On March 6, 2025, Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the DoD to embrace a rapid software acquisition pathway using commercial solutions and “Other Transaction Authority” to speed up the procurement of digital tools for warfighters. This, combined with Hegseth’s pledge to prioritize AI investments, broadens the pipeline for AI acquisition and will boost innovation in the field.
“Software is at the core of every weapon and supporting system we field to remain the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world. While commercial industry has rapidly adjusted to a software-defined product reality, DoD has struggled to reframe our acquisition process from a hardware-centric to a software-centric approach,” wrote Hegseth in a March 6 memo to leaders. “When it comes to software acquisition, we are overdue in pivoting to a performance-based outcome and, as such, it is the Warfighter who pays the price.”
During the first Trump administration, the DoD set up a Software Acquisition Pathway (SWP) that enables the department to acquire software differently than they acquire hardware. Hegseth wants to make sure that all DoD entities leverage the SWP as the “preferred pathway for all software development components of business and weapon system programs.”
“This will enable us to immediately shift to a construct designed to keep pace with commercial technology advancements, leverage the entire commercial ecosystem for defense systems, rapidly deliver scaled digital capabilities, and evolve our systems faster than adversaries can adapt on the battlefield,” he wrote.
Further, Hegseth is facilitating rapid acquisition by “directing the use of Commercial Solutions Openings and Other Transactions as the default solicitation and award approaches for acquiring capabilities under the SWP.” This approach has been used effectively by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to bring commercial firms into the Pentagon and allows for rapid prototyping and follow-on production contracts for new tech.
“This will enable us to immediately shift to a construct designed to keep pace with commercial technology advancements, leverage the entire commercial ecosystem for defense systems, rapidly deliver scaled digital capabilities, and evolve our systems faster than adversaries can adapt on the battlefield,” Hegseth wrote.
To illustrate the effectiveness of these types of mechanisms, a senior defense official noted that since 2016, DIU has awarded more than 500 OTAs using the commercial solutions opening process. About 88 percent of those deals went to nontraditional vendors and 68 percent to small businesses. There is no dollar-value limit to OTA’s for software. The unit’s goal is to get vendors on contract in less than 90 days.
All of this dovetails with recommendations the Ronald Reagan Institute detailed for 2025 when issuing its National Security Innovation Base Report Card earlier in the year.
This is all very good news for decision support AI and for smaller companies like ours. It should break down bottlenecks and make acquisition easier, but more importantly, it will get much needed systems to the warfighter sooner.
The underlying purpose for AI software like Primer’s enterprise platform is to speed information collection and analysis so those in national defense communities can make critical decisions faster and with more confidence. AI is prioritized by the Trump administration for both the efficiencies and possibilities it enables. We look forward to seeing how Hegseth’s orders impact our industry and our ability to support the national security needs of our country.
