The U.S. government has added Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic to a list of approved vendors that can offer artificial intelligence services to civilian federal agencies. The companies will see their AI tools offered through a new federal contracting platform called the Multiple Awards Schedule (MAS). This platform allows government agencies to access AI tool vendors with pre-negotiated contracts instead of negotiating with each vendor individually.
The General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees the MAS, stated that the tech companies were evaluated based on security and performance standards.
This development follows recent executive orders from President Donald Trump focused on AI development. These orders include adjustments to environmental standards to increase energy supply for data centers and a directive requiring federal agencies to only use AI that is free from ideological bias.
This piece has been updated to correct the abbreviation of the Multiple Awards Schedule.