On 25 March 2024, the Cabinet Office published PPN 02/24 Improving Transparency of AI use in Procurement (PPN). The PPN applies to all central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies.
The PPN acknowledges that AI is becoming increasingly prevalent in the delivery of services. It notes that where AI is likely to be used in the delivery of the contract, commercial teams may want suppliers to declare this and provide further details. To assist with this, Annex B of the PPN suggests optional, non-scored questions about the use of AI, for inclusion in the Invitation to Tender (ITT). These questions aim to prompt suppliers to disclose:
- Whether they used AI to develop their bid responses.
- If AI is likely to be involved in delivering the contracted services.
The PPN notes that these questions may inform the contracting authority’s wider commercial strategy, as well as to inform its approach to due diligence and managing risk. Annex A of the PPN contains a list of guidance and best practice documents that may be relevant to the use of AI in the public sector.
Some example questions are:
Have you used AI or machine learning tools, including large language models, to assist in any
part of your tender submission? This may include using these tools to support the drafting of
responses to Award questions.
Yes ロ
No ロ
Please provide details: ………………
Where AI tools have been used to support the generation of Tender responses, please confirm
that they have been checked and verified for accuracy:
Yes ロ
No ロ
Challenging procurement decisions is something which Steven Mather has been involved several times for clients, alongside expert counsel. Notably, the new AI guidance suggests the questions to be non-scoreable, but in the future one can imagine challenges being made because of AI or its use in either the ITT or the contract itself.