HHS plans to implement the blockchain – GCN acquisition solution

HHS plans to implement the blockchain acquisition solution

• By Sara Friedman
• 5 December 2018

The Department of Health and Human Services is making a big push to get the first blockchain-based program in the federal government that acquires an authority to operate.

At the FCW event on December 4, Jose Arrieta, deputy assistant secretary for the acquisition division of HHS, told GCN that it plans to get the ATO "by next week" for HHS Accelerate, the program that uses blockchain, machine learning and artificial intelligence to optimize acquisition by providing detailed, real-time information on HHS prices and terms and conditions for 10 categories of purchases.

"We are using our machine learning system to connect five contract systems," said Arrieta. "Machine learning algorithms are cleaning data from the data layer" before they are inserted into the blockchain.

The HHS team has built a "concept demonstration using artificial intelligence for cost logic and module selectors" that addresses the challenges that contract professionals face, he said.

The entire effort was developed with two-week sprints that allowed developers to show results and get feedback from stakeholders. Arrieta said that the initial investment return is estimated at 800%.

"I am investing in a range of skills to drive corporate production, but I have invested completely in the return on investment, so if the project is killed tomorrow, it will generate a return on investment where it will easily pay for itself" he said. "At the lowest level, I [now] have a tool that can provide information on prices, terms and conditions and help you negotiate better prices. "

The HHS team is also examining ways to improve continuous diagnostics and mitigation through a microservice within HHS Accelerate.

"We are looking for ways to improve our system's security posture," Arrieta said. "We believe that blockchain creates a unique opportunity for us to take the principles of the CDM and execute it in a more appropriate way."

Arrieta also said she was interested in adding more robotic process automation to HHS Accelerate once the ATO was approved. "We believe that the return on RPA through the shared data layer on HHS is enormous compared to putting the RPA on existing systems," he said.

However, Arrieta said that if other agencies decided to implement the techniques developed by their team without the appropriate taxonomy of acquisition data, they could face challenges. His team is not interested in developing HHS Accelerate as a shared service, he said, but they are committed to working with other agencies to make the transition as smooth as possible using the same taxonomy.

On December 12, HHS will hold a demonstration of HHS Acceleration to get feedback from the industry on the project. Interested parties should respond to an announcement posted on FedBizOpps.