SBIR/STTR
Opportunity
Use of Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML) Applied to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Process)
Department:
U.S. Air Force
Open Date:
2025-05-07
Close Date:
2025-06-18
Technology Area:
Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
Summary
OBJECTIVE: Development of AI/ML software that can facilitate the NEPA Process
ITAR: The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 3.5 of the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.
DESCRIPTION: The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is the law that applies to all federal agencies when proposing an action that has a potential to affect the environment. According to the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) there are appropriately 40-50 thousand Environmental Assessments (EAs) and 300-500 Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) done each year. Each EA cost approximately $100,000-$500,000 and each EIS approximately 1-3 million dollars. In the Air Force (AF) these documents have been historically done by contractors that specialize in environmental analysis with review and approval by AF personnel. Edwards AFB is currently performing 3 EAs costing over $400,000.
The NEPA mandates the evaluation of the environment against the relevant laws and as they apply to the proposed action. This evaluation against all relevant federal, state, and local laws and regulations is reviewed by the courts for adequacy. The AI/ML process should identify the relevant facts about the proposed action, screen them against the NEPA requirements, identify the environmental facts relevant to the action and briefly summarize all these factors to determine the level of analysis. While the NEPA CEQ Regulations apply to all US states and territories, NEPA impact analysis is very site-specific requiring extensive use of local environmental documents.
The use of AI/ML in the NEPA process to screen, summarize, simplify to plain language, determine level of documentation needed and ultimately NEPA compliance determining if documentation is adequate/inadequate and summarize may significantly shorten the time required while increase the quality of analysis. For example, the ability to analyzing a large number (several thousand) of public comments, organizing, combining like comments, a task that currently takes several individuals typically weeks, could be done by the system in a few minutes. While most AI/ML systems use the internet as the data source, this is not expected to work for the NEPA process which is a law and fact-based process. The AI/ML system should use only the government provided data to include all the NEPA requirements, summary of NEPA compliance interruption, as well as all the Edwards AFB environmental data to be analyzed in a “confine sand box” (using only the CEQ requirements and Edwards AFB specific data). The intent is to limit or eliminate “hallucinations” (i.e. having conclusionary statements) common to most AI/ML systems, summarize and answer questions about resource areas and the proposed ac
ITAR: The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 3.5 of the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.
DESCRIPTION: The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is the law that applies to all federal agencies when proposing an action that has a potential to affect the environment. According to the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) there are appropriately 40-50 thousand Environmental Assessments (EAs) and 300-500 Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) done each year. Each EA cost approximately $100,000-$500,000 and each EIS approximately 1-3 million dollars. In the Air Force (AF) these documents have been historically done by contractors that specialize in environmental analysis with review and approval by AF personnel. Edwards AFB is currently performing 3 EAs costing over $400,000.
The NEPA mandates the evaluation of the environment against the relevant laws and as they apply to the proposed action. This evaluation against all relevant federal, state, and local laws and regulations is reviewed by the courts for adequacy. The AI/ML process should identify the relevant facts about the proposed action, screen them against the NEPA requirements, identify the environmental facts relevant to the action and briefly summarize all these factors to determine the level of analysis. While the NEPA CEQ Regulations apply to all US states and territories, NEPA impact analysis is very site-specific requiring extensive use of local environmental documents.
The use of AI/ML in the NEPA process to screen, summarize, simplify to plain language, determine level of documentation needed and ultimately NEPA compliance determining if documentation is adequate/inadequate and summarize may significantly shorten the time required while increase the quality of analysis. For example, the ability to analyzing a large number (several thousand) of public comments, organizing, combining like comments, a task that currently takes several individuals typically weeks, could be done by the system in a few minutes. While most AI/ML systems use the internet as the data source, this is not expected to work for the NEPA process which is a law and fact-based process. The AI/ML system should use only the government provided data to include all the NEPA requirements, summary of NEPA compliance interruption, as well as all the Edwards AFB environmental data to be analyzed in a “confine sand box” (using only the CEQ requirements and Edwards AFB specific data). The intent is to limit or eliminate “hallucinations” (i.e. having conclusionary statements) common to most AI/ML systems, summarize and answer questions about resource areas and the proposed ac