In FY18, in response to Executive Order 13781, DoD established the IT and Business Systems Reform, one of several reforms undertaken by the DoD Chief Management Officer (CMO). The Deputy Secretary of Defense initiated this particular effort in October 2017, encouraging a shift toward DoD-wide enterprise services, IT consolidation, and more efficient DoD business systems. One of the subareas under this reform is Enterprise Digital Learning Modernization.

In July 2018, the Reform Management Group (three star-level Pentagon committee) approved the Enterprise Digital Learning Modernization initiative, including three lines of effort focused on education and training. These include: (1) implement DoD-wide assisted acquisition and category management (i.e., centralized spending oversight) with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) USALearning program; (2) develop an enterprise course catalog capability; and (3) develop an enterprise learning record repository capacity.

Work on this reform has progressed over the last two years. In April 2019, OPM and DoD signed a memorandum of agreement outlining responsibilities and desired outcomes for the reform. At the same time, DoD CMO issued a memo directing all DoD Components to participate in it. Also in 2019, stakeholders from the Pentagon, Air Force, and OPM began defining technical requirements for the course catalog and learner record repository. And in 2020, senior executives representing education and training perspectives from the military and civilian DoD organizations, and DoD intelligence communities, agreed to serve as an executive steering committee to oversee the reforms and ensure unity of effort across functional communities.

In this paper, we summarize the Enterprise Digital Learning Modernization initiative, including its directives and related polices. We also discuss current and forthcoming guidance about the reform stemming from the Pentagon, and we provide a general update on its implementation progress.