The Department of Veterans Affairs Chief Information Officer is committed to ensuring the effective use of VA’s internet, intranet, and other information technology resources, and providing agency-wide directives and policies governing the use and implementation of these systems. This directive establishes VA policies and procedures to transition the VA networks to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). With this communication, the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) establishes the foundations and expectations for each internal and external system, and business and system owners for the IPv6 transition to ensure compliance with VA and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requirements and to meet the mandated deadlines.

OMB Memorandum M-21-07 (PDF, 7 pages, 5,738 KB), dated November 19, 2020, states that at least 80 percent of IP-enabled assets on federal networks will be operating in IPv6-only environments by the end of FY 2025. VA management has established a goal to transition 100 percent of IP-Enabled assets on the VA network to IPv6 by the end of FY 2025. Running both internet protocols, IPv4 and IPv6 simultaneously (dual stack), exposes network infrastructures to unnecessary security risks and increases infrastructure costs. Dual stack will be required for the transition period, and therefore it is imperative that we adopt an aggressive schedule, thereby reducing our time operating a dual stack network environment.

VA’s Office of Information and Technology will establish periodic status notifications and share more details outlining key information and actions required of our business partners to guide your migration to IPv6 compatible systems by the required due dates.

Business and system owners impacted by this policy should be aware of the following standards, guidance, and milestones:

  1. All VA acquisitions must comply with FAR Part 11.002(g).
  2. All new systems, devices, hardware, and equipment must be IPv6-enabled at the time of deployment by end of FY 2023.
  3. At least 20 percent of all IP-enabled assets on VA networks are operating in IPv6-only environments by the end of FY 2023.
  4. At least 50 percent of all IP-enabled assets on VA networks are operating in IPv6-only environments by the end of FY 2024.
  5. At least 80 percent of all IP-enabled assets on VA networks are operating in IPv6-only environments by the end of FY 2025.
  6. Identify and justify Federal information systems that cannot be converted to use IPv6 and provide a schedule for replacing or retiring these systems.
  7. Work with external partners to identify systems that interface with networked Federal information systems and develop plans to migrate all such network interfaces to the use of IPv6.
  8. Compete the upgrade of public/external facing servers and services (e.g., web, email DNS, and ISP services) and internal client applications that communicate with public Internet services and supporting enterprise networks to operationally use native IPv6.