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US Air Force

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air and space service branch of the United States Armed Forces. Its core mission is to provide airpower anytime, anywhere.

Business problem.

Previously, the US Air Force relied on legacy procurement systems built using outdated technology that was difficult and costly to maintain. The disjointed systems lent little visibility into enterprise data. Users had to copy and paste data between systems and rely on other manual processes, which made collaboration difficult, lengthened procurement action lead time (PALT), and led to errors.

Appian solution.

Contracting-Information Technology (CON-IT) is low-code software built on Appian and designated as the single contract writing solution to be used across the Air Force. CON-IT standardizes acquisition contract writing, reduces costs, improves efficiency on both ends of the contract, and provides flexibility for ongoing success. It also reduces training time because the same system is used throughout the organization.

Designed, developed, and deployed on the Appian Platform in less than nine months, CON-IT replaced seven legacy systems and runs in the secure, IL5-authorized Appian Government Cloud.

Updating the functionality and adhering to the latest regulatory changes is fast and easy with Appian’s low-code development tools. Automated processes eliminate manual tasks that introduce inconsistencies and errors. With more accurate, reliable data, senior leadership is able to have greater visibility, including seeing exactly how money is being spent.

In its first year, CON-IT:

  • Achieved initial cost avoidance exceeding $80 million.

  • Managed more than $10.5 billion in USAF spend.

  • Supported 4,000 system users, which grew to 5,300 by year two and is expected to grow to 10,000 as more legacy systems are sunsetted.

The Air Force’s CON-IT program is a model for successful digital transformation in the Department of Defense (DoD). Due to its success, the solution has been adopted by other federal and DoD organizations.