AI tender document extraction.

What comes out of a tender pack

Tender extraction produces three working documents from the written pack. The first is a two-page brief: client, project, contract form, key dates (site visit, questions close, tender close with time zone, validity period), evaluation criteria and weightings, and the headline risks. The second is a returnables matrix listing every form, schedule, certificate, insurance and health and safety document the client asks for, with the page that asks for it. The third is a risk register of commercial terms: liquidated damages, retentions, bonds, payment periods, design responsibility and any amendment to the standard conditions.

Each line carries a document name and page number, so the estimator and commercial manager check claims instead of rereading the pack. That makes it a document processing workflow, not a chatbot.

How the extraction runs

Inputs

The request for tender, conditions of contract and special conditions, specification sections, drawing register, schedule of quantities, notices to tenderers and addenda, and the firm’s own notes on standard clause positions.

Systems

GETS or the client’s tender portal, the firm’s document store (often SharePoint), a model API under business terms, spreadsheet parsing code, and the tender register.

Steps

Inventory every document and version; extract dates and returnables; list each special condition with the clause it amends; pull risk terms; map specification sections to trades; parse schedules with code; compare each addendum with the previous version; assemble the brief.

Human review

The estimator checks scope and quantities. The commercial manager reads every special condition flagged as high risk. A director makes the go or no-go call. Before lodging, a person ticks off each returnable against the matrix.

Outputs

The tender brief, the returnables matrix, the risk register with clause references, a draft list of questions for the client, and an addenda change log.

Measures

Working hours from receipt to go or no-go, returnables missed at lodgement (target zero), questions lodged before questions close, and amendments the commercial manager found that the register missed.

Risks

A missed addendum, misread special conditions, scope that appears only on drawings, tender confidentiality terms, and wrong close times.

Illustrative example: a 45-person Tauranga commercial builder

Illustrative example, synthetic numbers: the firm considers six tenders a month. A typical pack has 850 pages of written documents (40 for the request for tender, 120 of conditions and special conditions, 600 of specification and 90 of schedules) plus 140 drawings. Today the estimator and commercial manager spend about 14 hours between them on a first read. With the brief and register, the firm assumes 6 hours of checking and targeted reading.

Bulk extraction assumes 800,000 input tokens (the written pack in sections plus instructions) and 60,000 output tokens on Claude Sonnet 5.5 at US$2 and US$10 per million. The special conditions pass assumes 130,000 input and 10,000 output tokens on Claude Opus 5.5 at US$4 and US$20 per million. Prices are as listed on 19 October 2026. Addenda reruns add a little. Drawings are excluded from both lines.

NZ procurement and contract forms

• GETS and the Government Procurement Rules. Public sector work is advertised on GETS, and the Government Procurement Rules, now in their 5th edition, set out when and how agencies must advertise openly. Notices to tenderers and addenda arrive through the same listing, so the workflow should watch it, not just the first download.
• NZS 3910:2023. Standards New Zealand’s conditions of contract for building and civil engineering construction are the base for many tenders, with special conditions amending them. Standards New Zealand says its general conditions may not be adapted or repurposed without permission, so compare against your own clause notes and check licence terms before loading the standard itself.
• Health and safety returnables. Under section 34 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, businesses sharing a duty must consult, co-operate and co-ordinate. Extraction lists what the client requires; your safety team writes the response.

What estimators and directors keep

Price, margin, risk appetite, methodology and non-price responses, every question sent to the client, and the signature on the tender form. The system never contacts the client and never lodges anything.

Where tender extraction goes wrong

• The brief is one addendum behind. Notice to tenderers 3 moves the close date or replaces a specification section. Version every document, rerun on each addendum, and print “as at addendum 3” on the brief.
• Amendments by reference. “Clause 12.2 is deleted and replaced with the following” means little without the base clause. Where your notes do not cover the clause, the register says so instead of guessing.
• Spreadsheets with hidden rows. Schedules of quantities with merged cells and hidden rows confuse models. Parse them with code and keep quantities out of the model’s hands.
• Scope on the drawings. A note on a drawing adds work the specification never mentions. The brief states plainly that drawings were not reviewed.
• Long-document blind spots. Models can miss terms buried in the middle of very long inputs. Process sections separately and test recall; see evaluating long context models.

Tender extraction pairs with the other construction workflows we map: a site safety knowledge assistant and quote preparation from job notes. The construction sector guide covers the wider picture, and our SharePoint integration notes cover document permissions.

Written by the Levy Street team in Wellington. Last updated 19 October 2026.