Digital Government
Feds join online auction craze
The federal government may follow private companies into the hot electronic commerce game with plans to test next year an online auction site for federal products and surplus property, including everything from computers to houses. FinanceNet, an electronic clearinghouse that provides information o
Digital Government
Vendors team on 'Seat' alternative
San Diego Litton/PRC Inc. and Micron Electronics Inc. have teamed up to offer government agencies the opportunity to test drive desktop outsourcing without turning over all their systems to an outside contractor right away. Many agencies have been looking at the General Services Administration's
Digital Government
Sit up straight!
Proposed regulations aimed at reducing aches and pains caused by poorly designed working environments could be a real headache for federal information technology managers whose employees spend hours at a time hunched over their computers. Under the regulations proposed last month by the Occupationa
Digital Government
Fedwire Briefs
The privacy watchdog group Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a lawsuit in federal court Dec. 3 that aims to force the National Security Agency to release sensitive documents thought to contain evidence of surveillance operations against U.S. citizens. EPIC wants documents recently denied
Digital Government
Keeping data within reach
In the Information Age, government agencies must find ways to handle data generated, shared and demanded at everincreasing rates. And it's not just handling the volume of data that poses a problem. Today's information technology managers need to store all that data securely and determine how often
Digital Government
BMC tackles e-biz reliability concerns
BMC Software Inc. recently announced new products and services designed to improve the reliability and performance of electronic commerce applications. BMC, viewed as the fifthlargest independent software company, unveiled an initiative called Service Assurance for EBusiness, which builds on its
Digital Government
Higher Ed Turns to ERP to Maintain Software
A growing number of higher education users are adopting enterprise resource management software to eliminate problems maintaining heavily customized software or to replace systems that are not Year 2000compliant. Frederick Community College in Frederick, Md., installed PeopleSoft Inc.'s Financial
Digital Government
DOJ's Condon moves to SRA
Mary Ellen Condon, the director of the information management and security staff at the Justice Department, last week left her post to take a job managing information technology projects for the federal division of systems integrator SRA International Inc. Condon, who joined Justice four years ago,
Digital Government
Calm under pressure
Clay Hollister knows how to manage emergencies. Hollister, the chief information officer at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, received his toughest lesson in crisis management when he and his family were taken hostage by the Palestinian Liberation Army during the civil war in Lebannon. In 19
Digital Government
PCs, laptops, GPS help find missing
Honolulu To fulfill their mandate to identify and return the remains of the Americans still missing in action from the Vietnam War, the selfdescribed 'jungle detectives' assigned to a task force to look for the remains rely heavily on a database that contains the records of all 2,043 Americans
Digital Government
Municipal officials pushed on Internet taxation
Proponents of taxing Internet sales rallied municipal officials to throw their weight at Congress Friday at the 1999 Congress of Cities.
Digital Government
Delivering on the promise of 'plug and play'
When the Defense Department in 1993 began to search for a replacement to the antiquated World Wide Military Command and Control System, there was no system capable of meeting all the requirements for commanding military forces on a global scale. But officials soon realized that a cross section of t
Digital Government
What exactly is a pre-award survey?
A reader raised the following topic: Before awarding a new contract, a contracting agency may conduct a preaward survey on the company tentatively selected for the award. How does the preaward survey process relate to the technical evaluations that are done on the competing proposals? What are th
Digital Government
FTS 2001 rolls into the Pacific
The General Services Administration has rolled out its highspeed FTS 2001 telecommunications service to the Pacific, a move that should enable federal officials to save money by conducting videoconferences instead of traveling from island to island for meetings. The advent of FTS 2001 to U.S. isla
Digital Government
NSA playing IT catch-up
The director of the National Security Agency has called for a sweeping overhaul of the super-secret agency's management and information systems to bring it up-to-date with the exploding pace of change in telecommunications and information technology. Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden is calling for
Digital Government
Is Fibre Channel losing SAN dominance?
If you follow the conventional wisdom as you prepare to build your agency's new storagearea network (SAN), then Fibre Channel will be the technology you use to connect servers, network equipment and storage devices. But is Fibre Channel your only option? What about SCSI or Ethernet links two pro
Digital Government
Make the Internet Accessible for All
The Americans with Disabilities Act, signed into law in 1990, requires that government provide individuals with disabilities access to public places. If you take a walk around your state or local government complex, school or library, you'll see new ramps, wider doorways, new elevators and Braille
Digital Government
Lawsuit claims NSA spying on Americans
The privacy watchdog group Electronic Privacy Information Center today filed a lawsuit in federal court that aims to force the National Security Agency to release sensitive documents thought to contain evidence of surveillance operations against U.S. citizens.
Digital Government
New NTIA Director Focused on 'Digital Divide'
Ensuring that all Americans have equal access to information technology tops the agenda of the new administrator for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Digital Government