How to Meet Government Terms of Reference with AI Agents: A 2026 Guide

If you provide services to the government, you already know that winning the contract is only part of the job. Payment comes when the requesting department formally accepts the work, and to do so it checks each deliverable against the terms of reference (TDR, the Spanish acronym).

In this guide, I show you how to organize a public-sector contract with AI agents in Claude so that every task, meeting and deliverable is linked to the TDR clause it addresses. I designed it for construction, technology, legal, communications, marketing and consulting businesses and consultants working with public entities in Peru.

Why So Many Government Deliverables Receive Review Comments

A deliverable rarely receives review comments because the team did poor work. More often, the team did good work on something the TDR required in a different form, or failed to address a clause buried in an annex.

These situations recur in almost every industry:

• Requirements are scattered across the TDR, its annexes, the consolidated bidding documents, the bid and the contract.
• Strict compliance obligations become mixed up with enhancements the supplier offered.
• Coordination meetings produce new requests that are not in the TDR and that nobody records in writing.
• Information is dispersed across emails, meeting minutes, WhatsApp messages and files with different names.
• Team members change, and newcomers do not know about earlier agreements.

The result is familiar: review comments, rework, delayed acceptance and, in the worst case, penalties for late performance.

There is also a legal framework that keeps changing. Law No. 32069, the General Public Procurement Law, has been in force since April 22, 2025, with its regulations approved by Supreme Decree No. 009-2025-EF. The regulations were amended in January 2026 by Supreme Decree No. 001-2026-EF, and in July 2026 Law No. 32732 introduced further changes to the law. It is therefore worth checking which version of the bidding documents and contract applies to each procurement process.

Why a Standalone Chat Is Not Enough for a Public-Sector Contract

Many teams already use AI, but in disconnected pieces: one prompt to summarize the TDR, another to draft a report, another to reply to an email. Every conversation starts from scratch.

This creates three problems. The first is context: the tool does not remember what was agreed last week or what changed in the contract amendment. The second is traceability: the text may be well written yet fail to identify the clause it addresses. The third is information handling: contract documents end up being copied into tools without any controls.

Agents address this when they work from the same information base and each has a narrowly defined task. For a broader overview of how they work, see this guide to AI agents for B2B businesses.

Build a Living File for Each Contract

The living contract file is a single folder containing everything that defines the contract. It can be a Project in Claude or an Obsidian vault shared with your team. What matters is that agents always read from it rather than from disconnected copies.

• Core documents: TDR, annexes, consolidated bidding documents, submitted bid, contract and amendments.
• Obligations matrix: the table linking each obligation to its clause, deliverable, deadline and verification method.
• Activity log: meeting minutes, agreements and relevant emails, ordered by date.
• Deliverables: each submitted version, the review comments received and the response to each one.

One simple rule helps a great deal: name files using the deliverable number and the TDR clause they address. That way, any team member or agent can immediately find the supporting evidence.

Five Agents That Support the Contract from Signing to Acceptance

Each agent has a task and a specific output. Between agents, there are points where the team reviews the work and makes decisions.

1. 1
   TDR readerTurns the TDR, contract and amendments into the obligations matrix. Everything else builds on it.
2. 2
   PlannerUses the matrix to create the deliverables schedule, with Google Calendar alerts through the connector.
3. 3
   Meeting reporterUses the Granola transcript to draft meeting minutes and check whether each request is within scope.
4. 4
   Deliverable writerWrites each deliverable in the format required by the TDR, supported by a skill and the evidence in the contract file.
5. 5
   Acceptance reviewerReads the draft as the requesting department would and anticipates review comments before submission.

The team intervenes at two points: it validates the matrix before planning and approves each deliverable after review.

The TDR Reader Builds the Obligations Matrix

The matrix is the contract's most important document. Reviewing it with the project manager before moving forward takes little time and can save weeks of rework.

TDR reader prompt

Actúa como gestor de contratos de un proveedor del Estado.
Lee el TDR completo, incluidos los anexos, y el contrato firmado.
Arma una matriz de obligaciones con estas columnas:
N.º | Obligación | Numeral del TDR | Entregable asociado | Plazo | Penalidad aplicable | Cómo la verificará el área usuaria
Reglas:
- Incluye solo obligaciones que puedas citar con su numeral.
- Si el contrato o una adenda cambia algo del TDR, márcalo y cita ambos documentos.
- Distingue lo que exige el TDR de lo que ofrecimos como mejora en la oferta.
- Al final, lista las dudas que conviene aclarar con la entidad por escrito.

The Planner Adds Deadlines to the Calendar

With the Google Calendar connector, the agent records each delivery date with advance alerts. Count deadlines as the contract defines them, in calendar days or working days, and have a person validate the initial schedule. After that, deadlines no longer depend on someone on the team remembering them.

The Meeting Reporter Separates Requests from What the TDR Covers

Meetings with the entity involve people with different roles: the requesting department, the procurement unit and, sometimes, a supervising party. Each may ask for different things. Granola transcribes the meeting, and the agent checks each request against the matrix.

Meeting reporter prompt

Actúa como gestor de contrato de un proveedor del Estado.
Insumos: la transcripción de la reunión con la entidad y la matriz de obligaciones del TDR.
Entrega:
1. Acta breve: fecha, asistentes por cargo, acuerdos y responsables.
2. Tabla de pedidos con estas columnas:
   Pedido | Quién lo pidió (cargo) | Numeral del TDR que lo sustenta | Dentro o fuera del alcance | Impacto en plazo o costo
3. Lista de pedidos fuera del alcance que conviene formalizar por escrito antes de ejecutarlos.
Reglas:
- Si no encuentras el numeral, marca "sin sustento en el TDR". No lo deduzcas.
- No incluyas datos personales de los asistentes; usa solo cargos.

When a request falls outside the scope, it is advisable to formalize it in writing before carrying it out. This prevents the team from taking on work that nobody later acknowledges.

The Writer Uses a Skill for Each Document Type

A skill is a set of instructions Claude applies whenever you perform a particular type of task. For a public-sector contract, it helps to have one for each recurring document: monthly report, meeting minutes, letter to the entity and response to review comments. Here is a simple example:

Example skill for monthly reports (SKILL.md)

---
name: informe-mensual-contrato
description: Redacta el informe mensual del contrato siguiendo el formato del TDR. Úsalo cuando el usuario pida el informe mensual o un avance de entregable.
---
# Informe mensual del contrato
1. Lee la matriz de obligaciones y la bitácora del mes.
2. Sigue el orden de secciones que exige el numeral del TDR sobre informes.
3. Cada avance que reportes debe citar su evidencia: acta, correo o archivo.
4. Cierra con una tabla de pendientes, responsables y fechas.
5. Si falta evidencia para un punto, márcalo como "pendiente de sustento".

The Reviewer Reads the Deliverable as the Entity Will

Before submission, an agent other than the writer checks the draft against the matrix. Using a different agent helps identify requirements the writer assumed were fulfilled without verifying them.

Acceptance reviewer prompt

Actúa como el especialista del área usuaria que debe dar la conformidad.
Insumos: la matriz de obligaciones y el borrador del entregable N.º [número].
Revisa el borrador numeral por numeral y entrega una tabla:
Numeral | Qué exige el TDR | Dónde lo cumple el borrador (sección y página) | Cumple, parcial o no cumple | Qué falta
Después, redacta las tres observaciones más probables que haría la entidad y cómo resolverlas.
No corrijas el texto todavía. Solo evalúa.

Which Tool to Use for Each Part of the Work

You do not need to code to get started. Projects, Skills and Cowork cover most of the workflow. Claude Code makes sense when the team wants to automate repetitive tasks, such as preparing the folder for each new contract or reviewing several deliverables in one run. If you have never worked with repositories, this guide to GitHub for non-programmers helps you take that step.

How the Workflow Adapts to Each Industry

What the Law Says and How It Affects Your Use of AI

Using AI does not change your obligations as a supplier. It does require you to take care of three things: the information you upload, responsibility for what you deliver and human oversight of every output.

This guide provides a practical framework and does not replace legal advice on your particular situation.

What Should Stay in Your Team's Hands

• Price, scope and any decision that changes what was offered.
• Signatures and opinions that require a licensed professional.
• Sworn declarations and the experience being substantiated.
• Sending letters and formal communications to the entity.
• The final decision on whether a deliverable is ready to submit.

Agents prepare, organize and review, but the supplier remains accountable to the entity.

How to Start with Your Next Contract

1. 1.Create a Project for the contract and upload the TDR, bidding documents, bid and contract.
2. 2.Review the confidentiality clauses and anonymize information as necessary before uploading any file.
3. 3.Generate the obligations matrix and validate it with the project manager.
4. 4.Add deadlines to the calendar with advance alerts.
5. 5.Transcribe meetings with the entity and have the meeting reporter process each set of minutes.
6. 6.Create a skill for the most frequently recurring deliverable.
7. 7.Ask the acceptance reviewer to read each deliverable before you submit it.

What Changes When the Contract Revolves Around the TDR

When every contract document can be traced to a clause, conversations with the entity change. Review comments are answered with evidence, new requests are discussed in terms of scope, and the team stops relying on one person's memory. AI speeds up writing, but the most noticeable day-to-day difference is better organization.

Frequently Asked Questions