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Army Joins the Federal Hunt for Innovative 'Apps'

September 16, 2009

The United States Army has unveiled a new competition to foster the development of software and services that will be of use to the military. Apps for the Army would help speed the development process for Defense IT projects by providing an incentive for the military community to participate in creating innovative applications. Officials say that the program will help tap into the work already being done by military personnel to design software that is tailored to the demands of the battlefield. The pilot program is expected to launch by the end of the month and, if successful, would eventually be replicated within other Department of Defense (DoD) agencies.

The resulting applications will reside on DoD's Forge.mil collaborative development platform. Forge.mil was launched earlier this year to help developers work on open-source software projects for DoD by using shared tools and a development environment hosted by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). The site allows Defense agencies, as well as Defense personnel and contracts, to minimize duplication of effort by providing access to software components that already have been created and by offering a common set of development tools. Forge.mil's first component, SoftwareForge, includes tools for version control, bug tracking, wikis, discussion forums and document storage. The DoD effort is similar to SourceForge, the leading open-source software development and distribution site for civilian projects, but with additional security measures.

Apps for the Army resembles two other recent civilian efforts to encourage IT innovation while improving government services. The District of Columbia launched Apps for Democracy last year to leverage the skills of individuals and businesses to create software and web applications that could make use of the data collected by the city. In its first round, the contest yielded 47 web, iPhone and Facebook applications and cost the city only $50,000. A follow-up "Community Edition" of the contest offered cash awards to build a new platform for submitting 311 service requests to the city. Entries may go on to become commercial products.

On Tuesday, the General Services Administration launched its own effort, Apps.gov, to make a variety of applications, cloud computing services and social networking software available to federal agencies. The announcement was made by U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, who previously helped create Apps for Democracy as D.C.'s Chief Technology Officer.  Apps.gov consolidates federal agency purchases of cloud and social media applications into a single storefront, making it easier for agencies to find reputable services and for developers to market their products to government consumers. One of the key missions of Apps.gov is to promote the use of cloud computing services within the federal government in order to increase productivity, collaboration and efficiency. Several sites, including ReadWriteWeb.com, have reported that the site represents an attractive new market for cloud services and could spur innovation in that area.

Both Apps for the Army and Apps.gov represent a change in how the federal government interacts with the IT community. By consolidating the marketplace for IT services, these initiatives could limit duplication of effort and reduce expenses while promoting the development of innovative new applications. Consolidation also provides a single point of entry for IT companies to pursue government customers, possibly making it easier for smaller companies to enter the market.

Read more about Apps for the Army at: http://armylive.dodlive.mil/index.php/2009/09/apps-for-the-army-competition/.

information technology