MITRE Response to Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council’s Request for Information on Minimizing the Risk of Climate Change in Federal Acquisitions

The MITRE Corporation is a not-for-profit company that works in the public interest to tackle difficult problems that challenge the safety, stability, security, and well-being of our nation. We operate multiple federally funded research and development centers, participate in public-private partnerships across national security and civilian agency missions, and maintain an independent technology research program. Working across federal, state, and local governments—as well as industry and academia—gives MITRE a unique vantage point. MITRE works in the public interest to discover new possibilities, create unexpected opportunities, and lead by pioneering together for public good to bring innovative ideas into existence in areas such as artificial intelligence, intuitive data science, quantum information science, health informatics, policy and economic expertise, trustworthy autonomy, cyber threat sharing, and cyber resilience.

Supporting federal agencies with complex and innovative acquisition activities has long been one of MITRE’s core capabilities, and we are continuously working to develop and promote improved acquisition practices. Our goal is to help federal organizations adopt more cost-efficient, agile, and rigorous acquisition processes. MITRE’s burgeoning climate program provides innovative solutions and frameworks to strengthen environmental security and build national resilience to environmental challenges. It offers systems-based evaluation of policy and technology interventions to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is developing new methods to assess and mitigate exposure to climate financial risk. Given our work in both of these areas we have recognized the importance of expanding acquisition processes to consider climate factors.