Call for USMC Nominations for the 2024 Department of Defense Chief Information Officer Annual Awards Program

1.  The Department of Defense (DoD) Chief 
Information officer (CIO) annual awards program recognizes eligible 
personnel, individually or in teams, for exceptional achievements in 
delivering capabilities and/or management practices that support the 
strategic mission and objectives of the DoD CIO to advance the 
digital modernization strategy (DMS) and national defense strategy 
priorities.
2.  Award criteria.  Nominees must have made outstanding 
achievements between July 2023-June 2024 towards the goals and 
objectives of the DoD DMS and national defense strategy priorities.  
Such capabilities include:  cybersecurity; command, control and 
communications (C3); artificial intelligence (ai); software 
modernization; cloud computing; data; cyberspace workforce; 
electronics records management; section sos/accessibility to 
Information and communication technology; and positioning, 
navigation, and timing (PNT).  Nomination content requirements are 
contained in reference (a).
3.  Eligibility.  Service members (officers and enlisted) in the 
grade O-6 and below or DoD civilians GS-15 and below are eligible 
for nomination.  Contractors may be recognized as part of a team if 
led by military or DoD civilian.
4.  Nominations.
4.a.  Nominations.  Qualified individuals and/or teams will be 
submitted via the first o-6 in the chain of command to the service 
CIO, the Deputy Commandant for Information (DC I).  Additionally, 
the comptroller or budget office must endorse any quantified cost 
savings or avoidance cited in the nomination.
4.b.  Nomination templates.  Contact message POCs for nomination 
instructions and required format.  This documents will also be 
available in the ETMS2 tasker forthcoming. 
4.c.  Service CIO nominations.  The DC I will review, approve, and 
submit up to ten individual and/or team nominations to the DoD CIO.
4.d.  DoD CIO selection.  Awardees will be selected from nominations 
from the military services, combatant/joint commands, defense 
agencies, field activities, and principal staff assistants.  The DoD
CIO will review nominations and score the packages in accordance 
with the criteria set forth in reference (a). 
5.  Awards presentation.  The DoD CIO awards ceremony will be held 
in person in December 2024.  More details to follow.
6.  Administration and logistics
6.a.  USMC nominations must contain all requested information and 
must be sent via email to hqmc_dci_awards@usmc.mil by COB 13 August 
2024.  No fax or hard copy submissions will be accepted.  Due to the 
timeline, no extensions will be approved.
6.b.  All nominations must be coordinated through the nominee's 
chain-of-command for quality review and eligibility.
6.c.  Award winners will be announced to component CIOs and posted 
on the DoD CIO public website.  A MARADMIN will be published with 
the results.
7.  Command and signal
7.a.  This MARADMIN is applicable to the Marine Corps Total Force.
7.b.  Ensure widest dissemination of this MARADMIN.
7.c.  Direct all questions to the MARADMIN POC.
8.  Release authorized by LtGen J C Carter, Headquarters Marine 
Corps, Deputy Commandant for Information.