The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking private-sector partners to host and run open-weight AI models for federal evaluation efforts.

In a “sources sought” notice published on SAM.gov, NIST said it is assessing industry capabilities to support its Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI), which is responsible for evaluating advanced AI systems for potential national security risks.

NIST is seeking contractors capable of delivering open-weight AI model hosting and inference services to support evaluation efforts.
Vendors must enable rapid hosting of newly released models, ensure validated and accurate inference, support automatic scaling, provide access to a broad model library, avoid retaining inference data, maintain high uptime, and offer pricing aligned with industry standards.

While responses are due by March 10, the institute expects to issue a formal request for quotation in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026, with a potential award in the third quarter.