TENDER LIFECYCLE · FOUR PHASES · TWO PRODUCTS

Find. Evaluate. Review. Award.

The German tender lifecycle has four phases — on both sides of procurement. We built one product per side: auftragr for bidders, prüfr for contracting authorities. Two products. Two separate databases. One philosophy: AI structures. Humans decide.

Four phases. Two sides. Two products.

The German tender lifecycle runs on two sides, and each has its own world: its own tools, its own formats, its own roles. Bidders search for relevant tenders, evaluate them and submit a bid. Contracting authorities draft their documents, publish them and evaluate the incoming bids through to award. Four phases, two perspectives.

We cut our products along that dividing line, not along the phases. auftragr accompanies the bidder side end to end — from the right tender to a submission-ready bid. prüfr accompanies the authority side end to end — from tender documents to award. Two products, two separate databases, each usable on its own. Bidders do not need contracting-authority software. Contracting authorities do not see bidder data. The separation is not a compromise — it is a choice.

What holds them together: our team, our procurement expertise, and a shared principle — AI structures. Humans decide.

The shared principle

"AI structures the material. The decision stays with the human. That is not a compromise — that is the design."

Both products provide preparation and structure — not verdicts. Both present their notes traceably and tie them back to the source. Both can be overridden, and the override is logged. AI structures. Humans decide. That principle is not a marketing line but the architectural decision both products are built on.

Infrastructure and model choice

Core infrastructure in the EU

Hosting, database, file storage: Open Telekom Cloud, Frankfurt. Separately for both products. Your data lives on EU infrastructure.

Models from various providers

For individual analysis steps we deliberately engage a suitable language model — from various providers, including models built and hosted in Europe. Transparently and with consent.

Subprocessors named

The providers we use for hosting, OCR and language models are named in our Terms and Privacy Policy. We provide a data processing agreement (AVV).

AI structures. Humans decide.

Both products provide preparation and structure — the professional and legal decision stays with you. Overrides are logged.

Frequently asked questions

What is the German tender lifecycle?

The German tender lifecycle runs on two sides and has four phases. On the bidder side: (1) finding relevant tenders on platforms like TED, Bund.de, DTVP and the state portals and (2) evaluating and bidding — overview, go/no-go, risk, calculation, bid. On the authority side: (3) drafting and reviewing your own tender documents before publication and (4) evaluating the incoming bids through to the procurement record and award. BlackSwanAI offers two products — one per side.

Which products are there — and which are available?

Two. auftragr covers the bidder side — from the right tender to a submission-ready bid — and is available today. prüfr covers the authority side — from tender documents to award — and is an MVP, open to first pilot and design partners.

What happened to kalkulr and zuschlagr?

Both were folded into the two products (as of August 2026). Bill-of-quantities and document analysis, the go/no-go decision and claims potential — formerly kalkulr — are now part of auftragr. Bid evaluation and the procurement record — formerly zuschlagr — are now part of prüfr. No capability was dropped; they simply no longer sit in separate products. kalkulr.de leads to auftragr.de, zuschlagr.de leads to pruefr.de.

Why two products instead of one solution?

Because bidders and contracting authorities are opposing sides in the same procedure. Their requirements differ legally, procedurally and in terms of data protection. A bidder should not have to use the same software as the authority deciding on their bid — and an authority must not see third-party bidder data. Two separate products make that separation technically unambiguous instead of managing it through permissions inside one shared application. Within one side, by contrast, the phases belong together: whoever finds a tender also wants to evaluate it.

Do the products share data?

No. auftragr and prüfr have separate databases and separate access. What you analyse in auftragr is not inside prüfr. Bids evaluated in prüfr are not visible to auftragr users. The separation between bidder and authority side is precisely why there are two products and not one.

Can you use the products individually?

Yes — that is the point. You use the product for your side of the procurement. There is no bundle coupling the two, and no requirement to adopt the other one.

Is this a fully automated procurement process?

No. Both products provide preparation and structure — not verdicts. The AI structures the material so decisions become faster, more consistent and more traceable. The human confirms, adjusts or discards — the human decides.

What infrastructure does BlackSwanAI run on?

Core infrastructure on Open Telekom Cloud (OTC) in the EU. For individual AI analysis steps we deliberately engage models from various providers — exclusively with processing inside the EU, including models built and hosted in Europe, transparently and with consent. The subprocessors used are named in our Terms and Privacy Policy.

Who is behind BlackSwanAI?

BlackSwanAI is developed and operated in Erlangen, Bavaria. Founded by Poonam Nahta and Nitesh Nahta. We are a specialist team for the German tender market.

Start on your side of the procurement

In a 30-minute demo we walk through the analysis with auftragr on a real tender. For contracting authorities we present prüfr as an MVP and discuss a pilot collaboration.

AI structures. Humans decide.

The German tender lifecycle — four phases, two products | BlackSwanAI