The Department of War (DoW) shook up the acquisition world in November 2025 with its new Acquisition Transformation Strategy (ATS). With headlines emphasizing speed, agility, and rapid capability delivery, the memo promised a shift from the slow, cumbersome processes that have historically hampered defense procurement.
Here’s what the ATS means for acquisition modernization—and why systems that integrate all process participants are critical to making it work.
Structural changes: PAEs and CPM
The Acquisition Transformation Strategy introduces structural changes that signal a more integrated approach and a broader focus on capability delivery. It focuses on two important pillars:
Portfolio Acquisition Executives (PAEs). Senior leaders responsible for overseeing acquisition across a defined portfolio, ensuring alignment with mission priorities and faster, coordinated decision-making.
Capability Portfolio Management (CPM). A framework that manages acquisitions by capability rather than by program or system, emphasizing cross-functional integration and holistic outcomes.
These organizational changes require systems that reflect the interconnected nature of acquisition. Contracts, stakeholders, and workflows must be aligned so that data flows seamlessly across portfolios, enabling smarter decisions at every level.
Modernization works best when all process participants—from contracting officers and program managers to legal and finance teams—are part of the same digital ecosystem.
AI reduces administrative burden
Contracting officers spend significant time on repetitive, paperwork-heavy tasks. ATS highlights the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce this administrative load.
By automating contract creation and management, AI frees officers to focus on strategic execution. Embedded in acquisition workflows, AI accelerates approvals, ensures compliance, and provides decision support. It takes over some of the most labor-intensive tasks, such as:
Generating draft documents, such as SOWs and RFIs, saving hours of manual work
Extracting and organizing data from unstructured contracts and vendor submissions
Summarizing large volumes of content for faster decision-making
Detecting similarities across past procurements to inform current work
Clustering and categorizing vendor questions for consistent responses
Classifying content automatically by standard codes or file location
AI-enabled workflows guide the acquisition workforce to apply regulations correctly, instantly increasing contracting speed and empowering the workforce.
Benefits of a modern COTS approach
Unlike rigid, legacy COTS software, modern commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) procurement solutions provide the flexibility the ATS envisions. By modernizing with AI-powered COTS platforms, agencies can:
Automate workflows and accelerate approvals
Integrate legacy systems and unify data without migrating it
Guide users through complex regulations
Provide real-time insights for smarter decision-making
Connect all participants across the acquisition lifecycle
This approach doesn’t just support compliance or process improvement—it allows the acquisition workforce to operate with the speed and rigor the strategy demands.
Modernization in action: Aligning technology with strategy
The ATS lays out the “what” and “why,” but implementation is what drives impact. Agencies that invest in systems that connect people, processes, and data across the acquisition lifecycle will be best positioned to realize the strategy’s promise.
The DoW’s Acquisition Transformation Strategy is more than a memo—it’s a call to modernize acquisition for a faster, smarter, and more agile defense enterprise. AI-enabled, modern COTS solutions unify the entire acquisition ecosystem, supporting every process participant from start to finish.
