Jerry Petersen
Booz Allen Hamilton Executive Vice President and 2024 Wash100 awardee Steve Escaravage said at the recent 2024 Offset Symposium that the availability of better software testing infrastructure is making a difference in the Department of Defense’s adoption of commercial software, Breaking Defense reported Monday.
In order for the DOD to permit the use of new software or an update on its networks, the program must first be subjected to testing under the authorization to operate process. The testing, which seeks to evaluate the program’s cybersecurity, would be carried out in self-contained environments that offer accurate simulations of real-world computing conditions.
These testing environments are costly to set up. The resulting lack of access has historically hindered DOD adoption of emerging technologies, according to Escaravage.
However, in light of the availability of government as well as commercial software development platforms with accreditation baked into them, the Booz Allen executive commented, “We have some solutions now.”
“I’m actually fairly optimistic, while there’s still hurdles, we’re making great progress there,” Escaravage added.
