VTS Pioneers the Use of AI Agents to Boost the Efficiency of Subsidy Oversight

With an annual subsidy budget of €18 billion and more than 60,000 beneficiaries, VTS faced a major challenge. Subsidy audits are time-consuming and come with significant administrative overhead. By leveraging AI to handle the repetitive workload, auditors can refocus on their core mission: conducting the audit itself.

AI Speeds Up Audits and Increases Efficiency

To develop the AI agents, VTS partnered with Cegeka as its IT provider. The concept originated during a hackathon where Cegeka and Microsoft presented the initial idea to VTS, which was later refined into a fully operational solution. As a result, invoices can now be reviewed in just 6 seconds, and several key processes have been streamlined — delivering outcomes that exceed expectations. Today, VTS is able to assess all submitted supporting documents.

“With these AI agents, built on Microsoft technology, we’re helping VTS significantly accelerate the audit process and reduce the workload for auditors. The agents handle repetitive tasks such as pulling information from external sources and scanning and validating invoices, giving auditors the ability to focus on what truly matters: the audit itself. This project clearly demonstrates how technology can make public services more efficient and more transparent,” says Jo Neetesonne, Department Manager at Cegeka.

Driving Societal Impact With AI Agents

“With a relatively small investment, we’ve substantially increased our efficiency and enabled our auditors to focus on high-value reviews. The number of completed audits has risen sharply, and we’re looking forward to even more positive results in the months ahead,” says Tom Blockmans, Inspector of Finance.

“These AI agents mark an important step toward more efficient audits at VTS. Our goal is to expand this solution across multiple entities within the Flemish government, allowing us not only to optimize processes but also to create broader societal impact,” says Kim Peeters, Director Flanders Digital at Cegeka.

With this innovative approach, VTS is taking a major step toward disruptive innovation with significant social impact: enabling more efficient and transparent use of public funds while strengthening fraud detection.