I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2575 
To authorize an AI Center of Excellence within the General Services 
Administration, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 8, 2019 
Mr. MCNERNEY (for himself and Mr. MEADOWS) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 
A BILL 
To authorize an AI Center of Excellence within the General 
Services Administration, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘AI in Government Act 
of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act— 
(1) the term ‘‘Administration’’ means the Gen-
eral Services Administration; 
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(2) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad-
ministrator of General Services; 
(3) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given 
the term in section 3502 of title 44, United States 
Code; 
(4) the term ‘‘AI CoE’’ means the AI Center of 
Excellence described in section 3; 
(5) the term ‘‘artificial intelligence’’ means any 
method implemented on a computer, including any 
method that is drawn from machine learning, data 
science, or statistics, to enable the computer to carry 
out a task or behavior that would require intel-
ligence if performed by a human; 
(6) the term ‘‘Board’’ means the advisory board 
established under section 5(a); 
(7) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 
the Office of Management and Budget; 
(8) the term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 
has the meaning given the term in section 102 of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002); 
and 
(9) the term ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an 
organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from 
taxation under section 501(a) of that Code. 
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SEC. 3. AI CENTER OF EXCELLENCE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established within the 
Administration an office to be known as the ‘‘AI Center 
of Excellence’’, which shall— 
(1) advise and promote the efforts of the Fed-
eral Government in developing innovative uses of ar-
tificial intelligence by the Federal Government to the 
benefit of the public; and 
(2) improve cohesion and competency in the use 
of artificial intelligence. 
(b) DUTIES.—The duties of the AI CoE shall in-
clude— 
(1) regularly convening individuals from agen-
cies, industry, Federal laboratories, nonprofit organi-
zations, institutions of higher education, and other 
entities to discuss recent developments in artificial 
intelligence, including the dissemination of informa-
tion regarding programs, pilots, and other initiatives 
at agencies, as well as recent trends and relevant in-
formation on artificial intelligence; 
(2) advising Federal Government acquisition 
and use of artificial intelligence through technical in-
sight and expertise, as needed; 
(3) assisting agencies in applying the manage-
ment and use of data in applications of artificial in-
telligence; 
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(4) identifying and disseminating information 
regarding educational and workforce development 
opportunities for agency employees relative to artifi-
cial intelligence topics, and leading those opportuni-
ties, as needed; 
(5) studying economic, policy, legal, and ethical 
challenges and implications related to the use of ar-
tificial intelligence by the Federal Government, in-
cluding how the privacy, civil liberties, and civil 
rights of individuals are or will be affected by the 
use of artificial intelligence by the Federal Govern-
ment; 
(6) encouraging and assisting joint initiatives 
with State or local governments, regional organiza-
tions, private businesses, institutions of higher edu-
cation, nonprofit organizations, and Federal labora-
tories to advance the innovative use of artificial in-
telligence in government; and 
(7) assisting relevant agencies in developing 
and maintaining plans for the governance of agency 
artificial intelligence systems. 
(c) STAFF.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall pro-
vide necessary staff, resources, and administrative 
support for the AI CoE. 
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(2) TEMPORARY
OR
TERM
APPOINTMENTS.— 
The Administrator may hire temporary or term em-
ployees in accordance with part 316 of title 5, Code 
of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation, 
to serve as AI CoE employees. 
(3) FELLOWS.—The Administrator may, to the 
maximum extent practicable, appoint fellows to par-
ticipate in the AI CoE from nonprofit organizations, 
think tanks, institutions of higher education, and in-
dustry. 
(4) DETAILS.—When appropriate, and to the 
maximum extent practicable, the Administrator may 
detail AI CoE employees to agencies on a reimburs-
able or nonreimbursable basis in accordance with 
section 3341 of title 5, United States Code. 
(d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Administrator shall 
submit to Congress an annual report on the AI CoE, 
which shall include, for the preceding year— 
(1) a summary of the activity of the AI CoE, 
including a description of specific projects worked on 
in partnership with agencies; 
(2) recommendations on ways in which agencies 
can better support the development and deployment 
of artificial intelligence, including initiatives de-
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signed to promote knowledge of those technologies 
among the Federal workforce; and 
(3) an identification of joint initiatives encour-
aged or assisted under subsection (b)(6). 
(e) TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS.—All functions of the 
Emerging Citizen Technology Office of the Administra-
tion, including the personnel, assets, and obligations of the 
Emerging Citizen Technology Office, as in existence before 
the date of enactment of this Act, shall be transferred to 
the AI CoE. 
(f) DEEMING OF NAME.—Any reference in law, regu-
lation, document, paper, or other record of the United 
States to the Emerging Citizen Technology Office of the 
Administration shall be deemed a reference to the AI CoE. 
SEC. 4. AGENCY GOVERNANCE PLANS FOR ARTIFICIAL IN-
TELLIGENCE SYSTEMS. 
(a) GUIDANCE.—In order to develop a clear and com-
prehensive understanding of how artificial intelligence can 
be used to deliver benefits to citizens of the United States 
while mitigating risks, the Director, in coordination with 
the Administrator, the head of any relevant agency as de-
termined by the Director, and key stakeholders, shall issue 
a memorandum to the head of each agency that shall— 
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(1) inform the development of artificial intel-
ligence governance approaches by those agencies re-
garding technologies and applications that— 
(A) are empowered or enabled by the use 
of artificial intelligence within that agency; and 
(B) advance the innovative use of artificial 
intelligence for the benefit of the public while 
upholding civil liberties, privacy, and civil 
rights; 
(2) consider ways to reduce barriers to the use 
of artificial intelligence in order to promote innova-
tive application of those technologies for the benefit 
of the public, while protecting civil liberties, privacy, 
and civil rights; 
(3) establish best practices for identifying, as-
sessing, and mitigating any bias on the basis of any 
classification protected under Federal nondiscrimina-
tion laws or other negative unintended consequence 
stemming from the use of artificial intelligence sys-
tems; and 
(4) provide a template of the required contents 
of the agency Governance Plans described in sub-
section (b). 
(b) AGENCY GOVERNANCE PLANS.—Not later than 
180 days after the date on which the memorandum is 
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issued under subsection (a), the head of each agency 
shall— 
(1) review the applications of artificial intel-
ligence at the agency; 
(2) identify and prioritize applications of artifi-
cial intelligence that would significantly benefit the 
public while upholding civil liberties, privacy, and 
civil rights; and 
(3) submit to the Director and the Adminis-
trator a Governance Plan to achieve consistency with 
the memorandum. 
(c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Each agency described 
in subsection (b) shall— 
(1) not later than 1 year after the date on 
which the head of the agency submits the Govern-
ance Plan of the agency under subsection (b), and 
each year thereafter, update the Governance Plan 
pursuant to any change in the factors described in 
(a)(1); 
(2) solicit public feedback during the develop-
ment of the Governance Plan in the form of public 
hearings and online submission of comments; and 
(3) make available each Governance Plan cen-
trally available in a machine-readable format at a 
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publicly available online portal on the website of the 
agency. 
(d) CENTRAL ONLINE GOVERNANCE PLANS POR-
TAL.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 
maintain a single public interface online to compile 
published agency Governance Plans in accordance 
with subsection (c). 
(2) SUBMISSION OF LINKS.—The Administrator 
and the Director shall ensure that agencies can sub-
mit links, with appropriate descriptive metadata, to 
the public Governance Plans for publication and 
public availability on the interface described in para-
graph (1). 
SEC. 5. ADVISORY BOARD. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall establish 
an advisory board to advise the Administrator on issues 
that are relevant to the mission and duties of the AI CoE 
and to inform the priorities and projects worked on by 
the AI CoE. 
(b) COMPOSITION.— 
(1) CHAIR.—The Director shall serve as Chair 
of the Board. 
(2) OTHER
MEMBERS.—The Board shall be 
composed of the following members: 
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