Marines Enlist New Mobile News App -- But at What Cost?

The Marines have tapped a Rochester, Minnesota company to provide news and information feeds to active duty Marines, potential Marines, reserve Marines, retirees, family members and the general public, according to a limited source justification notice posted on the federal online contracting website last Friday.

DoApp Inc.’s Mobile Local News platform provides the only real time solution for managing content through a Web-based interface for all the most current mobile platforms and provides the only integrated social media mash-up feed, according to the Marine Corps Production Directorate at the Defense Media Activity.

DoApp runs on Apple iPhones and iPads, Android phones and tablets, the Amazon Kindle Fire and Windows Mobile, the Marines said.

The DoApp award, like many sole source contract awards I encounter while trolling the Federal Business Opportunities website, blacks out the value of the one year contract – hard to comprehend since the application is public and not classified.  

Who does this secrecy benefit? Certainly not the taxpayer nor curious reporters.