The Defense Enterprise Architecture Awards were begun in 2008 to honor individuals and organizations making progress in using architecture to deliver capabilities to the warfighters serving this country. These awards are given jointly by AFEI and the Office of the DoD Chief Information Officer, Enterprise Architecture and Standards Directorate.

The purpose of these awards is to recognize significant contributions and achievements in advancing the state of policy and practice of enterprise architecture as an enabler of information advantage for the Department of Defense.

The DEAA award aligns with the main strategic goal of the Deputy CIO - leading the DoD enterprise to achieve an information advantage for its people and partners.