Digital Government

Feds launch Web sites to help drought victims

Commerce Department Secretary William Daley on Wednesday launched two Internetbased tools to help inform Americans who are suffering through the heat and drought.

Digital Government

Commerce to close NTIS

The Commerce Department plans to close the National Technical Information Service because its core function of providing government information for a fee is no longer needed, Commerce Secretary William Daley announced today.

Digital Government

OMB refines Y2K reporting requirements

As the federal government heads into the final months of fixing systems for the Year 2000, the Office of Management and Budget has revised the requirements for the quarterly reports agencies file on their Year 2000 progress.

Digital Government

Governors Are Split on Internet Tax Question

The National Governors' Association meeting provided a platform for much agreement among state chief executives on information technology issues, but the question of exactly how to tax Internet transactions is not one of them.

Digital Government

Governors' IT task force emphasizes GIS

The National Governors' Association's Information Technology Task Force met Monday to discuss an array of IT issues, including the use of geographic information systems, the role of the chief information officer and ways states can work more closely with the private sector.

Digital Government

Chicago suburb connected with Notes

Officials of Buffalo Grove, Ill., a Chicago suburb, have been using Lotus Development Corp.'s Notes technology to wire their municipality and keep them on the cutting edge

Digital Government

Advisory Committee on Electronic Commerce Takes Next Step in Process

The Advisory Committee on Electronic Commerce took another step Friday in its congressionally mandated study of how and whether to tax products sold over the Internet. A workplan subgroup of the panel met via conference call to come up with a list of key issues that the full commission should focus on at its next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 14 and 15 in New York City.

Digital Government

Rural Community Technology Centers Eligible for Grant Money

The Community Technology Centers' Network and the Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy are overseeing the distribution of $70,000 in grants to support rural communities to advocate telecommunications policies that support technology equity and universal service.

Digital Government

Colorado to Accept Lawsuit Filings Via Web

Colorado, already a national leader in integrating new technologies into the legal process, staged another coup last week when it awarded a contract that will make it the first to offer statewide electronic filing of lawsuits and other legal briefs.

Digital Government

CDW-G poised to pick up Navy IT-21 BPA

The Navy this week plans to award a $20 million blanket purchase agreement covering desktop and notebook systems to Chantilly, Va.based CDWG Inc., Navy officials confirmed. Jim Swizewski, contracting officer with the Navy's Fleet Industrial Supply Center, Norfolk, Va., last week said a deal with

Digital Government

Federal Bytes

HEADSUP THINKING. Rep. Constance Morella (RMd.) recently chaired a hearing that focused on possible lapses in computer security directly resulting from Year 2000 remediation efforts lapses that could raise the risk of theft, fraud or corruption by unscrupulous programmers. But Morella offered s

Digital Government

The IT squeeze

The House and Senate worked last week to move along overdue fiscal year 2000 appropriations before taking a monthlong break, but tight budget caps could threaten civilian agencies' information technology projects. Trying to abide by a 1997 agreement with President Clinton to cap federal spending a

Digital Government

EEO panel changes regs on complaints

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has changed the procedures federal employees use when pursuing equal employment opportunity complaints. The changes include restrictions on the ability of federal agencies to overturn administrative law judge decisions as well as new rules guiding the use

Digital Government

AMD chip tops Intel

In a neverending battle for bragging rights, Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. are at it again to see which company can produce the fastest desktop processor. Last week, Intel released a 600 MHz Pentium III, and this week AMD is announcing the release of its 600 MHz processor, the Athlon

Digital Government

Maryland forms task force on public safety tech

Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend announced last week the creation of a state task force on public safety technology whose goal is to bring cuttingedge law enforcement and correction technologies to state and local criminal and juvenile justice agencies.

Digital Government

Agencies asked to post Web docs

At least two federal organizations chastised in a new report for failing to make information widely available to the public via the Internet say they are working toward placing the targeted material online. The Washington, D.C.based Center for Democracy and Technology last week unveiled its '10 Mo

Digital Government

USPS delivers PC Postage

The U.S. Postal Service today announced the commercial launch of an Internetbased program that enables people to download postage stamps, print them from their home PCs and pay for them online.

Digital Government

Likely changes for weighing contractor qualifications

A contractor asked the following question: I read that the Federal Acquisition Regulation may be changed to give contracting officers more say over companies' compliance with environmental and other laws. What is this about? How much of a change is this going to be? This question relates to the rec

Digital Government

NIST names finalists in AES development

The National Institute of Standards and Technology today named the five finalists in its development of the nextgeneration Advanced Encryption Standard.

Digital Government

Keynote 7700 provides a weighty choice

While many competitors have made a point of minimizing the size and weight of their notebooks, Keydata International Inc. takes a different approach with its 300 MHz Keynote 7700, building a larger model stocked with exceptional security features and an exciting integrated CCD camera for videoconfe