Cloud Computing Goals in the DOD’s Strategic Management Plan for FY 2022-2026

Back in March 2023, the Department of Defense published its overdue Strategic Management Plan (SMP) for Fiscal Years 2022-2023. I write that the plan was overdue because March 2023 was already two quarters into FY 2023, so the 2022 date on the plan was clearly behind the times. In any case, the new SMP provided insight into the ways the DOD intends to meet the goals and objectives of the latest National Defense Strategy over the next four years. Today’s post looks at cloud-related goals for the Defense Agencies and DOD Field Activities (DAFAs) outlined in the SMP for the next few fiscal years.

Network and Service Modernization

As of FY 2022, under the heading “Network and Service Optimization – Complete 4th Estate DOD Network (DODNET) Assessment, Migration Plans, and Phase I Migration” 4 DAFAs were to begin migrating to the network service provided by the Defense Information Systems Agency, otherwise known as the Single Service Provider.

Only 1 of 13 DAFAs began the migration in FY 2022, meaning the network consolidation effort had already fallen behind schedule by the beginning of FY 2023. Predictably, the DOD’s target for FY 2023 DAFA migration picks up where FY 2022 left off, with 3 Defense Agencies slated for migration. Another 2 are scheduled for FY 2024 and 1 for FY 2025. If DOD meets this schedule it means 7 agencies out of 13 will have migrated to the new SSP construct by the end of FY 2025. Achieving this network migration is key for Defense Agency cloud use.

Cloud and Data Center Optimization

This objective entails migrating Defense Agency applications and systems to optimal hosting environments, a process affecting 14 DAFAs, 923 apps/systems, and 61 data centers.

The DAFAs were to have migrated a total of 795 out of 923 applications and systems by the end of FY 2022. The actual number migrated came to 762. This is after starting the fiscal year with 676 migrated. Thus, DOD migrated 86 applications and systems to the cloud in FY 2022. The FY 2023 objective was to migrate 812 applications, or an additional 17 apps/systems. In FY 2024, the target is 813 and in FY 2025 it is to have all of the migrations completed.

The expected delay in FY 2024 is inexplicable. With the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability up and running by the end of FY 2023, the speed with which capabilities are migrated should rapidly accelerate.  

Accelerating Cloud Adoption

Lastly, concerning the speed of cloud adoption, the DOD expected that by the end of FY 2023 of 30% of 4th Estate systems would be modernized and cloud ready. In FY 2024, this target is expected to grow to 40%, followed by another 10% in FY 2025.

By comparison, the FY 2022 growth target for DAFA app/system migration was to increase the pace to 23%. The actual result achieved was 1%. The DOD has this to say about not meeting the stated objective: “This target was more challenging for DOD Components that invested early or were more efficient in their transition to cloud infrastructure. Measuring DOD Components by evidence of progress toward cloud adoption (both made and projected) reflected that the fundamental goal of ‘accelerate[ing] adoption of cloud-based digital infrastructure’ is being met, albeit with some challenges that will continue to be worked. The DOD plans to modify the cloud metric in future years to focus on maximizing use of cloud hosting and minimizing the need for DOD-owned and operated fixed data centers.”

Summing up, the DOD’s cloud adoption continues to face significant challenges, and this is only for the agencies that make up the 4th Estate. The JWCC, and/or DISA’s Stratus capability, are the mandated cloud solutions to be used by Defense Agencies. The data suggests they still have their work cut out for them.