Lloyd J. Austin III Secretary of Defence | Official website
Today, the Department of Defense (DoD) Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO), in partnership with the Office of Under Secretary of Defense Research and Engineering (OUSD R&E) Joint Fires Network (JFN) and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), launched the Open Data and Applications Government-owned Interoperable Repositories (Open DAGIR) Challenge. The initiative invites vendors to submit solutions in contested logistics and sustainment to support the Department's Combined Joint All Domain Command & Control (CJADC2) effort. This challenge aims to transform the Global Information Dominance Experiments (GIDE) by leveraging industry solutions for warfighter needs.
Hosted on the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace (TSM), the Open DAGIR Challenge integrates an innovative acquisition process with CJADC2. The initiative has potential implications for every Combatant Command, allowing immediate application of industry solutions to problem sets within a common CJADC2 global integration decision platform. Warfighters will provide rapid feedback while executing their missions.
The Open DAGIR Challenge was officially published today, with proposals accepted until Sept. 6 through a 5-minute pitch video uploaded directly to TSM. Selected vendors will join the enterprise-level CJADC2 mission, onboarded via the DoD's new Open DAGIR program, which fosters a multi-vendor ecosystem for integrating data platforms, development tools, services, and applications while preserving data ownership and intellectual property.
"We are thrilled about the recent adoption of Open DAGIR, which enables the Department to incentivize innovation by driving a competitive environment for data, analytics, and AI platforms, tools, and services," remarked Col Matthew "Nomad" Strohmeyer, GIDE Mission Commander.
GIDE 1-4 were facilitated by Northern American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command to drive rapid innovation in critical DoD capabilities alongside other combatant commands. In 2023, GIDE transitioned to OSD/CDAO with GIDE 5, expanding collaboration across combatant commands and international partners.
The CDAO became operational in June 2022 with a focus on integrating artificial intelligence capabilities across the DoD. It is responsible for accelerating adoption of data, analytics, and AI within the department’s digital infrastructure to deliver scalable AI-driven solutions against current and emerging threats.
For more information about CDAO or to connect via LinkedIn (@DoD Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office) or X (@dodcdao), visit ai.mil or DVIDS.
The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering serves as Chief Technology Officer of DoD, promoting research and technological innovation to maintain military advantage.
Defense Innovation Unit focuses on fielding commercial technology across U.S. military at commercial speeds from offices in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Mountain View, and Washington DC.
