Digital Government
Panel OKs Internet gambling ban
The Senate Judiciary Committee late last week overwhelmingly approved a bill to prohibit gambling on the Internet. The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1999 (S. 692) passed the committee 161 and moves to the full Senate for debate.
Digital Government
Feds submit access plans for disabled
Federal agencies last week submitted to the Justice Department reports that explain how the agencies plan to comply with a law that requires them to provide disabled workers with access to computers. The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 requires agencies to ensure that federal employees who are bli
Digital Government
Northern Va. vendors see growing influence of feds
Outsourcing, performancebased contracting and the Year 2000 and beyond are playing a major role in shaping the rapidly expanding information technology market in the Washington, D.C., area, according to federal and industry executives taking part in a roundtable discussion last week. Hightech
Digital Government
Moving the feds from difficult buyer to smart buyer
Traditionally, the federal government has been a difficult buyer. By a difficult buyer I mean one that imposes lots of extra costs and risks of doing business on vendors. Extra costs have included those arising from unique contract clauses, such as Buy American, or governmentunique specifications,
Digital Government
Louisiana/AMS Launch Electronic Truck Permitting System
Louisiana's Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) can now issue permits to oversize and commercial trucks over the Internet in a move that will streamline what was a timeconsuming approval process.
Digital Government
NSF's Digital Government Grant Program to Fund Research
State and local agencies have less than a month to file grant proposals for the National Science Foundation's Digital Government Grant Program. Launched last year for federal agencies, NSF this year has opened up the program to state and local agencies. About $3 million is up for grabs for fiscal 2000.
Digital Government
House takes USDA to task over e-filing system
A House panel this week dismissed claims made by the Agriculture Department that it does not have enough funding or resources to complete a computer system that would allow farmers to do more of their business with the agency via the Internet, and the panel urged that development move ahead.
Digital Government
Rep. floats GSA reform proposal
The General Services Administration should be partially privatized, and the compensation of the agency's top officials should be based on performance, under a proposal described today by Rep. Tom Davis (RVa.).
Digital Government
Connecticut Assembly Closes Without Taking Up Privatization
Connecticut state comptroller Nancy Wyman this week took another shot at the state's efforts to privatize its computer operations in a pending deal with Electronic Data Systems Corp.
Digital Government
NSF Holds Open Funding Program for High-Speed Internet Access
The National Science Foundation will be taking applications until the end of next month from research and educational facilities looking for highspeed access to the Internet for advanced applications.
Digital Government
Contractors' software 'crap,' says top DOD IT official
The Pentagon's top information technology official sharply criticized, in the plainest possible language, the quality of software that IT contractors currently supply to the Defense Department.
Digital Government
Software Industry by 2000 Will Be Biggest Slice of U.S. Economy
The Business Software Alliance released yesterday a report that says by the Year 2000, the software industry will contribute more to the U.S. economy than any manufacturing industry, including automotive, and also will boast a $20 billion surplus, compared with $13 billion in 1997.
Digital Government
Census opens data capture center for 2000 census
The Census Bureau and several privatesector partners today held a grand opening ceremony for a data capture center in Maryland, which will be used to organize and store demographic information from an estimated 40 million questionnaires for the 2000 census.
Digital Government
OMB confident most fed systems ready for 2000
Acknowledging that most of the federal government's missioncritical computer systems will be ready for the Year 2000, the Office of Management and Budget has shifted its Year 2000 oversight focus to just a few critical systems and agencies' contingency plans, according to the latest quarterly report on agencies' Year 2000 progress.
Digital Government
Cybersecurity holes persist at DOE labs, study finds
Despite what may be the worst spy case in U.S. history involving nuclear weapon design data, the computer networks at the nation's five weapons laboratories continue to be riddled with vulnerabilities, according to a report by a special investigative panel of intelligence and security officials.
Digital Government
Baltimore Auctions Extra Supplies Over Internet
The city of Baltimore yesterday wrapped up its first round of cyberauctions. The city is hoping to clear out thousands of surplus items from its warehouse via the emerging online market.
Digital Government
County adds Web-based court records
The Clerk of the Circuit Court in Fairfax County, Va., recently contracted with Performance Engineering Corp. (PEC) to develop the Courts Automated Recording System, which is a program that digitally captures court records and makes them readily accessible via a World Wide Webbased interface.
Digital Government
School board distributes notebooks
Members of the board of education in Baldwin Park, Calif., recently leased 900 Compaq Computer Corp. notebook computers and gave them to teachers and administrators in all of the district's 21 schools.
Digital Government
Agency Y2K Grades
While the federal government has made significant progress in fixing its computer systems for the Year 2000, a House Republican who closely follows the issue said today that most agencies have yet to develop backup plans in case computers fail next year.
Digital Government