The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment issued DoD Instruction 5010.44, Intellectual Property (IP) Acquisition and Licensing, effective October 16, 2019. The Instruction establishes the DoD IP Cadre and provides guidance to DoD Components on the minimum requirements of an IP Strategy. The IP Cadre Program and having an IP strategy are important policy initiatives to facilitate the successful acquisition, licensing, and management of IP DoD-wide.

The IP Cadre provides expert advice and assistance, and resources to the acquisition workforce on IP matters at various stages of the life cycle of a system. The IP Cadre will be led by a director and include such subordinate organizational elements and members as established within resources assigned. The IP Cadre’s role is to provide oversight and coordination on all acquisition and licensing policy and procedures for DoD IP; interface on assigned functions with Congress, industry, academia, as well as DoD organizations engaged in activities throughout the life-cycle of programs; and support development of requirements for training and credentialing the acquisition workforce.

DoD Instruction 5010.44 notes that each DoD program should have a “robust” IP strategy to identify and manage the full spectrum of IP and related matters (e.g. technical data and computer software deliverables, patented technologies, and license rights) from the inception of the program and updated throughout the entire product life cycle.