Navy Streamlines Tech Acquisition, Development, Rollout

The Department of the Navy is adopting a more commercial approach to investing in, developing and acquiring new technology, according to Louis Koplin, acting program executive officer for Digital Enterprise Services (PEO Digital). Speaking at AFCEA’s Navy IT Day last week, Koplin said the shift is aimed at streamlining delivery, improving user experience and accelerating innovation across the service.

Streamlining Operational Workflows

PEO Digital wants to reduce the systems integration burden placed on end users. Koplin said the Navy has historically fielded a variety of programs and projects, often without a mission engineering or portfolio perspective. This resulted in multiple applications, computers and data entry systems warfighters must use to carry out their missions.

“Anything we can do to automate or lessen that cognitive load, that context switching,” he said, would benefit warfighters.

To address this, PEO Digital is prioritizing shared development environments and enterprise services that reduce duplicative efforts across commands. By standardizing infrastructure, the Navy aims to accelerate delivery timelines and simplify software deployment.

“The more that we can provide these common dev environments … the faster these things will go,” he said.

Scaling AI Across the Enterprise

The rollout of GenAI.mil has improved access to large language models across the Pentagon. Koplin said additional announcements are expected around enterprise-level AI agent capabilities.

Scaling AI across the enterprise remains complex, particularly at the tactical edge, where mission requirements vary widely.

“We’ve got a lot of different environments, a lot of different use cases, a lot of different data classifications, and a lot of different computing infrastructures. They’re all bringing a different mix of AI capabilities,” Koplin said.

Prioritizing High-Impact Pilots

There is a continuing interest in pilot projects, but funding is limited and more selective.

Because of these constraints, PEO Digital is looking for the most compelling cases. The office is using the World Class Alignment Metrics (WAMs) to evaluate pilot performance, with flexibility to tailor metrics to specific mission needs.

A key measure is “time loss,” which captures system efficiency, availability and reliability. Metrics include user downtime, mean time to detect cyber incidents, data latency, operational availability and network performance, Koplin explained.

Building a Modern Cyber Workforce

PEO Digital is applying a more commercial, data-driven approach to workforce development, particularly across cyber, engineering and IT roles.

“We buy a lot of IT labor today, and we’re not necessarily strategic about how we ask for it,” Koplin said, noting that approach can give industry an advantage in shaping how services are delivered.

To address this, PEO Digital issued a Commercial Solutions Opening to acquire new talent. The streamlined, competitive process is designed to accelerate access to commercial capabilities and specialized skill sets.

The office is also using the Defense Cyber Workforce Framework to guide hiring decisions. The framework defines government cyber roles and is being applied to assess both internal and external talent needs.

Koplin said the approach allows PEO Digital to better quantify workforce gaps, including demand for product managers, user experience designers, network operators and architects, while balancing talent sourced from Navy warfare centers with expertise acquired from industry.

While PEO Digital maintains a relatively small internal team, it draws on a broader workforce across warfare centers and private sector partners.

Entry-level hiring is largely managed through Navy warfare centers, which support internships and early-career recruitment. Those personnel gain experience working alongside PEO Digital teams before transitioning into program office roles later in their careers, Koplin said.