Automated Support Agents (AI Chatbots) and Related Solutions & Services

The City of Tucson is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to deliver an AI-powered service automation solution that reduces the burden of high-volume, routine interactions on city staff while improving the speed and quality of service for residents and internal users alike.

The City's goal is to establish a single, enterprise-grade platform capable of handling interactions across multiple channels, completing transactions on behalf of users, integrating with existing city systems, and expanding to serve additional departments over time.

Vendors are encouraged to propose solutions that reflect the full scope of what modern service automation can deliver, not simply what has been done before.

The City of Tucson serves a population of approximately 750,000 residents and employs over 5,000 staff across multiple departments. City support teams currently manage a high volume of routine interactions through manual processes and legacy contact channels. These interactions consume significant staff capacity that could otherwise be directed toward higher-value work.

The City is pursuing this procurement as an opportunity to modernize how it delivers service, both internally and to the public, through a platform built for scale and long-term expansion.

NATIONAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

Axia Coop LLC (“Axia Cooperative” or “Axia”) is a national public sector cooperative purchasing organization. Axia works with respected leaders from the public procurement community to offer a growing portfolio of master agreements that leverage national volume to deliver savings, efficiency, and innovation for non-federal public sector agencies. Each agreement is publicly solicited by a lead agency utilizing the strictest of procurement standards. The resulting awards address the dynamic needs of today’s evolving market while providing both value and cutting-edge solutions. For more information about the contracting process, please visit axiacoop.org/contracting-process.

The City of Tucson has entered into an agreement with Axia Cooperative to facilitate the Request For Proposals (RFP) and act as the primary contracting authority for the term of the resulting contract(s). Resulting contract(s) is/are made available to other public agencies nationally for “piggybacking” through the Axia Cooperative purchasing program and authorized by various joint powers authority statutes, rules and regulations within each state and local jurisdiction.

While Axia Cooperative makes no guarantees as to exact quantities and/or purchase volume made by Participating Agencies, the estimated annual volume for purchases made nationwide through this contract category is $25,000,000. Please see Attachment C for more information regarding the Axia Cooperative purchasing program.