Digital Government
Super challenger
Supercomputing, once the domain of largescale systems specifically designed to crunch numbers for scientific applications, is becoming more mainstream. As an alternative to the highly specialized supercomputer system architectures, vendors such as Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) and IBM Corp. are deve
Digital Government
Tektronix refreshes color printers, reduces pricing
Tektronix Inc. last week revamped its entire color printer line, unveiling four laser and solidink printers that cost as much as 50 percent less than existing models. The announcement, the largest in Tektronix's history, was designed to dramatically lower the outofpocket cost for workgroups that
Digital Government
CSC to train DOD gumshoes
The Air Force's Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) this month awarded Computer Sciences Corp. a $2.75 million contract to train Defense Department criminal and counterintelligence investigators in the methods of information technology forensics and crime scene investigation. Under the Defense
Digital Government
Fedwire
GSA amends MAA pacts The General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service last week amended its strategy for acquiring local phone service to allow for multiple awards. GSA made the change in response to a ruling last month by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that GSA's previous strateg
Digital Government
Exec abandoned by Interior's new SES RIF rule
William Schmidt, a Senior Executive Service (SES) member and an employee of the Interior Department, discovered that his agency did not care enough to protect him when the position he occupied was abolished. Schmidt was chief of environmental technology at Interior's Bureau of Mines for about six y
Digital Government
Set-Asides
GAO: Results mixed on taskorder competition While procurement reform endorsed multipleaward contracts as a way to foster competition among vendors, agencies vary in their efforts to promote competition on subsequent task orders, according to a General Accounting Office report released last week.
Digital Government
FEMA upgrades disaster-assistance system
Following the deluge of calls after Hurricane Georges ripped through Puerto Rico and across the Gulf Coast, the Federal Emergency Management Agency earlier this month upgraded a system that helps reduce the time it takes for disaster victims to apply for and receive federal financial assistance. In
Digital Government
Intercepts
THINKING MACHINES. The Defense Information Systems Agency does not fare especially well in the General Accounting Office's recent report on multipleaward contracts. Through fiscal 1997, according to GAO, DISA received only one bid for about 44 percent of the task orders placed against its vehicles
Digital Government
Telecom in the red
According to internal General Services Administration documents, FTS 2000, the mandatory contract for federal voice and data services, was the only contract of six longdistance telecommunications contracts to make money in the first 11 months of fiscal 1998. The FTS 2000 longdistance program made
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
STAMP OUT Y2K PROBLEMS. The Clinton administration kicks off an aggressive campaign this week, which it has declared 'National Y2K Action Week.' Hundreds of educational events and outreach activities such as seminars, workshops and online tutorials are expected to be conducted to help managers thro
Digital Government
Data for Hire
When a contingent of lawyers, bankers, insurance executives and retailers approached Kansas officials in 1989 with an idea for developing a new way of delivering mission critical public information to businesses, the state balked.
Digital Government
Risk Management
Baseball players may earn glory by hitting the ball only three of every 10 times they come to the plate, but for information technology managers, there are no accolades given out for batting .300 when it comes to bringing in projects on time and on budget.
Digital Government
Online Software Store for Government Shoppers Debuts
A new online software store specifically for government shoppers recently opened its doors at www.beyond.com/gov.htm.
Digital Government
Prism Software Aids Procurement Work Flow
The District of Columbia's Office of Contracting and Procurement recently tapped Compusearch Software Systems Inc., McLean, Va., to provide a procurement management software system dubbed Prism.
Digital Government
The new state and local power tool
For some state and local government executives, geographic information systems have become a political power tool. Take the case of Arkansas Secretary of State Sharon Priest, who this year will use GIS to help redraw the state's political boundaries.
Digital Government
UCLA Web Site Isolates the Roots of Urban Decay
In its final stages, urban blight is easy to spot.
Digital Government
Minnesota's ISEEK Combines Job Bank, Career Planning
Every month, the Minnesota Department of Economic Security (MDES) puts out reams of information on unemployment, jobs and industries in the state.
Digital Government
An Assessment, From the Vest
A mentor once taught me early in my career to note on each New Year's Day five goals for the next 12 months and to keep them in my vest pocket always.
Digital Government
Intel's New 300 Mhz PII:
Due to tight agency budgets, most state and local workers in the market for a notebook computer are not looking for a second system but a workhorse replacement for their desktop PC.
Digital Government