rfp agent hallucinated pricing numbers from prior bid submission error

rfp agent hallucinated pricing numbers from prior bid submission error: how to fix it

An RFP agent hallucinating pricing from a prior bid needs strict data boundaries: each bid gets its own context, and pricing must cite its source bid. Add a verification pass that checks every number against the current bid documents. Cross-bid contamination is a silent killer in proposals.

rfp agent hallucinated pricing numbers from prior bid submission error

When to use this skill

• Drafts contain pricing from old bids
• Numbers look right but come from the wrong deal

When not to use this skill

• Pricing is wrong within the current bid (a comprehension issue)
• The agent invents numbers with no source at all (broader grounding)

Tool compatibility

Agent bid drafting with pricing data. Related area: agent output evaluation and grounding checks. Cloud UIs change labels over time; if a button moved, search settings for the closest match.

Before you start

• Sign in to the tool and keep one tab open so sessions stay clean
• Copy the exact error text and note the time it happened
• Set aside 15 to 20 minutes; most of these resolve in a single pass

Quick diagnosis

Make sure this is the right skill before you invest the 15 minutes.

• If you are dealing with drafts contain pricing from old bids, start at step 1 below.
• If instead pricing is wrong within the current bid (a comprehension issue), stop here; you need a different skill.
• If neither quite matches, compare your screen against the verbatim error block at the top; that block is exactly what this skill covers.

Fix it in steps

1. Isolate bid contexts

Ensure the agent only sees documents for the current bid.

Expected: prior bid data not in context at all.

2. Require pricing citations

Demand a source document reference for every price in the draft.

Expected: uncited numbers flagged immediately.

3. Verify against current documents

Check each price against the current bid pricing sources.

Expected: all numbers traceable to this bid.

4. Review before submission

Have a human review pricing before the bid goes out.

Expected: no cross-bid numbers survive.

Confirm each step worked

Run through this checklist before moving on. If a check fails, redo that step instead of pushing ahead.

• Step 1 (isolate bid contexts): Expected: prior bid data not in context at all.
• Step 2 (require pricing citations): Expected: uncited numbers flagged immediately.
• Step 3 (verify against current documents): Expected: all numbers traceable to this bid.
• Step 4 (review before submission): Expected: no cross-bid numbers survive.

Quick recap

1. Isolate bid contexts
2. Require pricing citations
3. Verify against current documents
4. Review before submission

Still stuck?

Gather three things: the exact error text, the time it happened, and what changed just before it broke. Check the vendor status page for an active incident. Then open a support ticket with those three things; it cuts the back-and-forth in half. For agent runs, attach the last 50 lines of the agent log too, since the loop or timeout signature in the log usually names the cause.

Variant phrasings

agent hallucinating pricing

Isolate contexts and cite every number. If this matches what you saw, the steps above apply as written.

pricing from prior bid in draft

Cross-bid contamination needs human review gates. If this matches what you saw, the steps above apply as written.

Why it happens

Agents with long memories blend pricing across bids that look similar. Without explicit context isolation, last quarter numbers feel as true as this quarter numbers to the model.

Edge cases

• Pricing errors in submitted bids are contractual risks, treat them severely
• Archive prior bids out of the working context
• Automated price checks beat manual review for large tables

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_FD047lvyNHvDKUF-vUPowA