About Us


The Office of Acquisition Enablers (AE) is a new organization within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment. The office is the lead for enabling innovative acquisition approaches that deliver warfighting capability at the speed of relevance. Our priority is to support the development of data-driven decision making, through our initiatives such as implementing the Adaptive Acquisition Framework and providing acquisition data governance, access, and analytics. Read about our current Initiatives.


Mr. David S. Cadman

Mr. David S. Cadman

Full biography

Our Mission

To enable the acquisition workforce with innovative, data-driven practices and policies to deliver warfighting capability at the speed of relevance.


Our Initiatives

Data & Analytical Framework

Acquisition Enablers provides data governance, access, and analytics to enable acquisition insight and decision making in support of achieving better acquisition program outcomes.

DAVE EVM-CR

DoD 5000 Series Rewrite

The Adaptive Acquisition Framework is the most transformational change to acquisition policy in decades, diversifying the traditional process into six tailorable pathways: Urgent Capability, Middle Tier of Acquisition, Major Capability Acquisition, Software Acquisition, Defense Business Systems, and Acquisition of Services.

ADAPTIVE ACQUISITION FRAMEWORK

DAU Training Briefing Deck 5000 Handbook Acquisition Guidebooks
See All Initiatives

AE in the News

AE in the News

Let's Talk Agile: Take Two with Sean Brady
Software Pathway Policy Changes

In October, in DAU’s “Let’s Talk Agile” series, Mr. Sean Brady discussed new changes to the Department’s approach to Software acquisition: promoting and streamlining the adoption of Agile, Lean, DevSecOps, and human-centered design practices within defense acquisition.

DAU
DAU South Region:
Annual Acquisition Update

In February 2021 as part of DAU South Region’s Annual Acquisition Update, Mr. Cadman gave an overview of the AAF, covering tailored solutions, current policy and guidance on DAU, and next steps for 2021 defense acquisition policy.

DAU

Divisions

The Acquisition Enablers organization may be new, but our divisions have been providing leadership in acquisition policy, data collection, and analytics for years.
See our Organization Chart to get a sense of where Acquisition Enablers fits in the Acquisition and Sustainment group and the divisions within AE that work together to accomplish our mission.

The Acquisition Enablers organization may be new, but our divisions have been providing leadership in acquisition policy, data collection, and analytics for years. See our Organization Chart to get a sense of where Acquisition Enablers fits in the Acquisition and Sustainment group and the divisions within AE that work together to accomplish our mission.

ADA

Acquisition Data
and Analytics
Acquisition, Analytics and Policy icon

AAM

Acquisition Approaches
and Management
Acquisition Approaches and Management icon

AID

Acquisition Intelligence
Division
Acquisition Intelligence

IPC

Intellectual Property
Cadre
IP Cadre

Featured Resources

DAVE, the Defense Acquisition Visibility Environment, is a centralized hub that provides convenient access to acquisition data across several disparate data repositories, including DAMIR, AIR, ADS, and more.

DAVE Portal

The EVM-CR is DoD’s authoritative source for Earned Value Management (EVM) data. This cost and schedule data provides program execution insight for PMOs, Services, OSD, and DoD Components.

IPM Portal

AE and the Tenets of the Defense Acquisition System

Simplify
Acquisition Policy

The new DoD 5000 Series policy provides a flexible, streamlined Adaptive Acquisition Framework (AAF) with tailorable acquisition pathways designed for the unique characteristics of the capability being acquired.

Tailor
Acquisition Approaches

The AAF holds Program Managers accountable for critical thinking and embraces tailoring program oversight to minimize unnecessary bureaucratic processes.

Empower
Program Managers

Program Managers are empowered to think critically, embrace decision making, and leverage innovative strategies to meet unique requirements.

AE and the Tenets of the Defense Acquisition System

Conduct
Data Driven Analysis

Acquisition policy emphasizes data-informed decision making and use of data analytics to improve acquisition outcomes.

Actively Manage
Risk

Program Managers are empowered to actively manage risk based on the unique characteristics of the capability being acquired.

Emphasize
Sustainment

Program teams are encouraged to consider their sustainment strategy throughout the entire program lifecycle. End-users will be involved early-on in program development to capture necessary sustainment requirements up front.

Join Us for an Exchange

DoD Public-Private

Acquisition Exchange Program

ADA IPM