Digital Government
GPO: Feds not coordinating electronic info
The federal government does not plan or coordinate the massive amounts of electronic information it disseminates to the public, according to a federally commissioned study released late last month. The Government Printing Office, which commissioned the report, concluded that there is an 'overall la
Digital Government
SecurePC 2.0: Fast, easy, transparent
Desktop file encryption software is often a loselose proposition: It creates an annoying security obstacle for end users to circumvent, and it's a big headache for administrators. However, we found SecurePC 2.0 from RSA Data Security Inc. a winwin data protection solution because it is functional
Digital Government
FAA conducts end-to-end Y2K test
The Federal Aviation Administration scheduled a test for Saturday at Denver International Airport to demonstrate how its air traffic control systems will operate in the Year 2000. The endtoend test was designed to involve every air traffic control system at Denver that is used to manage aircraft
Digital Government
Monitoring made easy
Now that the move from mainframecentric to distributed computing is a fait accompli, the bigiron stalwarts who insisted that centralized management made mainframes the best solution may be having the last laugh. Agencies that have jumped from mainframe to client/server architectures are finding i
Digital Government
Roster Change
Cmdr. Scott Bernard, chief of network operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was appointed to the faculty at Syracuse University. He is teaching a course on systems analysis and design for the university's School of Information Studies. Bernard was promoted to his current post at the JCS in Janu
Digital Government
FPI: Overstepping procurement bounds?
I pose three questions: Should a federal agency be required to get waivers from another federal agency when planning to acquire products from commercial sources? Should one agency put procedures in place that allow it to request cancellation of another agency's solicitation? Should one agency ever
Digital Government
DIA taps 8 for commodity buys worth $200M
The Defense Intelligence Agency last week awarded eight blanket purchase agreement contracts for PCs and peripherals together worth about $200 million. The DIA Information Technology Commodities BPAs, awarded to BTG Inc., Compaq Computer Corp., CWPS Inc., Dell Computer Corp., Inacom Government Syst
Digital Government
Kosovo crisis brings barrage of Web activity
(Agency) By Heavy World Wide Web traffic has become a fact of life for U.S. Air Force and NATO Webmasters since the March 24 launch of the U.S.led NATO bombing mission in Yugoslavia as thousands of people have turned to the Web as their primary source for information. The two sites dealing with th
Digital Government
Book addresses CIO job scope, gives advice
This is the first in an occasional series of book reviews that relate to federal information technology issues. Information Management: A Government Executive's Guide, a book recently published by PricewaterhouseCoopers, is a good reference for new and experienced chief information officers or any
Digital Government
DOD to launch secure Net transactions
In a major milestone of its paperless contracting initiative, the Defense Department in June will create one of the first largescale programs that uses publickey security technology to allow vendors to view contract data and to submit bids over the Internet. Publickey infrastructure, which is be
Digital Government
Mobile users watch market take shape
Notebook computer buyers make difficult demands on the market, seeking heaps of features and processing power while desiring a small, light package that does not cost too much. 'The users want it all,' said Marine Corps Maj. Jim Cummisky, the mobile computing project officer at Camp Pendleton, Cali
Digital Government
Intercepts
CLEMINS EXTENDED? I picked up a lot of scuttlebutt during a Western Pacific swing earlier this month that Adm. Archie Clemins, commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet and the chief proponent of the Navy's IT21 strategy, could have his tour extended well beyond the threeyear mark, which would be i
Digital Government
Drumbeat simplifies Web development
World Wide Web development has a dirty little secret: It's not as easy as it looks. Bringing together a database, business logic and a Web server can involve complex, sometimes immature, technology that can be daunting for the novice developer. Elemental Software hopes to change all that with Drumb
Digital Government
Fedwire Briefs
Records officers form group Federal records officers from 45 agencies last week formed a new interagency group through which they aim to have more of an influence on government information management policies, including electronic recordkeeping. The Federal Information and Records Managers Council
Digital Government
Searching for the right engine
When Emma McNamara was studying library science in graduate school almost 15 years ago, she was given an assignment to imagine the library of the 21st century. She envisioned sensors that could read patrons' thoughts and retrieve the information they wanted. Now acting director of the Environmental
Digital Government
IG claims HUD not Y2K-compliant
Despite the Clinton administration's assertions that the Department of Housing and Urban Development's major computer systems are Year 2000compliant, the agency's inspector general reported last month that systems are still vulnerable to the millennium bug. The IG's report concluded that because o
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
'MELISSA' INFILTRATES DOD. When the 'Melissa' virus began assaulting computers nationwide last month, we at Federal Computer Week jumped into action, launching phone calls into the newly formed Defense Department Joint Task Force for Computer Network Defense. Imagine our surprise, however, when the
Digital Government
IRS exec says planning key to modernization effort
A tax executive at the Internal Revenue Service today said the agency has put a tight grip on the purse strings for the multibilliondollar project to modernize the agency's computer systems in order to make certain that preliminary planning for the modernization is solid before money is spent.
Digital Government
SDBs encouraged to obtain certification
The Small Business Administration has begun to urge companies that want to secure small, disadvantaged business status to obtain government certification. The certification becomes mandatory after July 1 for any company seeking federal business as an SDB subcontractor and already is mandatory for S
Digital Government