On April 24, Ms. Katie Arrington, performing the duties of the DoD Chief Information Officer (CIO), signed a memo titled "Accelerating Secure Software," which establishes the Software Fast Track (SWFT) Initiative for the Department. This effort is aligned with Secretary Hegseth's guidance (Directing Modern Software Acquisition to Maximize Lethality, March 6, 2025) and will reform the way the Department acquires, tests, and authorizes secure software.
Current systems for software procurement were developed for a different environment and using processes that are outdated and slow, with little to no supply chain visibility. This guidance directs the office of the CIO (OCIO) to work with the Under Secretaries of Acquisition and Sustainment, Research and Engineering, and Intelligence and Security to address these critical areas. Improving our ability to bring high quality secure software to the Warfighter rapidly will greatly increase the lethality and resilience of the Joint Force.
This action directs the OCIO to undertake a 90-day sprint to develop a framework and implementation plan to define clear, specific: (1) cybersecurity and SCRM requirements; (2) rigorous software security verification processes; (3) secure information sharing mechanisms; and (4) Federal Government-led risk determinations to expedite the cybersecurity authorizations for secure, rapid software adoption.
Today, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced three Requests for Information (RFI) to gather market information and capabilities in accelerating secure software delivery to the federal government. This is an important step forward in transforming how the U.S. government verifies software security and informs risk-based decisions when introducing new capabilities to the DoD. This puts the nation on a path to rebuild military capabilities.
It is absolutely mission one that we arm our warfighters with the best cutting-edge weapons available, but we don't need duplicative and wasteful processes to do that. This is just one example of how we are going to deliver on the President's promise to rebuild the military and restore the Warrior Ethos throughout the Department.
To read the memo on Accelerating Secure Software, please click here: https://dodcio.defense.gov/Portals/0/Documents/Library/Memo-AcceleratingSecureSoftware.pdf
To read the Request for Information (RFI) – Software Fast Track (SWFT) Tools please click here: https://sam.gov/opp/753c9598b7904657b528e9de39efdee8/view
To read the RFI – Software Fast Track (SWFT) External Assessment Methodologies please click here: https://sam.gov/opp/4a79c3e777c24d14a69d6c090950a755/view
To read the RFI – Software Fast Track (SWFT) Automation & Artificial Intelligence (AI) please click here: https://sam.gov/opp/7ca9ff30bad5407db7de079f7bf397c0/view
