Valcon & Mendix

Valcon and BAM – Streamlining tender processes with AI

The construction industry relies heavily on the effectiveness of its tender process. Managing risk, complex specifications, multiple stakeholders, and detailed documentation means a tender response can make the difference between winning or losing work. Like many firms, BAM – a leading player in area development, residential and commercial construction, infrastructure, technology, and mobility, driven by the ambition to build a more sustainable Netherlands – faced challenges in managing this complexity efficiently.

Tender submissions involve large volumes of unstructured information, varying legislation, preference documents, and project risks. These processes are labour-intensive and time-consuming, making it difficult to maintain speed, accuracy, and quality.

BAM wanted to streamline its tender process to efficiently process and verify large volumes of documentation, improve the accuracy and speed of information extraction, and automate repetitive manual tasks. A key goal was also to enhance the identification and classification of project risks to support better decision-making.

BAM and Valcon are working together to develop a suite of AI-driven tools to streamline the entire tender process. The first is Tender Assist, a user-friendly application that aggregates all tender files, extracts key information, and links insights back to source documents. Using built-in LLM functionality, users can query tender data in natural language and quickly validate information.

The solution uses generative AI to automate tasks that previously required significant manual effort. A multi-agent approach enables users to analyse tender documents using a factual agent, while a creative GenAI model supports the drafting of tenders based on previous submissions—reducing manual research and accelerating the overall process.

Transforming education: delivering a flexible and scalable IT landscape.

A leading commercial educational institute in the Benelux, catering to over 200,000 students annually, embarked on a complete overhaul of its IT infrastructure. They transitioned from a monolithic architecture to a service-oriented architecture (SOA) to gain greater flexibility in course assembly and management of diverse offerings. This change catered to the needs of their multiple brands, which required a more adaptable IT infrastructure due to their need for both comprehensive and selective module usage.

Valcon played a crucial role in the programme, acting as a trusted advisor and offering expertise in Mendix development, architecture, business analysis, testing and data & Insights. With Valcon’s support, the client realised an improved IT landscape that enhanced flexibility, streamlined operations and fostered a more agile, modular approach.

Maturing IT delivery with low code for a leading infrastructure business

A leading infrastructure company recognised the potential of low-code technology to enhance its IT delivery. Many processes were still relying on legacy software and a heavy use of Excel.

The company selected Valcon as its implementation partner for low-code development and has been using the Mendix platform for nearly 10 years, successfully building over 30 applications. Initially, these applications focused on complex, company-specific solutions in areas such as risk, lifecycle, portfolio and capacity management. Recognising the importance of geographic data to most solutions, Valcon integrated the Mendix platform with their GIS platform* early on, starting in 2017.

Over the past three years, the focus has shifted towards more integrated and business-critical solutions, including Mendix front-end applications on top of SAP, enabling more complex workflows and an improved user experience. Last year, we delivered the company’s first operational technology (OT) low-code solution, which facilitates the control of physical assets distributed across the Netherlands.

* Geographical Information Systems; i.e. ArcGIS, Google Maps, Map Box