Software engineering techniques continue to evolve and improve, with SEI research playing a key role in helping the Department of Defense (DoD) gain the benefits of these improvements and drive changes to revolutionize software acquisition. Our work helps simplify rules, adapt practices to enable decisive actions, improve workforce capability, and accelerate adoption of commercial and scientific innovations. Since its inception, the SEI has been leading the DoD's embrace of modern software engineering methods, such as Agile and DevSecOps. The SEI contributed its expertise to the development of the Software Acquisition Pathway (SWP), which was issued in 2020 as Department of Defense Instruction 5000.87. The policy departed from decades of regulations geared toward hardware acquisition by encouraging these modern software practices to streamline the development and acquisition of software-enabled systems to deliver capabilities at the speed of ever-changing mission needs.

The release of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s March 6 memo, Directing Modern Software Acquisition to Maximize Lethality, launched a new imperative that DoD programs must increase and accelerate their adoption of the SWP as the preferred path for software acquisition. The March 2025 memo aims to scale up SWP successes across the entire Defense Department to speed, streamline, and secure the development and delivery of software-driven mission capabilities, from the back office to the front lines. As we outline in this post, this focus on the SWP has been the catalyst behind our efforts to develop a new collection of tools to help DoD programs adapt their acquisition practices to accelerate software delivery.

A Brief Introduction to the Software Acquisition Pathway

Unlike prior generations of acquisition policy, the SWP is designed for software-intensive systems. Its objective is “to facilitate rapid and iterative delivery of software capability to the user.” The SWP emphasizes modern, iterative software development methods, automated tooling (including automated testing and cybersecurity testing), and active user engagement to deliver software capabilities at the speed of need and enable users to adapt to changing conditions. Figure 1 below shows the iterative nature of engagement between users, program offices, and product teams under the SWP.

Figure 1: The above figure, which builds on the Defense Acquisition University's Software Acquisition Lifecycle, illustrates the lifecycle under the SWP. Source: https://aaf.dau.edu/aaf/software/

Implementing the SWP: 5 Important Questions

In the past five years our SEI team of software acquisition experts has collaborated extensively with DoD program teams and policy owners to implement the SWP in different contexts, identify barriers and challenges, and monitor outcomes. In the course of that work, we have identified common questions and stumbling blocks that programs encounter as they adopt the SWP. Addressing these questions often warrants additional tools and resources to enable teams to position their SWP programs for success.

The most common questions we encounter about launching SWP programs include

1. Are we really ready to adopt the SWP? Entering the SWP Planning phase requires a signed Acquisition Decision Memorandum (ADM) and draft Capability Needs Statement (CNS). But there’s a lot more to being adequately organized and equipped for the successful execution of an SWP effort. It’s not enough, for example, for the program’s product team to just do Agile. Program teams often don’t have experience implementing modern software development approaches and need to gain an understanding of what those approaches mean in practice.
2. What is a Capability Needs Statement (CNS), and how exactly do we develop one that fits our situation? Many users and program office teams struggle to shift from a Capability Development Document (CDD) articulation of needs to crafting a CNS at the appropriate level. This struggle often results in a CNS that is merely CDD content that has been copied and pasted into the CNS template. The up-front level of investment in the specificity required to create a CDD runs counter to the flexibility and adaptability the SWP is designed to enable. An appropriate CNS provides the right level of detail to enable the needed flexibility.
3. How do we assess progress and identify risks early enough to make corrections and prevent issues? Program teams often learn about a slip in a delivery date or cost overrun too late to do anything about it. Even when teams review metrics provided by their product team, those problems aren’t apparent. Engineering data is a strategic asset, and effective metrics programs need to enable program teams to understand how technical metrics drive real mission value.
4. How do we build a robust user agreement (UA) and connect it to value assessments (VAs)? A UA is a vital handshake that explicitly links the development of capabilities to real-world warfighter outcomes, and VAs provide feedback and return on investment data on the value delivered. Often, UAs are implemented at the wrong level (too far removed from the day-to-day work of users), or they don’t sufficiently consider different types of end users who have a stake in the capability being delivered.
5. How do we scope and sequence a minimum viable product (MVP), minimum viable capability release (MVCR), and subsequent releases? Many program teams struggle with effectively defining and scoping an MVP and MVCR, leading to misaligned expectations between the program team and stakeholder groups (e.g., warfighters, certifiers, testers).

Answering these five essential questions constitutes the bedrock necessary to achieve successful SWP acquisitions. Getting them right is hard work. Fortunately, program teams don’t need to go it alone.

Introducing the Software Acquisition Go Bag

It is a truth among warfighters that the first step in completing a mission depends on the load they carry on their back. At the SEI a key tenet of our work focuses on equipping the warfighter with the right gear for their mission needs. With that in mind, the SEI announces the launch of the Software Acquisition Go Bag.

The Go Bag will feature an extensible collection of tailorable kits that program teams can use to enable the delivery of software capabilities at the speed of need. Each kit contains tools and techniques for executing and implementing the elements of your software program. Each kit contains Tactical Guides on topics such as collaborating with stakeholders, obtaining and leveraging the right data, managing expectations, preventing (or recovering from!) common pitfalls, and measuring what matters to stay on course.

The first kit to be released is the SWP Essentials Kit, which will include the first three Tactical Guides:

1. SWP: Ready, Set, Go! provides a mechanism for assessing the project’s readiness to adopt the SWP, identifying any shortfalls, and obtaining the resources, information, and support needed for success.
2. Cracking the CNS Code delivers a method for applying the general guidance of the SWP to specific programs and projects with their own unique objectives, constraints, and challenges.
3. Pack Light, Measure Right contains guidance for programs to develop and continuously apply meaningful measures of progress, quality, resources, and value to their SWP program.

Feedback from early users will help us to prioritize topics to address in the next set of Tactical Guides:

1. Building a Value-Oriented User Agreement will offer a systematic approach that programs can use for identifying user-community participants and explaining their role, influence, and expected commitments. This approach enables programs to explicitly integrate negotiated VAs, based on user-community input, into the program’s measurement plan.
2. MVP, MVCR, and Release Planning will explain techniques that programs can use to get from developing a CNS to delivering an MVP and MVCR, including handling non-capability items (e.g., behaviors of interfacing systems, quality attributes such as maintainability).

Go Bag assets will be released iteratively as we identify and prioritize needs with stakeholders and receive your feedback. Every few weeks, we will release a new Tactical Guide and host a companion webcast. As we work with program teams, we will also regularly update the Go Bag with new kits, supplemental tools, templates, and more—all based on proven successful practices. Click here to be informed of new releases and updates in tool development.

Go Bags aren't just for programs on the SWP, either. Our SEI team has helped hundreds of DoD programs deliver software-enabled capability through our unique integration of data-driven insights, software engineering research, and acquisition science. We’re packing that experience into the Go Bag so program teams can implement proven practices to drive successful outcomes.

The (Software Acquisition) Pathway Ahead

To kick off the launch of the Software Acquisition Go Bag, we are hosting a live webcast on October 22. Join us to learn more about this effort and share your thoughts on the Go Bag Essentials Kit. Over the coming weeks, we will announce the release of each new Tactical Guide and host an associated webcast about each one via the Go Bag announcement mailing list.