Navy Software Optimization Journey Focuses on Efficiency

The Department of the Navy is intensifying scrutiny of its software enterprise to boost efficiency and enhance mission-critical capabilities. The more comprehensive review seeks to eliminate redundant software and improve Navy effectiveness, Department of the Navy Deputy CIO Barry Tanner told GovCIO Media & Research.

“We’re starting to really dig in,” said Tanner. “We’re seeing a lot more and instead of just doing a couple of things now, we’re just accelerating that journey across the board and taking advantage of this focus [on efficiency].”’

Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked DOD components to “plan” to increase cost efficiency in line with White House priorities, including a focus on how to gain better value from the defense budget.

Aligning with DOGE Calls

DON CIO Jane Rathbun said in April that the department is working with the DOD CIO’s Office and the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts on the review to streamline software acquisition and eliminate duplicative applications.

“It is collaborative, and [DOD OCIO and DOGE] are asking for information from us. They are asking for information from the industry partners and really understanding how we buy, how we consume and how we could do it more effectively,” Rathbun said at Sea-Air-Space in April. “There’s always opportunity for improvement. And I would say that’s an area in my portfolio that I want to focus on … and I want to be doing better.”

Tanner added that the push from the White House is focusing DON’s continuous work to optimize the department’s software capabilities.

“What this is doing now is understanding where we have [software] duplicative capability in more places. We were only doing a few very specific areas because we wanted to focus and kind of get it started,” said Tanner. “Now it’s kind of like, ‘All right, open the floodgates.’”

Tanner said that DOGE officials are not targeting anything that will decrease warfighters’ capabilities.

“They have come in. One of the first things they told us was, ‘Rule number one: do not mess up the warfighter,’” said Tanner. “We start from what our Sailors and Marines have to do. We look at how it supports those things and then say, ‘Okay, do we need four of these? Is there something unique about that one?’”

Tanner added that many DOGE representatives bring perspective from prior military service and industry experience, as well as a fresh set of eyes to the process. Their primary contribution lies in enhancing visibility, rapidly synthesizing publicly available contract and usage data to provide actionable insights.

“They’re really unlocking a lot of things that have been difficult for us to be able to see because of the methods that they’re using,” Tanner added.

Reviewing Financial Operations

Navy is focusing part of it’s software review on financial operations, Rathbun said.

“It’s really this optimization concept I’ve got to continuously modernize, but I have to do it in an optimal way,” Rathbun said in April. “We are making strides in financial operations big-time, but if I cannot actively manage my consumption of these capabilities in an effective way, then I am not going to be optimizing my utilization.”

Tanner added this week that that this isn’t a sudden shift but rather an acceleration of a multi-year effort. Rathbun’s Information Superiority Vision 2.0 strategy builds upon its predecessor, explicitly designating “optimize” as a core pillar. He said that optimization is the goal of the review of all operations, but especially the software use at DON. He added that commercial off the shelf solutions, modernization and development are all included in the optimization push.

“Let’s help look at the way we’re doing this and optimize it. If we can do nothing else, if we can get that working, more streamlined, more efficient and more effective to generate readiness, then we’re meeting the mission,” Tanner said. “We’re meeting the market. We’re partnering really closely with the acquisition community on this.”

Standardizing Platforms

Software is a fundamental component of this resource efficiency drive, Tanner said. He pointed to recent enterprise service designations like Able Identity Services and the Microsoft Office 365 suite as tangible steps in optimizing software. By establishing standardized platforms, the Navy aims to eliminate the redundancy of individual offices and divisions procuring disparate, overlapping software solutions.

“If you’ve got an enterprise platform, and it works really well for everybody, then you don’t need everybody to bring their own,” Tanner said. “We’re already going through the process of following through on those enterprise service designations and saying, ‘okay, all this other stuff that you guys have needs to consolidate.’”

Modernization is critical to efficiency, Tanner added. While upfront costs may be bigger, the longer-term benefits are clear in DON modernization projects, he said.

“If you try to work [legacy systems] along, it becomes so complex and Band-Aided. It becomes much more costly to maintain. Also, it just doesn’t work as well,” Tanner told GovCIO Media & Research. “Even though there may be some upfront investment that’s higher than it may seem, you need in the long run. When you look at the results, you end up spending less.”

Measuring Outcomes

Tanner emphasized the importance of measuring outcomes of the review and focusing on how IT systems directly supports mission objectives. He highlighted the shift from traditional IT metrics, like workstation boot times, to mission-oriented metrics, like efficient delivery of ammunition to ships. This outcome-focused lens informs the assessment of potential risks associated with software changes, he added.

The efficiency drive at DON needs to be thoughtful and informed by lessons learned from past modernization efforts, Tanner said, which allows for faster progress with less risk of disrupting critical workflows.

“In some cases, it means build the new one next to the old one and have two for a little while,” said Tanner. “That seems duplicative, but from an operational perspective, it’s necessary to make sure that you can fail fast, but fail small and learn really quick. And then, make a big shift and go forward from there.”