ACC is changing how it buys AI services

By Elizabeth Urbaniak, Public Affairs Assistant

ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Illinois (August 5, 2026) – Sgt. 1st Class Angela Kim, contracting officer, and Ben Graw, contract specialist, within the Army Contracting Command - Rock Island Arsenal Strategic Competitions and Innovations Branch, Global Logistics Directorate, have been working with the Army Contracting Command G6 in Huntsville, Alabama, to develop an automated services platform called Army Marketplace, Automation, and eXecution, better known as “Army MAX."

Army MAX is a new, cloud-based platform that simplifies service acquisitions by accelerating the process so you can get your requirements to solicitation faster. This means no more manual data entry across disconnected systems, no more inconsistent requirements packages, and no more lead times that don’t match the speed of the mission.

Contracting officers spend more time processing paperwork than advising commanders. Units also spend more time answering acquisition questions than focusing on readiness. With the development of Army MAX, requiring activities can now enter their needs faster through a guided, intuitive interface that connects directly with their contracting office. This provides the Army with the data infrastructure to make smarter acquisition decisions at scale before the solicitation hits the street.

“It was our own requirement that we were to develop an automated artificial intelligence assisted solicitation tool,” stated Graw. “The rollout of this tool has been a journey. The various phases are being designed to be fluid, allowing technology to evolve, adapt, and scale alongside the needs of the users.”

The system’s artificial intelligence validates the requirement, flags missing documentation, assists in building the solicitation package and posts to SAM.gov. What previously required back-and-forth communication between units and contracting offices, can now happen in a single, standardized workflow within Army MAX.

The platform guides the requiring activity step-by-step through the solicitation process, reducing the administrative burden that has long slowed services contracting. Army MAX is currently being piloted. The pilot is designed to validate the platform’s ability to reduce procurement action lead times, produce compliant solicitation packages, and deliver a better experience for both the requiring activity and the contracting officer.

Graw and Kim have successfully overcome significant challenges throughout the development of this platform and initial pilot.

“I would say working on trying to come up with a concept from an idea of putting it on paper and then getting it into an accessible and usable platform that could be piloted has been both challenging and rewarding. The challenge of navigating a furlough, licensing issues and cyber approval were stress points,” explained Graw. “We successfully accomplished working through it in a short amount of time from a platform development perspective.”

Future platform capabilities include a full menu of services, vendor quote submission, connections to the automated contract award generation system, and integration with existing legacy Army contracting systems. The long-term vision is an end-to-end platform — from requirement intake through award — that gives leadership real-time visibility into acquisition pipelines and delivers data the warfighter can actually use.