The Pentagon has issued new guidance for incorporating the Trump administration’s truth-seeking and ideological-neutrality requirements into artificial-intelligence procurements, according to DefenseScoop’s report on the memorandum.

The memorandum, dated October 20 and from Principal Director for Defense Pricing, Contracting and Acquisition Policy John Tenaglia, provides acquisition personnel with three attachments: a template for selecting transparency requirements, standardized solicitation language for vendor documentation, and contract language that can be included in statements of work and final contracts.

The guidance applies to acquisition leaders across the military departments, U.S. Special Operations Command, U.S. Cyber Command, U.S. Transportation Command, Defense Department agencies and field activities. DefenseScoop reported that the memo describes the templates as adaptable to the context and risk level of individual AI purchases.

For large language models, the Pentagon must obtain enough information from contractors to determine whether the technology complies with the administration’s principles. The memo’s supporting material says the amount and type of available information will depend on the contractor’s role in the software supply chain, with more information generally available from companies closer to the original model developer.

The underlying White House executive order, issued July 23, 2025, directs agencies to procure only large language models developed according to two principles. Models must seek factual accuracy, prioritize historical accuracy and scientific inquiry, and acknowledge uncertainty when information is incomplete or contradictory. They must also be neutral and nonpartisan and avoid intentionally encoding ideological judgments unless prompted or otherwise readily accessible to the user.

The order requires agencies to include compliance terms in covered contracts, including provisions allowing decommissioning costs to be charged to a noncompliant vendor after a reasonable opportunity to cure. The new Pentagon guidance therefore changes the procurement-control layer: it supplies acquisition staff with standardized mechanisms for requesting evidence and placing those requirements in solicitations and contracts. The fetched documents do not establish how many contracts have used the templates or whether any vendor has yet been rejected under them.