AI built for Government.
Headcount is down and the deadlines aren’t. RIVER builds the AI layer that drafts the OIA response, scores the applications, and cross-references the policy - so your team makes the call, not the paperwork.
Sounds like you if your team is chasing a 20-working-day OIA deadline while grants sit unscored and headcount keeps shrinking.
- NZ-hosted, aligned to the NZ Information Security Manual (NZISM)
- Every AI output reviewed by staff before it counts
- Live in weeks, connected to the EDRMS you already run
The headcount is falling. The deadlines aren't.
Public service headcount is down and Budget savings targets keep cutting deeper, while OIA requests, grant rounds and GETS tenders keep arriving on the same statutory clock. The 2025 cross-agency AI survey found 272 use cases across 70 agencies - up 151% on the year before. This is no longer experimental. RIVER builds the production layer underneath it.
Your agency today
With RIVER
An OIA request means searching TRIM, Objective and SharePoint by hand before anyone can even start drafting.
Relevant documents found across your EDRMS in minutes, with a draft response ready for legal review.
Grant and licence applications are scored inconsistently - 30-50% variation between assessors on the same file.
Every application scored against the same weighted criteria, with a structured rationale attached.
A regulatory impact analysis takes 3-5 days of manually cross-checking legislation and prior Cabinet papers.
Proposed policy cross-referenced against legislation and precedent in minutes, conflicts and gaps flagged.
On your data, hosted in Aotearoa, and never used to train a model.
GETS tender submissions are scored by hand against published criteria, submission by submission.
Supplier submissions scored against your criteria, producing an auditable comparison brief for the panel.
A senior analyst leaves, and years of institutional knowledge - precedent, process, what's been tried - leave with them.
Policy, precedent and procedure answered in plain language, sourced to the document, for every team member.
Your staff keep the decision. The platform takes the search, the scoring and the draft.
What AI actually does here. Grounded in the work, not the hype.
OIA responses drafted, applications scored, policy cross-referenced against legislation - the platform does the search and the first pass, and staff make the call.
Take the OIA queue and the applications
The two workloads with a hard clock: an OIA request against its 20-working-day deadline, and a grant round against its assessment panel. Both drafted for staff to check.
Find everything relevant to OIA-2026-0412 and draft a response.
Found 14 documents across Content Manager and SharePoint. Drafted a response with 2 redactions flagged for legal review.
Nothing is sent until legal review and Ministerial sign-off are complete.
Then the procurement and the policy
On that foundation, the panel work and the analyst work run off the documents you already hold - and the precedent stops leaving when someone does.
RFT-2026-0091 · comparison brief
You don't start from scratch. We tailor what's proven to your agency.
RIVER is over 100 prebuilt modules, tailored to your EDRMS and your workload in weeks - built to sit alongside Content Manager, Objective and GETS, not replace them.
Everything a security or procurement review asks for is in our Trust Centre
- Built to the 20-working-day OIA statutory deadline, with a full audit trail for every decision.
- Sits alongside Content Manager, Objective ECM and GETS - connected, never ripped out.
- Every draft, score and brief is reviewed by staff before it becomes a decision.
- NZ-hosted, aligned to the NZ Information Security Manual (NZISM) and Protective Security Requirements.
RIVER has been a trusted partner from the start, and they exceeded what we expected. We're already seeing the difference their work is making.
Ellen LekkaProgramme Specialist, UNESCO & SVSG · 2025Start with one module. Prove it, then grow.
One outcome live in weeks - the OIA queue, or the grant round - then add the next when it's earning its place.
The investment
One module live - the knowledge base and application review.
Or run it on the Retainer from $5,000 a month. If something isn’t delivered in a month, that month is free.
Every government engagement includes
- A discovery that agrees your first workload to automate
- Staff review built into every workflow
- NZ-hosted, aligned to the NZ Information Security Manual (NZISM)
- Connection to the EDRMS and systems you already run
- The security documentation a procurement review asks for
- Your data, your IP, yours to keep
The questions people ask when they’re ready to move.
Easy to start. Fast to prove. Built to scale.
Tell us about your your agency, and we’ll take it from there. Prefer to look first? Ask Moana, or take the free Readiness Check.
Ideas from the field.
Guides and research from a team that ships it.
Guide
AI Incidents Rose 55% Last Year. Grounding Is the Engineering Answer.
Documented AI failures jumped to 362 in 2025 while deployment accelerated. Most production failures trace to the same root cause, and it has a known fix.
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One Year On: New Zealand's AI Strategy in Practice
A year after 'Investing with Confidence' launched, what has the national AI strategy actually delivered, and what should NZ businesses do with the settings we've got?
Take
Australia Just Walked Away From Mandatory AI Guardrails. That Doesn't Mean What You Think.
Canberra shelved AI-specific legislation in favour of existing law, a safety institute, and adoption guidance. The compliance burden didn't disappear. It moved.
Teams like yours, in their own words.
A decade of work, across health, sport, finance and the public good.
RIVER learnt our business inside out, and found growth we hadn't seen ourselves. That is what changed our ability to scale.
Jay HarrisonFounder, Edison Health · 2022We crunch through complex data to generate insights, and RIVER made it simple to work through, while keeping everyone aligned on our core value proposition.
Alex OsbornCTO, trev · 2024Our business runs on what RIVER built. They have been central to our technology and our growth, and it keeps driving results.
Mark BramwellDirector, Commercial Realty · 2024RIVER listens, understands what we actually need, and gives us our time back. That is what a good partnership looks like.
Tony NaiduDevelopment Manager, Auckland Badminton Association · 2025RIVER helped us validate our market and launch our platform, and they haven't stopped since. They've been with us every step.
Mike CollinsFounder, iMatch Sport · 2025RIVER has been a trusted partner from the start, and they exceeded what we expected. We're already seeing the difference their work is making.
Ellen LekkaProgramme Specialist, UNESCO & SVSG · 2025The team at RIVER has been an incredible partner from day one. Their ongoing support helped make our success possible.
Scott TownshendFounder, trev · 2022RIVER approached every detail with care. Every decision was made with consideration and purpose.
Daemon CoyleGM, Mental Health Foundation · 2021Our new brand is bold and effective, and customers love it. The website has driven a real increase in leads.
Marcus SinGM, Cleanly · 2020We have always been ambitious about what our site should do, and RIVER take on the hardest parts of it. They make it happen, no matter how complex.
Chris HartFounder, Real Groovy · 2021RIVER are responsive and always ready to adapt. We have never had to chase them, and their support has been critical as our needs changed.
Supriya Kulkarni-PadhyeM&E Coordinator, Oceania Football Confederation · 2020We love our new brand. It reflects who we are as a team and resonates with our customers. Thank you for bringing our vision to life.
Tracy BergeGM, Greentree Advisers · 2021