, 2025, marking an important step in shaping the future of the service’s acquisition technology landscape.
Source: Noah Wire Services
