By Lucas MorrowMay 13, 2026
Two months ago, the Army's first-ever Vantage Edge competition proved that Soldiers, civilians, and technologists across the force could redesign an enterprise platform's landing page in less than 48 hours. Last week, Vantage Edge 2 asked them to do something harder: build artificial intelligence workflows that solve real Army problems. More than 300 participants joined the event, with 42 teams stepping into the arena to compete, proving once again that the Army's best solutions don't always come from the top down.
Teams from across the Army competed virtually during Vantage Edge, the Army’s Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) Workflows Challenge, held April 6–10.
Out of 43 submissions, five came from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) teams showcasing how artificial intelligence can assist in delivering their mission.
“True digital transformation isn't found in the complexity of the algorithm, but in the recovery of human time,” said USACE Chief Technology Officer, Denis Gizinski. “By turning 70,000 hours of data reporting into a platform for decisive action, USACE has proven that AI’s greatest ROI isn't just 'smarter' workflows—it’s the institutional agility to deliver mission-critical infrastructure at the speed of relevance.”
The USACE submissions focused on engineering quality, real estate, knowledge management and budgeting, with one submission receiving recognition from the event.
The USACE Real Estate team received the event’s Technical Excellence Award for its Southern Border Real Estate Mission Intelligence Platform. Led by Katherine Carver, Great Lakes and Ohio River Division’s chief of Real Estate, along with Carlos Avila-Mata of the Louisville District and Kelsey Ciarrocca of the Galveston District, the team built a decision intelligence platform that helps leaders manage more than 4,200 tract acquisitions along the southern border.
The platform uses AI to turn complex land acquisition data into clear, actionable options for senior decision-makers, which is projected to save about 70,000 hours by accelerating decisions instead of just reporting data.
“This intuitive application allows stakeholders to instantly access AI-generated daily and weekly summaries, interactive dashboards showing acquisition progress across all sectors, and drill-down views for individual land tracts—all without needing to navigate complex spreadsheets,” said Carver.
The award recognized the team’s technical depth, use of advanced AIP capabilities and the potential to scale the approach to other large, time‑sensitive real estate missions.
In addition to the mission intelligence platform, the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) submitted two AI based systems to help in USACE’s design standards and quality controls. The AI Criteria Assistant is designed to help engineers and editors keep technical criteria aligned, clearly written and easier to maintain over time, reducing the effort required to search, interpret and update dense technical requirements.
The Multimeter project introduced an AI‑assisted quality control tool allowing engineers to define reusable checks, run them against project documents, and systematically review and accept findings. The approach aims to provide full auditability and metrics so design teams can track issues across projects, reduce rework and strengthen engineering quality from concept through delivery. By capturing lessons learned in repeatable checks, Multimeter supports long‑term improvement in how USACE designs and reviews complex infrastructure projects.
Another system evaluated during Vantage Edge was the USACE FORGESkill Builder. Submitted by the Buffalo District, FORGE uses AI to help employees take processes that are tied to complex policies and technical guidance and make them into reusable step-by-step guides. FORGE improves workflow and alignment by making processes compliant and available to other teams working on similar mission sets throughout USACE.
Lastly, the DITTO Budget Estimation Tool, submitted by the Huntington District, leverages historical financial and schedule data to generate more precise budget forecasts and proactively flag deviations. The tool gives project leaders early warning when costs or timelines start to drift, supporting better planning, more informed decisions on adjustments and stronger stewardship of taxpayer resources.
“Integrating AI into USACE core business processes, from real estate management to budget forecasting and beyond, is essential for maximizing the impact of every dollar,” said Jason Barrett, USACE Chief Information Officer. “By modernizing our workflows on the Vantage platform, we are ensuring that USACE remains a lean, responsive, and data-driven organization capable of meeting the nation’s toughest engineering challenges.”
The five submissions highlight how AI workflows on the Vantage platform can help USACE deliver projects faster, improve engineering quality and make better use of limited time, manpower and other resources in support of the nation.