Cyber Related Funding in the Defense-Wide FY 2023 Test, R&D, and Procurement Budget Requests

This week’s post continues my deep-dive into the fiscal 2023 budget requests published by the agencies that make up the Department of Defense’s Fourth Estate. Last week’s post focused on proposed cyber investment in the Fourth Estate’s (a.k.a. Defense-Wide) Operations and Maintenance budget request, this week’s post takes a look at similar data found in the Operational Testing (OTE), Research, Development, Evaluation, and Test (RDT&E), and Procurement budget requests.

As an aside, the RDT&E and Procurement requests are typically considered to be “new” money for the upcoming fiscal year even though the vast majority of programs listed are already in flight. The GovWin Federal Market Analysis team analyzes these budget requests using a series of keywords to identify specific types of technologies being used, such as cloud computing, cybersecurity, advanced analytics, etc. The numbers shown here, therefore, are for programs that contain a significant cyber investment, even though the total program budget might not be dedicated entirely to investment in that specific technology.

All FY 2023 data is compared to FY 2021 data as that is the most complete fiscal year reported.

Total Requested Cyber-Related Budgets

Here is the data divided by budget activity. All told, it shows that the agencies of the Fourth Estate requested $3.1B in funding for programs with identifiable cyber-related activities. This total is down 5.8% from the $3.3B in funding these same agencies received in FY 2021.  

The OTE budget, that requested by the DOD’s Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, remains relatively stable, albeit down by $6M in FY 2023 vs. FY 2021. The same does not hold true for the cyber-related Procurement request, which totals $427M less in FY 2023 vs. the funding received in FY 2021. RDT&E is the only area where cyber-related funding will see an increase, including $243M more than the Fourth Estate received in FY 2021.

Requested Cyber-Related Budgets by Organization

Broken out by agency, the data shows where the increases and decreases noted above can be found.

Agencies requesting the largest cyber-related budget increases include the Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP) (+46%), the National Security Agency (NSA) (+22%), and the Joint Staff (TJS) (+21%).

The increases at these organizations are related to the following programs:

• CBDP: Chemical, Biological, and Radiological, and Nuclear Information System (CBRN IS) and Software Support Activity (SSA) - $5.8M in new funding requested.
• NSA: Information Systems Security Program (ISSP) - $206M in new funding requested.
• TJS: Joint C5 Capability Development, Integration, and interoperability Assessments - $10.6M in new funding requested.

Agencies requesting the largest cyber-related budget decreases include the Washington Headquarters Service (WHS) (-100%), the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) (-75%), and U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) (-27%).

Lastly, the decreases are related to the following programs:

• WHS: Defense Digital Service (DDS) Development Support - $1M in RDT&E funding removed due to shift of program to the new Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer and the Office of the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer.
• DLA: Major Equipment - $366M less in Procurement funding thanks to the completion of work related to Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE).
• SOCOM: Manned Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance – A $40M reduction in RDT&E funding for Manned ISR as the agency focuses on improving unmanned systems.