Digital Government
Army clears 'log' jam
The Army has approved a waiver that makes it possible to privatize two government software development centers putting 500 government jobs at risk without competing the work between the public and private sectors, the Army Materiel Command confirmed last week. The Army released last week the of
Digital Government
What are government's rights when a vendor defaults?
A contractor's representative raised the following topic: We have a fixedprice services contract with a federal agency that is not going as well as it might. What can the government do if we do not complete the contract? What are the government's rights when a contractor defaults?
Digital Government
Mississippi cancels contract with AMS
Mississippi's State Tax Commission has abruptly canceled its contract with Fairfax, Va.based American Management Systems Inc. for an automated tax revenue system and filed a law suit against the information technology consulting giant. The action comes just days before the agency was set to go live with a major component of the new system on May 3.
Digital Government
NASA centers fail to report cyberattacks
NASA's inspector general told a Senate subcommittee last week that parts of the agency are failing when it comes to fending off and reporting hacker attacks, leaving the agency vulnerable to people who would steal or alter sensitive data. Roberta Gross, IG for the agency, told the Senate Science, T
Digital Government
The ORB slowly rises
After years in the wings, an esoteric technology called the Common Object Request Broker Architecture is increasingly finding favor among government agencies as they move toward more distributed applications. CORBA is a form of middleware software that links separate applications that can be in
Digital Government
DOJ briefs managers about Web-based 'malicious' code
Top Justice Department information managers last week briefed technical personnel within the department on plans to curb the use of World Wide Webbased software that the agency fears may harbor 'malicious' computer code. The software, known as 'mobile code,' includes Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java a
Digital Government
Bill would open Y2K sked to state, local agencies
Rep. Tom Davis (RVa.) last week introduced a bill that would permit state and local governments to buy hardware, software and support services from the General Services Administration schedule to address the Year 2000 problem. A spokesman for Davis said the Year 2000 Compliance Assistance Act, H.R
Digital Government
GSA blazes new trail
The General Services Administration and the CIO Council last week sketched out a plan to replace the Trail Boss training program with a program specifically designed to equip executives with the financial, technical and political skills required to manage projects in the new environment created by
Digital Government
East Lansing Uses Web Site to Make Riot Arrests
When Michigan State University lost to Duke University in the Final Four of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, a student riot broke out on MSU's East Lansing, Mich., campus. City techology officials then teamed with MSU police to use the World Wide Web to help apprehend suspects. Three days afte
Digital Government
HCFA official: Medicare will be ready for Y2K
A top administrator at the Health Care Financing Administration last week said she is 'relatively optimistic' that the Medicare provider payment systems will be free of Year 2000 computer problems, but medical devices still pose a threat. HCFA administrator NancyAnn DeParle told a joint hearing of
Digital Government
Privacy policies should not be optional
The chronic insensitivity of federal agencies to the issue of personal privacy is endlessly amazing. Hardly a day goes by without a headline about the public's concern about invasions of privacy. And yet the government blunders on its businessasusual course, poking into the nooks and crannies of
Digital Government
Roster Change
Two executives from US West Inc. last month accepted National Performance Review Hammer Awards for the company's work on the Denver edition of the federal government directory listings known as the blue pages. Judi Hand, vice president of marketing at the company's directory publishing operation, a
Digital Government
BLM buys possible ALMRS proxy
As the Bureau of Land Management tries to pick up the pieces from a failed project to create an allencompassing computer system, a Denver company is quietly offering BLM offices offtheshelf software that could give the agency the solution it had been seeking. Premier Data Services has sold to BL
Digital Government
Wearable systems may cut labor, save time
As part of a NASA education project, students at two colleges determined that an emerging class of wearable computers has the potential to reduce the weight and workload of astronauts in space. Wearable computers, available from several manufacturers, are designed for users who need to access infor
Digital Government
Fedwire Briefs
NPR wants 'intelligent' portal sites The Clinton administration plans to build an intergovernmental World Wide Web portal through which the public can access information about a wide variety of services available from federal and state government agencies. The Office of the National Partnership for
Digital Government
USDA awards CD-ROM-based training contract
Enterprise Training Solutions, a multimedia training integrator, late last month won a contract from the Agriculture Department to provide a CDROMbased training program to instruct up to 40,000 farflung users on new software applications. The program will provide training to support the USDA's C
Digital Government
Intercepts
BACK TO THE FUTURE. TRW Inc., which has the megacontract for the Army's Force XXI battlefield digitization contract, has switched hardware companies to supply computers with Applique command and control software that are destined for installation in tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and practic
Digital Government
OMB Web site shakes bureaucratic design
The Office of Management and Budget has redesigned its World Wide Web site, giving a fresh look to the home page and easier paths to important documents that affect operations governmentwide. The site's new design (www.whitehouse.gov/OMB), which went live last month, did away with a look that was n
Digital Government
GSA selects 12 for Millennia services pacts
The General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service last week awarded to 12 vendors its $25 billion Millennia contract for information technology services. The Millennia contract, awarded by FTS' Federal Computer Acquisition Center (Fedcac) Solutions Development Center, covers software
Digital Government