diff --git a/.github/workflows/_build_container.yml b/.github/workflows/_build_container.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 314338ff9..000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/_build_container.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,72 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright (c) 2020-2021, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-name: Build NeMo Aligner container
-on: 
-  workflow_call:
-    inputs:
-      ref: 
-        description: Git ref to checkout
-        default: ${{ github.sha }}
-        required: false
-        type: string
-
-defaults:
-  run:
-    shell: bash -x -e -u -o pipefail {0}
-
-jobs:
-  main:
-    runs-on: self-hosted-azure-builder
-    steps:
-      - name: Clean runner cache
-        run: | 
-          docker system prune --filter "until=24h" --force
-      
-      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
-        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
-        with: 
-          # We use `docker` driver as this speeds things up for 
-          # trivial (non-multi-stage) builds.
-          driver: docker
-
-      - name: Pull cache images
-        run: |
-          docker pull nemoci.azurecr.io/nemo_aligner_container:${{ github.event.pull_request.number || 'buildcache' }} || true
-          docker pull nemoci.azurecr.io/nemo_aligner_container:buildcache || true
-
-      - name: Build and push
-        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
-        with:
-          file: Dockerfile
-          push: true
-          build-args: |
-            MAX_JOBS=32
-            ALIGNER_COMMIT=${{ inputs.ref }}
-          cache-from: |
-            nemoci.azurecr.io/nemo_aligner_container:${{ github.event.pull_request.number || 'buildcache' }}
-            nemoci.azurecr.io/nemo_aligner_container:buildcache
-          cache-to: type=inline
-          tags: nemoci.azurecr.io/nemo_aligner_container:${{ github.run_id }}
-
-      - name: Update PR image
-        if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
-        run: |
-          docker tag nemoci.azurecr.io/nemo_aligner_container:${{ github.run_id }} nemoci.azurecr.io/nemo_aligner_container:${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
-          docker push nemoci.azurecr.io/nemo_aligner_container:${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
-
-      - name: Update buildcache image
-        if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
-        run: |
-          docker tag nemoci.azurecr.io/nemo_aligner_container:${{ github.run_id }} nemoci.azurecr.io/nemo_aligner_container:buildcache
-          docker push nemoci.azurecr.io/nemo_aligner_container:buildcache
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/cicd-main.yml b/.github/workflows/cicd-main.yml
index 5c747a851..97ca07da4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cicd-main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cicd-main.yml
@@ -54,7 +54,14 @@ jobs:
   
   build-container:
     if: ${{ github.event.label.name == 'Run CICD' || github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' }}
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/_build_container.yml
+    uses: NVIDIA/NeMo-FW-CI-templates/.github/workflows/_build_container.yml@v0.1.0
+    with:
+      image-name: nemo_aligner_container
+      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+      image-label: nemo-aligner
+      build-args: |
+        MAX_JOBS=32
+        ALIGNER_COMMIT=${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha || github.sha }}
   
   Unit_Tests:
     name: ${{ matrix.test_case }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-freeze.yml b/.github/workflows/release-freeze.yml
index b0762e320..8c7593cf9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-freeze.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-freeze.yml
@@ -12,119 +12,11 @@ on:
         - pre_release
 
 jobs:
-  create-release-branch:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: contains(fromJSON('["ko3n1g"]'), github.actor)
-    environment: 
-      name: main
-    outputs:
-      version: ${{ steps.release-branch.outputs.version }}
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout repository
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          path: ${{ github.run_id }}
-          fetch-depth: 0
-          fetch-tags: true
-          ref: main
-          token: ${{ secrets.PAT }}
-
-      - name: Get release branch ref
-        id: release-branch
-        run: |
-          cd ${{ github.run_id }}
-                    
-          if [[ "${{ inputs.type_of_release }}" != "pre_release" ]]; then
-            sed -i "/^PRE_RELEASE/c\PRE_RELEASE = ''" nemo_aligner/package_info.py 
-          fi
-
-          VERSION=$(python -c 'import nemo_aligner; print(nemo_aligner.__version__)')
-
-          echo "Release version r$VERSION" > version
-          echo "version=$VERSION" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-
-          git switch --force-create r$VERSION origin/main
-          git push -u origin r$VERSION --force
-
-  bump-next-version:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: [create-release-branch]
-    environment: 
-      name: main
-    env:
-      VERSION_FILE: nemo_aligner/package_info.py
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout repository
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          path: ${{ github.run_id }}
-          fetch-depth: 0
-          fetch-tags: true
-          ref: main
-          token: ${{ secrets.PAT }}
-
-      - name: Bump version
-        id: bump-version
-        run: |
-          cd ${{ github.run_id }}
-          PRE_RELEASE=$(cat nemo_aligner/package_info.py | awk '/^PRE_RELEASE = /' | awk -F"= " '{print $2}' | tr -d '"' | tr -d "'")
-          MAJOR=$(cat nemo_aligner/package_info.py | awk '/^MAJOR = /' | awk -F"= " '{print $2}')
-          MINOR=$(cat nemo_aligner/package_info.py | awk '/^MINOR = /' | awk -F"= " '{print $2}')
-          PATCH=$(cat nemo_aligner/package_info.py | awk '/^PATCH = /' | awk -F"= " '{print $2}')
-
-          if [[ "${{ inputs.type_of_release }}" == "pre_release" ]]; then
-            NEXT_MAJOR=$MAJOR
-            NEXT_MINOR=$MINOR
-            NEXT_PRE_RELEASE=rc$(( $(echo $PRE_RELEASE | awk -F"rc" '{print $2}') + 1))
-          elif [[ "${{ inputs.type_of_release }}" == "major" ]]; then
-            NEXT_MAJOR=$(( MAJOR + 1))
-            NEXT_MINOR=0
-            NEXT_PRE_RELEASE=rc0
-          else
-            NEXT_MAJOR=$MAJOR
-            NEXT_MINOR=$(( MINOR + 1))
-            NEXT_PRE_RELEASE=rc0
-          fi
-
-          sed -i "/^MAJOR/c\MAJOR = $NEXT_MAJOR" nemo_aligner/package_info.py
-          sed -i "/^MINOR/c\MINOR = $NEXT_MINOR" nemo_aligner/package_info.py
-          sed -i "/^PRE_RELEASE/c\PRE_RELEASE = '$NEXT_PRE_RELEASE'" nemo_aligner/package_info.py
-
-          echo "version=$NEXT_MAJOR.$NEXT_MINOR.$PATCH$NEXT_PRE_RELEASE" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-
-      - name: Create Version Bump PR
-        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v6
-        id: create-pull-request
-        with:
-          path: ${{ github.run_id }}
-          branch: bot/chore/version-bump-${{ steps.bump-version.outputs.version }}
-          title: 'Version bump to `${{ steps.bump-version.outputs.version }}`'
-          body: |
-            🚀 Version bump NeMo-Aligner to `${{ steps.bump-version.outputs.version }}`
-
-          commit-message: "[🤠]: Howdy folks, let's bump NeMo-Aligner `${{ steps.bump-version.outputs.version }}` !"
-          signoff: true
-          assignees: okoenig
-          labels: 'Run CICD'
-
-  notify:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: [create-release-branch, bump-next-version]
-    environment: 
-      name: main
-    steps:
-      - name: Main
-        run: |
-          MESSAGE='{
-            "blocks": [
-              {
-                "type": "section",
-                "text": {
-                  "type": "mrkdwn",
-                  "text": "Releasebot 🤖: NeMo-Aligner has been frozen 🎉 to branch `r${{ needs.create-release-branch.outputs.version }}`"
-                }
-              }
-            ]
-          }'
-
-          curl -X POST -H "Content-type: application/json" --data "$MESSAGE" ${{ secrets.SLACK_RELEASE_ENDPOINT }}
\ No newline at end of file
+  code-freeze:
+    uses: NVIDIA/NeMo-FW-CI-templates/.github/workflows/_code_freeze.yml@v0.1.0
+    with:
+      name_of_library: NeMo-Aligner
+      type_of_release: ${{ inputs.type_of_release }}
+      python_package: nemo_aligner
+    secrets:
+      SLACK_RELEASE_ENDPOINT: ${{ secrets.SLACK_RELEASE_ENDPOINT }}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
index 2558f8aae..fb9b02871 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ on:
     
 jobs: 
   build-container:
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/_build_container.yml
+    uses: NVIDIA/NeMo-FW-CI-templates/.github/workflows/_build_container.yml@v0.1.0
+    with:
+      image-label: nemo-aligner
     
   build-and-test-wheel:
     needs: build-container
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index c94cadc68..44a9f8651 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ pip install --no-cache-dir --no-deps -e .
 EOF
 
 FROM ${BASE_IMAGE} as final
+LABEL "nemo.library"="nemo-aligner"
 WORKDIR /opt
 # needed in case git complains that it can't detect a valid email, this email is fake but works
 RUN git config --global user.email "worker@nvidia.com"