August 6, 2024

Buying Generative AI in Government

In the past 18 months, Generative AI has been the focal point of conversations about new technology. This has been as true in government as anywhere. For such a new and fast-moving technology, there is a remarkable degree of clarity about what government might want to buy or build with GenAI, with a range of case studies being identified across the public sector.

Despite this, there is an important gap between ideas and implementation. We know what the technology is, and how we might sensibly apply it, but there are still few case studies in government to use as reference points.

There are multiple possible reasons for this, but the lack of guidance or best practice on how to buy the technology is a major hurdle.

To address this gap, PUBLIC and Paradigm Junction have teamed up to write a new report: ‘Buying Generative AI in Government’.

While Generative AI doesn’t require abandoning all we have learnt about buying technology, it does present some distinct challenges when compared to other technologies that government might procure – including existing AI products that use machine learning and other traditional software approaches. This report is a guide for those looking to buy in the face of these challenges.


In it, we aim to answer 3 core questions:

  1. What unique procurement challenges does GenAI raise?
  2. What questions do these challenges pose for government commercial teams?
  3. How can commercial teams answer these questions with confidence to achieve results for their services?

Whether you are a service owner or procurement official looking for solutions to common problems along your buying journey, or a senior leader looking to gain a better understanding of the complexity involved in the instruction to ‘Buy AI’, we’ve written this report for you.

For any further information about the report and its contents, please do not hesitate to reach out to James Hutt (james@paradigmjunction.com), Ryan Shea (ryan@public.io) or Johnny Hugill (johnny@public.io).

Download a high resolution copy of the report here

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