The U.S. Navy is considering working with companies to implement digital engineering systems as the military service aims to accelerate its acquisition life cycle, Federal News Network reported Thursday.
Frederick Stefany, assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition at the U.S. Navy, said the branch is in talks with some members of Congress regarding legislative approaches that may help the military to use digital platforms built by defense contractors while ensuring intellectual property and data environment are protected.
“We’ll need to approach it collaboratively," Stefany told attendees at a Naval Postgraduate School symposium Wednesday.
He added that the Navy wants to access industry's digital engineering environments via the contracting process for potential use in aircraft, ship and weapon systems sustainment efforts.
Stacy Cummings, acting undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment at the Department of Defense and 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, said that DOD looks to digital engineering tools to help inform the procurement decision-making process and needs to create standards that will drive collaboration in that area.