In November 2024, ASCA released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for strategic projects to be delivered through the Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (EDT) program for the capability effect of Decision Advantage.
Decision Advantage refers to the ability to process, analyse, and act upon information faster and more accurately than adversaries. The EDT Decision Advantage Program will not deliver short-term acquisition outcomes – it will deliver discovery, new knowledge, concepts and prototypes to help protect against surprise and build capability to provide an international capability edge for Australia.
The call to market sought cutting-edge and innovative proposals that apply to one or more of the technology areas outlined in the Opportunity Statements approved by the Chief Defence Scientist. These areas are:
- Automated Data Integration & Interpretation
- Machine Reasoning
- Multi-Modal Data Fusion
- Augmented Human-Machine Reasoning
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agents
- AI Multi-Modal Foundation Model
- AI Orchestration.
The RFP closed on 24 January 2025 with delivery commencing mid-2025. Additional details regarding the Decision Advantage RFP can be found on AusTender.
An EDT Decision Advantage RFP Co-Design Workshop was conducted on Friday November 22 in Canberra. The Co-Design Workshop was available virtually and in-person with the recording available for those who could not attend. The recording of the workshop, along with additional details regarding the Co-Design Workshop, can be found on the Decision Advantage - Co-Design Workshop webpage.