Where Government Vendor Shortlists Now Start: Inside AI Answers

Public sector procurement is changing fast — and AI is now in the room long before any salesperson is. When government leaders turn to ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity to ask, “Who should we trust for digital permitting? Grants modernization? Cybersecure operations?” — only a handful of vendors show up. 

One fast-moving SaaS provider decided they weren’t going to let generative engines define their category without them. Using Brandi AI, their AI visibility had exploded 7x in just 60 days later — and their brand was suddenly impossible for government buyers to overlook.

Client

A leading public sector SaaS provider for state and local government agencies.

Challenge

Government procurement is highly competitive — and increasingly shaped by AI-assisted vendor evaluation. Decision-makers now use generative engines to:

• Identify qualified providers
• Compare product capabilities and case studies
• Validate security and compliance claims
• Shortlist vendors for RFP participation

Despite having a differentiated platform, strong government adoption, and award-winning solutions, the client faced:

• Low discoverability in AI-generated recommendations
• Minimal citations for core product categories
• No visibility during early-stage RFP research

With rivals frequently cited by ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity, the company risked being miscategorized — or worse, excluded — in the discovery phase where purchase decisions increasingly form.

The mission: ensure government buyers could finally find them where it mattered most — inside AI answers.

Strategy

The organization partnered with Brandi AI to run a 60-day Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) program designed to improve:

• AI-driven brand visibility
• Competitive recommendation share
• Content-based authority positioning

Key actions included:

• 200+ tracked prompts across 5 priority themes: Mapped to the company’s five core offerings and their target audiences.
• Persona-aligned benchmarking: Evaluated visibility across: CIOs and CTOs, procurement leaders, program managers, elected officials and policy leaders.
• Content restructuring for machine understanding: Existing web and blog content optimized using schema enrichment, rich entity tagging, topic-authority mapping, and prompt-to-page alignment.

Results (Day 0 → Day 60)

• Brand visibility increased 7x: 1.6% → 12% inclusion in tracked AI-generated responses. 
• LLMs recognized authority faster than humans do: 70% of optimized content appeared in generative answers within two weeks. Competitive authority surged: Ranking moved from #7 → #2 among direct competitors
• Domain citation share doubled: A 2.6x increase across high-intent functional queries

The company emerged as a leading recommended solution for government modernization use cases, displacing much larger rivals in critical generative search categories.

Impact

This initiative demonstrated a powerful truth: Government vendors who aren’t recognized by AI engines will get left out of the RFP conversation.

By making their expertise machine-verifiable, the company:

• Earned ongoing inclusion in decision-influencing AI responses
• Strengthened trust signals around compliance, experience, and scale
• Protected share of voice in a growing procurement channel
• Future-proofed competitive advantage as government tech discovery evolves

Their brand is now visible, validated, and recommended at the exact moment government leaders ask questions that shape vendor consideration.

Brandi AI helped the organization rewrite its positioning inside generative ecosystems — before competitors could redefine the category for them.

Key Takeaways

• AI-driven discovery is now part of procurement: Teams increasingly turn to LLMs to identify qualified vendors.
• Early visibility shapes shortlists: If AI omits a brand, buyers rarely rediscover it later.
• GEO accelerates brand authority: Machine-readable structure turns expertise into recommendations.
• Public sector vendors can win big: Even mid-sized providers can outperform enterprise competitors with precision GEO.
• Rapid turnaround is achievable: AI citation share can shift in weeks — not the slow timelines typical of SEO alone.
  

Schedule a Brandi AI Demo

Curious what your AI visibility looks like today? 👉 Book a Brandi AI demo today! Your buyers are already asking AI which vendors they should trust — make sure you’re in the answer.

Frequently Asked Questions About Generative Engine Optimization for Public Sector SaaS

What makes GEO especially important for government technology companies?
Public sector buyers value credibility, scale, and compliance — GEO reinforces those proof points in machine-interpretable ways.

Do LLMs influence RFP decisions?
Increasingly, yes. Procurement leads often use AI to scan vendors long before direct outreach or product demos.

Will GEO require major website redesigns?
Not typically. Brandi AI focuses on behind-the-scenes improvements to structure and entity clarity.

How quickly can AI citation gains be measured?
Often within weeks — as this client’s 70% content visibility result demonstrates.

Does GEO replace public sector SEO or PR?
No — it amplifies both by ensuring AI can correctly interpret and recommend validated expertise already present in the content.