NEW DELHI: Govt is looking at widening its pool of technology partners for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) projects, with the ministry of electronics and IT reopening empanelment of agencies that can deploy AI/ML resources across govt programmes.The fresh tender has been issued by the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), which functions under MeitY, and seeks to bring more companies onto an existing panel created for AI/ML manpower augmentation and AI-driven project delivery under the Digital India programme.The move follows the first round of empanelment, in which six companies – Tata Consultancy Services, NEC India, Kyndryl, CoRover, Innefu Labs and Cactus Technology Solutions – were selected to work on govt AI projects. Companies joining through the latest round will have to accept the rate card discovered during the earlier empanelment process, indicating that the exercise is aimed at expanding the vendor base rather than undertaking a fresh price discovery.NeGD published the reopened Request for Empanelment on Aug 10, with bid submissions scheduled to close on Sept 7. The bids are expected to be opened on Sept 8.The empanelled companies can be tapped for deployment of AI and machine learning professionals and execution of AI-led projects across government departments and Digital India initiatives.