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Decide which of five requests need three quotes under the policy

  • For Procurement
  • You practice Keeping the AI to your sources
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Intermediate

About this exercise

Write a prompt for plain text with exactly six lines: "R1:" to "R5:" and "Flag:". Each request line says THREE QUOTES or NO QUOTES with a reason of 8 words or fewer from the policy. The Flag line names any request where the exemption is claimed but not documented. Apply the policy exactly; you recommend, procurement decides. Under 120 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Accepting the claim. The AI exempts R5 because the requester says sole source. Try: Say: "A claimed exemption with no approval on file does not count."
  • Quotes for small purchases. The AI says R3 needs quotes anyway. Try: Say: "$5,000 or less needs no quotes."
  • Wrong lines. The AI writes a table. Try: Quote the six labels.
  • Getting markdown back. AI adds bold, headings and bullets by default, which show up as stray symbols where this is pasted. Try: Say "plain text, no bold, no headings, no asterisks".
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting and usually runs long, so a vague "keep it short" lands over the limit. Try: Cap each part instead of the total, for example "each line under 15 words".

What a strong prompt includes

  • Quotes the labels
  • Uses the labels THREE QUOTES / NO QUOTES
  • Says documented only
  • Mentions the threshold
  • Asks for plain text

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