DIA awarded the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) contract to Bigelow Aerospace's BAASS subsidiary in September 2008, beginning what would later become AATIP. The contract award itself was not publicly disclosed at the time.

The AAWSAP contract existence became public only after the December 2017 NYT/TTSA stories named AATIP, and the 38 DIA reference documents (DIRDs) produced under AAWSAP were FOIA-released in 2018-19. The 2008 award itself was a procurement event, not a disclosure event, the disclosure happened in 2017 and 2018-19.