The Department of Defense’s (DOD) chief information officer (CIO) has approved a new instruction establishing policy, responsibilities, and procedures for information technology category management (ITCM) across the department.
Under the Trump administration, the DOD adopted War Department as a secondary title following a presidential executive order.
DOD CIO Kirsten Davies approved the instruction on July 23, and it took effect July 29. The instruction cancels a July 26, 2000, memorandum on acquiring commercially available software and establishes a department-wide framework for managing IT acquisitions.
The instruction applies to all DOD components and covers IT services, hardware, software, licenses, and other IT assets, including national security systems within DOD authorities and defense business systems.
The policy directs the department to buy common IT goods and services as an organized entity, establish enterprise capabilities that achieve economies of scale, and maintain a secure cyber posture throughout category management processes.
The department will also identify opportunities to optimize and consolidate IT purchasing through core enterprise technology agreements, enterprise software agreements, and joint enterprise licensing agreements.
Over the last few months, the department has already begun pursuing the type of enterprise-wide purchasing approach outlined in the instruction.
Last month, the DOD announced a $7 billion enterprise software agreement with Oracle. In May 2026, the department awarded Dell Federal Systems a $9.7 billion Core Enterprise Technology Agreement establishing a unified contract vehicle for Microsoft products and services.
The instruction also creates new governance bodies to oversee the department’s ITCM strategy.
The policy establishes the ITCM Cross Functional Board (CFB) as the senior executive-level body overseeing specified acquisition procedures.
The board reports to the DOD CIO Executive Board and is chaired by the deputy chief information officer for the information enterprise. Standing members will represent the departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, along with the Defense Health Agency, Defense Information Systems Agency, Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Manpower Data Center, and Missile Defense Agency. Other DOD components may be added as needed.
It also establishes the DOD Enterprise Software Initiative Working Group to execute the department’s ITCM strategy.
The working group will focus on four areas:
- Optimizing IT asset prices and performance through demand management processes, including uniform refresh cycles and aggregated buying events
- Reducing unaligned spending and increasing the use of best-in-class solutions while considering socioeconomic responsibilities
- Minimizing or eliminating restrictive software licensing practices affecting cloud computing efforts where possible
- Standardizing and consolidating laptop and desktop configurations while ensuring components use authorized contract vehicles
The group includes representatives from all DOD components and is co-chaired by designees of the secretary of the Navy and the chair of the CFB.