The Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office has scaled AI, data capabilities and other digital tools since launching the Open Data and Applications Government-owned Interoperable Repositories, or Open DAGIR, construct in May 2024.
“Over the last six months, CDAO has created a modular, interoperable ecosystem of digital capabilities for different use cases at the DoD,” Chief Digital and AI Officer Radha Plumb said in a statement published Friday.
“From enterprise analytics to strategic command and control to the tactical edge, the Open DAGIR approach is paying dividends in getting our warfighters the digital capabilities they need,” she added.
Applying Open DAGIR Across 3 Lines of Effort
In the past six months, CDAO said it has implemented the Open DAGIR approach across three lines of effort: strategic command and control; enterprise analytics; and edge data integration services.
Under the first line of effort, the office created onboarding pathways for capabilities from the government and third-party vendors onto the Maven Smart Systems data environment.
For enterprise analytics, DOD is moving from a single-award contract for its platform of record, Advana, to a multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract and has invested in the DevSecOps pipeline to accelerate updates and boost throughput from various developers.
For the third line of effort, CDAO is scaling a tactical edge data integration services platform that will allow warfighters to share data during command and control. The office is advancing the development of an app store and a common development environment to enable end users to access various apps.
AI Infrastructure: CDAO’s Next Line of Effort
“Our next line of effort focused on investing in AI infrastructure will help accelerate the Department’s ability to leverage frontier AI capabilities in months instead of years, translating to continued and enduring advantage for our military,” Plumb stated.
In mid-January, CDAO plans to release an initial draft of metrics to monitor progress to actioning Open DAGIR principles to drive data-based decision-making and transparency.
In the spring, the office will host an industry day to accelerate DOD’s partnerships with AI infrastructure providers and AI labs.
What Is Open DAGIR?
In May 2024, CDAO launched Open DAGIR as a multivendor ecosystem that could enable government and industry to integrate and scale data, AI and analytics capabilities as well as protect industry’s intellectual property and government data ownership.
