A guide by SevenLab
Tender AI should be evaluated against the work your bid team actually performs, from interpreting requirements to approving the final response. Drafting assistance, bid management and quotation calculation are not interchangeable. Use this guide to investigate standard products and SevenLab's tender solution without assuming features or outcomes that have not been confirmed.
Identify whether the bottleneck is analysis, writing or calculation
Map the process from opportunity qualification through requirements review, evidence collection, drafting and submission approval. A bid management need may centre on ownership and deadlines, while a response-writing need may centre on approved source material. Quotation software adds a different problem when quantities, rates or commercial rules must be calculated consistently. Define these needs separately before comparing products.
Illustrative scenario: a construction supplier wants to automate quotations and reuse tender answers. Its cost calculation must remain tied to approved estimating data, while narrative drafts need relevant references and review. Treating both as a single text-generation task risks unsupported commitments. Specify which calculations must be deterministic and which writing tasks may accept an AI-generated draft.
- List the stages where work currently stalls or is repeated.
- Separate bid coordination, narrative drafting and price calculation.
- Name the authoritative source and approver for each output.
Investigate products and custom scope on the same basis
Brainial, Altura and Tendium are options to investigate alongside SevenLab's tender solution. This guide makes no feature, pricing or performance claims about those products. Ask every supplier to demonstrate your priority workflow using comparable material, then confirm the current offering directly. Avoid selecting an alternative solely from a generic comparison table or an unsupported claim of superiority.
Illustrative scenario: a bid team compares a standard subscription with a tailored workflow around its internal document library. It should test how each proposed option would handle its actual review sequence, evidence restrictions and handover needs. Any required document-management or CRM connection remains subject to assessment. A demonstration is not proof of a supported connector or a contractual commitment.
- Give each supplier the same tasks, documents and evaluation questions.
- Verify current functionality and exclusions directly with the supplier.
- Score operational fit and implementation effort without assuming integration support.
Keep evidence, clarification notes and commitments traceable
Tender answers should distinguish verified facts from proposed commitments and unresolved questions. Ask how a reviewer would trace an assertion to approved evidence and identify obsolete material. A Nota van Inlichtingen can alter the interpretation of a requirement, so the process must account for clarifications and document versions rather than simply search the original tender pack.
Adjust is a SevenLab case reference for RAG around a Nota van Inlichtingen, not a Governed Build client reference. Use it to frame questions about retrieving relevant clarification material, not as proof that tender decisions can be delegated to AI. Final eligibility, contractual promises and submission approval require appropriately authorised review, including legal review where needed.
- Create an evidence register with owners and validity dates.
- Reconcile clarification notes with the current requirement list.
- Require authorised approval for eligibility statements and contractual commitments.
Pilot a completed tender before changing live work
Use a previous tender whose outcome and approved response are available internally. Include ambiguous requirements, missing evidence and a changed clarification. Evaluate factual support, reviewer effort and unresolved issues, not just how quickly a draft appears. A useful pilot should reveal where the system must stop and ask for information, not reward confident completion of every answer.
Before procurement, agree access to sensitive bid material, retention, ownership of outputs and the manual fallback near a deadline. Review the existing pricing page and request scope-specific assumptions for setup, usage and maintenance. Do not plan a live submission around an unconfirmed review turnaround. AI assistance does not guarantee compliant tender responses, qualification or a successful bid.
- Run a retrospective pilot with a fixed evaluation set and reviewers.
- Test missing evidence, changed clarifications and deadline fallback procedures.
- Confirm pricing assumptions, data terms and approval responsibilities before live use.