In the early 1960s, a study was commissioned by the Secretary of Defense to examine the entire DoD contracting process.

Known as "Project 60," the findings pointed to numerous benefits of consolidating contract administration and audit.

At that time, each defense agency and military service was administering and auditing its own contracts, which resulted in a great amount of duplicate effort.

However, the military services continued to retain oversight of the major weapon systems acquisition programs.

On March 27, 2000, DCMC was renamed as the Defense Contract Management Agency and established independently from DLA.

In DoD Directive 5105.64, the Deputy Secretary of Defense formally established the mission, responsibilities and functions of DCMA; save for 18 specific exceptions detailed in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, DoD activities normally delegate a wide variety of contract administration functions to DCMA.

The color blue matches the canton of the American flag and signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice.

The badge and lapel pin were designed by The Institute Of Heraldry (TIOH), working at the direction of military officers assigned to DCMA.