New pilot helps cities procure AI cooperatively

Cities, municipalities and other public sector organisations have been offered access to a new cooperative purchasing marketplace designed to simplify how governments procure artificial intelligence solutions through pre-awarded contracts.

The G-Commerce AI Solutions Marketplace has been launched through a partnership between Sourcewell and Glass, with the pilot intended to help local governments and public agencies accelerate AI adoption while reducing procurement complexity and administrative burden.

“Our partnership with Glass reflects a shared commitment to modernising how the public sector accesses technology,” says Kary Graser, Vice President and Sourcewell lead for the pilot. “Together, we’re creating a more intuitive and efficient path for agencies to engage with AI solutions through Sourcewell’s robust contracting framework.”

The platform has been developed to allow municipalities and government agencies to discover, compare and purchase AI technologies through competitively solicited cooperative contracts rather than undertaking standalone procurement processes.

According to the organisations, the marketplace combines cooperative purchasing with AI-powered discovery and recommendation tools to help procurement teams identify solutions aligned with operational needs, budgets and implementation timelines.

The launch has reflected growing pressure on cities and local governments to modernise procurement systems as AI deployment expands across digital services, operational management and internal workflows.

The marketplace has included categories covering enterprise AI, cloud and AI infrastructure, cybersecurity and compliance, workforce and productivity tools, data analytics and digital transformation technologies. All supplier offerings have been made available through Sourcewell-awarded contracts.

Glass says government buyers have been able to compare solutions using criteria including deployment options, integrations, features and operational use cases.

An AI-powered contract review function called Ask AI has also been introduced, enabling procurement teams to query Sourcewell contracts using natural language prompts related to contract terms, eligible solutions and vendor offerings.

The platform’s AI Recommendation Finder has been designed to generate ranked supplier recommendations based on agency inputs including organisation type, strategic priorities, budget range and implementation timelines.

In addition to supplier discovery, quote management functions have been integrated into the platform, allowing cities and public agencies to request quotes directly from vendors, monitor supplier engagement and track procurement activity through a central dashboard.

“Partnering with Sourcewell to launch the AI Solutions Marketplace pilot represents a major step forward in how governments access and adopt emerging technologies,” says Paola Santana, CEO of Glass. “Our goal is to bring together the power of cooperative purchasing and an AI-first marketplace experience that simplifies discovery and accelerates decision-making by design.”

The pilot marketplace has been made available to participating agencies through Sourcewell, with further expansion planned as additional suppliers and public sector organisations join the programme.

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