Federal Tech Podcast: for innovators, entrepreneurs, and CEOs who want to increase reach and improve brand awareness Ep. 277 How Elastic Helps Federal Agencies Navigate Federal Procurement Modernization
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Elastic has been around since 2012 and has been gradually gaining traction in the commercial world. In fact, Elastic has recently signed agreements with Nvidia and Google to improve integration with its distributed search analysis. All this assists with AI search and observability.
Today, we sat down with Chris Thompson from Elastic to highlight how commercial success can be applied to the federal world.
Looking back at his decades of work with federal agencies, he sees one of the problems in acquisition. In a world of rapid change, it is challenging to acquire technology that can keep pace with the fast pace of change.
During the interview, Thompson discusses a recent strategic agreement developed by Elastic working with the GSA and other companies. This streamlines the process of providing technology to federal professionals.
This agreement accomplished several tasks at once:
>>It leverages the GSA's collective buying power. Rather than negotiating separate prices for dozens of agencies, it has substantial discounts with all the major cloud providers.
>>> It reduces duplication. We know several federal agencies are facing similar tech challenges. Rather than duplicating requirements gathering and testing before making a purchase, the GSA approach eliminates this duplicative process.
>>With numerous AI tools flooding the market, this agreement enables the accelerated use of these tools.
>> When you have standardized contracts, enhanced security is typically the result.
No contract is perfect, and people who have developed this agreement know it is a living document that can flex and adapt to technical situations as they arise. GSA officials have stated this is an evolving approach, giving it the ability to adapt to innovative technology, new companies, and a rapidly changing cyber threat.