Lumen

Join us for an insightful discussion on the evolving landscape of acquisition reform, exploring how policy adapts to meet critical operational needs. Reforming Acquisition for Strategic Advantage brings together senior leaders from across defense and industry.

Attendees will gain valuable insight into the latest compliance shifts, emerging acquisition authorities, and collaborative approaches to enhancing speed, scale, and sustainment—ensuring our teams receive the capabilities they need efficiently and effectively. Whether you're a policy maker, program manager, or industry innovator, this luncheon will deepen your understanding of how to streamline procurement in alignment with the Department of War and DHS.

Key Learning Objectives:

• Understand the Current Acquisition Landscape Identify recent and emerging policy and compliance shifts shaping Department of War and DHS procurement. Examine how these updates impact program managers, policy makers, and industry partners alike.
• Explore Emerging Authorities and Tools Assess new and existing acquisition pathways (such as OTAs and rapid prototyping) and evaluate how they can be leveraged to enable agility, scalability, and long-term sustainment.
• Navigate Challenges to Efficiency Identify common administrative challenges that slow down procurement processes. Evaluate case studies and strategic approaches where leaders have successfully balanced regulatory compliance with timely delivery.
• Analyze the Interplay of Policy and Mission Needs Discuss how evolving operational requirements drive innovation and reform. Explore best practices for fostering productive collaboration between policy makers, program managers, and private-sector innovators.
• Develop Actionable Insights for Smarter Procurement Translate lessons from defense and industry leaders into practical strategies for your own organization’s acquisition planning and execution. Identify proactive, compliant ways to modernize your procurement approaches.

State and local agencies are under growing pressure to modernize networks while maintaining uninterrupted public services, controlling costs, and supporting increasingly complex security and operational demands. At the same time, legacy infrastructure, fragmented connectivity environments and rigid networking models are limiting flexibility just as mission requirements continue to evolve.

This webinar explores how the new government network is emerging — not as a single upgrade, but as an on-demand connectivity and network operating model designed for resilience, governed change and long-term adaptability. Rather than forcing agencies into periodic, disruptive refresh cycles, on-demand networking enables continuous evolution, allowing capacity, performance and services to scale as needs change while preserving operational stability.

Attendees will learn:

• How leading agencies are shifting toward on-demand networking models to improve predictability and operational control
• Why modernization is increasingly an operating and governance challenge, not just a connectivity decision
• How on-demand connectivity can reduce risk and complexity during infrastructure transitions, including copper and TDM retirements
• What agencies can do now to prepare for future network and service changes without rushed or reactive decision-making

The session will also introduce a practical transition-readiness framework that agencies can use to assess exposure, strengthen resilience and preserve flexibility before timelines and architectures are dictated by forced retirement events.

Designed for CIOs, IT leaders, operations leaders, procurement officials and public safety stakeholders, this conversation focuses on helping agencies build a secure, scalable and adaptable network foundation that supports continuity today and evolving needs tomorrow. Attend the live webinar to obtain your complimentary certificate of attendance

The Department of the Air Force Information Technology and Cyberpower Training and Education Event (DAFITC) will take place in Montgomery, AL from August 24-26, 2026.

This year, thousands of Air Force peers, along with private sector leaders in the IT and cyber security field convened to network, discuss, connect, and learn about the newest and most prevailing threats to our global networks and national defense. DAFITC 2026 is expected to featured 140+ breakouts, an exhibit hall with over 200 vendor booths, and over 4,000 attendees, speakers, and exhibitors.

Attendees will hear from leading voices in the public and private sectors, hearing a range of ideas, opinions, and assessments of the current state of all things cyber as well as insights into what the keys to future success might look like.