RFI_31701-03588-Generative_AI_Procurement_Tools-Amendment_1.pdf

RFI # 31701-03588 – Amendment # 1 Page 1 of 16

STATE OF TENNESSEE

Department of Finance & Administration

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION # 31701-03588

AMENDMENT # 1

FOR Generative AI Procurement Tools

DATE: 3/12/2025

RFI # 31701-03588 IS AMENDED AS FOLLOWS:

1. State responses to questions and comments in the table below amend and clarify this RFI.

Any restatement of RFI text in the Question/Comment column shall NOT be construed as a change in the actual wording of the RFI document.

Question

RFI SECTION /

Topic

QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

What types of things are you procuring?

STS (Strategic Technology Solutions) will use this tool for technology related procurements ranging from hardware, software licenses, software systems, and professional services. The Central Procurement Office may also use this tool, and they procure a huge range of goods and services.

General What is your current RFP process from creation to reviewing supplier responses to making decision?

a. Where does your RFP workflow reside today? (For ex, do you use a 3rd party system)

The State’s RFP process is 100% manual utilizing state standard templates that live on the State’s intranet that are shared with end users using collaborative tools (Sharepoint, OneDrive, MSTeams) and Outlook email exchange). The solicitation and contract document development involves numerous subject matter experts, attorney’s and executive/legislative oversight groups. Once final documents have been approved they are posted publicly on the state’s website and shared via email. All RFP submissions, questions and proposals are managed electronically via email. All RFP documents are saved using cloud-based storage tools (Sharepoint, OneDrive) and the awarded proposal is saved in the State’s ERP system.

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Topic

QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

General What is the process to review supplier responses and make a decision?

a. What is your scorecarding look like?

b. How many scorecards do you have and what are they for?

Solicitations mostly come in two forms. Low bid and RFP.

Low bid solicitations are solely awarded based on the vendor that can offer the required goods/services at the lowest cost.

RFPs are typically evaluated on a vendor’s responses to the state’s technical questions/requirements in combination with their cost.

The technical response is usually weighted as 70% of the vendor’s RFP score while cost is usually 30%. These weights can sometimes be changed as needed for each RFP.

General What other documents are associated with the RFP process?

a. Where are documents and artifacts stored associated with procurement of RFPs?

b. What file formats do supplier responses come in?

a. Cloud-based storage tools (SharePoint, OneDrive) that can be accessed via a browser and the awarded proposal is saved in the State’s ERP system.

b. PDF’s, Word and Excel.

General Where do you store previous RFPs?

a. How many of them are there (volume)?

Hybrid environment: Shared on-prem server in the State’s data center, cloud, and the State’s ERP system. STS estimates issues about 30 solicitations per year and the Central Procurement Office issues about 120-140 solicitations per year..

6.

General How do you create RFPs and their associated questions today?

Manually using state standard templates. They are developed with numerous subject matter experts, attorney’s and executive/legislative oversight groups.

7.

What endpoints do you have?

The State is unclear on the definition of endpoints and which process it relates to.

8.

Data Fabric Where do you store your data?

See State response to question# 4.

9.

Data Fabric What kind of data is involved in the procurement/RFP process?

Procurement related data may include but is not limited to state standard RFP requirements, state questions related to technical and

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Topic

QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

cost requirements, financial documents and proof of vendor qualifications.

10.

Data Fabric Where do you store structured data?

What kind(s) do you have?

As it relates to the State’s procurement process there isn’t structured data to be identified.

The State is not currently using an eProcurement system for RFP solicitations.

11.

Data Fabric What kind of unstructured data do you have for this process?

There is a high volume of unstructured data. State standard templates serve as the baseline of the RFP document but require heavy massaging and tailoring to the specific scope of work.

Solicitation documents require the gathering of inputs from numerous groups of individuals, oversight groups reviewing solicitation documents, and vendor submitted clarifications related to their proposals are just a few examples.

12.

Existing Tooling What is current procurement platform?

The State does not use a procurement platform to manage

RFP’s. The State’s ERP system handles and processes low dollar solicitations, Invitation to Bid

(ITBs), via the State’s ERP system.

The State at this time is not considering ITB’s as a part of the current RFI scope.

13.

Existing Tooling What is your current accounts payable & receivable platform?

The State uses a ERP system to manage these business functions.

The State is not considering AP and AR assistance within scope of the RFI.

14.

Future State Do you want decisions to be automated or do you want humans in the loop?

The State would prefer both automation and human interaction to offset any potential generated bias, provide oversight for needed corrections and alignment to procurement policies and requirements.

15.

Future State Out of all your purchases, do you want to automate all? Just a subset?

The State prefers to automate certain steps within the RFP

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Topic

QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

process but not the entire lifecycle.

We have not yet determined if we will prioritize certain types of goods/services for automation.

16.

Future State What is average dollar value of purchases sourced via RFP?

The State issues RFP’s that result in contracts an extremely wide range of dollar value which is not relevant for the purpose of this

RFI.

17.

Future State What is your intended outcome with AI powered RFPs? Who is this helping? Who are the users impacts?

The state would potentially like a tool that can help automate RFP development (scope creation, cost and technical question creation, and the evaluation of vendor proposals).

This is helping Strategic Technology Solutions (STS) and the Central Procurement Office (CPO).

Adoption of this tool would replace numerous manual processes and minimize human error.

18.

Future State Are you looking for a product already made or to build a custom solution for you?

The State is interested in understanding both types of solutions.

19.

RFI Questions 12, 13, 14

Can the State explain the relative importance of certain capabilities or integrations?

A tool that can assist with contract development (scope of work requirements development, risk analysis, cost analysis), solicitation management and automation (reviewing vendor proposals and summarizing core differences between responses, cost analysis, identifying nuances of cost methodology, automating vendor solicitation notifications).

20. RFI Questions 12, 13, 14

Can the State provide a complete list of interfacing systems that will integrate with the solution?

The State would need to conduct a discovery session to obtain that information and does not have that information at this time.

21. RFI Questions 23, 24, 25

Can the State refer or list the specific state policies and standards that the GenAI procurement solution should incorporate?

See State response to question# 20.

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Topic

QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

22. RFI Section 5.6 What are the state’s expectations for the Proof of Concept (POC) phase?

The State cannot provide expectations of the parameters of a proof of concept at this time.

The State will issue an agenda with details surrounding expectations ahead of scheduling POCs.

23. RFI Section 5.2 Can the State explain the evaluation criteria that will be used to assess the RFI responses?

The State is currently conducting market research on current AI technologies as this is a Request for Information (RFI).

24. Can the State provide examples of where the tool will be used, such as specific domains, types of procurement, or business units?

This will be used for the STS and CPO procurement teams to conduct RFP’s and contract development using state standard templates.

25. What is the total budget earmarked for this procurement?

The State does not have a budget at this time and will use this research to help budget plan appropriately.

26. Has the State seen demonstrations of any solutions before the RFI release?

No

27. What is the current ESB used by the State.

a. Can the Vendor propose the ESB of their choice?

The State is not looking to integrate this tool with any applications at this time.

28. Can the State provide details on the data to be migrated, number of files, and their size in GB?

See State response to question# 20 and 27. At this time data migration has not been identified as a need.

29. Does the State have any existing ETL tools? Please share details.

See State response to question# 20 and 27. At this time data migration has not been identified as a need.

30. Can the State provide details on the reporting requirements?

The State has not identified this yet as we are still conducting preliminary market research to understand this emerging technology.

31. Can the State provide details on the users and user base?

The end user is STS and the Central Procurement Office (CPO) and the estimated user base could range from 5-20 users in year 1.

32. What is the expected timeline for implementation after vendor selection?

Will the agency issue an RFP based on this RFI, and when is it expected to be released?

The State does not have an official timeline for implementation at this time. We would need to plan and secure the appropriate resources before doing so.

The State has not determined the procurement vehicle at this time.

33. Supplier Portal & Registration

A dedicated website enables suppliers to register, manage profiles, and submit

The State is not seeking supplier portal and registration assistance.

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Topic

QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

procurement documents while handling automated notifications. How is your current vendor onboarding process managed—do you rely primarily on email, and have you evaluated a centralized portal to streamline these tasks?

34. Submission Management & Document Handling

Suppliers can directly upload responses, and an email gateway automatically ingests, categorizes, and converts emailed submittals into tickets with AI-generated assistance (with all outputs approved by your procurement team). How are vendor submissions currently managed, and what issues exist in handling and tracking these documents?

Email submission and manual file management. This can lead to human error. It is time consuming to also validate if the correct files were submitted or reviewing for submission requirements.

35. Q&A Module The system supports a structured process for vendors to submit clarifying questions and receive AI-assisted response suggestions, minimizing stakeholder involvement. How long does your current Q&A process take, and what improvements would help reduce the effort required from your team?

Anywhere from 3-15 business days depending on the volume of questions and the complexity of the related technology/solicitation. Reducing response redundancy and key word recognition that would trigger an automated response for example requesting sensitive/confidential information.

36. Public Data Request Handling

Automated notifications and communications are triggered when a vendor that did not win an RFP requests public data, including AI-assisted redaction and approval workflows. How do you currently manage public data requests, and what challenges would you like to address through automation?

The State is not requesting the capability described in question #36 at this time.

37. ERP Integration The solution supports pre‑built integrations with ERP systems such as PeopleSoft, SAP, Oracle Procurement Cloud Fusion, and others to facilitate functions like supplier onboarding and purchase order processing. Which ERP systems are currently in use, and what critical data elements and triggers would you prioritize for integration with your

ERP?

Due to complexity and security requirements, the State does not currently want a tool integrated with our ERP system. This may be something we move to in the future if a tool proves worthwhile.

38. Procurement Integration

The offering also supports integration with procurement platforms like Cloud Fusion, NetSuite, Coupa, and Basware to ensure seamless data exchange for procurement-specific functions. Which procurement systems do you use, and

The State does not use a procurement platform for RFP’s.

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Topic

QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

what key data domains or business events should drive these integrations?

39. RFP Lifecycle Management

Covering the full lifecycle—from RFI and RFP authoring, response review, evaluation, vendor selection, contracting, contract management, to payment or milestone management with clear ERP handoffs—the system supports comprehensive process automation.

Which lifecycle stages are most critical for your operations, and at what point do you transition to your ERP for ongoing project or contract management?

The entire lifecycle is critical.

The State conducts all RFI and RFP solicitations using a manual process and currently does not use any automation for assistance. Our current ERP system does not handle project management related processes. Once the contract is signed by both parties it is entered into our ERP system for contract management initiation.

40. Contract Management & Review

The system supports both contract authoring (with AI assistance, pending final approval by the procurement team) and contract review/comparison with risk identification; please indicate whether authoring contracts is important to you, or if your focus is more on reviewing and comparing existing contracts. What challenges do you currently face in contract management?

Yes, that is important to the State.

Contract development, contract solicitation automation, vendor performance, and contract compliance are current challenges.

41. Supplier Master Data Management

This module consolidates supplier demographics, credit information, tax forms (e.g., W‑9s), litigation history, and performance metrics into a unified repository to accelerate onboarding and evaluation. How do you currently manage supplier master data, and what additional information or functionality would improve your supplier evaluation and onboarding processes?

Supplier information is processed manually. The functionality described in question #41 would be helpful to improve our current process.

42. AI Alignment & Bias Management

The platform incorporates AI assistance throughout the procurement process, with measures to mitigate bias and ensure alignment with procurement policies. How do you currently manage AI bias and alignment issues in your procurement processes, and what additional safeguards or transparency would be beneficial?

The State is not currently using AI assistance to handle procurement process, so we do not manage AI bias.

43. Existing Data Systems & Process Review

The solution is designed to integrate with and enhance your current systems, whether your processes are largely manual or already digital; this includes reviewing your existing procurement, document authoring, evaluation, selection, and onboarding systems to identify strengths and weaknesses. Could

See State response to question# 39.

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Topic

QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

you describe the systems you currently use, and what pain points or inefficiencies exist in your current process?

44 Procurement Domains & Domain-Specific Challenges

Based on previous RFPs, the Finance & Administration department appears to manage multiple procurement domains such as goods procurement, services procurement, capital projects, IT procurement, construction, and specialized procurement for public infrastructure. Are there specific challenges unique to each of these domains that you are currently facing or would like to address? Could you describe the primary pain points within these areas, and any particular improvements you envision?

Contract development, specifically ensuring the scope of work is up to date with the current market standards, risk analysis for system requirement refreshes, and finding the correct expertise for niche technologies.

45. What is your current ERP infrastructure?

a. Single ERP or multiple, what are they?

b. Are you looking for this new solution to integrate directly to your ERP(s)?

See response to question# 37.

46. What is your current Source-to-Pay IT infrastructure?

a. What systems or processes do you have for core and complementary functions, such as spend analytics, buying, category management, contracting, PO issuance, invoice processing, end-to-end, etc.

The State currently uses its ERP system for vendor payments and reporting data.

47. What components and functionality are your including in this RFI?

a. I.e., sourcing, buying, category management, contracting, end-to-end, etc.

b. Are you open to discussing other solutions for the other Source-to-Pay capabilities that may compliment the requirements in the RFI?

a. Contract development (scope of work requirements development, risk analysis, cost analysis), solicitation management and automation (reviewing vendor proposals and summarizing core differences between responses, cost analysis, identifying nuances of cost methodology, automating vendor solicitation notifications).

b. The question is not clear on the intent, but the State is interested in

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Topic

QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

information related to AI procurement tools.

48. Budget considerations

a. What budget has been approved and allocated to this project?

i. Aggregate funds

ii. Funds by functional area

b. What is the timeline associated with the project and funding?

a. The State does not have a budget at this time as it is currently in the phase of market research.

b. The State does not have a firm timeline yet.

49. What is your current cloud adoption strategy?

a. What cloud applications are you currently using?

The State is currently moving most of our apps to various cloud platforms. For security reasons, we cannot detail the apps or cloud environment at this time.

50. Security and Compliance:

a. What specific security measures and protocols are required to ensure the protection of sensitive state data?

b. How does the State ensure compliance with applicable regulations in their procurement processes?

a. The state has standard security terms that are reliant on the technology/services being contractually provided.

b. The state does not have a standard process implemented for compliance check at this time.

51. Future Vision and Adaptability

a. How does the State envision the future of AI in procurement, and what are their expectations for the chosen tool's adaptability to these changes?

b. What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) the State will use to measure the success of the GenAI procurement tool implementation?

a. See State response to question# 47.

b. The State has not identified these yet. The

State needs to first understand the current offerings and capabilities before doing so. Please provide standard KPIs that we should be considering as a part of your RFI response.

52. User Adoption and Training

a. What strategies does the State have in place to ensure user adoption and effective training for the new GenAI procurement tool?

b. Are there any specific training programs or resources that the State would like to see included?

a. The State is currently conducting market research on current AI technologies.

b. The State is interested in understanding the available training programs that are offered for AI procurement tools and what promoted the most success.

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Topic

QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

53. Customization and Flexibility

a. How important is customization and flexibility in the GenAI procurement tool for the State's unique procurement needs?

b. Are there any specific features or functionalities that the State requires to be customized?

a. Highly important.

b. None at this time.

54. Support and Maintenance

a. What are the State's expectations for ongoing support and maintenance of the GenAI procurement tool?

b. How does the State prefer to handle updates, maintenance, and customizations?

a. Annual support and maintenance is expected as apart of implementation and adoption.

b. The State expects the service provider to assist.

55. Are there any external systems this needs to integrate with

None have been identified at this time.

56. Is there a preference on opensource or closed source LLMs… meaning are you open to Opensource models if the cost is lower?

The State is open to understanding both models with pro’s and con’s to each.

57. What type of format will these demos take: virtual, in-person? Who will attend?

Any specific minimum requirements for what the gov team wants to see or will they be vendor discretion (e.g., using our standard demos)?

Any additional information on the demo formats will be appreciated for advance planning purposes.

Virtual. Specific attendance is still yet to be determined but the solicitation coordinator of this RFI will attend. A demo agenda with recommended key points of topics will be shared ahead of scheduled demos.

58. What is the current ERP system that is used in the state for procurement?

See response to question# 37.

59. Does the state have an eProcurement system that it uses to manage the RFP / Procurement process?

No

60. Does the state have any specific goals or challenge areas that they are seeking to resolve with an AI solution?

Contract development (scope of work requirements development, risk analysis, cost analysis), solicitation management and automation (reviewing vendor proposals and summarizing core differences between responses, cost analysis, identifying nuances of cost methodology, automating vendor solicitation notifications).

61. What systems does the state of TN currently use for procurement activities?

See response to question# 37.

62. What ERP is being used and how many instances does the state of TN have?

See response to question# 37.

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QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

63. Will the future solution need to integrate to any of the systems mentioned above?

If so, please describe.

Not at this time.

64. Are you currently using any AI capabilities within your organization? If so, please describe.

No

65. Have you identified specific ROI metrics or performance indicators for your AI goals?

No

66. How many users will be leveraging the future solution?

The State has not decided.

Potentially 10-20 State employees in year 1.

67. Does the State of TN have an intake for procurement processes? If so, can you please describe?

Email submission and communication management, use of MS Excel and Projects for procurement process and development.

68. Does the State of TN run auctions? The State does have a “reverse auction” style solicitation, but it is rarely used.

69. What contract templates does the State of TN use today?

The State of TN uses standard templates for over 7 different contract types. These standard templates are refreshed at any given time from once a year to once every few years.

70. How are these contracts redlined and negotiated? (i.e. Microsoft Word, email, etc..)

A combination of Word and email exchange.

71. Will the state of TN want to import legacy contracts into the future solution? If so, how many contracts would this encompass?

No

72. What kind of reporting capabilities does the State of TN have today?

The State has basic contract reporting – contract by supplier, contract spend, historical contract data and storage within our ERP system.

73. Can you please describe your supplier registration process?

The State is not seeking information related to supplier registration AI assistance at this time and considers it out of scope.

74. What is STS’s timeline to implement the contract management AI tool?

See State response to question# 32.

75. Can STS elaborate on the AI recommendations expected from the tool?

See state response to question # 60.

76. How many active solicitations/contracts is STS expecting to manage with this tool?

Please see the State’s response to question #5

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QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

77. Is STS looking for a standalone COTS solution or are they open to the integration of several tools?

Singular standalone solution with minor customization if possible, to achieve the intended outcome.

Managing several tools sounds cumbersome and difficult to manage for the State.

78. Generative AI has the capability to generate / support generation of document used in procurements. If a vendor supports STS in this procurement and eventual project; what preclusion rules or exclusion from various procurements would this create for the vendor who is working on the GenAI procurement tools? Will working or building this for STS, create any conflicts of interest?

This is an RFI intended for market research so at this time there is no relevant preclusion rule.

79. Background Would STS consider a proposal for professional services to design and build a solution compared to purchasing or subscribing to an off-the-shelf solution?

Yes

80. Technical Informational Form, question #15

Does STS have a preferred cloud provider or providers?

AWS, Azure, Oracle OCI or Google

81. Technical Informational Form, question #14

What existing eProcurement platforms and ERP does STS and the State of Tennessee use today? Are there any specific integrations or methods of integration that you would like to see highlighted in responses?

See response to question# 37.

82. Is there a preferred cloud platform for the AI solution?

AWS, Azure, Oracle OCI or Google

83. If any, what current LLM models is STS utilizing?

This State is not currently using a

LLM.

84. How is your GenAI infrastructure structured? For example, do you have an AI landing zone, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) capabilities, orchestration layers, and established agentic workflows that vendors should leverage?

The State is in the process of deciding what our AI infrastructure will look like long term, all you mentioned is included in this.

Please focus on cloud based AI platforms.

85. Is the expectation for the Proof of Concept described in RFI Section 5.6. that the solution is tailored to the State's requirements, or is it a general demonstration of the solution's capabilities? Is the Proof of Concept (POC) described in RFI Section 5.6. related to the activity titled ""Conduct Virtual Demos"" in the Section 4. RFI Schedule of

See State response to question #22.

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QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

Events? If not, where in the Schedule would POC take place?"

86. What are the primary challenges you face in defining and refining contract scope?

What are the key documents/artifacts used as an input for that step?

Ever changing landscape of the technology environment and adapting the scope appropriately.

Subject matter experts within the State, historical experience/contracts, other State input and recommendations, third party research and reports.

87. When reviewing RFP responses, what are some key criteria or metrics used to evaluate vendor responses?

See State response to question# 3.

88. Are there specific stages of the process that you find particularly time-consuming or complex? What specific decision-making challenges are you facing in the procurement process?

Reviewing solicitations that result in a high volume of proposals and manually reviewing minimum solicitation and contract requirements. Scope development of a new emerging technology is also difficult when use cases are low.

89. Could the state provide details on the roles of the procurement staff they expect to have access to this tool, and any security protocols or workflows that need to be incorporated into the solution?

The solicitation document development involves numerous subject matter experts, attorney’s and executive/legislative oversight groups. The State hasn’t determined if all need to have access to the tool.

Recommendations based on use cases are welcomed to help the State decide.

A discovery session would need to be conducted to accurately respond to required security protocols.

90. What types of insights and recommendations are most valuable to your decision makers and how do you disseminate them today?

Each solicitation has its own unique technical requirements.

Evaluation teams score solicitations based on their unique technical requirements.

91. In terms of scope of the Procurement solution you are looking for, should it just focus on contract scope definition, RFP generation, and vendor response review and analysis, or it should include capabilities such as vendor chatbot functionality to inquire about status of their response, answering vendor questions on contracts?

Vendor chatbot information is not needed and considered out of scope at this time.

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QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

92. Should the solution include functionality post contract signature such as a chatbot functionality answering questions about invoices? answering questions on status of project delivery

No

93. Should the solution include functionality for vendors/suppliers search and market analysis?

Yes

94. Will you be sharing a use case and sample data sets and sample RFPs/ Contracts that will be used part of the PoC?

Sample contracts and RFP’s can be shared ahead of the POC.

95. "Are you expecting the PoC that is part of vendor selection be a paid PoC or is it an investment the vendor should make free of charge?

The State does not wish to pay for the PoC phase.

96. After vendor and solution selection, do you have a set of use cases you would like the vendor to implement as part of professional services to enable your organization to leverage best practices using and leveraging the solution?

Yes

97. Do you have a preference to a cloud solution as SaaS (Software as Services) or a solution you can install on premise or on your private cloud of choice.

Cloud solution. No preference on which cloud at this time.

98. Does the State currently have SAP licenses? If so, how many?

The State does not own any SAP licenses for this initiative.

99. Does the State own Ariba licenses? If so, how many?

The State does not own any Ariba licenses for this initiative.

100. What is the State’s current ERP Landscape?

See State response to question# 37.

101. Does the State have a procurement process document? If so, can a copy be provided?

The State has solicitation templates, timeline templates, procurement procedures manual and CPO policies but we are not sharing those at this time. These documents maybe shared with the vendors selected for the POC phase.

102. If Ariba is the State the State’s SAAS tool, is Organizational Change Management (OCM) needed?

See State response for question #99.

103. How many users is the State looking to have administrative rights?

The State would need to be provided the recommended # of admin users, cost and further explanation of the role and ability the admins would have within the associated tool. This could be different for every tool.

104. What is the State’s current procurement tool?

The State uses its ERP system for ITB’s. All other solicitation types

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QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

are not managed using a procurement tool.

105. Has anyone in the organization used Ariba for past Government procurement?

The State is not familiar with Ariba.

106. RFI Question 14 Are there any specific state systems (e.g., ERPs, eProcurement platforms) that the States desires integration support?

Please see State response to questions 37 and 38.

107. RFI Question 14 What eProcurement system and supplier does the State currently use?

Please see State response to questions 37 and 38.

108. RFI Question 27 doe the State have any desired scope in mind for the POC phase (e.g., # of users, contract volume)?

The end user is STS and CPO and the user base could range from 5- 20 users in year 1. The tool should be capable of managing at least 40 active procurements at one time.

109. RFI Question 27 What are the expectations around scalability for the POC phase?

If more state agencies outside of STS and CPO were to utilize this tool what scalability factors should be considered and what risk would that bring?

110. Overall, does the State have any other experience deploying or using AI solutions?

No

111. Overall, is there a desired page length for RFI responses to facilitate the State’s review?

30-page limit, company cover page and profile does not count toward the page limit.

112. What criteria will the state use to evaluate the success of the Proof of Concept (POC), and what specific performance metrics (KPIs) will be used?

See State response to question #22.

113. Given that the state’s ERP procurement system is hosted on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), what are the preferred integration methods for connecting GenAI Procurement Tools deployed on AWS or Azure?

The State is in the process of deciding what our AI infrastructure will look like long term; we do not have a preferred integration method at this time.

114. Does the state have standardized API gateways, middleware (e.g., Oracle Integration Cloud, MuleSoft, Boomi), or other best practices for integrating cloud-based applications with Oracle on-premises and Oracle on AWS?

The State is in the process of deciding what our AI infrastructure will look like long term; we do not have a preferred integration method at this time.

115. Does the state currently manage procurement-related data exchanges between OCI, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud environments? Are there established data governance policies or inter-cloud security requirements?

The State does not currently manage procurement-related data exchanges between OCI, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud environments. The State has established data security policies.

We don’t know what these policies will look like for procurement related data exchanges yet.

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2. RFI Amendment Effective Date. The revisions set forth herein shall be effective upon release. All other terms and conditions of this RFI not expressly amended herein shall remain in full force and effect.

Topic

QUESTION / COMMENT STATE RESPONSE

116. What security, authentication, and identity management requirements (e.g., ForgeRock IAM, Azure AD, AWS IAM, OAuth, SAML, FedRAMP) must be met when deploying GenAI Procurement Tools in a multi-cloud environment?

See State response to question #115.

117. Are there preferred AI models, ML frameworks, or cloud-native AI services (e.g., Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, Oracle AI, Google Vertex AI) that the state recommends or prohibits for procurement automation?

No preference.

The State has prohibited the use of Manus and DeepSeek.

118. To what extent must the GenAI Procurement Tools adhere to existing procurement workflows in Oracle ERP on OCI, and is there flexibility for AI-driven process automation or workflow modernization?

There is no expectation that the GenAI Tool will need to integrate with our ERP system. Yes, there is flexibility.

119. How does the state ensure cross-cloud data security, encryption, and compliance when processing procurement transactions across OCI, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud?

See State response to question #115.

120. What are the state’s requirements for integrating the GenAI Procurement Tools with its Splunk environment for real-time security monitoring, logging, and AI-driven operational insights?

There is no expectation for integrating GenAI Procurement Tools with the State’s Splunk environment.

121. What reporting and analytics capabilities should the GenAI Procurement Tools support, and how should they integrate with Power BI (Azure), AWS QuickSight, Oracle Analytics, or Splunk dashboards?

The State is in the process of deciding what our AI infrastructure will look like long term, we do not have a preferred reporting and analytics format.