Every program office running a legacy system is on a clock it did not set. The people who know why the code does what it does are retiring, and most of what they know was never written down or if it was, is now out of date. The rules are still there, encoded in the system itself. What is disappearing is the ability to read them.

The Software Acquisition Pathway (SWP) asks teams to value working software over comprehensive documentation. Yet, documentation is what survives to accelerate the work of future teams, and it is the first thing deferred when delivery is the measure. A program can  deliver on cadence for years, and still arrive at a system that no one remaining can explain, secure, or re-compete.

The question is not whether to document. It is whether understanding a system still has to cost what it used to.

What the SWP Requires

Under DoD Instruction 5000.87, the pathway establishes the artifacts a program produces to move from one iteration to the next. Those artifacts are what let subsequent teams secure, maintain, and enhance the software after the current team is gone.   

Rather than collecting the artifacts from the people who remember the system, teams can now derive them from the system itself. Karsun’s ReDuX analyzes the codebase and generates the underlying material for these documents with citations back to the specific code that governs each one. The citation is the part that matters. It means an assertion about the system can be checked against the system, by anyone. 

Dynamically Generate Requirements 

One of the first steps in the pathway is capturing the overarching requirements that feed a Capability Needs Statement (CNS) or User Agreement (UA) or other similar document.  As ReDuX analyzes user demos and the codebase, it produces requirements and user flows, each citing the specific legacy code that governs it. The requirements are written as behavior-driven given-when-then (GWTs) statements, a form that is testable by agents and reviewable by the developers and subject matter experts who validate them. Because each statement traces to the source code that produced it, any reviewer can confirm it, not only the teams that were there when the system was built.

Architecture Documents

A Software Acquisition Strategy (SAS) requires documentation of both the legacy architecture and the target. The legacy half is where programs get stuck. The available diagrams were drawn years ago and have drifted from what is actually running, and the people who could correct them are the same people who are leaving. ReDuX Blueprinting Lenses derive the legacy picture from the application’s own code and artifacts, covering data and job flows, schemas, endpoints, and screen flows. Because that picture comes from the system rather than from memory, the strategy rests on what the system does today. It is also the precondition for a modular open systems approach (MOSA). Decomposing a system into modules with defined interfaces requires knowing where the seams actually are, and on a legacy system nobody knows that until it is derived. 

Scoping, Estimating and Forecasting Work

The same blueprint also changes what a program can see when it plans. Estimating work on a legacy system usually means estimating against an incomplete picture, and the gap shows up later as cost and/or schedule overruns. Working from a dependency map derived from the application itself, teams can find duplicate functionality, sequence enhancements against what actually depends on what, pay down technical debt deliberately rather than opportunistically, and remove dead code with the evidence to prove it is dead. Committing to an annual capability delivery cadence is easier when the commitment rests on the system as it is.

The pathway asks programs to move fast. The clock asks them to move fast without losing what they know. Those pull against each other only if understanding a system still has to come from the people who built it.

Everything described here belongs to the government. The requirements, the architecture, the constraints, and the traceability are platform-neutral and readable without Karsun tooling, which means a program office can hand them to any team, on any target, including a competitor. That is the point. The documentation the pathway asks for should outlast the vendor that helped produce it, and it is worth capturing now, while the people who best understand their legacy systems are still here to ask.

HERNDON, VA., OCTOBER, 27, 2025 – Karsun Solutions, a leading technology modernization firm, announced that its ReDuX platform has achieved “Awardable” status through the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office’s (CDAO) Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace.

The Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace is the premier offering of Tradewinds, the Department of War’s (DoW’s) suite of tools and services designed to accelerate the procurement and adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML), data, and analytics capabilities.

Karsun’s ReDuX platform accelerates the modernization of mainframe and other legacy system applications using agentic AI. The company’s modern software development, cloud, data, and AI/ML solutions are used by government agencies and enterprise organizations. In addition to mainframe modernization it offers specialized expertise in acquisition, aviation, grants management, and fleet management systems modernization.

“We are excited to join this premier marketplace for procuring AI/ML, data, and analytics solutions,” said Sundar Vaidyanathan, CEO of Karsun Solutions. “We look forward to addressing the DoW’s most significant modernization challenges.”

Karsun Solutions’ video, “ReDuX – AI Accelerated Modernization,” accessible only by government customers on the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace, presents an actual use case in which the company demonstrates the accelerated modernization of a mainframe application from discovery to delivery. Karsun Solutions was recognized among a competitive field of applicants to the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace whose solutions demonstrated innovation, scalability, and potential impact on DoW missions. Government customers interested in viewing the video solution can create a Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace account at tradewindAI.com.

About Karsun Solutions

Karsun Solutions modernizes legacy systems enabling government agencies and enterprise organizations to elevate mission capability. IT solutions from Karsun are tailored to meet mission-driven organizations’ unique needs and optimize operations. These solutions adapt and stay relevant to current trends while using secure, digital architecture built to last. It is a proven modernization partner whose expertise ensures every next opportunity is within reach. Learn more at Karsun-LLC.com.

About ReDuX

The ReDuX AI-powered platform expedites the modernization of mainframe and other legacy system applications. Key tools in the platform include its blueprinting agents, which provide deep insights into system structure and behavior, and its transformation agents, which use the outputs from the blueprinting agents to generate code and facilitate incremental migration. These agents also bring enhanced security and privacy, offering project-specific usability by interfacing with various systems, overcome hallucinations noted in large language models (LLMs), and provide proven prompt templates to save developers time and effort. Get started at GoReDuX.ai.

For more information or media requests, contact the Karsun Marketing Team at marketing@karsun-llc.com.

About the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace

The Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace is a digital repository of post-competition, readily awardable pitch videos that address the Department of War’s (DoW’s) most significant challenges in the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), data, and analytics space. All awardable solutions have been assessed through complex scoring rubrics and competitive procedures and are available to Government customers with a Marketplace account. Government customers can create an account at www.tradewindai.com. Tradewinds is housed in the DoW’s Chief Digital Artificial Intelligence Office.

For more information or media requests, contact: Success@tradewindai.com