As of 13 August 2026, AI can create a procurement plan for your UK small business.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open a spreadsheet and gather your purchase history, current supplier terms, invoices, budgets, delivery requirements and approval limits for the category.
   2. Write a short requirements brief covering what you need, essential specifications, expected volumes, locations, deadlines and consequences of late or poor delivery.
   3. Collect current supplier information and quotes, then paste the relevant text or figures into the prompt with each supplier and quote date clearly labelled.
   4. Paste the completed prompt into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and ask it to produce the procurement plan, comparison table, evaluation framework and risk register.
   5. Export the response into your spreadsheet or document, then recalculate every total against your invoices, budget and quotes and correct any transcription errors.
   6. Check every supplier fact, delivery promise, price, term and assumption against the original quote or supplier record, marking anything unsupported as unresolved.
   7. Ask the relevant colleague or decision-maker to approve the requirements, scoring weights, budget and shortlist before contacting suppliers or making a purchase.
   8. Send the supplier questions, obtain current written answers, update the comparison table and obtain legal or specialist review for contracts, regulated goods, significant liability or personal data.

   Prompt

   Create a practical procurement plan for my UK small business using only the information I provide. Do not invent prices, suppliers, terms, savings, legal requirements or market facts. Where information is missing, mark it as an assumption or list it as an open question.
   
   Business and category: [describe the business and what we need to buy]
   Procurement objective: [what we are trying to improve or achieve]
   Items or services required: [list them]
   Required specifications and quality standards: [list them]
   Expected volumes and buying frequency: [provide them]
   Budget and cash-flow limits: [provide them]
   Current suppliers and current terms: [provide them]
   Potential suppliers or quotes: [paste them, including dates and currency]
   Delivery, location and timing requirements: [provide them]
   Approval, insurance, data protection or other internal constraints: [provide them]
   Evaluation priorities: [for example price, quality, reliability, lead time or sustainability]
   Known risks and dependencies: [provide them]
   
   Produce:
   1. A concise procurement plan with objectives, scope, timetable, responsibilities and approval points.
   2. A requirements checklist that separates essential criteria from preferences.
   3. A supplier comparison table using only supplied facts, with unknowns clearly marked.
   4. A fair evaluation framework and weighted scoring template, but do not choose weights without explaining the assumption.
   5. Questions to ask each supplier before selection.
   6. A negotiation and contracting checklist that flags points needing review by an appropriate professional.
   7. A risk register with likelihood and impact described as low, medium or high only where the evidence supports it, otherwise mark the rating as undecided.
   8. A list of missing information and the next five actions in order.
   
   Keep the writing plain and suitable for a UK small business. Distinguish facts, calculations, assumptions and recommendations. Recalculate every total from the supplied figures and show the calculation. Do not make the final supplier decision for me.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.