06/17/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/17/2025 03:38
Artificial Intelligence
17 June 2025
Every year, public institutions and organizations manage hundreds of complex procedures to award contracts for works, services, and supplies through public tenders.
At the same time, companies dedicate specialized staff and significant resources solely to identifying relevant tenders and handling the extensive documentation required to take part.
It's a demanding but essential task-for both the public sector and private enterprises.
However, what changes when AI and generative AI get involved?
How can emerging technologies help streamline and speed up the process-whether it's searching for tender opportunities, drafting and reviewing documents, or checking compliance with laws and regulations?
Across the globe, governments are turning to artificial intelligence to transform the way public procurement is managed.
From digital-first regulations in Europe to grant-making innovation in the US, AI-particularly generative AI-is reshaping how institutions design, manage, and evaluate tenders.
In Italy, for instance, Legislative Decree 36/2023 introduced a new Public Procurement Code, making digitalisation mandatory across the entire lifecycle of public contracts. A national e-procurement system, led by the National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC), now supports these efforts. In 2023 alone, over 1.65 million procurement procedures were launched through digital platforms, exceeding €100 billion in value.
In the UK, the Cabinet Officerecently issued guidance (Procurement Policy Note 02/24) on the responsible use of AI-particularly generative AI-in public procurement.
Meanwhile, in the US, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)is testing AI tools to support environmental grant applications through its Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program.
This trend is echoed in policy circles as well. The OECDhas underscored AI's potential to improve public sector performance-boosting efficiency, responsiveness, and transparency.
Of course, adopting AI in high-stakes public processes raises concerns-from model accuracy to bias and data privacy. But with the rapid evolution of more secure, responsible large language models (LLMs), the outlook is increasingly optimistic.
When generative AI became publicly accessible, it quickly became clear that it was particularly well-suited to support institutions in drafting public tenders.
But why exactly? Tenders are, by nature, highly complex, time-consuming, and costly to prepare-in terms of both resources and personnel. The same goes for companies looking to secure public contracts, as participating in a tender often involves a lengthy and resource-intensive process.
Let's take a closer look at some of the biggest challenges AI could help us tackle more efficiently:
Drafting a public tender involves the processing and analysis of a wide range of technical, legal, and administrative documents such as regulations, sector-specific standards, technical specifications, tender guidelines, contract templates, minimum technical requirements, and environmental or social clauses. Each procedure requires consulting up-to-date national and EU legislation, reviewing similar tenders already published, and producing documents that are coherent, legally sound, and complete. This volume of content places a heavy cognitive load on teams and significantly slows down timelines, increasing the risk of omissions, inconsistencies, or contradictions.
Currently, the vast number of documents involved is still reviewed and consulted manually-typically by legal or administrative teams. These are time-consuming and repetitive processes, prone to oversight and human error, which can delay both the publication of the tender and the evaluation of the submitted bids.
Public procurement regulations are constantly evolving. The consequences of a compliance error can be serious. Companies risk being excluded from the procedure, while public authorities may be forced to cancel contract awards and deal with legal challenges.
Despite ongoing efforts at the European level to harmonize procurement processes, the lack of shared standards in drafting tenders remains a major challenge. Each public body tends to use different structures and language in their documents, often relying on management systems that aren't interoperable. This fragmentation makes it difficult to reuse content, compare tenders, and ensure consistent participation from businesses-who often face constantly shifting procedures.
Generative AI can never be seen as a substitute for the legal and technical expertise of the professionals involved in drafting a tender. Rather, it can serve as a powerful support tool throughout all stages of the tender's design and management.
Similarly, it can help reduce complexity, automate repetitive tasks, minimize errors, and standardize processes.
Let's take a closer look at the key benefits for public administration:
While designing and managing effective public tenders is challenging for public agencies, participating in them is just as demanding for companies.
They need to verify that their business meets all the required qualifications; find, evaluate, and complete all necessary documents; and often draft texts in languages other than their native one.
These tasks are resource-intensive, consuming significant amounts of both time and human effort.
AI can make a difference here as well.
Almawave has long supported innovation and process simplification within public administrations using new technologies, with public tenders quickly emerging as a key priority.
This is why Almawave developed Tender Smart Assistant-a solution that leverages advanced text comprehension tools and generative AI to help public administrations draft tender drafts and other procurement documents more easily, securely, and reliably.
Tender Smart Assistant is built on the combination of Velvet and Discovery Experience, Almawave's most advanced proprietary technologies:
Tender Smart Assistant leverages the AIWave Discovery Experience module, an app that streamlines information search and exploration, allowing users to easily access data, concepts, and documents through a clear, search-bar interface. In other words, it ensures simple adoption and an optimized user experience.
Moreover, Tender Smart Assistant is a fully customizable solution, tailored specifically to meet the unique needs of each client.
This way, public administration employees will have an innovative tool for drafting tender drafts and procurement documents, as well as for verifying the compliance of received technical bids based on regulations and required criteria.
Solutions like this simplify the work of public administrations by offering multiple functions:
Here are the main advantages for Public Administration:
With speed, accuracy, and transparency more important than ever, AI is set to become a trusted partner for public institutions. The tools are here-it's time to put them to work.
Discover how to digitize your tenders with Tender Smart Assistant.
Learn more on our website.