The Integrated Corporate Services unit, which provides joint centralised support to DSIT and DESNZ, has invested in artificial intelligence to help triage and provide automated response to HR email queries

Two government departments have signed a potential six-figure deal to deploy chatbot technology to support their HR teams.

The Integrated Corporate Services (ICS) unit provides a range of centralised services to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). This includes digital support and human resources functions, as well as finance, estates, and security services.

The shared-services team has invested in a “conversational AI platform” from specialist UK tech firm logicdialog. According to its listing on government’s Digital Marketplace, the product is an “AI chatbot uses knowledge-based generation and predefined NLP (natural language processing) frameworks”. The technology claims to offer “real-time automation of customer service interactions and processes”.

The text of the company’s one-year contract with ICS – which came into effect on 16 September – indicates that the deal is intended to “provide an interactive and easy-to-use chatbot assistance to interact with emails received in the [HR] team’s mailbox”.

The logicdialog tool will “allow vacancy holders and other interested staff” across DSIT and DESNZ “to interact with the chatbot directly for real-time accurate and consistent general information and advice”.

Using “innovative natural language processing and machine learning”, the chatbot will “integrate with existing resourcing policies and FAQs to provide accurate answers” to recruitment and HR queries submitted by civil servants from the across the two departments.

Having done so, the tool will then ask users “two quick questions… where the user can offer [feedback on] how useful the bot was and whether or not their query was solved”, according to the contract.

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Queries that the AI technology cannot resolve will be automatically forwarded to onto “the HR mailbox for the team to receive and deal with manually”.

As well as these core areas of chatbot functionality, the supplier will also be expected to “track and report on chatbot interactions, response accuracy, common queries and feedback, [and] provide insights into the type of questions asked and areas for improvement”, the contract states.

The deal will be worth up £64,000 plus VAT during its initial 12-month term. An optional one-year extension could take total spending, including tax, to a little over £100,000.

Government’s Responsible Technology Adoption Unit – which sits within DSIT – earlier this year published guidance on Responsible AI in Recruitment. The document provides advice on ethical considerations and assurance mechanisms for organisations interested in using automation to support hiring processes.

The natural language processing used by the logicdialog system is a form of artificial intelligence that enables machine-learning systems to read and identify words and derive meaning from linguistic patterns. Procurement records indicate that the company has previously won contracts to provide chatbots for the online operations of local authorities in Herefordshire and Central Bedfordshire.