Army Knowledge Online RFP due within weeks

The Army plans to issue a request for proposals before Thanksgiving in search of a single integrator for the Army Knowledge Online portal.

Lee Harvey, deputy program executive officer for enterprise information systems, said there was a slight delay in rolling out the RFP, which officials have talked about since late summer.

"We're ensuring that we have all the requirements in order before we put it out on the street," Harvey explained.

He added that the Army anticipated making proposals due just before Christmas.

There are currently seven contractors working on different components of the AKO portal, which has led to redundant efforts, according to Army officials.

There are about 1.6 million accounts on AKO, which provides single sign-on access to hundreds of Army applications and services.

In September, the Army unveiled the third version of AKO, built on software from Appian Corp. of Vienna, Va. AKO-3 added collaboration features for setting up online forums, chat rooms and e-mail lists.