City council seeks input on next-generation AI for public services
A new market sounding from a major city council shows how public bodies are probing generative AI and Microsoft-based tools to boost productivity and service.
A new market sounding from a major city council shows how public bodies are probing generative AI and Microsoft-based tools to boost productivity and service.
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Published on 18th November 2025, Dublin City Council's latest technology notice sets out an early exploration of artificial intelligence for local government and customer service. The council is sounding out the market on generative AI tools that can plug into its existing Microsoft-based environment, with supplier feedback set to shape a future procurement strategy.
In a prior information notice titled AI Solutions for Local Government, Dublin City Council says it wants to explore technical and commercial options for AI solutions in local government and customer service. The authority highlights a focus on generative AI expertise and on integration with Microsoft technologies, and invites suppliers to respond to a questionnaire that will inform its future procurement strategy.
This framing makes clear that the council is treating AI as a strategic capability rather than a one-off experiment. By calling out generative AI, it is looking beyond rules-based automation towards systems that can generate content and support more complex interactions. The reference to Microsoft integration suggests that any future service will be expected to sit alongside, and connect with, the software platforms the council already uses.
The notice also signals that the council is thinking about both internal and external impact. By targeting AI solutions for local government and customer service, it is opening the door to tools that could streamline administrative processes as well as those that might change how residents experience contact with the council. The exact scope, however, is not yet defined in the notice and will be shaped through the current engagement.
The notice is explicit that this exercise is about exploration, not contract award. Rather than publishing a detailed specification, Dublin City Council is using a questionnaire to gather market intelligence before it pins down its procurement route, technical requirements or commercial model. Supplier input will be used to develop the authority's procurement strategy for AI in local government and customer service.
That approach reflects a wider shift in how public bodies prepare major digital procurements. In June 2025, Sheffield Hallam University began a prior market consultation on a new finance system, aiming to gather insights on market capabilities, validate requirements and explore potential challenges and pricing models ahead of a full competition. Here, engagement with suppliers is being used to test assumptions before they become hard requirements.
Other organisations are doing the same with core information systems. NÁRODNÁ BANKA SLOVENSKA is running preparatory market consultations for a document management system in order to optimise technical requirements and gather insights on project execution and estimated value. Ministerstvo spravodlivosti Slovenskej republiky is consulting the market on a centralised court management system that would replace its existing solution while improving court processes, security and integration with external entities.
Universities and agencies are also drawing on early engagement to shape long-term software decisions. University of Ulster has invited service providers to express interest in an integrated project management information system that will help shape its procurement strategy, while Správa a údržba ciest Trnavského samosprávneho kraja is consulting on road and fleet management software with the stated aim of developing a contract for procurement based on the findings.
Across these notices, the consultation and questionnaire phase tends to serve a handful of recurring purposes:
On the AI side, Dublin's move sits alongside other recent market soundings. In August 2025, Tees Valley Combined Authority opened pre-tender engagement on advanced AI-driven incident detection solutions designed to enhance existing systems without replacement. That notice places strong emphasis on integration and interoperability, and asks for innovative feedback on operational challenges, underlining how buyers now expect AI to work with their established infrastructure.
Security-conscious buyers are adopting similar tactics. In November 2025, the Education Authority in Northern Ireland launched pre-market engagement on a cyber risk management tool so that it could understand innovative solutions, feasibility and indicative costs before committing to a procurement route. The Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) has already concluded preliminary market engagement for core IT services and indicated that it intends to publish a tender competition once that early dialogue has been absorbed.
Local authorities are using market engagement to prepare broader digital upgrades as well. Wolverhampton City Council is seeking input from suppliers on eProcurement, pipeline management and contract management solutions, while Leicester City Council is consulting on dedicated and secure communication links to support its CCTV systems. For the education and wider public sector, Crescent Purchasing Consortium Limited is running an information-gathering exercise on corporate software and related products and services, with the results set to shape future framework terms and structure.
At European level, open market consultations are becoming a standard tool for innovation-heavy projects. In October 2025, the National Center for Research and Development in Poland began consulting on innovative ICT tools for energy monitoring and management aimed at supporting the country's energy transition and digital transformation goals. The French national rail operator, Société nationale des chemins de fer français, is likewise engaging suppliers through open consultations on research and development services for public space protection and crowd management, using direct communication and information gathering to refine procurement specifications.
Seen in that context, Dublin City Council's focus on generative AI and Microsoft integration looks less like an outlier and more like the next step in a broader wave of digital engagement, where buyers seek to blend new capabilities with existing platforms and service models.
For potential suppliers, the wording of the notice is a clear signal. Dublin City Council is not simply asking about artificial intelligence in general; it is looking for partners that can demonstrate generative AI expertise and show how their solutions can integrate with Microsoft technologies already in place. That combination of advanced capability and practical integration has become a common thread across recent public-sector technology exercises.
Service design is also in scope. Isle of Wight Council, for example, is using a market engagement exercise to gather feedback on the information, advice and guidance service it plans to commission from April 2026. Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is consulting providers of simultaneous interpretation services in advance of the country's 2026 presidency of the Council of the European Union, with a particular interest in market capacity and pricing models. In each case, early dialogue is being used to probe how suppliers would support service quality as well as technical delivery and cost.
For residents in Dublin, the immediate impact of the AI notice will be limited, as no purchasing decision has yet been taken. The council's stated aim is to explore technical and commercial options for AI solutions and then use the responses to develop its procurement strategy. How suppliers describe their capabilities, integration approaches and risk management is likely to shape the eventual balance between back-office efficiency gains and changes to the way citizens interact with council services.
For now, Dublin City Council's AI plans remain at the listening stage. Its questionnaire-based market sounding will determine whether, and how, it proceeds to a formal procurement for generative AI solutions that integrate with its Microsoft environment. Experience from other buyers – from core IT services in Northern Ireland to innovation-focused ICT projects in Poland and France – suggests that market consultations often lead on to competitive tenders. Whether Dublin follows a similar path, and on what timetable, is not yet set out in the notice, but the questions it is asking now will frame how artificial intelligence enters day-to-day local government work in the city.
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