Digital Government
NASA lacks IT for procurement oversight
The General Accounting Office will continue to classify NASA's overall contract management efforts as high risk until the agency launches its new integrated financial management system, which is behind schedule, GAO officials said in a report released last month.
Digital Government
Videoconferencing gets its day in court
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City recently became the first courthouse in the 2nd Judicial Circuit to install a buildingwide videoconferencing capability that will save judges, lawyers and litigants time and money by reducing the need for traveling to court. 'In terms of the co
Digital Government
DOD maintains stake in key IT programs
Marking its first increase in spending since the end of the Cold War, the Defense Department made a concerted effort in its fiscal 2000 budget proposal to strike a balance between immediate personnel and readiness concerns and the need for investment in future information technologies.
Digital Government
CSC on USPS payroll
The U.S. Postal Service late last month awarded Computer Sciences Corp. an ordering agreement potentially worth $198 million to provide payroll and benefits solutions to support more than 850,000 employees. Under the Preferred Portfolio Partnering Agreement, CSC will develop its largest payroll sys
Digital Government
Y2K puts USAID computers at risk of failure
New computer systems worth at least $92 million at the U.S. Agency for International Development have not yet been equipped to handle the Year 2000 problem, according to a General Accounting Office report released last month.
Digital Government
Clinton budget links IT, results
President Clinton's fiscal 2000 budget, released last week, asks Congress to fund large information technology projects that are the cornerstone of the effort to make government work better, as required by a 1993 law. Clinton has requested billions to fund projects that automate critical agency ope
Digital Government
IRS still lacks skills to modernize systems
Despite some progress, the Internal Revenue Service still lacks the ability to effectively modernize its tax systems, according to a report released last month by the General Accounting Office.
Digital Government
GSA rethinks IT personal use
A governmentwide policy under development at the General Services Administration would loosen a hodgepodge of existing policies governing federal employees' personal use of government office equipment, including computers. According to the draft policy, federal employees could use electronic equipm
Digital Government
CEO dies in plane crash
Ed Fernandez, president and chief executive officer of Sherikon Inc., Chantilly, Va., was killed last week when the private plane he was piloting crashed in Shannon County, Mo., during a crosscountry trip. Fernandez founded Sherikon in 1984 as a consulting company specializing in engineering, info
Digital Government
For creative ideas, ask front-line IT workers
Any time an organization is not performing as well as it should or old approaches no longer solve new problems situations that apply in spades to most government agencies the organization needs creativity to come up with ways to do a better job. Creative ideas involving the use of information
Digital Government
Y2K threatens Postal Service
The U.S. Postal Service faces a major challenge in upgrading its computer systems to avoid the Year 2000 problem, according to a report released last month by the General Accounting Office.
Digital Government
Inaccurate IT systems waste billions at HUD
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is wasting billions of dollars because of poor procurement management and an inaccurate financial management system, according to a General Accounting Office report released last month.
Digital Government
Industry Watch
Products meet fed security guides Products from two companies have completed computer security evaluations under the new Trust Technology Assessment Program, a joint initiative between the National Security Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The commoncriteria security
Digital Government
Education gets low grade for Y2K, integration
The Year 2000 problem and a lack of integrated computer systems pose the greatest technologyrelated management challenges at the Education Department, according to a General Accounting Office report released last month.
Digital Government
GAO's 'High Risk' reports target fed vulnerabilities
The Year 2000 problem and information security practices leave the federal government susceptible to fraud, waste and abuse, according to a series of reports the General Accounting Office released last month. The socalled 'High Risk' reports coincide with the release of 21 other reports that detai
Digital Government
Commerce taps CACI for procurement system
The Commerce Department last week awarded CACI Inc. a blanket purchase agreement to replace outdated and disjointed department procurement systems with a single system. Under the agreement, CACI will supply its Standard Automated Contracting Systems software to manage and integrate the entire procu
Digital Government
High costs afflict FAA air traffic control modernization
The Federal Aviation Administration still faces significant cost overruns, schedule delays and performance shortfalls with its multibilliondollar air traffic control modernization program, the General Accounting Office said in a report released last month.
Digital Government
Fedwire
Bell Atlantic's Ghion, 58, dies Ray Ghion, vice president of sales at Bell Atlantic Federal from 1996 until October 1998, died last week of brain cancer. He was 58. Ghion, a Bell employee since 1968, was active in industry organizations such as the Industry Advisory Council and the Armed Forces Com
Digital Government