GSA to require agencies to pay for USAi after launching it as a free service

The General Services Administration will soon start charging other government agencies to use the generative AI suite that it launched as a no-cost service last year to help agencies test and adopt AI. 

GSA offers some central technology services to other government agencies, in addition to managing the government’s real estate portfolio and procurement. It billed USAi as a free, secure environment in which agencies could experiment with different AI systems when it introduced the platform last year. The premise was that agencies could test multiple AI models for tasks like generating code and summarizing documents without each agency procuring and authorizing different AI models separately. 

Currently, 15 agencies use the service, according to the agency’s budget request published April 3. USAi offers models from OpenAI, Amazon, Meta, Gemini for Government, Microsoft, xAI and Anthropic, and it includes a unified chatbot interface, an application programming interface — or API — and a management console to track metrics and set requirements.

Additional government agencies are on a waiting list to access USAi, which was framed as a way to supercharge AI adoption in government as part of the Trump administration’s AI strategy.

GSA will start charging agencies for USAi during fiscal 2027 as part of a “cost-recoverable model,” according to the agency’s budget documents. The change will support long-term sustainability and scale for the platform, a GSA spokesperson told Nextgov/FCW, noting that charging for services is consistent with how the agency runs other shared services. 

“It allows GSA to continue operating and improving the platform, invest in security and infrastructure, and meet increasing demand across agencies without relying solely on appropriated funding,” they said.

GSA’s Technology Transformation Services runs the AI suite along with many other cross-government technology offerings, like the identity proofing and single sign-on system, Login.gov. 

Agencies are required to pay to use some, but not all, of those services, as TTS relies in part on a revolving fund lawmakers require to be fully cost-recoverable — something the agency has struggled to do in the past. USAi, meanwhile, currently relies on funding from the Federal Citizen Services Fund, according to the budget request, which receives appropriations from Congress in addition to reimbursements from other agencies.