The Department of Defense (DOD)’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) will soon adopt a new acquisition approach which will see the department partner with additional vendors to scale Advana, which is DOD’s big data platform for advanced analytics.
According to CDAO, expanding Advana to include more DOD-assisted acquisition providers will foster competition and enhance vendor diversity critical for supporting prototyping efforts. 

It will also improve access to high-quality data and prepare the platform for future artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities.

Advana serves as the cornerstone of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Open DAGIR framework, supporting over 100,000 users in mission and business analytics applications and data products. It plays a crucial role in advancing data and AI modernization efforts across the joint force.

 “As the Advana platform scales to meet growing needs of the Department, CDAO’s acquisition approach is evolving in parallel to allow for increased creativity, innovation, and flexibility to meet unique customer needs,” CDAO said in a statement.

Earlier this year, CDAO unveiled the Open Data and Applications Government-owned Interoperable Repositories (Open DAGIR), a fresh strategy for expanding data, analytics, and AI capabilities .

Open DAGIR represents a multi-vendor ecosystem with accompanying business models, facilitating the integration of data platforms, development tools, services, and applications for both industry and government.