Digital Government
AT&T disconnects vintage net service
AT&T officials told agencies last month that the company will no longer offer a 20yearold packetswitching telecommunications service to federal users of the FTS 2000 contract and will not upgrade the existing service for Year 2000 compliance. A spokeswoman for AT&T Government Markets said the co
Digital Government
AF set for wholesale move to service BPAs
In one of the largest initiatives to buy services through the General Services Administration schedule, the Air Force this week plans to award blanket purchase agreements to 40 teams under a threeyear, $750 million program for a broad range of information technology support services. The Informati
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
INSENSITIVITY. One of the more bizarre story pitches we've received recently concerned a Navy program to provide World Wide Webbased software development training to Native Americans. The program's goals are nothing if not laudable, but we were a bit taken back by the pitch itself: 'Successful sof
Digital Government
DOE's supercomputer man
Gil Weigand, the Energy Department's deputy assistant secretary for strategic computing and simulation since 1996, has been thinking big for more than two decades. In the early 1970s, before supercomputers had even been invented, Weigand chose to pursue his doctorate in engineering at Purdue Univer
Digital Government
DOD to create software agreements departmentwide
A Defense Department group plans to develop in the next year a broad array of volumediscount software agreements for all services and DOD agencies. Under its Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI), DOD hopes to develop a new business process for acquiring software by focusing on DODwide enterprise
Digital Government
Fed wins case but must fight for costs
Federal employees who win cases in which they charge that their agency has treated them unfairly should not necessarily assume they will be awarded attorney's fees. As a recent case involving a U.S. Postal Service employee illustrates, sometimes even winners have to fight for their rights. Michael
Digital Government
How We Tested 300 MHz Pentium II notebooks
Notebook vendors recently introduced a host of models that feature revved-up 300 MHz Intel Corp. Pentium II processors. But buyers face the same trade-offs with these machines as with past models. Lower-priced notebooks often are bulkier but offer more extras and longer battery life, while ultra-sl
Digital Government
FAA kicks off ATC upgrade
With its key computer systems wearing out, the Federal Aviation Administration last week launched an overhaul of a key segment of the air traffic control system. Eunomia (pronounced youNOmeuh), estimated to be worth $450 million, will replace and upgrade the aging systems in the en route centers
Digital Government
Coast Guard raises Y2K warning flag
SAN DIEGO Year 2000 datecode problems in oil tankers could lead to an oil spill in a U.S. port or slow the flow of imported oil to U.S. communities, some of which have 'only a three or fourday supply of oil,'' the Coast Guard's chief information officer said last week. Speaking here at the Nav
Digital Government
CA-Unicenter receives DII COE certification
Computer Associates International Inc.'s enterprise management application last week was certified for the Defense Department's Common Operating Environment initiative. The company claims the application is the first enterprise management solution based on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT to be certifi
Digital Government
Marketplace
Imaging Technology: Polaroid Pitches Facial Recognition as Alternative to Fingerprint ID
Digital Government
How to Hire an Effective Consultant
Everyone has a consultant story that would make a good 'Dilbert' cartoon.
Digital Government
Microsoft and Netscape
Dread waiting in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles?
Digital Government
News Feed
San Diego County Ramps Up for Mega Outsourcing Deal San Diego County, Calif., has taken the first steps toward privatizing all its information technology functions in a whopping outsourcing deal expected to generate more than $100 million per year in IT services.
Digital Government
Attention, Shoppers
On Oct. 15, VWR Scientific, a Buffalo Grove, Ill., lab supplies company, received a small but notable purchase order from Massachusetts.
Digital Government
GEIA to petition three FAR clauses
Vendors unhappy with the General Services Administration's ability to conduct postaward audits and to seek price reductions and price adjustments are taking their complaints to a new forum under an obscure clause found in the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act.
Digital Government
Y2K an early show in Labor data
The Labor Department has identified five entities in which employment security agencies are in danger of missing the Year 2000 deadline that occurs in January 1999 for their primary applications.
Digital Government
Intercepts
Federal Macintosh aficionados have another reason to stay loyal to the Apple Computer Inc. desktop platform: a new operating system. With Mac OS 8.5, which was released last month, Apple is offering speedier performance as well as improved file searching and broader network support.
Digital Government
NARA OKs DOD records plan
The National Archives and Records Administration last week endorsed a Defense Department standard for electronic recordkeeping systems for use governmentwide, giving civilian agencies for the first time an officially sanctioned framework to build digital records management applications.
Digital Government