Coast Guard envisions using AI to develop acquisition ‘superhighway’

The military service, which falls under DHS, published an RFI as it looks for new tech to improve the efficiency of its acquisition enterprise.

By Jon Harper

November 19, 2025

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U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Kimble Petersen, an aviation survival technician assigned to Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point in Kapolei, Hawaii, scans the scene below while being hoisted down from a Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter during a training exercise in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii Nov. 12, 2025. Cliff-side and vertical hoist missions often occur in remote or inaccessible terrain, requiring precise aircraft positioning and environmental awareness to avoid obstacles and wind shear. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Tyler Robertson)

The U.S. Coast Guard is conducting market research with an eye toward adopting commercial technologies and AI that could boost the efficiency and efficacy of its procurement processes.

The USCG — which is considered a military service but falls under the remit of the Department of Homeland Security — is trying to address a variety of shortfalls within its acquisition community, including heavy reliance on manual business methods and workflows; minimal end-to-end workflow status visibility and business intelligence capabilities to support strategic planning, reporting and enterprise decision-making; disparate knowledge management; scarcity of tools to support requirement development processes and industry communication and collaboration; limited visibility of peer work products; and “minimal to no use” of advanced technology like AI, according to a request for information published Tuesday.

The release of the RFI to inform the service’s concept for a so-called “Acquisition Superhighway” comes as the Coast Guard looks to enhance its “end-to-end procurement workflow” using new tools like generative AI to transform processes that are currently labor-intensive. The organization aims to accelerate the fielding of cutting-edge tech, improve schedule outcomes and achieve cost savings.

“A major initiative required to reach that target objective is the successful adoption and use of advanced technology, human-machine teaming, and data to conduct operational, support, and enterprise functions. We will maximize the use of Commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) and Artificial Intelligence in accordance with [Force Design 2028] Executive Plan to obtain and integrate new enterprise capabilities that streamlines, automates and improves overall quality and efficiency of current contracting and acquisition workflows and delivers significant value to the enterprise,” officials wrote.

The service wants tools that enhance enterprise knowledge management, address data quality issues associated with “current disparate and redundant business process workflows,” and boost status-tracking and planning capabilities, per the RFI.

Officials are interested in “foundational AI” tools that can draft and review documents and provide decision support, such as reviewing responses to pre-set questions; generating draft artifacts; highlighting potential contractual or legal content issues for personnel to examine; reviewing initial program requirements; identifying overlap, redundancy and opportunities for collaboration; tracking workers’ peer-to-peer workflow performance; and pointing out opportunities for coaching and performance improvement, among other desired capabilities.

Industry responses are due Nov. 25.