Sovereign AI procurement for a PSU comes down to ten questions a vendor must answer in writing: where the model runs, where it comes from, whether it can call out, who approves consequential actions, what is logged, what you keep at exit, how it is proven, and what it costs. BiltIQ's answers are on its government page; the checklist below works for any vendor.
At a glance
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| Who this is for | PSUs, DPSUs, departments and their procurement and IT committees |
| The binding rule | Public Procurement Order No. 1 restricts bidders from countries sharing a land border with India; defence and government buyers apply it to every model and component |
| BiltIQ's route | NDA, then a 4–6 week paid pilot on past files (₹5–8 L, credited), then a site licence (₹50–90 L one-time) + managed service (₹16–18 L a year); hardware at cost; ex-GST |
| Procurement route | Agreed with each buyer |
| Credentials | DPIIT-recognised startup; ISO/IEC 27001:2022 (certificate 305026060958IS, valid to 8 June 2029); ISO 9001:2015; NVIDIA Inception Partner |
| Not claimed | HIPAA, SOC 2, a signed product licence (first planned early 2027), any bid in progress |
The 10-point checklist
| # | Ask the vendor | What a good answer looks like | BiltIQ's answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Where does the model run? | On a server you own, in your data centre | Your GPU server; AI Factory serves the models, Agent OS sits on top |
| 2 | Where does the model come from? | Open-weight, with origin that passes Public Procurement Order No. 1 | You choose; NVIDIA Nemotron by default for defence and PSU; no China-origin model in defence deployments |
| 3 | Can it call out? | Blocked by default, with a mode that allows no host at all | Security gate: blocked by default; on-prem-required mode refuses any allowed host; patent application 202631094208 filed |
| 4 | Who approves consequential actions? | A named officer, in a record, with the action blocked when nobody is available | Irreversible and high-consequence actions pause for a named officer; with no approver they are blocked |
| 5 | Does every finding cite its source? | Page and text shown for each finding | Yes; tenders, contracts and circulars are checked against your checklist with the page cited |
| 6 | What is logged, and who can read it? | Findings, decisions and calls, kept on your server, readable by your auditors | Approval inbox records each decision; monitoring has no document access |
| 7 | What do we keep at exit? | Open weights, your documents, your server; nothing to return | Open-weight models on your own hardware |
| 8 | How is it proven before purchase? | A pilot on your own past files with known outcomes, measured against your manual results | Paid pilot, 4–6 weeks, under NDA; report shows caught, missed, time per file; no speed-up quoted |
| 9 | What does it cost, in full? | Published ranges, hardware at cost, service scope in writing | Site licence ₹50–90 L one-time; managed service ₹16–18 L a year; hardware at cost; pilot ₹5–8 L credited; ex-GST |
| 10 | What is not claimed? | A vendor that states its limits | No HIPAA or SOC 2 claim; multi-node serving and fine-tuned models are roadmap; first product licence planned early 2027 |
Why does model origin come first?
Public Procurement Order No. 1 restricts bidders from countries that share a land border with India, and defence and government buyers apply that test to every model and component in a system. A model with the wrong origin fails the tender before the pilot starts. That is why BiltIQ defaults to NVIDIA Nemotron for defence and PSU and is model-agnostic elsewhere.
How does the pilot fit a government process?
- Scoping call. 30 minutes with an engineer; you leave with a written next step.
- NDA.
- Paid pilot. 4–6 weeks on past tenders, contracts or files with known outcomes, on your GPU server or a BiltIQ loaner; documents stay on site.
- Findings report. Caught, missed, time per file, against your manual results. You keep it whatever you decide.
- Licence. The pilot fee is credited. The procurement route is agreed with each buyer.
How do the ten points become tender clauses?
Illustrative phrasing a procurement officer can adapt; legal review applies.
| Point | Clause, illustrative |
|---|---|
| 1 Where it runs | "All inference shall be performed on servers owned by the purchaser and located at the purchaser's premises." |
| 2 Model origin | "The bidder shall declare the country of origin of every AI model and software component, including vision and embedding models, in Annexure X." |
| 3 Outbound calls | "The system shall operate with all outbound network calls blocked by default, and shall support a mode in which no outbound host can be enabled." |
| 4 Approvals | "Irreversible or high-consequence actions shall require approval by a named officer, and shall be blocked in the absence of an available approver." |
| 6 Logs | "All findings, approvals and system calls shall be logged on the purchaser's server and made available to the purchaser's auditors." |
| 7 Exit | "On termination, the purchaser shall retain the model weights, documents and hardware without further payment." |
| 8 Proof | "The bidder shall demonstrate the system on the purchaser's past documents, against the purchaser's manual results, before award." |
Who signs off each point?
| Point | Owner on the buyer's side |
|---|---|
| Where it runs; outbound calls; logs | IT and security |
| Model origin | Procurement, with security |
| Approvals; what is proven | The user department whose officers will review findings |
| Exit; what is not claimed; cost | Procurement and legal |
| The pilot | All of the above, with one named coordinator |
A checklist that one department fills in alone will miss the points that belong to another. Name the owners before the tender goes out.
When should you NOT buy sovereign AI yet?
- The approval owner is not named. The system blocks consequential actions without one; name the officer first.
- Model origin is unresolved. Settle it before the pilot.
- You expect a measured speed-up in the bid. BiltIQ quotes none; the pilot measures it on your files.
- You need a cloud subscription. The Subscribe tier is coming soon and is not sovereign by this definition.
A note on the Subscribe tier
The Subscribe tier serves models from BiltIQ's GPU cluster in India and is coming soon. It is not sovereign by the definition in this checklist, because the model does not run on your server, and it is not what a PSU applying these ten points should buy. It is listed here so the distinction is explicit.
Frequently asked questions
Can AI scrutinise government tenders on our own servers?
Yes. On an Own-it install, Agent OS and its models run on your GPU server with outbound calls blocked by default. Agents test clauses, eligibility terms, amounts and dates against your checklist and cite the page. A named officer accepts or rejects each finding.
How does a department start?
With a scoping call, then a paid pilot under NDA on past files with known outcomes, then a site licence. BiltIQ is a DPIIT-recognised startup; the procurement route is agreed per buyer.
Does BiltIQ claim HIPAA or SOC 2?
No. For India, BiltIQ refers to the DPDP Act 2023 and holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and ISO 9001:2015.
Related: Why Nemotron is BiltIQ's default model for defence and PSU · Air-gapped LLM deployment: what changes with no internet · How AI agents evaluate government tenders and cite the exact page · What your DPO will ask about your AI vendor
Next step: government and PSU; book the paid pilot on contact.
Facts checked against the BiltIQ product pages, 5 November 2026.