II 

Calendar No. 456 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1363 

[Report No. 116–225] 

To authorize an AI Center of Excellence within the General Services 

Administration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 8, 2019 

Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. PORTMAN, Ms. HARRIS, and Mr. 

PETERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

JUNE 1, 2020 

Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To authorize an AI Center of Excellence within the General 

Services Administration, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘AI in Government Act 

5 of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act— 

3 (1) the term ‘‘Administration’’ means the Gen4 eral Services Administration; 

5 (2) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad6 ministrator of General Services; 

7 (3) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given 

8 the term in section 3502 of title 44, United States 

9 Code; 

10 (4) the term ‘‘AI CoE’’ means the AI Center of 

11 Excellence described in section 3; 

12 (5) the term ‘‘artificial intelligence’’ means any 

13 method implemented on a computer, including any 

14 method that is drawn from machine learning, data 

15 science, or statistics, to enable the computer to carry 

16 out a task or behavior that would require intel17 ligence if performed by a human; 

18 (6) the term ‘‘Board’’ means the advisory board 

19 established under section 5(a); 

20 (7) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 

21 the Office of Management and Budget; 

22 (8) the term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 

23 has the meaning given the term in section 102 of the 

24 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002); 

25 and 


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1 (9) the term ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an 

2 organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the 

3 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from 

4 taxation under section 501(a) of that Code. 

5 SEC. 3. AI CENTER OF EXCELLENCE. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established within the 

7 Administration an office to be known as the ‘‘AI Center 

8 of Excellence’’, which shall— 

9 (1) advise and promote the efforts of the Fed10 eral Government in developing innovative uses of ar11 tificial intelligence by the Federal Government to the 

12 benefit of the public; and 

13 (2) improve cohesion and competency in the use 

14 of artificial intelligence. 

15 (b) DUTIES.—The duties of the AI CoE shall in16 clude— 

17 (1) regularly convening individuals from agen18 cies, industry, Federal laboratories, nonprofit organi19 zations, institutions of higher education, and other 

20 entities to discuss recent developments in artificial 

21 intelligence, including the dissemination of informa22 tion regarding programs, pilots, and other initiatives 

23 at agencies, as well as recent trends and relevant in24 formation on artificial intelligence; 


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1 (2) advising Federal Government acquisition 

2 and use of artificial intelligence through technical in3 sight and expertise, as needed; 

4 (3) assisting agencies in applying the manage5 ment and use of data in applications of artificial in6 telligence; 

7 (4) identifying and disseminating information 

8 regarding educational and workforce development 

9 opportunities for agency employees relative to artifi10 cial intelligence topics, and leading those opportuni11 ties, as needed; 

12 (5) studying economic, policy, legal, and ethical 

13 challenges and implications related to the use of ar14 tificial intelligence by the Federal Government, in15 cluding how the privacy, civil liberties, and civil 

16 rights of individuals are or will be affected by the 

17 use of artificial intelligence by the Federal Govern18 ment; 

19 (6) encouraging and assisting joint initiatives 

20 with State or local governments, regional organiza21 tions, private businesses, institutions of higher edu22 cation, nonprofit organizations, and Federal labora23 tories to advance the innovative use of artificial in24 telligence in government; and 


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1 (7) assisting relevant agencies in developing 

2 and maintaining plans for the governance of agency 

3 artificial intelligence systems. 

4 (c) STAFF.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall pro6 vide necessary staff, resources, and administrative 

7 support for the AI CoE. 

8 (2) TEMPORARY OR TERM APPOINTMENTS.— 

9 The Administrator may hire temporary or term em10 ployees in accordance with part 316 of title 5, Code 

11 of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation, 

12 to serve as AI CoE employees. 

13 (3) FELLOWS.—The Administrator may, to the 

14 maximum extent practicable, appoint fellows to par15 ticipate in the AI CoE from nonprofit organizations, 

16 think tanks, institutions of higher education, and in17 dustry. 

18 (4) DETAILS.—When appropriate, and to the 

19 maximum extent practicable, the Administrator may 

20 detail AI CoE employees to agencies on a reimburs21 able or non-reimbursable basis in accordance with 

22 section 3341 of title 5, United States Code. 

23 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Administrator shall 

24 submit to Congress an annual report on the AI CoE, 

25 which shall include, for the preceding year— 


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1 (1) a summary of the activity of the AI CoE, 

2 including a description of specific projects worked on 

3 in partnership with agencies; 

4 (2) recommendations on ways in which agencies 

5 can better support the development and deployment 

6 of artificial intelligence, including initiatives de7 signed to promote knowledge of those technologies 

8 among the Federal workforce; and 

9 (3) an identification of joint initiatives encour10 aged or assisted under subsection (b)(6). 

11 (e) TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS.—All functions of the 

12 Emerging Citizen Technology Office of the Administra13 tion, including the personnel, assets, and obligations of the 

14 Emerging Citizen Technology Office, as in existence before 

15 the date of enactment of this Act, shall be transferred to 

16 the AI CoE. 

17 (f) DEEMING OF NAME.—Any reference in law, regu18 lation, document, paper, or other record of the United 

19 States to the Emerging Citizen Technology Office of the 

20 Administration shall be deemed a reference to the AI CoE. 

21 SEC. 4. AGENCY GOVERNANCE PLANS FOR ARTIFICIAL IN22 TELLIGENCE SYSTEMS. 

23 (a) GUIDANCE.—In order to develop a clear and com24 prehensive understanding of how artificial intelligence can 

25 be used to deliver benefits to citizens of the United States 


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1 while mitigating risks, the Director, in coordination with 

2 the Administrator, the head of any relevant agency as de3 termined by the Director, and key stakeholders, shall issue 

4 a memorandum to the head of each agency that shall— 

5 (1) inform the development of artificial intel6 ligence governance approaches by those agencies re7 garding technologies and applications that— 

8 (A) are empowered or enabled by the use 

9 of artificial intelligence within that agency; and 

10 (B) advance the innovative use of artificial 

11 intelligence for the benefit of the public while 

12 upholding civil liberties, privacy, and civil 

13 rights; 

14 (2) consider ways to reduce barriers to the use 

15 of artificial intelligence in order to promote innova16 tive application of those technologies for the benefit 

17 of the public, while protecting civil liberties, privacy, 

18 and civil rights; 

19 (3) establish best practices for identifying, as20 sessing, and mitigating any bias on the basis of any 

21 classification protected under Federal nondiscrimina22 tion laws or other negative unintended consequence 

23 stemming from the use of artificial intelligence sys24 tems; and 


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1 (4) provide a template of the required contents 

2 of the agency Governance Plans described in sub3 section (b). 

4 (b) AGENCY GOVERNANCE PLANS.—Not later than 

5 180 days after the date on which the memorandum is 

6 issued under subsection (a), the head of each agency 

7 shall— 

8 (1) review the applications of artificial intel9 ligence at the agency; 

10 (2) identify and prioritize applications of artifi11 cial intelligence that would significantly benefit the 

12 public while upholding civil liberties, privacy, and 

13 civil rights; and 

14 (3) submit to the Director and the Adminis15 trator a Governance Plan to achieve consistency with 

16 the memorandum. 

17 (c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Each agency described 

18 in subsection (b) shall— 

19 (1) not later than 1 year after the date on 

20 which the head of the agency submits the Govern21 ance Plan of the agency under subsection (b), and 

22 each year thereafter, update the Governance Plan 

23 pursuant to any change in the factors described in 

24 (a)(1); 


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1 (2) solicit public feedback during the develop2 ment of the Governance Plan in the form of public 

3 hearings and online submission of comments; and 

4 (3) make available each Governance Plan cen5 trally available in a machine-readable format at a 

6 publicly available online portal on the website of the 

7 agency. 

8 (d) CENTRAL ONLINE GOVERNANCE PLANS POR9 TAL.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 

11 maintain a single public interface online to compile 

12 published agency Governance Plans in accordance 

13 with subsection (c). 

14 (2) SUBMISSION OF LINKS.—The Administrator 

15 and the Director shall ensure that agencies can sub16 mit links, with appropriate descriptive metadata, to 

17 the public Governance Plans for publication and 

18 public availability on the interface described in para19 graph (1). 

20 SEC. 5. ADVISORY BOARD. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall establish 

22 an advisory board to advise the Administrator on issues 

23 that are relevant to the mission and duties of the AI CoE 

24 and to inform the priorities and projects worked on by 

25 the AI CoE. 


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1 (b) COMPOSITION.— 

2 (1) CHAIR.—The Director shall serve as Chair 

3 of the Board. 

4 (2) OTHER MEMBERS.—The Board shall be 

5 composed of the following members: 

6 (A) One designee from each of the fol7 lowing: 

8 (i) The Office of Science and Tech9 nology Policy. 

10 (ii) The Department of Commerce. 

11 (B) Six designees from agencies not listed 

12 in subparagraph (A), who shall be designated 

13 by the Chair of the Board once every 12 

14 months. 

15 (C) Eight members designated by the 

16 Chair of the Board once every 6 months, of 

17 whom— 

18 (i) four shall be representatives of rel19 evant industries; 

20 (ii) two shall be representatives of in21 stitutions of higher education; and 

22 (iii) two shall be representatives of 

23 public interest groups representing civil lib24 erties, privacy, and civil rights issues. 


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1 (3) QUALIFICATIONS.—Each member of the 

2 Board designated under subparagraph (B) or (C) of 

3 paragraph (2) shall have demonstrated experience 

4 and expertise in the field of artificial intelligence. 

5 (c) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet not less fre6 quently than once every 12 months. 

7 (d) ANNUAL LIST.—Each year, the Board shall pub8 lish on a publicly available website a list of areas of im9 provement within the Federal Government that would ben10 efit from additional technical or technical policy expertise. 

11 (e) COMPENSATION.—Members of the Board shall 

12 serve on the Board without compensation, except that 

13 members of the Board may be allowed travel expenses, in14 cluding per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized 

15 for employees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 

16 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from their 

17 homes or regular places of business in the performance 

18 of services for the Board. 

19 (f) DURATION.—Section 14 of the Federal Advisory 

20 Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the 

21 Board. 

22 SEC. 6. UPDATE OF OCCUPATIONAL SERIES FOR ARTIFI23 CIAL INTELLIGENCE. 

24 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

25 of this Act, and in accordance with chapter 51 of title 5, 


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1 United States Code, the Director of the Office of Per2 sonnel Management shall— 

3 (1) identify key skills and competencies needed 

4 for positions related to artificial intelligence; and 

5 (2) establish an occupational series, or update 

6 and improve an existing occupational job series, to 

7 include positions the primary duties of which relate 

8 to artificial intelligence. 

9 SEC. 7. SUNSET. 

10 Sections 3 and 5 of this Act shall cease to be effective 

11 on the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment 

12 of this Act. 

13 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

14 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘AI in Government Act 

15 of 2019’’. 

16 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act— 

18 (1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Admin19 istrator of General Services; 

20 (2) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given the 

21 term in section 3502 of title 44, United States Code; 

22 (3) the term ‘‘AI CoE’’ means the AI Center of 

23 Excellence described in section 3; 

24 (4) the term ‘‘artificial intelligence’’ has the 

25 meaning given the term in section 238(g) of the John 


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1 S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for 

2 Fiscal Year 2019 (10 U.S.C. 2358 note); 

3 (5) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of the 

4 Office of Management and Budget; 

5 (6) the term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 

6 has the meaning given the term in section 101 of the 

7 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001); and 

8 (7) the term ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an 

9 organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the In10 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax11 ation under section 501(a) of that Code. 

12 SEC. 3. AI CENTER OF EXCELLENCE. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is created within the General 

14 Services Administration an office to be known as the ‘‘AI 

15 Center of Excellence’’, which shall— 

16 (1) promote the efforts of the Federal Government 

17 in developing innovative uses of and acquiring artifi18 cial intelligence technologies by the Federal Govern19 ment; 

20 (2) improve cohesion and competency in the 

21 adoption and use of artificial intelligence within the 

22 Federal Government; and 

23 (3) carry out paragraphs (1) and (2) for the 

24 purposes of benefitting the public and enhancing the 


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1 productivity and efficiency of Federal Government 

2 operations. 

3 (b) DUTIES.—The duties of the AI CoE shall include— 

4 (1) regularly convening individuals from agen5 cies, industry, Federal laboratories, nonprofit organi6 zations, institutions of higher education, and other 

7 entities to discuss recent developments in artificial in8 telligence, including the dissemination of information 

9 regarding programs, pilots, and other initiatives at 

10 agencies, as well as recent trends and relevant infor11 mation on the understanding, adoption, and use of 

12 artificial intelligence; 

13 (2) collecting, aggregating, and publishing on a 

14 publicly available website information regarding pro15 grams, pilots, and other initiatives led by other agen16 cies and any other information determined appro17 priate by the Administrator; 

18 (3) advising the Administrator, the Director, 

19 and agencies on the acquisition and use of artificial 

20 intelligence through technical insight and expertise, as 

21 needed; 

22 (4) assisting agencies in the procurement and 

23 technical application of artificial intelligence and ap24 plying Federal policies regarding the management 


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1 and use of data in applications of artificial intel2 ligence; 

3 (5) consulting with agencies, including the De4 partment of Defense, the Department of Commerce, 

5 the Department of Energy, the Department of Home6 land Security, the Office of Management and Budget, 

7 and the National Science Foundation, that operate 

8 programs, create standards and guidelines, or other9 wise fund internal projects or coordinate between the 

10 public and private sectors relating to artificial intel11 ligence; 

12 (6) advising the Director on developing policy 

13 related to the use of artificial intelligence by agencies; 

14 and 

15 (7) advising the Director of the Office of Science 

16 and Technology Policy on developing policy related to 

17 research and national investment in artificial intel18 ligence. 

19 (c) STAFF.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall pro21 vide necessary staff, resources, and administrative 

22 support for the AI CoE. 

23 (2) TEMPORARY OR TERM APPOINTMENTS.—The 

24 Administrator may hire temporary or term employees 

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1 eral Regulations, or any successor regulation, to serve 

2 as AI CoE employees. 

3 (3) FELLOWS.—The Administrator may, to the 

4 maximum extent practicable, appoint fellows to par5 ticipate in the AI CoE from nonprofit organizations, 

6 think tanks, institutions of higher education, and in7 dustry. 

8 (4) DETAILS.—When appropriate, and to the 

9 maximum extent practicable, the Administrator may 

10 detail AI CoE employees to agencies on a reimburs11 able or non-reimbursable basis in accordance with 

12 section 3341 of title 5, United States Code. 

13 (d) BRIEFING TO CONGRESS.—The Administrator 

14 shall, on an annual basis, brief the Committee on Homeland 

15 Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 

16 Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of Rep17 resentatives on an overview of the activities supported by 

18 the AI CoE, which shall include, for the preceding year— 

19 (1) a summary of the activity of the AI CoE, in20 cluding a description of specific projects and acquisi21 tions worked on in partnership with agencies; 

22 (2) recommendations on ways in which agencies 

23 can continue to support the adoption of artificial in24 telligence; and 


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1 (3) any other information determined relevant 

2 by the Administrator. 

3 (e) SUNSET.—This section shall cease to be effective on 

4 the date that is 10 years after the date of enactment of this 

5 Act. 

6 SEC. 4. GUIDANCE FOR AGENCY USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTEL7 LIGENCE. 

8 (a) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 270 days after the date 

9 of enactment of this Act, the Director, in coordination with 

10 the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy 

11 and in consultation with the Administrator and any other 

12 relevant agencies and key stakeholders as determined by the 

13 Director, shall issue a memorandum to the head of each 

14 agency that shall— 

15 (1) inform the development of policies regarding 

16 Federal acquisition and use by agencies regarding 

17 technologies that are empowered or enabled by artifi18 cial intelligence; 

19 (2) recommend approaches to remove barriers for 

20 use by agencies of artificial intelligence technologies 

21 in order to promote the innovative application of 

22 those technologies while protecting civil liberties, pri23 vacy, civil rights, and economic and national secu24 rity; and 


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1 (3) identify best practices for identifying, assess2 ing, and mitigating any discriminatory impact or 

3 bias on the basis of any classification protected under 

4 Federal nondiscrimination laws, or any unintended 

5 consequence of the use of artificial intelligence by the 

6 Federal Government. 

7 (b) PUBLIC COMMENT.—To help ensure public trust in 

8 the applications of artificial intelligence technologies, the 

9 Director shall issue a draft version of the memorandum re10 quired under subsection (a) for public comment not later 

11 than 180 days after date of enactment of this Act. 

12 (c) PLANS.—Not later than 180 days after the date on 

13 which the Director issues the memorandum required under 

14 subsection (a), the head of each agency that uses or antici15 pates using artificial intelligence shall submit to the Direc16 tor and post on a publicly available page on the website 

17 of the agency a plan to achieve consistency with the memo18 randum. 

19 (d) UPDATES.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

20 on which the Director issues the memorandum required 

21 under subsection (a), and every 2 years thereafter for 10 

22 years, the Director shall issue updates to the memorandum. 


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1 SEC. 5. UPDATE OF OCCUPATIONAL SERIES FOR ARTIFI2 CIAL INTELLIGENCE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

4 of enactment of this Act, and in accordance with chapter 

5 51 of title 5, United States Code, the Director of the Office 

6 of Personnel Management shall— 

7 (1) identify key skills and competencies needed 

8 for positions related to artificial intelligence; 

9 (2) establish an occupational series, or update an 

10 existing occupational job series, to include positions 

11 the primary duties of which relate to artificial intel12 ligence; 

13 (3) establish an estimate of the number of Fed14 eral employees in positions related to artificial intel15 ligence, by each agency; and 

16 (4) using the estimate established in paragraph 

17 (3), prepare a 3-year and 10-year forecast of the 

18 number of Federal employees in positions related to 

19 artificial intelligence that each agency will need to 

20 employ. 

21 (b) PLAN.—Not later than 120 days after the date of 

22 enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Personnel 

23 Management shall submit to the Committee on Homeland 

24 Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 

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1 resentatives a comprehensive plan with a timeline to com2 plete requirements described in subsection (a). 


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Calendar No. 456 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1363 

[Report No. 116–225] 

A BILL 

To authorize an AI Center of Excellence within the 

purposes. General Services Administration, and for other 

JUNE 1, 2020 

Reported with an amendment 


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