# Analyzing the Saudi Government Tenders Market with AI: Concentration and Yearly Trends ## Introduction Before a company decides to focus on a particular activity within government tenders, or to expand into a new one, the decision-making team needs answers to fundamental questions: is this market concentrated in the hands of a few large vendors, or open to broader competition? Is the volume of tenders in it rising or falling? And what's the expected average award value? Answering these questions manually requires aggregating data from dozens or hundreds of past tenders — work that can take days for a dedicated analysis team. By connecting an AI assistant like **Claude**, **Grok**, or **ChatGPT** to TendersAlerts' MCP server, this process turns into a single question, answered with real numbers in a matter of seconds. ## The market-analysis Tool: What Exactly Does It Measure? The **market-analysis** tool is one of 11 tools the server provides, dedicated to analyzing the market as a whole (at the level of an activity or agency) rather than a single vendor. The tool measures four main dimensions: - **Market overview**: the number of tenders issued during a given period. - **Concentration**: the share of the largest vendors (e.g., the top 5) out of total awards, a signal of how much a few companies dominate the activity. - **Yearly trend**: whether the number of tenders or their total value is rising or falling compared to the previous year. - **Average award value**: a practical indicator for estimating the size of expected contracts in this activity. ## A Real Practical Example > "How concentrated is the cybersecurity tenders market? Show me the concentration and yearly trend." A typical result might look like this: - **412 tenders** in the cybersecurity activity during 2025, up **18% year over year**. - **The top 5 vendors' share** stands at **37% of awards**, a moderate concentration that leaves good room for new vendors. - **Average award value** is around **SAR 1.8 million**. These three numbers alone are enough to shape a strategic decision: a growing market, not fully monopolized, with mid-sized contract values that suit medium-sized companies, not just large ones. ## How Do You Use This Analysis in Real Decisions? ### Deciding whether to enter a new activity Before your company decides to expand into an activity it hasn't worked in before, ask about its concentration and yearly trend first. A highly concentrated market (top-5 vendor share exceeding 70%, for example) means breaking in as a new competitor will be harder, while a market growing at a high rate with moderate concentration signals a real opportunity to enter. ### Identifying the most active activity, geographically or sector-wise You can ask the assistant to compare two or more activities in a single session: **"Compare the concentration and trend of the IT market with the maintenance market over the past two years."** This helps you direct your investment and expansion toward the most attractive activity. ### Pricing closer to reality Knowing the average award value in a given activity gives you an initial reference point when preparing your financial proposal, especially in tenders where no clear price ceiling is available. ## Combining Market Analysis with Competitor Analysis The biggest benefit shows up when combining the **market-analysis** and **vendor-details** tools in a single conversation. Example: > "How concentrated is the construction market in the Eastern Province? Then analyze the performance of the top three companies in it in terms of win rate." This gives you a dual picture: the overall level of competition in the market, then who the key players are and how they behave. This combination of information provides deeper context than either tool alone. ## Which Assistant Suits This Kind of Analysis Best? The MCP protocol makes the tool equally available across all supported assistants, but some assistants may suit your workflow better: - **Grok**: its users tend to combine market analysis with broader discussions about general economic trends, useful if you connect tender decisions to a wider economic context. - **Claude**: suits multi-step analysis that combines market, competitors, and documents in one long session. - **Perplexity**: useful if you want to compare internal Etimad market numbers against general sector reports available online. - **ChatGPT**: a practical option for those who want to combine the analysis with writing an internal report or presentation directly in the same conversation. All of them connect to the same server via: `https://api.tendersalerts.com/mcp `See the [full connection guide](/docs/mcp) for detailed steps for each assistant. ## A Practical Scenario: From an Expansion Idea to an Informed Decision Imagine a contracting company considering expanding from traditional construction into renewable energy, but unsure of the market's appeal. Instead of assigning a research team to gather data over several weeks, the business development manager can open a single conversation with Claude and ask: > "What's the volume of renewable energy tenders in Saudi Arabia over the past two years? What's its trend and concentration level? Then compare it to the traditional construction market we currently work in." Within a few minutes, they get a direct comparison between the two markets: which one is growing faster, which is less concentrated and more open to a new competitor, and which one's contract values fit the company's current capacity. This comparison doesn't replace a full feasibility study, but it gives the management team a quick numerical basis to decide whether the idea is worth studying more deeply in the first place. ## Monitoring the Market Periodically, Not Just Once As with competitor analysis, the real value of market analysis shows up in regular repetition, not a single use. You can set aside time monthly to ask the same concentration and trend questions about the key activities your company works in, to spot any early shift in the market, such as a major new vendor entering or an unexpected drop in the number of tenders issued, before that shift becomes obvious to everyone. ## Important Limits to Know The analysis tools (**market-analysis** and **vendor-details**) are the most restricted in terms of usage limits among the server's tools, capped at **60 requests per hour** per account, plus the general instantaneous limit of 10 requests every 10 seconds. This makes sense since analysis tools require heavier processing than simple search tools, so it's best to ask focused analytical questions instead of repeating the same request in different phrasings. ## Frequently Asked Questions **Is market analysis available for free?** No, the **market-analysis** tool is one of the tools that requires an [active subscription](/plans), unlike basic tender search. **Can you analyze a very specific sub-activity, not just a general one?** Yes, you can specify the activity or sub-activity precisely in your question, and the assistant uses **taxonomy-lookup** to convert the name into an ID before passing it to the analysis tool. **Does the yearly trend rely on reliable historical data?** Yes, the data comes from actual Etimad tenders recorded on the platform, not general estimates or data sourced from outside the Saudi market. ## Conclusion Analyzing the government tenders market is no longer exclusive to large analysis teams with extensive resources. By connecting Claude, Grok, or any MCP-supporting assistant to Etimad tenders, any company, small or large, can ask about market concentration, yearly trend, and average award value in a single sentence, and use these numbers to make entry and expansion decisions grounded in reality. [Connect your AI assistant to Etimad tenders now](/mcp) and start analyzing your first target market in your next conversation.