Army app market to let customers have it their way

• By Greg Crowe
• Oct 09, 2012

The U.S. Army is slated to open a new mobile applications marketplace in an effort to offer a more flexible way for government IT professionals to buy software.

In a six-month pilot, users will be able to post specific requirements and participating developers can quickly try to fill them with existing or custom-made solutions.

What will be driving this effort is Appsmart, an online app marketplace development tool from Massachusetts-based Raytheon, a company that has long worked with government IT.

Appsmart allows a client to easily create a secure applications marketplace for its organization. In the past, government attempts at making a viable app store have been slowed or even halted by concerns of security and control. Appsmart should help the Army alleviate these issues.

If this works, it will be a godsend for government procurers and contractors alike. Anyone who has been through it can tell you that traditional acquisitions processes can be laborious and time-consuming. Any effort to make them more efficient would be a good thing.