How Ahold Delhaize USA and Pactum are bringing agentic AI into supplier negotiations

Many procurement teams are successfully using artificial intelligence (AI) to surface insights and support decision-making, but this is only the first step. The next phase of procurement AI focuses on execution.

This is already underway at Ahold Delhaize USA . Speaking at DPW New York, Sean Sieper, Director within the Indirect Center of Excellence at Ahold Delhaize USA, explained how his team is using agentic AI. “We have begun piloting AI-supported negotiations with select suppliers,” says Sieper. “It is an important early step in how we’re exploring agentic AI responsibly, and we are encouraged by the results so far.”

The work is being delivered through Ahold Delhaize USA’s partnership with Pactum. Jim Rahill, Global Vice President of Sales at Pactum, explains: “We are delivering autonomous negotiations to Ahold Delhaize USA’s Indirect Center of Excellence, with the goal of achieving cost savings. We’re a couple of months into the relationship, and we’ve had great results so far.”

For Ahold Delhaize USA, the relationship marks an important milestone. “For us, this is about moving to practical application in a controlled environment within our team, with strong governance built in from the start. It is an important milestone for us,” says Sieper.

From recommendations to execution

That focus on doing, rather than only advising, is central to how Rahill sees the role of agentic AI in procurement. “The technology is advanced enough where it can take a data set and provide analysis or insights,” he says. “But when you involve a third party, such as a supplier in our case, that agent has to go out and do the work within the defined guardrails. Then they must bring it back and update their source systems.”

This is ultimately the promise of AI, but it’s also the most difficult thing to get right. Pactum’s execution layer is where autonomous negotiation creates real value. The aim is to identify opportunities but also act on them at scale to deliver cost savings. 

Aligning with DPW New York’s ‘Recode’ theme, Rahill sees this as an inflection point in procurement. “The world is shifting away from traditional enterprise SaaS software where companies purchase modules,” he says. “Now, agentic AI, the speed of development, and the time to value required from companies like Ahold Delhaize USA are such that you move faster to deliver value in weeks, not months.”

For Sieper, the difference is capacity. Generative AI can help people perform tasks more efficiently, but agentic AI can take on defined work so teams can focus elsewhere. “The real opportunity is helping our team scale routine activity so our associates can stay focused on strategic supplier relationships and higher-value work,” he says.

Building confidence through governance

When using AI agents to interact with a supplier, there need to be guardrails in place. The technology must operate within the rules and commercial boundaries set by the client while maintaining the supplier relationship.

This makes governance more important than ever. Not only does this protect relationships, but it enables Ahold Delhaize USA to show stakeholders how the supported negotiations are delivering value.

“Our supplier relationships are extremely important to us, and critical to our business,” Sieper says. “Transparency into how decisions are made is essential. It helps build confidence with stakeholders by making the process visible and understandable.”

For many stakeholders, this will be the first time seeing an AI agent in action. They’re seeing the real back and forth of an interaction to understand how the agent responds.

Rahill says that is often the moment when the value becomes clear. “When you see that completion, that the AI agent actually went out and did something versus just surfacing an insight, that is where the magic happens.”

Keeping humans in the loop

Both Pactum and Ahold Delhaize USA are clear that autonomous negotiation is still a journey. The point is not to remove human oversight, but to build confidence gradually.

“It is all about working with Pactum and putting in our guardrails for what we would expect from the negotiation, and then doing that at scale,” says Sieper. “Today, we maintain full oversight of each negotiation and interaction. Over time, as confidence builds and governance matures, the level of review can evolve appropriately.”

Pactum takes that governance process seriously, particularly when an AI agent is executing on behalf of a department for the first time. “It is a comfort level the client has to achieve before they reduce the amount of human engagement,” Rahill says. “At the beginning, we recommended it because we want to prove and show that this technology can be leveraged at scale.”

From pilots to outcomes

The pressure to prove value from AI is increasing. “We have cost, capacity and external considerations,” Sieper explains. “There’s a clear expectation to demonstrate measurable value, while ensuring we implement these capabilities responsibly and protect our supplier relationships.”

Rahill says that expectation is not unique to Ahold Delhaize USA. Across the market, procurement leaders are under pressure to show results, and to show them quickly. “It is no longer acceptable for it to take six months to implement and another six months for an ROI to be achieved,” he adds. “With the pace of change and how fast these tools are innovating, we need to prove value quickly.”

Even so, both Sieper and Rahill are cautious about overhyping the maturity of agentic AI in procurement. Sieper says the function still has “a long way to go”, with investment barriers, pricing structures and governance questions still to be worked through. Rahill also pushes back on the idea that agentic AI will make traditional enterprise software obsolete in the near term.

The more immediate challenge is understanding where to apply the technology responsibly. Pactum starts with questions such as which suppliers, categories, and opportunities can deliver value most quickly. Within procurement at Ahold Delhaize USA, it means starting slowly, building confidence, and then progressing as the organisation becomes more comfortable.

A forum for change

As any industry navigates technological change, there’s a need for practical, grounded conversations. This is part of what makes DPW New York so valuable. Sieper says the event gives procurement teams a chance to spend time with vendors and practitioners working through the same problems.

“People feel more comfortable moving from booth to booth and having meaningful conversations,” Rahill adds. “Professional and deep conversations, but in a more relaxed setting.”

For Ahold Delhaize USA and Pactum, that environment reflects the wider procurement AI journey. The opportunity is not simply to experiment with new tools, but to identify where agentic AI can deliver real outcomes, build trust through governance, and help procurement teams move from insight to execution.