The Procurement Room
Six drafting decisions, judged by the supplier response they produce.
You are writing the specification for an AI marking and feedback platform across a five-school trust, with a three-year term and a budget of around ninety thousand pounds. Four suppliers will answer it. What you write now decides what you can ask for later. Each decision moves three positions: what you would still hold if the supplier left, what you could verify rather than accept, and whether the process stays deliverable inside your timetable.
The clauses and supplier behaviours are drawn from trust procurement documents and discovery calls with executive leaders. The argument underneath it is set out in The tenancy test.
Defining what you are buying
The heads want faster marking. The finance director wants one line item. You have to write the scope in a way that four different suppliers answer comparably.