AI Procurement in a Box: Project overview

The 'AI Procurement in a Box' project, developed by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the UK government, Deloitte, and Splunk, provides a module-based toolkit to help public sector organizations navigate the complexities of AI acquisition. The toolkit includes principle-based guidelines, a workbook with risk assessment tools and RFP templates, and insights from pilots in the UK and workshops in Bahrain and the UAE. It aims to address common procurement barriers such as lack of data governance, skill gaps, and ethical uncertainties, while promoting transparency and accountability to maintain public trust.

• The project identified five primary challenges hindering the government procurement of AI: ineffective use of data, lack of AI skills, underdeveloped AI ecosystems, legacy organizational culture, and inadequate procurement mechanisms.
• Public sector officials often lack the specialized knowledge required for strategic AI buying decisions and may struggle with ethical considerations, leading them to either delay purchases or rely on large, well-known suppliers to minimize risk.
• The 'AI Procurement in a Box' toolkit consists of several components: principle-based guidelines, pilot case studies from the UK, workshop insights from Bahrain, the UAE, and the UK, a risk assessment tool, an AI specification and evaluation tool for RFPs, case studies, a workshop slide pack, a user manual, and a workbook.
• The guidelines were piloted by the UK's Food Standards Agency and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, revealing that principle-based guidance must be supported by practical tools to be effectively tailored to different national jurisdictions.
• The document recommends a five-stage incremental implementation process for organizations: Learn (reviewing opportunities and risks), Review (studying guidelines and case studies), Discover (comparing current practices), Tailor (testing new approaches in scenarios), and Implement (adopting new standards).

APA

World Economic Forum (2020). AI Procurement in a Box: Project overview. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_AI_Procurement_in_a_Box_Project_Overview_2020.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. AI Procurement in a Box: Project overview. 2020. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_AI_Procurement_in_a_Box_Project_Overview_2020.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=AI Procurement in a Box: Project overview |date=June 2020 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_AI_Procurement_in_a_Box_Project_Overview_2020.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2020procurement, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{AI Procurement in a Box: Project overview}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_AI_Procurement_in_a_Box_Project_Overview_2020.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }