# GAO Flags Federal AI Cost and Cyber Risks

Government Accountability Office officials warned that the end of promotional pricing for AI tools could raise federal agencies’ usage costs and slow adoption. For procurement teams, the warning points to closer scrutiny of AI pricing and deployment models: contractors should be prepared to show measurable outcomes, cost controls, model flexibility, human oversight, cybersecurity documentation, and agency AI inventories.

- Agencies evaluating AI offerings may need to assess costs beyond introductory pricing and compare consumption-based models with performance- or outcome-based terms.
- Contractors should be ready to substantiate value through defined results and explain how their solutions manage usage costs, support human oversight, and avoid unnecessary dependence on a single model or vendor.
- Cybersecurity documentation and agency AI inventories are also relevant to deployment reviews; the signal identifies no specific solicitation, contract value, or compliance deadline.

**Jurisdictions:** federal
**Industries:** Information Technology
**Topics:** Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity
**Published:** November 10, 2026

### Government Entities
- Government Accountability Office (GAO)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD)

### Vendors
- Cognition ()

### Key Quotes
> If your contracts themselves are structured merely on consumption, guess what? You’re guaranteed to consume more. If you’re working with AI companies and setting firm fixed contracts that are actually performance and outcome-based, forget how many tokens are consumed, are you getting the problems you have solved, are you reaching the goals that you have and doing it in such a way that’s agnostic and not getting tied into any particular model or vendor?
> — Justin Herman, Federal Civilian Director, Cognition

> They went from ‘everybody use these tools’ and advertising how many tokens you use, to ‘get this many tokens a day and that’s it.’ So that is becoming a reality within the federal government.
> — Sterling Thomas, Chief Scientist, GAO

### Sources
- [GAO's Take on AI Costs, Cyber Risks in Federal Tech Strategies | GovCIO Media & Research](https://govciomedia.com/gaos-take-on-ai-costs-cyber-risks-in-federal-tech-strategies) - GovCIO Media & Research