KnowledgeBasics

Writing tenders with AI: what works, what doesn’t and what to watch

More and more bidders use AI for tenders. Summarising a long set of tender documents or drafting a first outline of a method statement goes fast, and that saves time. But writing tenders with AI also goes wrong regularly: with a reference that does not exist, a text any competitor could have sent in, or a section that runs over the page limit. This article shows where AI helps you, where it costs you points, and what to watch on confidentiality and the rules. It is written from a Dutch and EU perspective.

Atvalio · November 2026 · 9 min read

Written by the Atvalio editorial team: people who spent years bidding on tenders themselves. About us

Can you use AI or ChatGPT in a public tender?

Yes, as a rule you can. We found no specific rule on bidders’ use of AI in the Dutch procurement rules or at PIANOo, the Dutch government’s public procurement expertise centre. What does apply: you are responsible for everything you submit, however it was produced. And the tender documents can set conditions, for example on confidentiality. So read them first.

The question is therefore not whether you may use AI, but what for. A language model is a good reader and a fast first drafter. It is not a source of facts about your company.

What AI does well in tenders

ReadingSummarising the documentsInstructions to bidders, specification, draft contract and annexes in a few paragraphs: what is being asked, for how long and on what terms. Ask for a page reference with every point, so you can check it.
OrganisingRequirements and criteria at a glanceKnock-outs, selection criteria, award criteria with their weighting, format requirements and deadlines in one overview. With long documents, you miss less.
QuestionsFinding what is unclearContradictions between the main document and the annexes, a requirement without explanation, a deadline that does not add up. AI finds these quickly and helps you turn them into a question for the clarification round.
WritingA first draftAn outline for an answer to a quality question, structured to match the criterion. A starting point to build on, not a text to submit.

In all these tasks, AI works with what you give it. If you read the summary without the documents beside it, you are trusting that nothing has dropped out. So always check against the source, especially for knock-outs and deadlines.

Where it goes wrong

What goes wrong	Why	What to do about it
Made-up facts	A language model writes what sounds likely, not what is true. If a figure, reference or certificate is missing, it sometimes fills in something plausible.	Use only facts you supply yourself, and check every figure, every name and every reference.
Generic text	The same question gives everyone roughly the same text. An evaluation panel reading ten bids notices, and general promises do not score.	Write from your own approach, people and evidence. See writing for points.
Format requirements	AI does not know the page limit, font or mandatory format unless you tell it. And a word count is not a page count in your template.	List the format requirements beforehand and check the formatted version, not the raw text.
The wrong contract	A text that fits another client or another tender does not fit this one.	Make the text match the specification and the goals of this buyer.

The UK government also warns public buyers that content created with language models may contain inaccurate or misleading statements (Procurement Policy Note 017, the successor to PPN 02/24).

A made-up fact is more than a cosmetic flaw. In a European tender in the Netherlands, a buyer may exclude a bidder that is seriously guilty of false statements when providing the information needed to check the grounds for exclusion, or that has negligently provided misleading information that may materially influence decisions on exclusion, selection or award (article 2.87(1)(h) and (i) of the Aanbestedingswet 2012, the Dutch Public Procurement Act). That the text came from an AI tool changes nothing.

Generic text will not get you excluded, but it does cost points. For a quality question, the answer that scores shows how you do it, with evidence. A text that could just as well have come from someone else does not. How to make a method statement concrete, and why generic texts do not win, is covered in separate articles.

AI knows nothing about your company that you have not told it. What it does not know, it sometimes invents.

Where does your data go?

Tender documents are not always public, and your own bid certainly is not. The instructions to bidders can include a confidentiality clause, for example that you may not make information from the documents available to third parties. An AI service run by another company is a third party too. Read that clause before you upload documents, and ask a question if it is unclear what is allowed.

Personal data falls under the GDPR (in Dutch: AVG). Think of CVs of key staff, names of contacts for references, or data from the contract itself. In 2024 the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, the Dutch Data Protection Authority, warned that it had received reports of data breaches caused by employees entering personal data into AI chatbots. Most companies behind those chatbots store everything you enter. The authority asks organisations to agree with staff which data may and especially may not go into a chatbot, and to agree with the provider that entered data is not stored.

Check the documents for confidentialityLook for confidentiality in the instructions to bidders. If information may not go to third parties, ask in the clarification round whether an AI service counts as one.
Know where your data goesWhere are the servers, is your input stored, and is it used to train models? Choose a business service where you can control this.
Sign a data processing agreementIf the AI service processes personal data on your behalf, you sign a data processing agreement, also when the provider is based abroad. You remain responsible for what you outsource.
Agree on it in your teamSet out which tools are allowed and what must not go into them. Things often go wrong with free tools that staff use on their own initiative.

Can a public buyer ban or require disclosure of AI use?

We found no Dutch rule or guidance on this. A buyer does set its own conditions in the tender documents. If they say something about AI, you follow it. If it is unclear or unreasonable, raise a question in the clarification round.

Outside the Netherlands there are examples. In Procurement Policy Note 017 (since February 2025, previously PPN 02/24), the UK government advises buyers to ask bidders whether and how they used AI. Those questions are for information only and are not scored. According to the note, bidders’ use of AI is not prohibited. It does advise buyers to put proportionate controls in place so that bidders do not use the buyer’s confidential information. The Scottish government puts it from the bidder’s side: you always remain responsible for the accuracy of what you submit, and certain information from the tender documents must not go into AI tools.

What does the EU AI Act mean for you as a bidder?

The EU AI Act entered into force on 1 August 2024 and applies in stages. In July 2026 it was amended by the Digital Omnibus on AI (Regulation (EU) 2026/1744), which moved some of the deadlines. If your company uses an AI service to write a bid, you are a deployer in the Act’s terms. Three parts matter to you, the first one most.

Part	What it means for a bidder
AI literacy (article 4)	Applies since 2 February 2025. After the 2026 amendment, you take measures to support the AI literacy of staff who work with AI, in line with their knowledge and the context. You do not have to guarantee a specific level per person. In practice: explanation and agreements on what AI does well and badly.
Transparency for text (article 50(4))	Applies since 2 August 2026. Anyone who publishes AI-generated text to inform the public on matters of public interest must disclose that it was made with AI. A bid you send only to a buyer is not such a publication. As a rule, then, it does not require you to label your bid, but read the tender documents.
High risk	Strict rules for AI used in areas including recruitment, education, critical infrastructure and access to essential services. After the amendment they apply to those systems from 2 December 2027. Writing a bid is not one of them.

Position as of November 2026. On 20 July 2026 the European Commission published guidelines on the interpretation of article 50. For the current position, see the European Commission’s AI Act Service Desk.

The AI Act mainly asks a bidder to know what they are using.

Writing tenders with AI: a way of working that works

Used this way, AI saves you time without costing you points or credibility.

Start from your own company informationReferences, certificates, people, your approach and what sets you apart. Record it properly once. What AI does not get from you, it cannot use, and then the text becomes generic or invented.
A source for every claimEvery fact in the text must trace back to a page in the tender documents or to your own information. If you cannot point to the source, delete the sentence or fill in the fact yourself.
If something is missing, askHave AI ask a question rather than fill a gap. Better an open space in the draft than a figure that is wrong.
Check against the tender documentsDoes the text answer the question as asked, does it follow the scoring method, and does the formatted version meet the format requirements? Use the final week before submission for this as well.
A person decides and signsWhether you bid, what you promise and at what price: that is your decision. Read the full bid before you submit it. You sign it, so you stand behind it.

Use AI to read faster and write better, not to know less.

HOW ATVALIO HELPS

Atvalio Tenders is built on this way of working. It reads the tender documents and lists requirements, knock-outs, award criteria, format requirements and deadlines, with the page they come from. It gives bid/no-bid advice in two rounds, suggests questions for the clarification round and writes per criterion from your company profile, with a source for every claim. If information is missing, Atvalio asks you rather than filling it in. A simulated evaluation panel points out strengths and weaknesses, and before you submit, Atvalio checks the bid against the tender documents. You decide whether to bid and what goes in, and you submit.

Atvalio Tenders launches in January 2027. On the waiting list, you can be the first to start a 14-day trial on a real tender.

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