# Army's Project Gatekeeper will vet vendor software before contracts, officials say
The AI-enhanced security sandbox opens Oct. 23, Breaking Defense and DefenseScoop reported. The Army tied wider commercial access to a Login.gov link planned for mid-November.
Published 2026-10-14 by TGOs. Canonical: https://tgos.io/news/2026/10/14/armys-project-gatekeeper-will-vet-vendor-software-before-contracts/
The Army will open Project Gatekeeper on Oct. 23, Breaking Defense reported.[1] The sandbox will run on the Army's cloud, isolated from operational networks, where companies will put software through the service's standardized cybersecurity tools, including an AI assessment.[1] They can do so before they have an Army contract or sponsoring program manager, officials said Tuesday at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference.[1][2] Acting Army Chief Information Officer Gabe Chiulli heads the effort, DefenseScoop reported.[2][3]
Bringing commercial software onto Army networks was "up to every program manager," said David Markowitz, the Army's chief data and analytics officer.[1] Many offices waited for another organization to grant an Authority to Operate (ATO), Breaking Defense reported.[1] "A lot of times, organizations in the Army won't talk to [companies] until they have this 'golden ATO,'" Chiulli said.[1] In Breaking Defense's assessment, the companies best positioned to win Army software contracts were often those that already had them.[1] For vendors, software scanned in Gatekeeper is already vetted if a program manager takes it on through an acquisition pathway, officials said, according to DefenseScoop.[2]
Chiulli describes success as a company logging in, submitting code and getting "the green check mark from our pipeline that says you are good to go" within minutes.[1] Clearance now can take days or weeks, stalling some projects for as long as nine months, officials said, according to Breaking Defense.[1] Neither Breaking Defense nor DefenseScoop reported funding or a contract vehicle for Gatekeeper.[1][2]
## Why it matters
At launch, companies still need Common Access Cards to reach the platform, a credential Chiulli said the Army spent "a lot of time and energy" getting for company personnel, Breaking Defense reported.[1] The Army is still finalizing a General Services Administration agreement to use Login.gov, targeting integration by mid-November.[1] David Wright of the Army Software and Innovation Center said that step would make Gatekeeper "actually commercially accessible."[1]
## Sources
1. Breaking Defense: Army's Project Gatekeeper aims to cut software approval times from months to 'minutes' (Oct. 13, 2026)
2. DefenseScoop: Army to launch Project Gatekeeper, an effort to make it easier for vendors to onboard software (Oct. 14, 2026)
3. U.S. Army: Office of the Chief Information Officer, leaders