IT challenges

Army Eyes Smooth Transition to New Email Service

The U.S. Army is looking to facilitate a smooth transition to the new Army 365 email service in 2022 after experiencing setbacks in tech platform rollouts in 2021.

Army Ignited, the service’s new Deloitte-designed platform for educational benefits, was launched prematurely, resulting in problems like soldiers still needing reimbursements, while the launch of human resources and pay platform IPPS-A has been delayed until at least September 2022.

The email transition is expected to leave 250,000 personnel without official emails but Army Chief Information Officer Raj Iyer assured that the service is working on implementing an alternate solution, Defense News reported.

The looming email shortage arose in November when the Army announced that not all personnel will be getting an email license for cost-cutting reasons.

According to sources familiar with the matter, CACI International and Google are being considered by the Army to address the problem as it transitions from Defense Enterprise Email services to the Microsoft 365 collaboration platform.

Iyer, a past Potomac Officers Club speaker and 2021 Wash100 winner, did not confirm which contractor will be selected to provide extra emails to soldiers, saying current information is “all contract- and acquisition-sensitive.”

Existing emails are slated to be disabled on March 31, 2022. With no concrete plan on how to address the issue, Lt. Gen. John Morrison Jr., an Army deputy chief of staff for cyber and another former POC speaker, noted that the Army may put the decommissioning of emails on hold if an alternate email solution cannot be deployed in time.