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DoD ESI Celebrates its 10th AnniversaryMore than $3 billion in cost avoidance achieved by ESI in first decadeBy Chris PanaroWhen the Department of Defense EnterpriseSoftware Initiative (ESI) working group met forthe first time in the fall of 1998, little did theyknow that 10 years later they would beresponsible for more than $3 billion incost avoidance for the DoD. In acknowledgmentof its 10th anniversary, the ESIworking group went back to some of thoseearly ESI visionaries and some current usersto get their thoughts on the initiative overthe years.ESI began as a collaborative effort amongthe DoD chief information officers (CIOs), butit has turned into an award-winning, DoD-wideinitiative with more than 75 enterprise software agreements(ESAs) with more than 50 software publishers for thousands ofsoftware products and services.“ESI changed how the entire department acquires andlicenses commercial software,” said Dave Wennergren, DeputyCIO for DoD. “Without ESI, we would never have leveraged ourbuying power, understood our department-wide requirements,significantly reduced the labor required to manage softwarelicenses, or have achieved the dramatic reduction in costs ofseveral billion dollars. I applaud the ESI team for its success andcontributions over the past 10 years.”During the first DoD CIO conference in July 1998, CIOsfrom across the military departments and defense agenciesdiscussed ways to reduce the amount spent across the departmenton commercial software. At this meeting, the CIOs madea commitment to acquire and manage commercial software asan enterprise asset, consolidate requirements, coordinate acquisitionsand present a unified front to the software industry.Figure 1 on the next page illustrates the ESI timeline from itsinception.Four core goals were established to guide the ESI mission:Obtain buy-in for DoD enterprise-wide software agreements;Reduce the acquisition and support costs of software byleveraging DoD buying power;Provide the best, most flexible suites of Joint TechnicalArchitecture-conforming software to the DoD enterprise; andCreate a funding mechanism that incentivizes the use ofDoD-wide software initiatives.To guide ESI efforts, a governance structure was establishedto include a steering group and the ESI working group. Thesteering group established operating principles for ESI, and theworking group carried out the ESI mission on a daily basis.“Our core operating principles allowed us to make progressquickly and focus on tangible results rather than bureaucraticissues,” said Rex Bolton, the first chairman of the ESI workinggroup and former team leader in the CommercialIT Policies Directorate, Deputy CIO Staff,in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defensefor Networks and Information Integration(ASD (NII)).“Our mission was clear — we needed tosave money on commercial software, and wecould all do it better if we worked together.From day one, we fostered a collaborativeatmosphere on the team to overcome biasesand preferences and avoid duplicative effort.Good culture and teamwork were our top priorities.It was hard going at first, but with perseveranceand enlightened leadership, it paid off.”“The first ESA we signed was in 1999,” noted Floyd Groce,current co-chair of the ESI, team lead for enterprise IM/IT planningfor the Department of the Navy CIO and part of the ESIworking group since 1998.“This set in motion our process to identify, acquire and manageenterprise software licenses and maintenance agreementson behalf of the entire DoD. Since the start, we’ve relied onexpertise and resources contributed from across the militarydepartments and defense agencies to serve on the virtual ESInegotiation and management team.”To help guide its effort, ESI commissioned a study to identifythe best practices for the acquisition and management ofenterprise software agreements within the DoD and industry.The 23 best practices yielded from this research have beenused throughout the ESI tenure, guiding each negotiation andacquisition."In the early stages of ESI, product categories were assignedto a software product manager (SPM), who would be familiarwith all the products and associated licensing practices withinthat category, such as databases," Bolton recalled. "The SPMwould advise customers and help them negotiate more effectivelyfor all products in that category. As we grew our inventoryof enterprise agreements, the role of the SPM has becomeless specialized, as they manage agreements that include allassigned software companies' products, rather than just softwarein product categories."Licensing experts and dedicated SPMs ensure that ESI agreementscontinue to provide best value to customers.“Our best practice research dictates that we only useexperienced and knowledgeable license experts in negotiatingenterprise licenses,” Groce said. “Our team of SPMs staysin constant contact with each other through regular teammeetings to share information and lessons learned and discusstrends. They’ve established templates for ESAs and checklistsand guides for negotiation with software publishers. To stay ontop of industry trends and practices, our team regularly meetswith technology providers and third party analysts.”54 CHIPS www.chips.navy.mil Dedicated to Sharing Information - Technology - Experience