Army Under Secretary Michael Obadal said the military branch is updating its software directive and is set to release it “in the coming weeks,” Federal News Network reported Friday.
As the Army moves closer to releasing its updated software directive, the changes signal a broader evolution in how the service approaches digital capabilities. The Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Army Summit offers an opportunity for government and industry leaders to engage on the Army’s priorities and direction. Register now!
The service plans to update the document on an annual basis to keep pace with the evolving operating environment.
What Are Army CIO Leonel Garciga’s Thoughts on the New Software Directive?
Leonel Garciga, the Army’s chief information officer and a two-time Wash100 awardee, said the upcoming software directive will include “fine-grained tuning” on low-code, no-code tools, according to Breaking Defense. He also called the directive a “living document.”
“A lot of what you’re going to see is taking the stuff that’s kind of already now institutionalized out and thinking through those new things that need to be institutionalized and putting them in,” Garciga said. “We don’t want to do one document that lives forever and like 80 percent is done so who cares at that point. So how do you take this from shelfware to something that’s more operational.”
In December 2024, the Army CIO signed five policy memos seeking to advance software modernization and accelerate cybersecurity through DevSecOps.
Why Is the Army Changing Its Software Funding Policy?
According to Obadal, the Army is also canceling its existing policy on software funding to enable the service to “apply the appropriate type of money to the applicable use case” and gain greater flexibility in how it uses procurement, operations and maintenance, research, development, testing and evaluation funds for software.
“For many years, as many of you know, we’ve been trapped by the color of money. We try to buy modern, agile software with rigid funding authorities. Predictably, it doesn’t work,” he said Thursday during the AFCEA NOVA Army IT Day event.
What Is Army Budget Activity 8?
The under secretary noted that the Army is advancing Budget Activity 8, or BA-8, to enable program managers to move beyond hardware-focused budgeting model and access funding through a software-specific appropriations category.
“We’re going to pursue Budget Activity 08 for our software, which would realign funding from various appropriations to new software and digital technology in its own budget activity,” Obadal said.
