ARIA by Bid Savvy / ARIA Diagnostic
See how AI is actually being used inside your bid function — before a buyer or regulator does.
ARIA, the AI Readiness Intelligence Assessment from Bid Savvy, is an independent governance review for UK organisations bidding into the public sector. ARIA Pulse is the rapid scoping engagement. ARIA Diagnostic is the full assessment. Both deliver an executive-grade brief that maps your exposure across the EU AI Act, PPN 017 and UK GDPR, in language leadership can act on.
Why this matters now
Most organisations have a documented bid process. The question is no longer whether process exists. The question is whether that process still describes how bids are actually being run, now that bid teams are using AI tools in different ways, often informally, often without governance.
Bid functions are operating with a mix of formal process, individual judgement, hero effort, and informal AI usage. This creates a gap between what leadership believes is happening and what is actually happening inside live bids. As bid volume increases and deadlines tighten, that gap widens.
The commercial risk is not theoretical. Inconsistent or weakly validated AI-assisted content contributes to lower scores, avoidable clarifications, reduced confidence in the submission, and lost contracts. Where personal data is being processed through public AI tools without a lawful basis or processor agreement, the organisation is in active UK GDPR breach. Where the EU AI Act applies, deployers carry obligations under Article 26 that most bid functions cannot currently evidence.
ARIA Pulse and ARIA Diagnostic exist to make this visible. The output is a defensible, independent picture of where your bid function actually stands, written in language leadership can act on, before regulatory pressure or a buyer disclosure question forces the conversation.
Indicators that an independent assessment is overdue
Two engagement tiers · ARIA Pulse and ARIA Diagnostic
Both engagements produce defensible, leadership-grade outputs and are delivered to the same Bid Savvy quality standard. The right choice depends on the level of confidence you need and the depth of action you intend to take. We agree the right tier with you on the discovery call, never before.
A focused governance read for organisations that need a fast indicative view.
Best for
Organisations that suspect a governance gap exists and need a credible, independent confirmation, fast. Often the right starting point when a buyer disclosure question, internal audit query, or board paper has prompted the conversation and a full assessment is not yet warranted.
Typically chosen when
The complete governance assessment, audit-grade and defensible to a buyer or regulator.
Best for
Organisations that need a comprehensive, evidence-based view of their bid governance posture and a clear basis for decisions about investment, structure or remediation. The output is written to brief leadership, support buyer responses, and serve as a credible reference for regulatory dialogue.
Typically chosen when
What you walk away with
ARIA is designed to give leadership what cannot easily be generated internally: independence, depth, and clarity. The output is calibrated for the decisions a Bid Director, Commercial Director, or Managing Director needs to make in the next quarter, not a generic risk write-up.
01
A clear, independent picture of how AI is actually being used inside your bid function, what is governed, what is informal, and where the gap between policy and practice creates exposure. Visibility you cannot easily generate from inside the function.
02
A written record of where your current state aligns with, partially meets, or falls short of obligations under the EU AI Act, UK GDPR, and PPN 017 disclosure expectations. Evidence-grade and defensible to a buyer or regulator if required.
03
A focused short list of the highest-leverage actions your organisation should take next, ranked by regulatory exposure, commercial impact, and effort. Not a 40-item wish-list, a defensible short list of what actually matters and in what order.
Regulatory coverage · EU AI Act, PPN 017, UK GDPR
ARIA is built around the regulatory landscape UK public sector suppliers are operating in today. Both engagement tiers are framed by these three regimes. The full assessment criteria are walked through on the discovery call.
Regime 01
Article 4 AI literacy obligations have applied since 2 February 2025. Article 26 deployer obligations become fully applicable on 2 August 2026. UK organisations with EU market exposure are in scope.
Regime 02
Procurement Policy Note 017 sets the UK government position on AI use in procurement and tendering. Disclosure questions are appearing in live ITTs. Organisations that cannot answer credibly signal governance immaturity to evaluators.
Regime 03
CVs, references, named personnel and case study material are personal data. Processing them through public AI tools without a lawful basis or a processor agreement is a UK GDPR breach. The exposure is rarely visible from inside the function.
Is ARIA the right AI bid governance assessment for you
ARIA is calibrated for a specific buyer. Below is who we built it for, and who it is not yet relevant for. We are direct about fit because a wasted call costs both sides time, and the qualification window matters.
Investment
Both ARIA Pulse and ARIA Diagnostic are delivered on a fixed fee basis. Fees are agreed at scoping, not published, because the right tier and the right scope depend on factors specific to your organisation. The discovery call is exploratory, not a sales meeting.
Indicative terms. Final scope and fee confirmed at scoping.
What is included. Independent assessment, all working artefacts, an executive-grade brief in your name, the supporting regulatory mapping, the prioritised intervention map, and a formal closing readout to your leadership team. All output is yours and is treated as confidential to your organisation.
What is not included. Bid writing, training delivery, implementation of remediation, drafting of policies or procedures, operational change management, or hands-on tool configuration. Where ARIA identifies needs in any of these areas, we propose a separately scoped engagement, or refer you to ARIA Compass for training.
Why fees are on application. The right tier and the right scope are organisation-specific. Publishing a fee invites comparison against engagements that look similar on paper and behave very differently in practice. The discovery call exists to ensure scope, fit, and commercial structure are right before any fee is quoted. There is no obligation following the call.
Common questions
No. ARIA is designed to be near-invisible day to day. Engagement structure, time required from your team, and scheduling are agreed at scoping so the assessment runs around your live work, not across it. Live bid activity continues uninterrupted.
All materials are held in a secure, ringfenced workspace under a confidentiality agreement. Findings are written so individuals are not identifiable in the brief. Your name does not appear in any case study, marketing, or reference without explicit written consent. Output is yours.
In our experience this is rarely the case. Most bid teams are using AI somewhere, even when leadership believes they are not. ARIA surfaces actual usage, including informal use leadership may not be aware of. If formal usage is genuinely zero, the engagement focuses on AI readiness rather than current state. We confirm fit on the discovery call before any commercial commitment.
ARIA Diagnostic and ARIA Compass are complementary but independent. The assessment identifies where governance currently stands. ARIA Compass equips your team to operate the governance system. Many organisations run ARIA Pulse or ARIA Diagnostic first to understand where they are, then deploy ARIA Compass to close the literacy and capability gaps the assessment surfaces.
Yes. The executive-grade brief and supporting regulatory mapping are written to be defensible. Many organisations use the output to demonstrate that AI governance is being actively assessed and managed, which is a positive signal under PPN 017 disclosure questions and Article 26 evidence expectations.
The engagement closes formally at the readout. There is no automatic next step and no commercial pressure to commission further work. If the brief identifies remediation that requires support, we will scope and propose it separately so you can make a clean commercial decision.
That is the purpose of the discovery call. The right tier depends on your bid volume, your current AI use, your buyer landscape, and the depth of action you intend to take. We will discuss both ARIA Pulse and ARIA Diagnostic with you, recommend a fit, and only proceed if the fit is right. There is no obligation following the call.
ARIA is built and operated by
UK bid management consultancy. APMP-certified leadership. 25+ years of public sector bid experience. Trading as Bid Savvy.
SMARTER BIDS. REAL RESULTS.
About ARIA Diagnostic by Bid Savvy
ARIA Diagnostic and ARIA Pulse exist because AI bid governance cannot be assessed credibly from outside the bid function. The methodology, the regulatory mapping and the assessment language are calibrated for how UK public sector bid teams actually operate, by a consultancy that has worked inside that environment for over two decades.
This is the differentiator. Generic AI compliance reviews can tell you whether a process exists on paper. An AI bid governance assessment from a bid leader can tell you whether that process is still describing what your team is doing under deadline pressure, and what that means for your scoring outcomes, your buyer disclosures, and your regulatory exposure.
Take the next step
No proposal, no obligation. The call confirms whether ARIA Pulse or ARIA Diagnostic is the right engagement for your organisation, agrees scope and timeline if it is, and points you elsewhere if it is not. Engagement specifics, methodology and fees are walked through on the call.
