The Procurii procurement chatbot is now in pilot through Mississippi’s AI Innovation Hub to support state procurement operations.
It helps staff find and interpret relevant policies, procedures, and regulations. The proof of concept aims to augment technology procurement processes.
Procurement staff can ask questions in plain language. Procurii responds using official Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) materials. It also includes source references, so users can verify the information. In addition, it tracks conversation context. It flags policy updates, too. As information changes, it follows a structured retraining process.
How the pilot was developed
A Mississippi State University student team helped build the system in the AI Innovation Hub’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) sandbox environment. The team used a retrieval-based architecture tailored to Mississippi’s procurement documentation. The Hub then selected the project for development. It cited potential to reduce institutional knowledge attrition risk and improve operational consistency.
Planned open source release
ITS plans to publish Procurii as an open source tool. As a result, others could adapt it for compliance-driven government use cases that require retrieving and interpreting official documents.
Innovation Hub context
The Innovation Hub launched in early 2025 as part of a broader state technology agenda. That agenda listed priorities such as accelerating AI solutions, advancing cloud computing, and modernizing procurement processes.
The state created the Hub in partnership with AWS and the Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network (MAIN). It provides a space for agencies, universities, and private partners to collaborate. It also supports student training and proof-of-concept development for government challenges. In addition, the Hub’s original goals included creating a council to modernize procurement through new tools and shared expertise.
Source: Ashley Silver, “Mississippi AI Innovation Hub’s New Chatbot Targets Procurement,” Government Technology (GovTech), February 20, 2026.
Read the original story.