Guide · UK procurement policy
Can you use AI to write a UK tender? What PPN 017 actually says
Published 14 July 2026 · Sources linked throughout · This is a plain-English guide to published government policy, not legal advice.
1The short answer
Yes — using AI to help prepare a tender response is not prohibited. The Cabinet Office's Procurement Policy Note PPN 017 (February 2025, updated for the Procurement Act 2023) states plainly that suppliers' use of AI during the commercial process is not prohibited. But there are three practical consequences every bidder should understand before letting any AI tool near their tender.
2Buyers may ask you to disclose AI use
PPN 017 gives contracting authorities a model question they may include (its Annex B): whether you have used AI or machine learning tools to assist in any part of your tender submission. The answer is not scored, and the guidance tells authorities not to discriminate against suppliers for using AI — but you should answer it truthfully. A false "no" is a misrepresentation risk that dwarfs any perceived stigma of a truthful "yes".
3AI-assisted bids get extra scrutiny
Where AI has been used, the guidance advises buyers to undertake additional due diligence — site visits, clarification questions, supplier presentations — to establish that what the tender claims is accurate, robust and credible. In other words: everything your bid says will be tested against reality. If an AI tool invented an ISO certificate, padded a case study, or "improved" your turnover, that surfaces at verification — after you've spent the writing days, and in front of the buyer.
4Evaluators are already spotting generic AI bids
Procurement practitioners report a flood of near-identical, AI-drafted submissions — same structures, stock phrasing, and invented detail — and industry analyses (e.g. Tussell, January 2026) note that while AI use isn't penalised, generic answers and hallucinated claims score poorly and can lead to disqualification. The problem isn't AI — it's ungrounded AI.
5What "safe" AI use looks like
| Do | Don't |
|---|---|
| Use AI to extract requirements, deadlines and evaluation criteria from the tender documents | Ask a chatbot to "write our method statement" from nothing |
| Ground every generated sentence in evidence you actually hold, and keep the link | Let AI state accreditations, insurance levels or experience it hasn't seen proof of |
| Keep a record of where AI assisted, so a disclosure question takes 60 seconds to answer | Deny AI use you can't truthfully deny |
| Review and approve every word before submission — it's your bid, your signature | Submit anything a human hasn't verified against the source documents |
6How BidCrier Studio handles this
Studio is built around exactly this policy reality. Every generated statement carries one of four classifications — evidence supplied · derived from evidence · confirmation required · unsupported, do not submit — and every material claim links back to a document you hold. You approve everything, you submit everything, and if a buyer asks the Annex B question, your answer is a confident, documented "yes, and here's how it was verified".
See what evidence-locked analysis looks like
Three full sample reports, or a free 10-minute readiness scan that runs entirely in your browser.
Note: the Crown Commercial Service became the Government Commercial Agency (GCA) on 1 April 2026; PPN 017 remains the operative policy note on AI transparency in procurement at the time of writing. Always check the specific wording of your tender's ITT — individual authorities can and do set their own requirements. This guide is general information, not legal or procurement advice.