diff --git a/src/backend/core/resource_server/authentication.py b/src/backend/core/resource_server/authentication.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7be60e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/core/resource_server/authentication.py
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+"""Resource Server Authentication"""
+
+import base64
+import binascii
+import logging
+
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
+
+from mozilla_django_oidc.contrib.drf import OIDCAuthentication
+
+from .backend import ResourceServerBackend
+from .clients import AuthorizationServerClient
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class ResourceServerAuthentication(OIDCAuthentication):
+    """Authenticate clients using the token received from the authorization server."""
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        super().__init__()
+
+        authorization_server_client = AuthorizationServerClient(
+            url=settings.OIDC_OP_URL,
+            verify_ssl=settings.OIDC_VERIFY_SSL,
+            timeout=settings.OIDC_TIMEOUT,
+            proxy=settings.OIDC_PROXY,
+            url_jwks=settings.OIDC_OP_JWKS_ENDPOINT,
+            url_introspection=settings.OIDC_OP_INTROSPECTION_ENDPOINT,
+        )
+
+        self.backend = ResourceServerBackend(authorization_server_client)
+
+    def get_access_token(self, request):
+        """Retrieve and decode the access token from the request.
+
+        This method overcharges the 'get_access_token' method from the parent class,
+        to support service providers that would base64 encode the bearer token.
+        """
+
+        access_token = super().get_access_token(request)
+
+        try:
+            access_token = base64.b64decode(access_token).decode("utf-8")
+        except (binascii.Error, TypeError):
+            pass
+
+        return access_token
diff --git a/src/backend/people/settings.py b/src/backend/people/settings.py
index 9c22936..f28997d 100755
--- a/src/backend/people/settings.py
+++ b/src/backend/people/settings.py
@@ -218,6 +218,7 @@ class Base(Configuration):
 
     REST_FRAMEWORK = {
         "DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES": (
+            "core.resource_server.authentication.ResourceServerAuthentication",
             "mozilla_django_oidc.contrib.drf.OIDCAuthentication",
             "rest_framework.authentication.SessionAuthentication",
         ),