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Appointment of Program Manager Letter Requirement

To initiate the onboarding process for customers whose authorization goes through the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and are working toward a Software Approval for Impact Level (IL) 2, 4, or 5 deployments, an Appointment of Program Manager Letter must be submitted before onboarding can begin. We will request the signed letter at the customer kickoff.

Important

The Appointment Letter applies to any customer whose deployment is authorized through DIU. Deployments authorized outside of DIU (for example, FedRAMP or Commercial) are not subject to this requirement.

What is the Appointment Letter?

The Appointment Letter is a formal memorandum required by Game Warden's Authority to Operate (ATO). It designates a Program Manager who is accountable for the program's cost, schedule, performance, and cybersecurity throughout acquisition, development, sustainment, and disposal, in accordance with DoDD 5000.01, DoDI 5000.02, DoDI 5000.82, DoDI 5000.90, DoDI 8510.01, and DoDI 8580.1.

Complete the Appointment Letter

  1. Download and open the PDF template.
    → Download Form Template

  2. Fill out the required fields, including the Program Manager's name, the program name and type, and a point of contact for questions about the appointment.

  3. Save the document and route it to your organization's appointing official (for example, Directorate Director) for signature.

  4. Submit the signed Appointment Letter to your Mission Success Manager.

How many do you need?

You will need at least one Appointment Letter for each instance of your application deployed for a different mission owner or use case. An instance refers to a specific copy or deployment of your application—even if it shares the same base code.

Example

Suppose your application, Galactic Donkey, needs to be deployed for multiple mission owners. Sometimes, multiple mission owners may share the same instance, but in other cases, each mission owner may have their own instance of the application. Even though it's the same core application, each copy is treated as a separate instance when deployed for different use cases or mission owners.

Application: Galactic Donkey Instances

  • Mission A: A copy of Galactic Donkey for Mission Owner A
  • Mission B: A copy of Galactic Donkey for Mission Owner B

In this scenario, you would need two Appointment Letters—one for each instance. If Mission Owners A and B share the same instance, only one Appointment Letter is needed.

Upload your Appointment Letter in Game Warden

Once signed, upload the Appointment Letter to the Documents page in Game Warden so Second Front can verify it.

  1. Log in to your Game Warden account as an Admin.
  2. In the left navigation bar, click Documents, then scroll down to the Mission Owner Documentation section.
  3. Choose the signed Appointment Letter file from your device.
  4. Click Add mission owner documentation to upload your signed document.

Expirations

Each Appointment Letter must be reverified every six months from the finalized signature date.

  • Appointment Letters are included with your BoE submission for Software Approval
  • Appointment Letter expiration date & Software Approval expiration date are mutually exclusive

If an updated, fully signed Appointment Letter cannot be provided, your application will be offboarded from the platform until a valid one is submitted.