The Thesis

The U.S. federal government is the largest customer in the world, awarding nearly $1 trillion in contracts every year. For the 200k+ government contractors (“GovCons”) competing for available awards, the stakes are enormous as a single award can be worth hundreds of millions of dollars or more. However, the procurement process is complex, expensive and unforgiving. Sales cycles are long, compliance requirements are rigid and win rates are notoriously low. A single contract pursuit spans more than 100 compliance-heavy steps and can cost GovCons between 1 – 5% of the award’s total value (which can total millions of dollars), just to submit a response with no certainty of winning. While the rewards are outsized, so are the costs and complexities of competing.

Most GovCons rely on outdated, manual workflows subject to human error. For a single bid, Business Development, Capture and Proposal teams spend weeks sifting through sprawling solicitation databases, parsing RFPs that often stretch hundreds of pages, drafting exhaustive proposals in Word and tracking complex compliance requirements in spreadsheets. Despite the effort, GovCons often lose by failing to address an overlooked requirement or producing a generic response that fails to stand out. Or worse, GovCons submit a “no-bid” because teams lack the time and resources to respond, even when the opportunity is a perfect strategic fit.

Too often, even the most qualified GovCons lose for the wrong reasons because outdated tools and manual workflows can’t keep pace with the complexity of modern procurement. This widening execution gap has created a clear opportunity for technology to redefine how contractors compete and win in federal markets.

Introducing Procurement Sciences

Procurement Sciences (“PSci”) is leveraging AI to rewrite the playbook for the next generation of government contracting.

Founded in 2022 by Christian Ferreira, PSci is building an AI-native operating system that automates the entire contracting lifecycle, from identification to delivery. Leveraging LLMs, PSci enables contractors to:

• FIND: Automatically surface, track and capture the most relevant and winnable opportunities across government databases
• WIN: Generate fully compliant, high-quality proposals in minutes vs. weeks
• DELIVER: Manage contract performance, compliance and reporting post-award, creating a closed-loop system that continuously improves future win rates

By transforming the contracting process from a manual, linear workflow into an intelligent, data-driven system of action, PSci is helping GovCons win more efficiently and predictably.

However, winning in GovCon requires more than simply applying AI. It demands domain expertise and a deep understanding of how the procurement cycle actually works. As former contractors, PSci’s team has spent years embedded in the GovCon world, understanding its unique pain points, security requirements and regulatory complexities. That experience is reflected in the product’s DNA. Unlike generic AI tools, PSci was purpose-built by GovCon, for GovCon. Its workflows mirror how BD, Capture, Proposal and Delivery teams actually operate day to day. One customer aptly described the traditional workflow as “among the most complex, convoluted and frustrating processes out there.”  By encoding how GovCon’s truly work, PSci turns institutional knowledge into a repeatable system of advantage.

And the results speak for itself. PSci customers are seeing meaningful and immediate improvements in efficiency, quality and competitiveness. RFP cycles that once took weeks can now be completed in a fraction of the time, as proposal automation reduces pursuit costs and frees up teams to focus on strategy and differentiation rather than laborious drafting and paperwork. By embedding AI throughout the contracting lifecycle, PSci increases throughput and turns historical performance data into a lasting competitive edge. In a market where even small improvements in win rate can translate into millions in incremental revenue, the ROI is immediate and compounding.

At Catalyst, we’re focused on backing application-layer platforms that leverage AI to automate high-friction business workflows in demanding industries. Procurement Sciences is reshaping the economics of the GovCon go-to-market motion, creating an unfair competitive divide between those who evolve and those who don’t.

We are proud and excited to partner with Christian and the entire PSci team as they continue to evolve into the System of Action for how work gets done with the U.S. Government.