ZEN / AI ← Selected workBUILD / 01

01 / The procurement drawing board

A decision you can explain.

Trace the cost. Test the evidence. Own the decision.

The Drawing Board / Case 01

What does the price leave out?

THE EVIDENCE HANDOFFMotion runningReduced motion · static view

Records → AI synthesis → accountable human review

Cost anatomy / AUD · incl. GST

The full cost tells a different story.

PurchaseSupport / 3 yearsTransition

$21,000

Offer B’s cost advantage on the visible scope.A cost difference, not a supplier recommendation.

Offer A

Submission A

Purchase · incl. GSTEquipment & licence

$72,000

Support · 3 years · incl. GSTService period

$54,000

Transition · incl. GSTImplementation & exit

$12,000

Whole lifecycle · incl. GST$138,000

Offer B

Submission B

Purchase · incl. GSTEquipment & licence

$86,000

Support · 3 years · incl. GSTService period

$27,000

Transition · incl. GSTImplementation & exit

$4,000

Whole lifecycle · incl. GST$117,000

Human judgment needed. Price is one part of the recommendation. The panel must weigh quality and delivery evidence; AI does not select or award.

Supplier diligence

Know who you’re buying from.

Bring delivery history, past issues and public-web findings into one supplier record, with sources attached and uncertainty visible.

Research loop · runningResearch loop · pausedResearch loop · reduced motion

Agent 01Internal recordsProject register + issue log

Agent 02Public web researcherRegistry + web search

Evidence handoffMatch entity

Human checkpointProcurement reviewerIncludes, adds context or excludes

Supplier dossier

Fernline Systems Pty Ltd

Offer A · supplier ID FS-041

Evidence: Delivery history + registry identity
Open identity flags: None

Supplier dossier

Cedar Arc Services Pty Ltd

Offer B · supplier ID CA-208

Evidence: Resolved issue + unverified name match
Open identity flags: 1 · identity unverified
Human treatment: Awaiting reviewer decision

Evidence index4 findings

Company recordCorroborated

Delivery history

The project register shows 11 of 12 staged deliveries accepted on the agreed milestone date; one was accepted nine days later.

Source provenance: Company project register · record CR-184
Retrieved: 04 Sep 2026
Entity matching: Exact supplier ID FS-041 across proposal and register
Human handling: Carry the complete 11-of-12 result into panel review, including the late delivery context.

Human decision / unverified identityReviewer decision required

The AI suggests excluding the name-only match because only a name fragment lines up. It can’t clear, include or exclude a supplier. You decide, and your choice doesn’t select Offer B.

How should the match be treated?Identity verification recordedLegal name and entity identifier matched to Cedar Arc Services Pty Ltd.Exclude pending verificationThe AI’s suggestion. Assign an identity follow-up to the procurement reviewer.Keep, with a context noteVisible to the panel, clearly flagged as an unverified match.Include as supplier evidenceOnly if you have confirmed it is the same legal entity.

All suppliers, identifiers, findings, records and web results here are fictional. The activity is an illustrative loop; this component doesn’t connect to a company database or the live web.

THE HUMAN DECISION / CASE 01

Look past the purchase price.

Compare two offers under published criteria. Offer A costs $72,000 upfront; Offer B costs $86,000. All values include GST. Evaluate three years of support, transition, supplier history and identity evidence before making a recommendation.

Three-year cost comparison

Cost row · incl. GSTOffer A / Offer B

Purchase$72,000 / $86,000

Support · 3 years$54,000 / $27,000

Exit / transition$12,000 / $4,000

Whole-of-life total$138,000 / $117,000

Panel evidence

Delivery and quality: the panel rates both offers acceptable.

Fernline delivery history: 11 of 12 staged deliveries were accepted on the agreed milestone date; one was accepted nine days later.

Cedar Arc delivery history: a prior acceptance hold was recorded, then closed after remediation.

Name-only web match: Awaiting the reviewer’s treatment decision.

AI evidence prompt: Offer A’s transition wording doesn’t say whether data migration is included. Ask the supplier, on the same basis offered to every supplier.

Clarification: Not yet recorded. Open the AI flag on the board above to record it.

Human review: the panel records how the evidence supports its ratings. AI highlights gaps and ambiguity; it doesn’t score or select the supplier.

Value-for-money context: Value for money · CPRs section 4 ↗

BEFORE YOU DECIDEI checked all three whole-of-life cost rows.I reviewed the panel evidence and unresolved supplier wording.I understand this records a recommendation only, not an award.

HUMAN APPROVAL

Record a recommendation decision

In Operations, decide how the unverified web match is treated. Then record the supplier clarification and complete the acknowledgements.

This does not accept an offer, award a contract or publish a result.

Reason for return

THE DELIVERY STACK

One workflow. Clear boundaries.

AutomationIntake

Forms · document storage · versioned rules

AIResearch

Document extraction · source-grounded language model

AIEvaluation

Criteria matrix · deterministic cost calculations · AI summaries

HumanProbity

Role-based access · declarations · decision log

HumanApproval

Approval workflow · records archive · reporting reminders

The cheapest offer isn’t the cheapest. 6 review items remain.