How to use AI assistants to find government contracts

AI chat assistants can explain notices, summarize long documents and draft first versions, but they can miss new notices, mix up dates and invent details, so every fact must be checked on SAM.gov or the buyer's own site before you act. Use AI to read and write faster, and use the official notice as the source of truth.

What AI does well

• Explaining terms. Ask what "IDIQ", "set-aside" or "past performance" means and get a plain answer.
• Summarizing a long solicitation you paste or upload, so you know where to look first.
• Listing requirements from the instructions and the evaluation section, as a start for your compliance matrix.
• Drafting a capability statement, a Sources Sought response or a question to the contracting officer, which you then edit.
• Brainstorming the plain words a buyer might use for your work, to improve your searches.

Where AI falls short

1. Fresh notices. A general chat assistant may not see notices posted today, or may cite old ones. Search SAM.gov yourself for the current list.
2. Exact dates and numbers. Due dates, times, amounts and clause numbers are easy for a model to get wrong. Copy them from the notice.
3. Amendments. A summary of the first version can miss a later change.
4. Eligibility. AI cannot confirm your size, your certifications or your SAM.gov status.
5. Made-up details. Models sometimes state things the notice never said. If a line has no quote you can find in the document, treat it as unknown.

A safe way to work

1. Find the notice on SAM.gov or the buyer's site and download every file.
2. Give the assistant the actual text, not just the title.
3. Ask it to quote the exact sentence for every requirement and date it lists.
4. Check each quote against the document yourself.
5. Keep sensitive data out of public chat tools: tax numbers, bank details, passwords and anything marked proprietary.
6. Write the final response yourself, in your own voice, and follow the solicitation's instructions over anything the assistant suggested.

Prompts that help

• "List every submission requirement in this solicitation, with the exact sentence and section it comes from."
• "What does this notice say about the place of performance? Quote it. If it does not say, answer that it does not say."
• "Explain the evaluation factors in plain English, in the order of importance the notice gives."

How Victavio uses AI

Victavio's assistant and briefs work from the notice text itself. Every claim about a notice carries a quote that our code checks against the source, and lines that fail the check are dropped. Fit scores are rules, not guesses, and Victavio never predicts who wins. It never submits, signs or registers for you.

Common mistakes

• Pasting a summary into a proposal without checking it.
• Trusting a due date from a chat answer.
• Asking an AI whether you are eligible instead of reading the set-aside and size rules.

Can ChatGPT or Claude find contracts for me?

They can help you search and read, and some can browse the web. They are not a replacement for searching SAM.gov and reading the official notice.

Is it allowed to use AI to write a proposal?

Generally yes, unless the solicitation says otherwise. You are responsible for every word you submit, so read the instructions and check every claim.