Digital Government

Fedwire

The Navy last week named a longtime civilian logistics and acquisition specialist to serve as its new chief information officer. Dan Porter succeeds Ann Miller, who will continue to serve as deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for command, control, communications, computers and information systems/electronic warfare and space.

Digital Government

Federal Bytes

It seems the president's problems over his relationship with Monica Lewinsky may have more than just congressional Democrats trying to distance themselves from the White House.

Digital Government

Creating virtual meeting rooms

For a hardware and software investment of less than $1 million, NASA is using collaborative computing tools to transform the way it works. During the past two months, the space agency has switched on a roomful of the latest collaboration tools in each of its 10 research centers, providing scientists throughout the country with the means to meet online.

Digital Government

Story provides map for reinvention efforts

While reading Sensemaking in Organizations, by University of Michigan management professor Karl E. Weick, I came across a story filled with significance for anyone engaged in the work of reinventing government.

Digital Government

Sprint seeks $2M in FTS 2000 charges

Sprint last week filed a complaint with the General Services Administration's Board of Contract Appeals (GSBCA) charging that GSA's Federal Technology Service owes the company about $2 million in withheld fees that had been billed to users of the FTS 2000 long-distance network.

Digital Government

Services fuel GSA boom

Business on the General Services Administration schedule has surged over the past year to about $4.5 billion, nearly doubling fiscal 1997 sales and more than tripling 1996 results.

Digital Government

Apple responds to iMac demand

Apple Computer Inc.'s people-friendly iMac is moving into the federal government, a move neither analysts nor the company expected.

Digital Government

Stopwatch legislation serves no one

In the waning days of any legislative year, Congress often finds itself racing against the clock to ensure that certain bills are passed before it adjourns. Normal debate and consideration are sacrificed even on complex and controversial legislation in order to complete work on a wide range of issues.

Digital Government

Federal Bytes

BOOTH JUSTICE AND THE AMERICAN WAY. The TRW Inc. booth at the Air Force Information Technology Conference (AFITC) in Montgomery, Ala., once again served as a platform for the world's superheroes. You may recall that earlier this year, we reported seeing Xena, Warrior Princess, slaying the evil forc

Digital Government

NASA veteran lands on Hill

Unlike many of the attorneys and analysts who work on the staffs of congressional oversight committees, Delores Moorehead brings years of federal agency experience to her job at the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. Moorehead, the committee's special assistant for information management and tec

Digital Government

GAO to study electronic recordkeeping

Concerned that the government's recordkeeping rules may be outmoded, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee this summer asked the General Accounting Office to study how information technology affects records management. In a letter sent to GAO in midJuly, Sen. Fred Thompson (RTenn.), who heads

Digital Government

GSA to use electronic posting system for solicitations

The General Services Administration starting next month will use a new electronic posting system for solicitations in order to save money and speed up procurement time and has drafted a plan to take the system governmentwide. Last month, GSA issued a memo stating that starting Oct. 1 it will use th

Digital Government

Roster

David Tuttle, former director of the Federal Aviation Administration's national airspace system and the Flight 2000 program, this month was appointed senior vice president for corporate development at Universal Systems & Technology Inc. NASA has named Edward Heffernan as associate administrator for

Digital Government

GIS helps sweep Hawaiian island

HONOLULU The Navy has launched an unprecedented datagathering and management effort to help coordinate restoration of a Hawaiian island rich in archaeological and cultural treasures that was ravaged by nearly 50 years of bombing and shelling carried out in U.S. target practice. The Navy is requi

Digital Government

PTO awards $172 million data capture pact

The Patent and Trademark Office this month awarded a $172 million contract to Reed Technology and Information Services Inc. to convert hardcopy patent application files into electronic form. Under the Patent Data Capture contract, RTIS Government Services will convert patent application files into

Digital Government

Exchange Standard

Directories, the heart of all corporate networks and the foundation for applications such as email, have created problems for federal network managers who have struggled to keep their disparate directories in sync. To help with this task, vendors have begun moving to a standard called Lightweight

Digital Government

Centrax brings NT-based security to fed market

Armed with an executive team with roots in the government technology market and an intrusiondetection product designed specifically for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT, Centrax Corp. is the newest player in the federal information security arena. Centrax last week formally announced its operations an

Digital Government

Intercepts

SPAWAR RAIDERS REPELLED. Rear Adm. John Gauss and his Spawar crew continue to try to raid key personnel from the Defense Information Systems Agency based on reports I picked up last week. The most recent raid for a key civilian official at DISA HQ failed, I'm told, leading to speculation that the S

Digital Government

Interagency project measures impact of Hurricane Bonnie

Three federal agencies are collaborating on a coastline mapping project used this month to help determine Hurricane Bonnie's impact on North Carolina's dunes and other coastal structures. NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey have teamed up to col

Digital Government

Dell teams with ESRI for PC/GIS bundle

Seeing a growing interest in desktop mapping in the federal market, Dell Computer Corp. this month began offering federal customers a package that includes a Dell PC workstation and software from Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. The package bundles Dell's 410 or 610 Precision WorkStati