Pentagon CIO issues department-wide directive on IT category management

Department of Defense CIO Kirsten Davies recently approved a far-reaching directive laying out policy, responsibilities and procedures for information technology category management and digital modernization investments.

The new guidance follows in the footsteps of other Trump administration tech-buying initiatives meant to streamline enterprise IT procurement and leverage economies of scale across the government’s massive footprint, like the General Services Administration’s OneGov initiative for federal civilian agencies. 

DoW Instruction 8000.02, which was approved by Davies on July 23 and became effective July 29, applies to all components of the department. It covers “all IT assets, including IT services, hardware, software, licenses, and associated components, in all IT categories (including national security systems (NSS) within DoW authorities and defense business systems) relevant to DoW mission and operations,” the directive states, using an acronym to refer to the Department of War — the Trump administration’s preferred name for the Department of Defense.

IT category management policies emphasized in the document include implementing a coordinated department-wide strategy that maximizes the use of best-in-class purchasing and reduces duplication of efforts; buying common IT goods and services; creating enterprise capabilities that reap economies of scale and common operational benefits; and implementing management solutions that include “automation of IT asset discovery tools.”

“DoW Components will use enterprise capabilities before pursuing individual IT investments unless mission or cost dictate otherwise,” the instruction states, adding that the department will pursue ITCM “optimization and consolidation” including via core enterprise technology agreements, enterprise software agreements, and joint enterprise licensing agreements.

The Pentagon has already been pursuing high-dollar deals along these lines. For example, last week officials announced a $7 billion enterprise software agreement (ESA) with Oracle. Back in May, the department awarded Dell Federal Systems a $9.7 billion core enterprise technology agreement establishing a unified contract vehicle for Microsoft services.

The new directive notes that officials must ensure that cyber supply chain risk management processes are applied to ITCM acquisition programs.

A key component of the DOD CIO’s digital modernization efforts is the Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) aimed at saving money and facilitating the purchase of software, IT hardware and services from commercial entities. The new instruction states that program managers and acquisition officials must use core enterprise technology agreements “to the maximum extent practical” and assess the suitability of using various “best-in-class purchasing solutions” — such as federal category management procurement vehicles, DOD-wide joint enterprise licensing agreements and DOD component-level enterprise software agreements — when acquiring commercial IT.

“The DoW aims to enhance Department buying power by presenting a unified voice to industry and establishing enterprise agreements with commercial vendors that offer singular and equitable pricing for DoW stakeholders. These agreements will feature negotiated terms and conditions, a streamlined acquisition process for licensing, and robust hardware and software license management,” the directive states.

The instruction establishes the ITCM Cross Functional Board, chaired by the Pentagon’s deputy CIO for the information enterprise, as the senior executive decision body and the ESI Working Group as the lead agent for implementing the department’s strategy.

The working group — filled by representatives from all DOD components — will be expected to focus on optimizing price and performance for IT assets; reducing unaligned spend; adopting best-in-class solutions; addressing restrictive software licensing practices on cloud computing efforts; and standardizing and consolidating laptop and desktop configurations.

“The DoW ESI Working Group’s effectiveness lies in its ability to increase the number of DoW organizations using approved DoW ESAs, achieve significant cost reductions from current prices, satisfy DoW organizations’ requirements, and locate funding to support DoW ESAs,” the instruction states.

The panel will be co-chaired by a designee of the chair of the cross-functional board and a designee of the secretary of the Navy.