The CE Procurement Group explored how artificial intelligence is already changing construction procurement, but the strongest theme was not technology itself; it was the impact on people. Speakers looked at AI from both sides of the process: John Simons described how Scape is testing AI to support tender evaluation, while Lucy Howard shared the bidder’s perspective on how AI is changing bid development, technical input and accountability. The discussion showed that AI can reduce effort, increase consistency and improve feedback, but only if people remain central to the way it is designed, governed and used.
Key takeaways
- Put people, skills and accountability at the centre of any AI-enabled procurement approach, rather than treating AI as a technology-only change.
- Use AI to remove repetitive evaluation tasks, improve consistency and speed up feedback, so procurement teams can focus on judgement, assurance and market engagement.
- Keep humans firmly in the loop by checking evidence, testing deliverability and making sure final decisions remain explainable and accountable.
- Redesign tender questions to prioritise evidence, proof points, behavioural assessment and solution quality, so polished AI-generated responses do not become the main differentiator.
- Support micro businesses by reducing unnecessary bidding burden, recognising practical experience and avoiding procurement requirements that assume access to costly AI tools or specialist digital support.
The procurer’s perspective
For procurement teams, the immediate impact is on workload and role design. Large framework evaluations can require hundreds of hours of assessor time, moderation and feedback drafting. AI offers the possibility of a faster first-pass assessment, richer feedback for bidders and a more consistent way of interrogating evidence. That could free experienced procurement professionals from repetitive reading and scoring so they can spend more time on judgement, challenge, assurance and market engagement. However, the group was clear that AI should support human expertise, not replace it. Final decisions must sit with people who understand the procurement context, the supply chain, the technical requirements and the consequences of award decisions.
The use of AI also changes the capabilities people need. Procurement professionals will increasingly need to understand how to structure questions, define clear evaluation criteria, test outputs, manage audit trails and explain where AI has been used. If traditional quality questions can be answered more fluently with AI support, then procurers may need to place greater emphasis on evidence, proof points, behavioural assessment, deliverable solutions and pre-market engagement. This places renewed importance on understanding the people and organisations in the market, rather than relying on a standard process or recycled question set.
The bidder’s perspective
For bidders, AI is already reshaping day-to-day work. It can help draft, edit, polish and organise responses; search knowledge banks; gather evidence; and reduce manual effort. This may help some smaller firms compete with larger organisations that have professional bid teams. At the same time, there is a risk that AI widens the gap between organisations with strong digital capability and those with limited time, tools or confidence. Lucy Howard emphasised that AI may improve language, but it cannot yet replace the people who understand whether a solution is practical, buildable, affordable and genuinely owned by the bidder. Technical experts, delivery teams and leaders still need to check what is being promised.
This matters because procurement is ultimately about commitments made by people and delivered by people. AI can hallucinate, lift historic evidence out of context, misunderstand joint venture material or create polished statements that mask weak delivery thinking. Those risks do not remove accountability; they increase the need for it. Bid teams must ensure that AI-supported responses remain truthful and deliverable. Clients must decide how transparent they will be about using AI in evaluation, including its role, limits, data security arrangements and points of human intervention. Trust will depend on people being able to explain not only what the technology did, but why they were comfortable relying on it.
What about SMEs?
The discussion gave particular attention to SMEs and, especially, micro businesses, which make up much of the construction supply chain and often operate with very small teams, limited bidding capacity and little access to specialist digital support. AI could act as a leveller by helping micro businesses turn practical site knowledge into clearer, more professional tender responses, reduce the time spent on form-filling and present evidence that might otherwise remain hidden in people’s heads or local project experience. Used well, it could help smaller firms compete with larger organisations that have dedicated bid teams, knowledge banks and communications specialists. However, it could also become another barrier if tenders assume access to sophisticated AI tools, well-organised data, paid platforms or people with the confidence to use them. There is a risk that micro businesses are either priced out of the technology, discouraged by more complex submission requirements, or judged against polished responses from better-resourced bidders rather than the real capability of the people who will deliver the work. Procurers therefore need to design processes with the intended market in mind, engage micro businesses and the wider supply chain early, provide clear guidance on acceptable AI use, and make sure innovation from smaller firms can still be recognised.
The group concluded that AI is here to stay and will develop quickly. The challenge is to build literacy, confidence and governance while keeping people at the centre: the people writing bids, the people evaluating them, the people delivering the work and the people affected by procurement outcomes. This people-first perspective will inform Constructing Excellence’s wider work on an AI-enabled built environment, including future discussions on placing people at the heart of change.