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Tag: GSA Advantage

  • The White House reportedly ordered xAI’s Grok to be approved for government use

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    Despite some fallout between President Trump and Elon Musk, the White House appears to still be in Musk’s corner. Wired is , based on documents obtained by the outlet, that the White House allegedly directed leadership at the General Services Administration (GSA) to include xAI’s Grok on its list of approved AI vendors.

    xAI is owned by Elon Musk and was not included in the the GSA issued in August that saw the agency add OpenAI, Google and Anthropic to its list of vendors. In emails sent last week and published by Wired, agency leadership demands xAI’s products be included. “Team: Grok/xAI needs to go back on the schedule ASAP per the WH,” writes Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, one of the branches of the GSA. “Should be all of their products we had previously (3 & 4),” likely referring to Grok 3 and Grok 4, which are iterations of xAI’s LLM chatbot.

    Carahsoft, a major government contractor that resells technology from third-party firms, is mentioned. “Can someone get with Carahsoft on this immediately and please confirm?” wrote Gruenbaum. According to Wired, Carahsoft’s contract was modified to include xAI earlier this week. As of Friday morning, both Grok 3 and Grok 4 are available on GSA Advantage, an online marketplace where government agencies can purchase products and services.

    xAI of Grok for US government agencies in July, when it appeared that GSA approval for the chatbot . Shortly beforehand, the chatbot and started spouting Nazi propaganda and antisemitic rhetoric while dubbing itself “MechaHitler.” This came in the wake of Musk and Trump’s over the president’s spending bill, after which GSA approval of Grok . Why the change in directive now is unclear.

    There were no details in the reporting regarding pricing or whether xAI will be offering discounted services to the federal government. Earlier this month, both and began offering their large language models to federal agencies for just $1 in an effort to drive adoption among the government workforce. xAI still holds a with the Pentagon to develop AI workflows within the US Department of Defense.

    These AI models have been in the hot seat lately as increasingly disturbing cases of hallucinations and errant behavior have arisen. Just this week, OpenAI is alleging that ChatGPT spent months discussing and ultimately enabling the suicide of a teen boy.

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    Andre Revilla

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  • MCP Second Year Option Exercised as the Single Awardee Vendor for the Dell Best-in-Class BPA on GSA AdvantageSelect for Desktops, Laptops and Tablets

    MCP Second Year Option Exercised as the Single Awardee Vendor for the Dell Best-in-Class BPA on GSA AdvantageSelect for Desktops, Laptops and Tablets

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    The MCP (Dell) GSA/GSS BPA provides a pre-competed, easy-to-use vehicle and creates unique catalogues specific to all federal agencies, state, and local governments. It’s been hailed as being “easier to use than all other Government contracts.”

    Press Release
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    updated: Sep 16, 2020


    WASHINGTON and SAN MARCOS, Calif., September 16, 2020 (Newswire.com)
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    The GSA/GSS BPA allows all government agencies to buy any amount (no MOL) of pre-configured Dell laptops, desktop, tablets and monitors, optional upgrades and services for a faster, more efficient business model. The BPA solution provides cost savings to the government with next-generation technology customer service capabilities while streamlining procurement requirements. For contracting officers, there is a non-manufacturer waiver already on file.

    Of the company’s recent milestone, MCP President Raj Ghai had this to say: “We’re proud that this is our fifth year of supporting the Government’s consolidation efforts, which has saved them millions of dollars. MCP has invested a significant amount to make complicated acquisitions quicker, easier, and shorter. We’ve reduced delivery times from months to weeks. Customers also receive real-time updates throughout the procurement process.”

    About MCP Computer Products Inc.

    As an Economically Disadvantaged, Woman-Owned Business, MCP has provided IT solutions, hardware, software and services to the U.S. federal government for over 22 years, as well as large Federal Systems Integrators that support the federal government. MCP provides end-to-end solutions and services that go above and beyond what our customers’ expectations require. MCP believes that through our strategic enterprise partnerships, we can promote change that will simultaneously assist agencies with information technology and set-aside goals.

    About GSA/GSS Program

    GSA has established the GSS Desktops and Laptops Program to help federal agency buyers easily identify MAS IT Schedule 70 contractors that offer government-wide standard configurations for desktop and laptop computers. The standard configurations were developed by the Workstations Category Team (WCT), a consortium of over 20 federal agencies established by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

    Visit http://www.mcpgov.com

    Contact Information:
    Michael Buchko
    VP of Sales & Marketing
    800-255-8607
    ​mbuchko@mcpgov.com​

    Source: MCP Computer Products, Inc.

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