Despite how hard they try, not every organization\u00a0can equip themselves to build AI solutions in-house. That includes governments.<\/p>\n
To combat\u00a0a shortage of internal solutions, the Government of Canada has launched a supplier framework meant to provide the country with a list of companies that can reliably and securely deliver AI services and products. These companies will be able to deliver solutions, platforms and frameworks to aid Canada in rolling out new services or programs for citizens.<\/p>\n
The companies included in the framework are separated\u00a0into three bands that define the value of work that can be awarded. Below is a short list of companies in each band, along with\u00a0a definition of the band. Note that this list is not exhaustive, as band three has over 50 companies included. These companies “met all of the mandatory criteria to provide Canada with responsible and effective AI services, solutions and products” according to a Government of Canada tender notice.<\/p>\n
Band One (work up to $500,000 before taxes)<\/strong><\/p>\n Band Two (work up to $4 million before taxes)<\/strong><\/p>\n Band Three (work up to $9 million before taxes)<\/strong><\/p>\n Band three also contained other software giants including IBM, Microsoft, Mcafee, KPMG and more. The idea seems to be that the larger more established technology companies will be granted the biggest AI contracts from the government of Canada while smaller problems will be left for boutique AI firms. In order to\u00a0qualify for band one, the companies must have proved they\u00a0delivered at least\u00a0one successful AI project, while the requirement for band two is three successful AI projects, and band three is at least five AI projects.<\/p>\n Canada’s chief\u00a0information officer Alex Benay called the launch fo the supplier framework a \u201cbig day for automation of Government of Canada services and overall modernization of our institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n The original invitation to qualify features some\u00a0interesting\u00a0requirements, including the fact that these AI\u00a0companies\u00a0must give the government the ability to derive any source code or reverse engineer from the awarded AI solutions. This means if a large company chooses to use an existing\u00a0AI platform to help solve one of the government’s problems, they run the risk of handing over their IP to Canadian officials, who can then transfer it to any other\u00a0department, corporation, or agency as defined in the Financial Administration Act.<\/p>\n In addition, the supplier of an AI solution must provide examples of how it addresses ethical practices while delivering AI, including demonstrating experience in “applying frameworks, methods, guidelines or assessment tools to test datasets and outcomes.”<\/p>\n As of now, the government is focusing\u00a0on three core AI areas of work:\u00a0Insights and predictive\u00a0modelling, machine interactions, and cognitive automation.<\/p>\n\n
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