Public sector opens market engagement on AI for local services
A new initiative explores how AI could enhance local authority services and the public realm, as public bodies test tools and markets before formal tenders.
A new initiative explores how AI could enhance local authority services and the public realm, as public bodies test tools and markets before formal tenders.
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Connected Places Catapult has published a prior information notice for a new exploration of artificial intelligence for local authorities, signalling a push to apply AI to day-to-day public services and the wider public realm. Through its AI Solutions for Public Services notice, published on 19th January 2026, the organisation wants to test how mature the market now is and to identify practical tools that could strengthen service delivery. The move comes as councils, combined authorities and other public bodies across the UK and Europe step up their own AI and digital market engagement.
The AI Solutions for Public Services prior information notice sets a broad objective. The initiative “aims to explore AI technologies to enhance public services for local authorities”, according to the notice, and is explicitly focused on “assessing market maturity” and “identifying solutions to improve service delivery and address challenges in the public realm”.
That language leaves the field deliberately open. Rather than specifying a single use case, Connected Places Catapult is inviting the market to show how different AI tools might help local authorities deliver services more effectively or tackle a range of public realm issues. It positions the programme as a bridge between technology providers and councils that may be unsure where AI can safely add value.
By concentrating on market maturity, the organisation is signalling an interest in technologies that are ready to support real public services, not just proofs of concept. The emphasis on “solutions” and “service delivery” suggests that questions about reliability, usability and integration with existing systems are likely to matter as much as technical innovation.
Because this is a prior information notice rather than a full tender, there is no defined contract on offer yet. Instead, the notice acts as an early signal to potential suppliers that Connected Places Catapult wants to understand what the AI market can offer local government and how far those offers map onto real-world operational challenges.
The Connected Places Catapult initiative sits within a wider wave of exploratory AI work across local government and the public sector. Over the past year and a half, a series of prior information notices and early-stage procurements have tested AI in more narrowly defined service areas.
Outside the UK, Technologická agentura ČR has gone further by moving into a full contract notice. In December 2025 it launched a competition for an AI system for equipment sizing for the Czech Police, using a phased innovation partnership with multiple participants to develop and test the technology.
Taken together, these examples point to a pattern. Many public bodies now view AI as a tool for very specific problems: spotting incidents, managing policy, improving customer service or automating specialist tasks. Connected Places Catapult’s new initiative is different in scope, aiming to draw out a wider set of opportunities for local authorities and the public realm rather than concentrating on one function.
Alongside AI-specific projects, public bodies are reshaping the digital foundations on which future services will sit. In September 2025, Efficiency East Midlands published a prior information notice for a whole ICT services framework, proposing a national neutral-vendor model to give public sector organisations access to a comprehensive range of ICT goods and services while stressing transparency and value.
Core business systems are also under review. In December 2025, UK Parliament began pre-market engagement on a cloud-based ERP through its Pre-Market Engagement for ERP Solution notice, seeking a platform to support finance and procurement with potential expansion to other corporate services. Earlier that month, Places for People opened a Market Engagement for ERP System to gather insight on SaaS ERP options and prepare for a possible future procurement.
Other buyers are concentrating on digital support and operations. In November 2025, NHS bodies in the South East used an NHS SE Region IT Support Initiative prior information notice to collect supplier input for a strategy on “sustainable, high-quality digital support services” for GPIT and corporate IT functions. West Midlands Combined Authority’s Online Engagement Platform notice in December 2025 seeks to understand the supplier landscape for tools that could strengthen community collaboration and governance, with findings feeding into a future procurement strategy.
There is also a strong thread of market testing around technology for the public realm. Birmingham City Council’s Street Cleansing Solution Engagement notice in December 2025 explores supplier capabilities, costs and implementation timelines for new street cleansing solutions as it develops its business case. Leicester City Council’s Market Engagement for CCTV Communication from September 2025 looks for innovative, low-latency communication links for CCTV systems, while the City of London Corporation’s Civil Parking Enforcement IT System notice, published in January 2026, gathers insight on parking notice-processing and permit-management solutions for a future managed service.
All of these exercises share a common feature with Connected Places Catapult’s AI programme: they use soft market testing and early dialogue to shape demand. Rather than defining every technical requirement upfront, buyers are asking suppliers to explain what is possible, how it can be integrated with existing systems and what commercial models might work.
For local authorities, the Connected Places Catapult initiative offers a route to explore AI without committing immediately to a single product or platform. By framing the work around enhancing public services and tackling public realm challenges, it recognises that councils are still identifying where AI will have the most impact, and where the risks and constraints are greatest.
Compared with the tightly focused projects emerging from individual councils, the AI Solutions for Public Services notice acts as a broader listening exercise. It complements service-specific experiments such as AI-driven incident detection or AI policy assistants in children’s social care by asking a more open question: across local authority functions and the public realm, where is the AI market genuinely ready to support better service delivery?
For suppliers, the recent wave of prior information notices sets expectations as well as opportunities. Dublin City Council’s consultation on AI Solutions for Local Government emphasises “technical and commercial options”, generative AI capability and Microsoft integration. Tees Valley’s Market Engagement for AI Incident Detection stresses interoperability with existing systems. Efficiency East Midlands is exploring a neutral-vendor framework for ICT through its whole ICT services framework notice, while Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust is pursuing a long-term AI Innovation Partnership. The Connected Places Catapult initiative sits squarely in this pattern, prioritising market maturity and practical solutions over abstract innovation.
The cumulative picture is of a public sector that wants AI and digital tools to solve concrete operational problems, from policing and parking to social care and street cleansing, but is wary of locking into technologies that are not yet proven in its own environments. Early-stage market engagement gives buyers a way to reduce that risk, and it offers suppliers a chance to influence how future procurements are structured.
Many of the notices now on the table explicitly state that they will inform later strategies or tenders. West Midlands Combined Authority expects its work on an online engagement platform to guide a future procurement strategy. Dublin City Council’s AI market consultation will shape its own procurement plans. Places for People is using its ERP engagement to prepare for a potential procurement process, while the City of London Corporation’s Civil Parking Enforcement IT System notice and the South East NHS IT Support Initiative are both described as inputs into future requirements and strategies.
Connected Places Catapult does not spell out next steps beyond exploring AI technologies and market maturity for local authorities. But if its work identifies clear opportunities to improve service delivery or deal with public realm challenges, it is likely to feed into more targeted procurements or collaborative programmes by councils and other public bodies.
For now, the signal to the market is that AI in the public sector is moving from abstract discussion toward practical experimentation. The AI Solutions for Public Services prior information notice places local authority services and the public realm at the centre of that shift, and suppliers’ responses will help determine how quickly exploratory ideas turn into operational systems.
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