LSU Grad's AI Tool Streamlines Federal Contract Search

For startups, the first step to finding a solution is selecting the right problem.

Soon-to-be entrepreneur Charles Beam had compiled a list of 20 possibilities to which he could apply his skills as an LSU computer science graduate.

The biggest involved finding the right opportunities for federal contractors.

“At the time, I was working full-time for a government contractor. The company specialized in local and state work,” Beam said. “I constantly heard the sales team complain about the difficulty in finding contracts. They had tried a bunch of different solutions, including hiring consultants. None of them proved satisfactory.”

There was clearly a problem, and the scale was even larger at the federal level. Beam began thinking about how to solve the problem and what his firm would look like.

He created a startup, AcornBids, and enrolled in the U.S. Economic Development Administration-funded Baton Rouge Initiative for Development, Growth and Entrepreneurship (BRIDGE) program. The LSU Innovation Park initiative supports entrepreneurs and their startups, offering technical support and advice from local mentors.

“Initially, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what people wanted, and I was just going to build it,” Beam said. “The BRIDGE folks said I needed to go talk to potential customers and ask them questions like ‘If you could have any tool, what would it be?’”

Beam quickly realized what his customers wanted was slightly different than his original solution, a natural language search tool that allowed bidders to search federal contract databases without sifting through the more than 2,000 North American Industry Classification System codes for each business sector, subsector, industry and industry group.

His potential customers already had search filters for their specific category. What they wanted was a way to rapidly go through the possible jobs their searches uncovered instead of manually reviewing each one, a task that can take anywhere from 10-17 hours.

 Beam’s solution uses AI to automatically answer custom questions about every opportunity. His system instantly finds only the most relevant contracts.

“Startups like AcornBids show why the BRIDGE program is so valuable. Entrepreneurs often think they need to build the solution they first imagine, but real progress comes from confirming the real problem customers need solved,” said Jason Boudreaux, BRIDGE program manager and LSU Innovation associate director of entrepreneurial services. “Through BRIDGE, Charles discovered contractors didn’t need another search tool, they needed a faster way to pinpoint the right opportunities. That clarity is what turns an idea into a scalable business, and it’s the kind of innovation we’re proud to support.”

Beam likes his chances.

For the 2025 fiscal year, small businesses landed an estimated $700 billion in federal contracts. Forecasts call for that number to reach $835 billion for the 2026 fiscal year.

“There's a big push right now in the federal government to privatize more things, which means there’s a big opportunity for federal government contracts.” Beam said. “With more people trying to land government contracts than ever before, the old way of searching does not cut it at all.”

AcornBids customers can flesh out bid details by asking questions such as “What is a summary of this opportunity?” By asking questions, users can tailor the searches to their company’s abilities.

For example, a small firm that specializes in heat pump replacements can instantly find every heat pump replacement contract, then limit the contracts to those requiring five or less. A search that might take 10 hours or longer on SAM.gov, the official federal site for contracting, takes 15 minutes for AcornBids, Beam said.