# Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer (CDAO) - Dem/Val Activities — Program Element 0604123D8Z

**Program element:** 0604123D8Z  
**Component:** Defense-Wide  
**Appropriation:** 0400 — RDT&E, Defense-Wide  
**Budget Activity:** 5 — System Development & Demonstration  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604123D8Z

## Summary

Defense-Wide funding ramps 24% to a $11.2M request in FY2027, sustained across the five-year plan. In the FY2027 defense authorization, the House funded it in full; the Senate funded it in full; House appropriators added 98% (to $22.2M). Management Innovation Pilots leads the industry work.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 330.3 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 9.1 |
| FY2027 | Request | 11.2 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 10.2 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 17.6 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 20.2 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 20.7 |

> Estimate types are not summed — the profile mixes actuals, enacted law, the request, and outyear projections.

## Congressional marks (FY2027)

| Stage | Marked ($M) | Change ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| Request | 11.2 | — |
| House NDAA (HASC) | 11.2 | +0.0 |
| Senate NDAA (SASC) | 11.2 | +0.0 |
| House Approps (HAC-D) | 22.2 | +11.0 |

> FY2027 NDAA authorization marks, as of 2026-07-27. Not appropriations or final law.

## Projects (3)

| Project | Title | FY2025 actual | FY2026 enacted | FY2027 request | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 786 | Acquisition Ecosystem | 0.0 | 6.9 | 8.6 | +24% |
| 084 | Management Innovation Pilots | 0.0 | 2.1 | 2.6 | +21% |
| 067 | AI/ML Demonstration & Validation | 330.3 | 0.0 | — | — |

> Projects are the summable leaves: the program element total is their sum, never added to it.

### Project 786 — Acquisition Ecosystem

Funding for Acquisition Ecosystem leverages digital and AI technologies to improve acquisition processes and provides training to the acquisition workforce on how to procure digital and AI technologies more effectively. Streamline commercial data and AI company access to DoW contracts via the Tradewinds Acquisition Ecosystem Solution Marketplace and Commercial Solutions Opportunity/Other Transaction Authority vehicles to rapidly field data and AI cutting-edge capabilities to warfighters. The goal is to develop, sustain, and share across the acquisition workforce acquisition approaches that enable greater agility, speed, and mission utility when procuring digital and software-based technologies. ​

**Named R-3 performers** (share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total, so they need not reach 100%)**:** Innovet (2.0, 23%), Bidscale (1.6, 18%), Pryon (1.1, 13%), ASI (0.4, 5.1%).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acquisition Ecosystem | — | 6.9 | 8.6 |

> R-2A activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. Coverage is partial, so count them, never total them.

### Project 084 — Management Innovation Pilots

This is a continuation of the initial FY 2024 Management Innovation Pilot (H.R. 118-121) and seeks to improve warfighter lethality and DoW efficiency by using data, analytics, and AI to modernize business practices across CDAO and DoW.

**Named R-3 performers** (share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total, so they need not reach 100%)**:** Management Innovation Pilots (2.6, 100%).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management Innovation Pilots | 0.0 | 2.1 | 2.6 |

> R-2A activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. Coverage is partial, so count them, never total them.

### Project 067 — AI/ML Demonstration & Validation

CDAO’s Foundational Enablers efforts in this PE include: • Acquisition Ecosystem: provides rapid, effective, and efficient acquisition support to CDAO and DoW at large (through decentralized offerings) by providing contracting capabilities, guidance, and training for the acquisition workforce on AI. The CDAO Acquisition Ecosystem provides several types of contracting mechanisms / vehicles such as CSOs, OTAs, BOAs, and BPAs; expedited contracting processes; and AI-driven tools to streamline federal procurements. (Moves to project code 786 in FY 2026.) • Advana Platform: Advana is DoW’s enterprise data acquisition, data operations, and data analytics capabilities within a government and military-owned environment hosted in DoW and NGA clouds, as well as available at the edge. Advana delivers 24/7 continuous operations on NIPR, SIPR, JWICS, SUNet, and Edge environments and supports a rapidly growing user community that now exceeds 100,000+ users, 500+ data connections, hosts the DoW Federated Data Catalog, hosts the DSD Pulse applications, and provides a DevSecOps pipeline to field 3rd party applications on DoW data. The “Creating Data Advantage” Memo, signed by DSD on 5 May 2021, directs that “The Advancing Analytics (Advana) platform is the single enterprise authoritative data management and analytics platform for the Secretary of War, Deputy Secretary of War, and Principal Staff Assistants (PSAs), with inputs from all DoW Components”. (Moves to new BA08 Pilot PE 0608140D8Z in FY 2026) • Secure Unclassified Network (SUNet) Enterprise: SUNet is a National Security System used as an AI development environment and multi-national collaboration & data sharing environment for non-traditional partners (e.g., Sky Blue). Its unique capabilities include: - Unique and Extensible US Government Platform: Designed as an Open Architecture, Non-Proprietary USG capability - Internet accessible, GIG-Waiver precludes special hardware/software required to access, alternative MFA - Supports commercial, non-traditional development, and non-CAC multi-national partners; government (IL-5) and Industry Data Protection; Hybrid, On-Prem, Multi-cloud Enterprise.

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundational Enablers Efforts | 330.3 | — | — |

> R-2A activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. Coverage is partial, so count them, never total them.

## Where the FY2027 request goes

| Category | Share | $M |
|---|---|---|
| Industry primes | 69% | 7.7 |
| Government labs & warfare centers | 24% | 2.7 |
| Other / unspecified | 6.5% | 0.7 |

**Top named industry performers:** Management Innovation Pilots ($2.6M, 23%), Innovet ($2.0M, 18%), Bidscale ($1.6M, 14%), Pryon ($1.1M, 10%), ASI ($0.4M, 3.9%).

> R-3 exhibit contract funding, not USAspending obligations.

## Mission & acquisition strategy

CDAO’s Foundational Enablers efforts in this PE include: • Acquisition Ecosystem: provides rapid, effective, and efficient acquisition support to CDAO and DoW at large (through decentralized offerings) by providing contracting capabilities, guidance, and training for the acquisition workforce on AI. The CDAO Acquisition Ecosystem provides several types of contracting mechanisms / vehicles such as CSOs, OTAs, BOAs, and BPAs; expedited contracting processes; and AI-driven tools to streamline federal procurements.

The CDAO acquisition, management, and contracting strategy follows guidance outlined in the DoW 5000 series directives, Other Transaction Authorities (OTA), Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and FAR supplement policies and procedures. Management uses project management tools and meetings to ensure delivery of stated capabilities and performance criteria.

## Related program elements

- [1203010SF — Space Force IT, Data Analytics, Digital Solutions](https://hitchintel.com/programs/1203010SF) (Space Force)
- [0604133D8Z — Alpha-1 Development Activities](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604133D8Z) (Defense-Wide)
- [0604802A — Weapons and Munitions - Eng Dev](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604802A) (Army)
- [0604797D8Z — Joint Energetics Transition Office (JETO)](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604797D8Z) (Defense-Wide)

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Office of the Secretary of Defense RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-3, PE 0604123D8Z (PB PB2027); FY2027 NDAA committee marks (as of 2026-07-27).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0604123D8Z")`.

*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense. Budget figures are requests/estimates, not obligations.*