Digital Government
Census puts tracking app on Web
The Census Bureau recently tapped a company to build an Internetbased application to reduce the burden of filing and collecting export information from companies shipping goods out of the country. The Census Bureau's Foreign Trade Division, which has primary responsibility for collecting, compilin
Digital Government
HTML Transit makes Web work a snap
Designing a World Wide Web site for your agency or department can be fun, especially if you have the opportunity to employ the latest bells and whistles. The really tedious work, as any Webmaster can tell you, rears its head if you need to convert masses of legacy files for presentation on the Web.
Digital Government
Agencies fall prey to software-license fraud
Unwittingly or not, government agencies are among the most susceptible to buying counterfeit software licenses, but they may also be one of the only groups trying to remedy that fact. Last week, Microsoft Corp. filed its first major round of lawsuits for distributing illegal software licenses again
Digital Government
Study may help lower barrier to EBT
The costs of providing food stamps electronically to assistance recipients across state lines are lower than expected, removing a possible barrier to shifting the entire U.S. foodstamp program to electronic benefits transfer (EBT), a recently released study found.
Digital Government
COs as chief judge and jury
A proposed amendment the Clinton administration wants to make to the Federal Acquisition Regulation to weed out unscrupulous contractors may seem like a prudent move to ensure that taxpayer dollars go to lawabiding companies. But as written, the amendment could create more problems than it solves.
Digital Government
With new Y2K grade, State feels vindicated
Critics predicted early on that the State Department, one of the agencies that was considered woefully behind in its Year 2000 efforts, would not have all of its critical computer systems fixed until 2034.
Digital Government
DOD: Some nuclear systems not ready for Year 2000
With just 162 days remaining until Jan. 1, 2000, the Defense Department still needs to fix Year 2000 problems in two missioncritical strategic nuclear command and control systems, according to senior Pentagon officials.
Digital Government
Gateway presents a sleek Profile
Tired of your PC taking up precious real estate on your desk? The Profile PC recently introduced by Gateway Inc. and coming soon to the General Services Administration schedule incorporates the best desktop features with the spacesaving abilities of a notebook computer. The first thing you wil
Digital Government
Pilots lack weather data, Hill told
Air transportation officials last week told a House panel that the Federal Aviation Administration's failure to put uptotheminute weather data into the hands of pilots is endangering the flying public. Accidents such as the fatal American Airlines crash that occurred last month during severe thu
Digital Government
Labor upgrades work-related legal advice site
The Labor Department recently redesigned and expanded its World Wide Web site by making it more userfriendly and informative for people seeking expert legal advice on workrelated issues. Labor recently beefed up its Employment Laws Assistance for Workers and Small Businesses (elaws) Web site, whi
Digital Government
Intercepts
While the Interceptor is off canoeing on the Chesapeake Bay, the editors have handed me the reins of the Intercepts column. You can call me the Infiltrator, after my shady roots in the spook community. My wellplaced listening devices have picked up the following: NAVY/MARINE CORPS INDIGNATION NET.
Digital Government
Program managers find budget process 'flawed'
Key procurement reforms of the past five years have not necessarily worked as intended, according to information technology managers interviewed for a study that will be released this week by the Association for Federal Information Resources Management (AFFIRM). A focus group of 11 IT program manag
Digital Government
Feds mull approaches to stop spam
Federal employees have begun to discuss ways to stop the increasing load of spam directed at their government email boxes, but federal information technology policy groups have yet to decide what the best course would be. How the government should deal with spam surfaced this month on a federal li
Digital Government
OmniPage Web bridges gap between paper, the Web
Every so often we come across a foreheadslapper. That's a program that makes us collectively slap palms to forehead and exclaim, 'Why didn't somebody come up with that before?' Caere Corp.'s OmniPage Web is such a program, and it will be appreciated immediately by any agency Webmaster who needs
Digital Government
Set-Asides
Senate bill would spin off DOE weapons programs The Senate last week passed a bill that would create an Agency for Nuclear Stewardship within the Energy Department that would manage DOE's nuclear weapons programs. The measure, an amendment by Sen. Bob Kerrey (DNeb.), was included in a broader bil
Digital Government
FTS to offer financial management systems help
The General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service is another step closer to GSA's vision of offering more solutions that meet agency needs, offering a specialized service center to lead the federal adoption of the latest commercial financial and administrative management systems. Unl
Digital Government
Navy launches PC, laptop lease
As part of an effort to refurbish its computing environment and ramp up for a servicewide intranet project, the Navy's Pacific Fleet last week awarded a threeyear, $96 million leasing agreement to Dell Computer Corp. for desktop and laptop computers. Although the idea of leasing computers never re
Digital Government
Sophos makes anti-virus protection more manageable
The recent highprofile outbreaks of the 'Melissa' and 'ExploreZip' viruses underscore the need for vigilant virus protection on every machine on an enterprise network. Vigilance is more than simply slapping a virusprotection package on a machine as it comes through the door and then forgetting ab
Digital Government
Auctions the next tool for the federal buyer
An amazing thing happened to me recently. In the span of one week, I received three phone calls from organizations looking to introduce online auctions into federal government buying. Industry hates auctions for one good reason and one bad one. The good reason is that auctions evoke the old, discre
Digital Government