Like many other cities, the search for old council ordinances, the details of an expired contract or the date of a past council initiative can turn into a tedious task that tries the patience of administrators who need that kind of information. 

But the task has become far easier in Grand Prairie, Texas thanks to its new AI tool, provided by the Nevada-based artificial intelligence company, Madison AI. It cuts out monotonous and repetitive tasks and “pinpoints what you need,” says Thao Vo, director of the Department of Administrative Service, who points out that whenever there’s turnover, “you lose some of that historical knowledge you get with your tenured employees” who have the ability to recall dates and the timing of past events.

Grand Prairie’s contract with Madison AI is one of the first agreements to be implemented from two AI cooperative contracts that provide local governments with the choice of 76 artificial intelligence vendors that were vetted and selected through the North Central Texas Council of Governments TxShare service. About half the vendor awards were linked to Artificial Intelligence Solutions for Public Sector Entities (the contract that interested Grand Prairie), while the other half were awarded for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Consultancy Services.

For the vendors themselves, the procurement process provides enormous benefits in increasing their visibility throughout the US, as detailed in a late July article in this space.

Soon, Grand Prairie’s new AI tools will also be trained to assist with the city’s procurement tasks, and in the planning and development department. “We have looked at other AI tools in the past, but we feel like this one fits specific needs we have in the city,” says Keshnel Penny, Grand Prairie’s CIO.

“Normally, we’d have to go out and solicit proposals,” says Vo. “We’d have to have a Request for Information just to see what’s out there. Or we’d have to reach out to other cities. This allowed us to speed up the process.”

In nearby Coppell, Texas, another early agreement is emerging from the cooperative contract that’s focused on consulting services. Kent Collins, deputy city manager there, had initially heard about the NCTCOG initiative at an Alliance for Innovation “Transforming Local Government” conference.

The opportunity provided by the cooperative contract fit with the interests of City Manager Mike Land, president-elect of ICMA, who had been delivering quantities of information about AI to his leadership team for several years. It also matched up very nicely with Coppell’s Vision 2040 plan, with its goal of being a smart city that leveraged technology in delivering services. That plan was built with community input and approved by the City Council in April 2019.  

At the time of the AFI conference, some Coppell employees had started subscribing to different generative AI options. But leaders knew that a lot of care was needed in putting city data into an AI vehicle that could potentially be shared more widely. “We are caretakers of data, which means we've got to be careful about that,” says Matia Messemer, Coppell’s director of employee experience.

It was clear to Messemer that adapting to the world of AI needed careful thought, preparation, care and external expertise.  “We needed someone who had the knowledge, skill and expertise to guide us through the process and be with us throughout the journey,” she says. “This is something we want to be strategic about. We believe it can fundamentally change how we deliver municipal services to our community, and we need to understand our organization and community readiness.”

By working very closely with cities in the construction of the cooperative contracts, NCTCOG relied on input from its partners, like Civic Marketplace, as well as from cities themselves. Preceding the creation of the contracts, the NCTCOG executive board focused on the ways it could most effectively help cities roll out transformative and careful AI programs and help answer their many questions. “This AI animal is a bit daunting,” says Jon Blackman, chief operations manager for NCTCOG. “How do we be intentional and take a concerted approach towards developing AI best practices and how do we use it responsibly efficiently and effectively.”

According to Coppell’s Messemer, the 40 proposals that the city was able to examine during summer 2025 from the NCTCOG consulting contract solicitation were strong and gave a very good outline of what different companies have to offer. To narrow down the selection, Coppell assembled a small task force to decide which company would best match up with the city’s culture, community and future plans. 

At first, the Coppell team reduced the 40 proposals by half and eventually to five. “The procurement process gave us a lot of really good information so that we could narrow down on those things that really matter to us and are unique to us as an organization,” she says.

Finally, four companies participated in an online interview session that occurred on Friday, August 22 and lasted from about 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Individual conversations with each company took about 50 minutes. In addition to a set of questions, each had been given the same 200-word prompt to show how each would address the city’s needs.

The four companies differed in some key ways. One had a staff of about 20 individuals; another had 18,000 employees. In answer to questions, several demonstrated more knowledge of Coppell and had answers that were targeted more specifically to local government rather than drawn from the federal government or industry.

By the end of the day, the task force had picked a finalist, which will be invited back for an on-site meeting to finalize the discussion in September. Ultimately, the city council will be asked to approve the selection.

What led to the city’s selection of its finalist? “It became clear through the interview session whether they connected with our need and understood how we function as a group,” says Messemer. Although the contract would be for a year, another key element was the city and company’s sense that an initial agreement could be the beginning of a continuing relationship. 

In the end, Coppell’s decision was based on the signs of how the company would support Coppell’s technological readiness, equip city leadership and staff, and “how it would navigate organizational change,” says Messemer. 

“I am grateful to work in an organization that highly values the experience factor – our customer and our employee experience. That’s baked into our culture,” she says. “It’s the lens with which we look at partners who work with us, especially when looking at a longer-term partner.”

Tim Rosener, the mayor of Sherwood, a city in Oregon, strategic advisor to Civic Marketplace, and a member of the National League of Cities AI Advisory Council, adds that flexibility was a critical component of the AI contracts, particularly the one focused on consulting. That means “each agency that decides to piggy back onto that agreement can flex it to what they’re trying to achieve,” he says. “How you use that vendor as a city is really up to you.”

(Procurement for the Future articles are supported by Civic Marketplace.)

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