If you are a current or future USAP participant, or communicate with participants, please be aware that the USAP email address format is changing.

In order to align USAP email address naming conventions with the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR Part 37.114 ) and National Science Foundation (NSF) agency guidance, the format and resulting display name of USAP email system addresses will change.  This change affects all USAP participants who are currently issued a USAP email system account and will affect all future new accounts.

Affected USAP Participant Groups

Group A
U.S. Government employee, civilian or military, conducting official business in direct support of the USAP.

Group B
Contractor employees, irrespective of the parent contracting organization.

Group C
Guests and visitors, which include science grantee participants.

Purpose of Change

The current USAP email account naming convention does not distinguish the identity of USAP participants between governmental officials acting in an official capacity and the various non-government personnel participating within the program.  This causes the potential for misrepresentation of non-government individuals as U.S. Government officials.

Naming Convention Change

Current naming convention:  Firstname.Lastname@usap.gov

Changes:

Group A: No change

Group B: Firstname.Lastname.Contractor@usap.gov

Group C: Firstname.Lastname.Guest@usap.gov

 
All conversions are expected to be completed by July 31, 2009.

Special Note for Communicating with USAP Email Addressees

For email sent to USAP email accounts, the USAP email system will continue to honor the old-style addressing format (Firstname.Lastname@usap.gov) through March 31, 2010, at which time the system will no longer accept this address and will reject email as undeliverable.

Those who maintain address books, automated processes with preprogrammed email addresses, records, etc., are strongly encouraged to update to the new format during this transition period.

Effective with the conversion schedule listed above, all email sent from USAP email accounts will only use the new naming convention.  Any automated mail processes that key on email addressing must be converted in order to properly recognize the originator.

Special Note for USAP Participants with Delegated Authority to Operate a Private Email Server within the usap.gov Domain

You must contact your official USAP IT technical support liaison as soon as possible in order to review the technical impacts and determine a plan to align your mail system with the new convention.  Failure to do so could result in loss of service or a revocation of delegation authority resulting in deactivation of the private email server.

Help or Questions

For USAP participants or for those who are presently communicating with USAP participants via email, questions may be addressed to the USAP Help Desk:

Phone: 800.688.8606, ext. 32001

Email: Helpdesk@usap.gov

General Notes

• Legal firstnames and lastnames will be used for the formal address naming.
   
• Upon request, alias addresses using common nicknames will be allowed in addition to the legal firstname and lastname address syntax.
   
• Upon request or standing inter-organizational agreement, alias addresses for Group A will be allowed that conform to the participant's parent organization's email naming syntax.
   
• Science research grantees, guests, and visitors who receive a USAP email account, irrespective of government employment status, shall be managed under Group C naming.
   
• Examples of affected contractors falling under Group B:

Raytheon Polar Services Company (RPSC)
Kenn Borek Air Ltd.
Petroleum Helicopters, Inc.
Space Mark International (SMI)
AGUNSA, South America
Lockheed Martin
Chubb Security Systems
Scientific Research Corporation (SRC)
NANA Services, LLC
Biospherical Instruments Inc. (BSI)