The U.S. Air Force launched a pilot program allowing private companies to handle information technology-related tasks assigned to service members, C4ISRNet reported Friday. The Enterprise IT as a Service program comes as part of the ongoing reorganization for the service.Â
Service leaders stated that companies can help the Air Force maintain its IT infrastructure and manage day-to-day enterprise computing tasks, such as base infrastructure and email services under the program. They also noted moving IT tasks to contractors enables service members to focus on cyber defense.
Previously, Microsoft and AT&T received two contracts worth $121M combined to help the Air Force in its IT modernization efforts. Matt Donovan, CIO and undersecretary of the Air Force, said the service is also working on other reforms to improve its IT.
The Air Force aims to enforce structured data standards, establish a common digital backbone for data and information flow and change how it manages people and business systems to improve performance and affordability.
