Conversations about AI in bidding usually start with what it can do. They should start with confidentiality.

A tender holds the most sensitive material two organisations exchange: the client's project information, released under strict conditions, and your own pricing, methodology and people. Paste either into a public AI tool and you may have disclosed it to a third party, possibly in breach of the tender conditions you signed on page one. Probity advisors have noticed. More tender schedules now ask bidders to declare whether and how they used AI, and “we're not sure” doesn't score.

Write a one-page policy

Four rules do most of the work.

  • Nothing from the client's tender documents goes into a tool that trains on inputs or stores them outside your control. No exceptions, including the request itself.
  • Your own confidential material, pricing above all, follows the same rule.
  • Enterprise tools with contractual data controls are treated differently from consumer tools with a login. Tell the team which is which, by name.
  • Every AI-assisted passage is reviewed by someone accountable for it. The model isn't coming to the debrief.

Settle your declaration before lodgement

Decide the wording now, not in a clarification response. One plain sentence works: AI tools were used for production tasks, under human review, within data controls that keep client information out. That reads as governance. An evasive answer reads as risk, and evaluators score risk whether or not the criteria mention it.

Try this: ask your bid team which tools they're using on tender material right now. If nobody centrally knows, the policy is already overdue.

None of this argues against the tools. Used well, they take a lot of production work off a tender period (more in Your AI is only as good as your filing). It's about order. Sort the governance in writing, before a deadline makes everyone brave.

Free tool: AI in bids policy. Fill it in online with your team, then save it as a PDF.

Free download: AI in bids pack (Word). The one-page policy, declaration wording and a task triage table.