How It Works
From brief to board-ready in days, not weeks
AI Buyer runs the end-to-end procurement sourcing process — supplier discovery, RFP generation, evaluation, and audit trail — so your team can focus on the decision, not the administration. Here is exactly how it works, step by step.
3–7 days
Typical sourcing cycle
50%
Faster than manual process
15–25%
Typical cost savings
100%
Audit trail coverage
The AI Buyer sourcing process
Six steps from procurement brief to supplier selection — each one automated by AI, each one reviewed by your team.
Define your requirements
Describe what you need to source: the category, scope, volumes, timing, and any compliance requirements specific to your industry. AI Buyer uses this brief to configure the sourcing event and select the appropriate industry templates from its library of 33 sector-specific frameworks.
AI discovers qualified suppliers
AI Buyer's supplier discovery engine searches across supplier databases and web sources to build a longlist of qualified suppliers for your category. Suppliers are pre-screened against your requirements, compliance criteria, and capability thresholds.
Generate RFP or Scope of Work
AI Buyer generates a specification-rich Request for Proposal or Statement of Work tailored to your category, requirements, and compliance standards. Your team reviews and approves the document before it is sent to any supplier.
Evaluate supplier responses
AI Buyer scores supplier responses against weighted criteria — price, quality, compliance, capability, and track record. The evaluation is consistent across all suppliers, fully documented, and free from the individual biases that affect manual assessments.
Review the recommendation
AI Buyer presents a ranked shortlist with clear rationale for each supplier's position. Your team reviews the analysis, can ask clarifying questions, and makes the final supplier selection. The AI advises — humans always decide.
Export board-ready audit trail
Every sourcing event automatically generates a complete, structured audit trail — covering which suppliers were considered, evaluation criteria and scores, the shortlist rationale, and the final decision record. Suitable for board reporting, finance committee papers, and regulatory audits.
Who runs sourcing events with AI Buyer
AI Buyer is built for the people who own procurement decisions but don't have a full procurement team behind them.
CFOs and Finance Directors
Use AI Buyer to run governed sourcing events on major spend categories, identify savings opportunities, and generate the board-ready documentation your reporting requires — without depending on a procurement team.
COOs and Operations Managers
Source suppliers for facilities, services, and operational categories without the weeks-long delays of manual procurement. AI Buyer fits around operational schedules and doesn't require category expertise to use.
Procurement Leads and Category Managers
Run more sourcing events with the same team. AI Buyer handles the research, drafting, and evaluation work that limits throughput, freeing your team for strategic supplier relationships and negotiations.
Real-world outcome
$540K saved in 6 weeks — aged care cleaning contract
$540K
Annual savings
20%
Savings rate
6 weeks
Sourcing cycle
A $200M aged care provider running 14 facilities in VIC used AI Buyer to run a competitive tender on a cleaning contract that had been auto-renewed for 4 years. The process identified qualified alternative suppliers, ran a structured RFP, and delivered a board-approved outcome with a full ACQSC-compliant audit trail — in 6 weeks from brief to contract.
Read the full case study →Frequently asked questions
How long does an AI Buyer sourcing event take?
A complete sourcing event — from brief to shortlist — typically takes 3–7 days with AI Buyer, compared to 4–8 weeks manually. Urgent categories can be turned around in under 24 hours. The platform handles the time-consuming research, drafting, and evaluation stages automatically.
What happens to our existing supplier relationships?
AI Buyer complements your existing supplier relationships. You can include your preferred suppliers in every tender alongside new candidates — AI Buyer evaluates all suppliers consistently against the same criteria. Incumbent suppliers who represent genuine value will score well; those who don't will be identified.
How does AI Buyer find suppliers?
AI Buyer uses a combination of curated supplier databases, real-time web search, and industry-specific supplier intelligence to identify qualified suppliers for each category. The discovery engine searches across Australian and international sources and screens results against your requirements.
Can we customise the RFP template AI Buyer generates?
Yes. AI Buyer generates a complete draft RFP based on your requirements and industry templates, which your team can review, edit, and approve before it is used. You retain full control over the document content.
See the process in action
Start a sourcing event on AI Buyer and experience how quickly the platform moves from brief to board-ready outcome.
Also see: AI supplier discovery and RFP automation