Digital Government

Industry Watch

Sun debuts online Air Force store Sun Microsystems Federal Inc. last week announced an electronic storefront that will allow agencies to purchase information technology products from the Air Force Workstation contract online. The AFWS SunStore allows customers to purchase equipment using standard S

Digital Government

AGENDA (JUNE 1999)

3 Technology Seminar. Norfolk Naval Base. Norfolk, Va. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command Systems Center's seminar will discuss corporate intranets, Year 2000 compliance and focused testing. For more information, call (757) 5238114; Web, www.scn.spawar.navy.mil/seminar. 3 Fifth Conference

Digital Government

NARA must learn to cope electronically

The software industry is exploding with new product announcements in electronic records management. Agencies are busily studying vendors' offerings, poised on the brink of commitment to taking their records management functions electronic. Everyone is awaiting the next court decision on whether, an

Digital Government

Army saves on laptops

At a time when most other federal organizations have bypassed traditional contracts in favor of streamlined procurements, the Army last week awarded two conventional contracts that will reduce its cost of buying laptop computers by more than 50 percent. The winning bids submitted by GTSI and Intell

Digital Government

New site stages public debate on security

For the National Security Study Group, the Internet provides an opportunity to conduct a truly nationwide study by allowing the public to discuss the topic while the study is being done. The NSSG (www.nssg.gov) is a federal advisory commission that was authorized under the 1998 Defense Authorizatio

Digital Government

Lotus hits new high

Each of the last few releases of Lotus Development Corp.'s Notes and Domino products have brought fairly significant improvements to the company's groupware, collaboration and messaging platform. But the evolution of the feature set in Release 5 (R5) product suite of Notes, Domino and Domino Design

Digital Government

RIF regs reduce unfairness

The Office of Personnel Management has issued final regulations covering how agencies should credit employees' service for the purposes of a reduction in force. These final regulations cover what types of service are creditable when an agency establishes the order of retention for competing employe

Digital Government

Feds seek IT cure for fire

In trying to determine when to let wildfires run their course and when to put them out, two federal agencies are working together on technology projects to monitor fires and smoke on federal lands. The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service manage about 450 million acres of land, and each

Digital Government

What is a claim under a government contract?

A company representative asked the following question: What constitutes a 'claim' under a government contract? For most government contracts, the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (41 U.S.C. ?#038; Sect; 601, et seq.) establishes the procedures for the resolution of claims and disputes. The CDA requires that 'all

Digital Government

Eastman taps fed reseller

Vredenburg, an integrator that has specialized in automating document declassification and processing Freedom of Information Act requests, will become the primary reseller and provider of product support for Eastman Software Inc.'s federal customers. The deal, announced May 25, covers Eastman's hig

Digital Government

DOE unveils system to survey Chornobyl reactor

The Energy Department last week unveiled a state-of-the-art information technology system built to survey the crumbling nuclear reactor site at Chornobyl, Ukraine.

Digital Government

Navy tapped to lead DOD smart card efforts

Language in the Senate's Defense authorization bill for next year would make the Navy the lead Defense Department agency for the department's smart card program and would give the Navy up to $30 million to field the technology. The Navy has been one of the leading government agencies in using smar

Digital Government

Commerce plans reorganization of NTIS

The Commerce Department plans to submit to Congress in the next six weeks a blueprint that would reorganize the agency's National Technical Information Service as it struggles to survive in the era of the Internet. NTIS collects, archives and sells scientific, technical, engineering and related bus

Digital Government

Four at-risk agencies make Y2K progress

Four federal agencies that were behind in fixing their Year 2000 problems have made progress in repairing their systems, and they expect their successes to be reflected in the final Year 2000 quarterly report that focuses primarily on agencies' readiness, which is due out in June. The Office of Man

Digital Government

Northrop to merge DPC into Logicon

Northrop Grumman Corp. plans to expand its federal systems integrator subsidiary Logicon Inc. in Herndon, Va., through the $33 million acquisition of Data Procurement Corporation Inc. of Laurel, Md. DPC, an 8(a) company with 180 employees, had revenue of about $60 million in 1998, all of it through

Digital Government

Expanding your view of the net

With the proliferation of networks, federal users are relying heavily on monitoring tools to deliver fast network response and to prevent downtime. No one single product can monitor everything on a network, and standards have not been fully developed. But today's tools have matured to the point whe

Digital Government

Senate lambastes DOD IT

The Senate this month sharply criticized the Pentagon's business practices and information systems, calling them 'ineffective,' and urged the Defense Department to reform how it develops systems and improve its financial and information management. In its report on the fiscal 2000 Defense authoriza

Digital Government

Report: Flawed acquisition strategy derails DOD's procurement system

The Defense Department may be forced to spend at least $70 million on additional training, development and helpdesk support before its main computer system for standardizing paperless contracting and procurement procedures is deemed functional, according to an internal DOD report.

Digital Government

States Endorse Digital Signature Bill

A bill to create uniform national legal standards for the use of electronic signatures received the full support of state governments at a U.S. Senate hearing yesterday.

Digital Government

FCC vote to fund E-Rate program at $2.25 billion

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday voted to fund the Erate program at $2.25 billion, ensuring that schools and libraries will get the federal funding they need for telecommunications services and Internet access.