- Operational Services Division
The Operational Services Division (OSD) is excited to share that the Commonwealth’s submissions for the 2025 George Cronin Awards presented by the National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) earned the Gold and Silver awards! And that’s not all … the NASPO Academic Collaboration Award was bestowed upon OSD and Northeastern University for their joint project to develop two AI tools! The NASPO Academic Collaboration Award recognizes outstanding partnerships that build bridges between academia and government, creating pathways for students to discover fulfilling careers in public sector work.
At the awards ceremony held on October 1 during the NASPO Annual Conference, the 2025 George Cronin Gold Award was presented to Jennifer Lyons, OSD Deputy General Counsel, for the Smarter Service, Safer Contracts: Transforming State Procurement with Dual AI Agents project, and the 2025 George Cronin Silver Award was presented to Ann-Maria Bennett, Director of Category Management, for the project entitled, Improving Supplier Relationship Management with Multi-Supplier Business Reviews. Learn more about the award-winning entries:
2025 Gold Cronin Award-Winning Entry: Smarter Service, Safer Contracts: Transforming State Procurement with Dual AI Agents
OSD, in collaboration with the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (TSS) and the Executive Office for Administration and Finance IT (A&F IT), and students and professors from Northeastern University’s Burnes Center for Social Change and its AI for Impact Program, developed two Artificial-Intelligence-powered tools designed to improve the customer experience and streamline legal workflows.
The collaborative initiative introduced two AI-powered tools: ABE (Assistive Buyer Engine), a chatbot agent that provides instant, policy-aligned answers to procurement questions; and OneL, a large language model that performs preliminary contract reviews to identify conflicts between vendor terms, RFRs, and Commonwealth terms.
ABE is designed to answer common, and often time-consuming procurement questions so that OSD staff and other procurement professionals may focus time on more complex work. Drawing from key OSD resources, including the Statewide Contract Index, Tradesperson Index, Conducting Best Value Procurements handbook, and Contract User Guides, ABE delivers fast, accurate responses that align with procurement policy. ABE is being tested and trained by OSD staff and the team looks forward to rolling it out to Executive Departments.
The second AI-powered tool, OneL, is a large-language model being built to support OSD Legal, Category Management, and TSS Legal. OneL flags ambiguous or conflicting language, creates a redline, and annotates the redline with corresponding RFR or terms and conditions section numbers. In initial pilots, OneL was found to result in an 83.33% reduction in attorney time spent on initial vendor proposal clarifications, freeing up attorney time to focus on higher complexity issues.
While innovative and time-saving on their own, these tools become revolutionary when working together with interlocking value: the chatbot provides front-end access to procurement and legal guidance, while OneL enhances back-end contract accuracy and risk mitigation. Together, they create a self-reinforcing, streamlined, scalable system that strengthens procurement from initial inquiry to final document execution. “This initiative sets a precedent for how state procurement offices may responsibly lead the adoption of AI, while focusing on transparency, collaboration, and public benefit,” said Jennifer Lyons, OSD’s Deputy General Counsel.
2025 Silver Cronin Award-Winning Entry: Improving Supplier Relationship Management with Multi-Supplier Business Reviews
Massachusetts’ new and innovative approach to Business Reviews (BR), whereby Category Management hosts several suppliers on a particular contract at one meeting, significantly expanded OSD’s ability to meet with awarded Statewide Contract Vendors and reshaped discussion topics and outcomes.
Previously, Category Managers were able to meet with about 5% of awarded vendors through individual supplier BRs. The new approach to meeting with a cross-section of suppliers on contract increased BRs from just 36 in fiscal year 2024 to 269 in fiscal year 2025, affording conversations about key performance indicators, buyer feedback, and industry and contract challenges and opportunities.
Through the new approach, Category Managers invite a variety of vendor categories to participate – large and small firms, diverse businesses, new and returning vendors, and businesses with high and no contract sales – to collect diversity of thought. Also in attendance are unit and agency leadership, as well as internal and external stakeholders, such as key buyer groups, sparking thoughtful discussions.
The innovative business review process has been pivotal in driving efficiencies across OSD’s Category Management team, improving internal processes, honing industry knowledge, creating better and more robust SWCs, and improving our supplier relationship management process.
According to Ann-Maria, several SWC Vendors have provided great feedback about the new BR process. “Vendors reported to us that the BRs are a good use of their time, and they feel like they are contributing to OSD’s mission in making good Statewide Contracts. It’s especially nice to hear how it’s benefiting their businesses, too!”
Both innovative projects are designed to boost efficiencies and innovation throughout the procurement process, often working together to streamline tasks for both internal OSD staff and external partners. Please join us in congratulating Jen, Ann-Maria, and their teams on winning these prestigious awards, which recognize OSD’s continuous commitment to innovation and progress.
Tune in to WOSD News: Procurement Insights podcast for an in-depth discussion and a behind-the-scenes look at how these projects were brought to life.
