Authorium’s Innovation and Research with the U.S. Air Force Proves Impact for Federal, State, County, and Local Government Usage

Cut acquisition timelines by 20% with Authorium’s platform

Authorium recently completed a proof-of-concept with the Department of Defense – its focus to accelerate procurement and acquisition workflows by leveraging no-code automation and AI technologies. Since 2023, Authorium has partnered with the Air Force Research Laboratory as part of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. In early 2025, Authorium’s platform was put to the test – a rigorous six-month pilot program drew to a close and the platform was evaluated by top contracting officers, program managers, and program engineers.

The results of this evaluation show incredible value across operational workflows – Authorium eliminates bottlenecks, reduces rework, and standardizes approvals.

The test outcomes affirm what state and local governments using Authorium have shared: Authorium’s platform streamlines processes, delivers improved user experience, and ultimately enables teams to complete procurement processes in less time.

Proof-of-Concept Results

Departmental Challenges

Results with Authorium

Long Procurement Cycles: Acquisition packages required teams to spend months to draft documents from scratch, navigate fragmented systems, and manually ensure compliance.

Average contract cycle: 165 days

Mounting Administrative Burden: Facing headcount reductions, the Air Force Research Lab needed to maintain or improve output with fewer resources

Teams struggled with repeatable, inconsistent workflows

Limited visibility into funding status and approval bottlenecks

100% of users said Authorium would reduce the total time required to complete a solicitation (ranging from several weeks to more than a month of time saved). 63% felt more confident in compliance due to built-in validation

During pilot: 120 days (~20% faster per package)

The no-code platform required no additional staff, nor developers to implement
Users cited:
- Fewer approval delays
- Easier formatting and streamlined routing
- Lower cognitive load
- More confidence in final outputs
- Clearer workflow visibility

Project Timeline

December 2023

Authorium is selected for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Award: Phase 1 by the Air Force Research Laboratory – the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force
Authorium’s focus: automate the development of complex RFP packages to address the most pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force

August 2024

Authorium competes and wins a SBIR Award: Phase 2 and becomes part of the first cohort of AI for acquisition proof-of-concepts within the Department of Defense.
Phase 2 focuses on accelerating acquisition workflows with AI and no-code automation.

Late 2024-Early 2025

Over the course of six months, the Air Force Research Laboratory discovers that Authorium is much more than an acquisition tool and expands Authorium’s use cases to include program funding, contract management, and mission support activities, such as onboarding and travel justifications.
The effort was made possible through the leadership of Dr. Cherish Lesko, Head of AI for Acquisition at the Air Force Research Laboratory Digital Capabilities Directorate.

April 2025

The Air Force Research Laboratory tabulates evaluations by key program staff of the six-month pilot and releases the test results.
As Phase 2 comes to a close, the Air Force Research Lab prepares to scale Authorium across additional teams.

Critical Takeaways

Key performance indicators like time to release, routing efficiency, and overall cycle time all improved during the partnership—highlighting Authorium’s ability to turn fragmented, manual processes into streamlined, scalable systems that are ready for operational use.

While the initial focus was solicitation development, the Air Force Research Laboratory quickly identified opportunities to apply Authorium across a broad set of use cases—including program funding, contract management, research operations, and mission support.

Authorium is a scalable automation platform ready to deliver value across the entire administrative landscape. The research identified over a dozen important workflows that benefit from Authorium’s platform:

Acquisition and Requirements: market research, intake routing, source selection
Funding Management: justifications, allocations, cross-directorate visibility
Contract Management
Mission Support: travel requests, hiring, onboarding
Research Operations

Authorium is dedicated to supporting the work of government teams, from local agencies to statewide initiatives and large federal programs, including the Air Force Research Lab. No matter the department’s mission, we recognize the importance of delivering efficiency, effectiveness, visibility, and compliance to meet critical government needs.

Explore how your team can reduce cycle times, eliminate bottlenecks and increase output with positive ROI with AuthorAI or contact us to request a demo.

Authorium’s Innovation and Research with the U.S. Air Force Proves Impact for Federal, State, County, and Local Government Usage

Cut acquisition timelines by 20% with Authorium’s platform

Proof-of-Concept Results

Project Timeline

Critical Takeaways

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