Sole Source Notification - AI Report Writing Tool

Project Description: The City's Procurement Policy provides that a procurement may be made without competition when the City determines that there is only one source that can reasonably meet the City's need for the required supply or service, as described in the Herriman City Procurement Policy Section 14.2.1.
Current Date: 11/11/2025
Produce and/or Service to be Purchased: AI Report Writing Tool
Sole Source Supplier: Madison AI
Earliest Proposed Purchase Date: December 2025
Justification:
THE NEED:
Staff report research, writing, and review are a major bottleneck and time-drain for many upper-level managers within Herriman City. Anecdotal evidence suggests there are reports that take several hours, if not days, to research and draft. This strains management’s ability to 1) review the reports in a comprehensive manner and 2) attend to their other duties. The issue only compounds as the city grows in both size and complexity.
THE SEARCH:
The search for a report writing tool to assuage this need began months ago. A survey of the market, conducted through a formal RFI and some informal Googling and word-of-mouth canvassing, yielded unimpressive results. We received submissions and leads for solutions that were underdeveloped, inflexible, or out of touch with the needs of Herriman City. While the city currently has access to Microsoft Copilot, there are limits on what can be ingested to inform document creation. Madison AI was a known vendor, and so we solicited feedback from them about their report writing capabilities.
THE TOOL AND THE VENDOR:
Madison AI’s research and writing tools are tailored specifically to meet the needs of local government. They are a turnkey solution developed in partnership with Washoe County, NV, designed to augment a city staff’s ability to research and draft reports on a wide variety of topics, including land use and zoning, parcel history, development agreements, and city code. Madison AI’s tools are designed to work from a city’s defined source of truth and protect against the misuse of sensitive information.
REASONING:
Madison AI’s tools offer solutions for the report writing burden the city faces in a way no other known solution does. Based on demonstrations of the product, it takes minutes to generate staff report content that would have taken possibly hours for a staff member to do on their own. Time is saved in part by being plugged into our data stores, something we are not accomplishing with our current deployment of Copilot. Privacy concerns are allayed as Madison AI ensures that no ingested data is transmitted to an outside large language model for consumption. Madison AI’s familiarity with the local government space means solutions are built with our common tasks in mind, something that other vendors often do not understand. Finally, the idea of a turnkey solution—where many of our needs are met in a smooth, easily implemented product, is an attractive one, as opposed to iteratively creating a workable solution over time.
Please submit any comments regarding this sole source request to Kyle Maurer, Director of Finance and Administrative Services (City's Purchasing Officer)