Accenture Federal Services (AFS), a subsidiary of Accenture, has been awarded a position on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Intelligent Automation and Innovation Support Services (IAISS) blanket purchase agreement (BPA), a multi-award contract vehicle.
The five-year BPA is valued at up to $50 million and was released by USPTO’s Chief Information Officer. The scope of the work includes piloting, testing and implementing advanced technologies—such as intelligent automation, artificial intelligence (AI), microservices, machine learning, natural language processing, robotic process automation, and blockchain. The goal of IAISS is to transform business processes and enhance mission delivery. It will set a standard framework for innovation for the USPTO and could serve as a model across the federal government.
AFS and Google Cloud started working with the USPTO to help the agency’s more than 9,000 patent examiners rapidly perform more thorough searches by augmenting their on-premise search tools with AI. The new solution—created by merging Google's machine learning models with Accenture's design, prototyping and data science capabilities—helps extend examiners' expertise during the patent search process.
“We’re excited to help the USPTO, through the collaborative environment of the Accenture Federal Digital Studio, to leverage innovative solutions to enhance mission operations,” said Ira Entis, Accenture Federal Services’ Growth and Strategy lead. “Our studio teams use advanced software prototyping, applied data intelligence, and the service design expertise of Fjord — Accenture Interactive’s design and innovation consultancy — to help clients across all sectors of the federal government create citizen-and people-centric tools.”
Mike Daniels, vice president for Google Cloud’s Global Public Sector, said, “We are excited to apply our scalable, secure infrastructure and latest AI solutions toward helping USPTO improve how it performs patent searches. Our hope is that these tools will deliver everyone —from startups to large businesses—higher quality patent search results, which means more reliable patents overall.”
