Cultural Property Prototype

STATEMENT OF WORK U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Cultural Heritage Center (CHC) Prototype Development for an AI-Powered Cultural Property Identification Tool 1. TASK ORDER REQUIREMENTS The purpose of this Statement of Work (SOW) is to procure a prototype for a cultural property identification tool powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that can serve as a proof-of-concept for testing by U.S. law enforcement and assessment for the feasibility and desirability of further development and potential future acquisition. The Government’s minimum requirement is that the prototype development: Is led by a contracted entity with demonstrated expertise in AI/machine learning and image recognition, as well as federal AI governance and compliance standards, and familiarity with relevant training data sources, the international market and illicit trafficking of international cultural property, cultural property legal and regulatory frameworks, cultural property identification processes and standards, and federal law enforcement and customs operations, as well as demonstrated skills in project management and stakeholder consultation and cooperation; Ensures active engagement with stakeholders, including government officials, U.S. law enforcement, representatives of cultural institutions, and other subject matter experts; Includes in the training dataset categories of cultural property from Ukraine and at least one other country that are covered by U.S. import restrictions under 19 CFR §12.104g; Includes the development and delivery of a standalone application, not connected to Department of State or other U.S. Government systems or networks, with sufficient scope, functionality, and traceability of outputs for simulated field testing by U.S. law enforcement (using representative, non-case-specific inputs); Ensures the Government receives Government Purpose Rights in the resulting prototype, model(s), and associated technical data and software, sufficient to use, reproduce, and share the prototype with other U.S. Government agencies for testing and evaluation purposes, while permitting the Contractor to retain rights to commercialize the resulting product with other customers; Includes the delivery and presentation of a report describing in detail all information related to the design, training, technical, governance, and security specifications, compliance standards, stakeholder interactions, and preliminary testing results that will allow assessment of the feasibility and desirability of the development and acquisition of a full-scale tool for operational use. 2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The illicit trafficking of stolen, looted, or forged art, antiquities, and other cultural property is a serious crime and national security issue linked to terrorist financing, transnational organized crime, money laundering, smuggling, and counterfeiting. Cultural property trafficking deprives communities of their history and identity, undermines the legal art market, and harms American collectors and cultural institutions that may unknowingly acquire stolen or looted objects. Of paramount importance in disrupting this trafficking is the rapid and accurate identification of cultural property. These objects can take many forms, and there are different laws that control their movement, including the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. §2601–2613), under which Customs and Border Protection have imposed import restrictions on categories of archaeological and ethnological material from a number of countries, including Ukraine (19 CFR §12.104g), in order to deter the pillage of this material. Customs officers and investigators on the front lines need a tool to swiftly inform their decision-making. The Cultural Heritage Center (CHC) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs serves as the secretariat of the Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee (CHCC), which represents 15 U.S. agencies and the Smithsonian Institution. The CHCC was stood up by Congress in 2016 to coordinate the activities of the U.S. government to protect and preserve international cultural property at risk and consult with governmental and nongovernmental organizations, including museums, educational and research institutions, and participants in the international art and cultural property market on such efforts (PLAW 114-151). In 2020, the CHCC developed the Cultural Property Experts On Call (CPEOC) program, managed by the University of Pennsylvania Cultural Heritage Center, to provide rapid connections between U.S. law enforcement and subject-matter experts in archaeology, art history, and anthropology for the identification of cultural property encountered in investigations. This program is a significant advancement toward providing U.S. law enforcement with quick and reliable information and has benefited from the invaluable contributions of the time and expertise of over 200 experts. Considering inherent capacity limits of the CPEOC program in comparison to the volume of goods crossing the U.S. border and advancements in machine-learning and image-recognition capabilities, the CHCC now proposes the development of an AI-powered cultural property identification system. This proposal builds on the results of consultations both within the CHCC and between the CHCC and U.S. and international subject-matter experts, cultural institutions, and industry representatives. As CHCC secretariat, CHC seeks the development of a prototype for such an AI-powered cultural property identification tool that can serve as a proof-of-concept for simulated field testing by U.S. law enforcement and assessment for the feasibility and desirability of further development and potential future acquisition. 3. CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS Technical and General Qualifications The Contractor shall possess the technical and s…