Digital Government
FAA taps vendor group for help on $2B telecom pact
To reduce the risks of rolling out a $2.75 billion telecommunications procurement, the Federal Aviation Administration has teamed up with an industry group to formulate an acquisition strategy. The FAA and the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA) will work together o
Digital Government
CBD Watch
Defense Supply Service. U.S. Court of Appeals/Wang system conversion. Sol. DASW0198Q0801. (CBD, Aug. 25) The Defense Supply Service Washington, on behalf of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, intends to acquire network and programming services to replace all of the court's software
Digital Government
IT wage gap does not compute
A friend mentioned recently that his son, a 25yearold college graduate, had accepted a computing job with a hightech company in the Southwest for an annual salary of $85,000. One's first thought might be, 'Sure beats what I made just out of school.' And that thought could be followed by, 'How ca
Digital Government
Roster
John E. Jones has been named deputy director of the National Weather Service and deputy assistant administrator of weather services for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Jones has served as interim deputy since April. Before that he was deputy director of the NWS' Eastern region
Digital Government
Efficiency lost in quest for perfect competition
In an OpEd commentary last year, I made the statement that if I were in charge of the Air Force's Desktop V replacement, I would conduct a General Services Administration schedulestyle blanket purchase agreement competition. After reviewing the Air Force's new BPA procedures, I am afraid I would
Digital Government
FAA sets course for free flight
In response to earlier criticism, the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to accept a new scaledback plan that significantly restructures the agency's Flight 2000 program, which will test a revolutionary air traffic management concept. Flight 2000 will test new technologies for 'free fligh
Digital Government
Industry Watch
Lockheed ships training unit Lockheed Martin Information Systems recently completed the first productionline model of the Close Combat Tactical Trainer simulation system for the Army's M1A1 main battle tank. The CCTT system provides distributed, realtime, interactive training for individual or co
Digital Government
Injured feds: Only 1 year is guaranteed
Federal employees who must leave their jobs because of injuries covered by workers' compensation benefits cannot expect their agencies to hold their jobs for them for more than a year while they recuperate. But agencies must at least give these employees 'priority consideration' for equivalent jobs
Digital Government
GBS hits snag
The Defense Department's Global Broadcast Service (GBS), a worldwide network designed to give commanders access to hundreds of channels of intelligence, imagery and live video feeds, has run into hardware and software problems that have delayed deployment of the system by at least three months. Acc
Digital Government
Entrust clears fourth hurdle in FIPS validation
Entrust Technologies Inc., which is steadily growing its federal market penetration in the security arena, has received its fourth certificate validating that its products meet a federal government standard for protecting unclassified information. Version 4.0 of the company's cryptographic module
Digital Government
GSA upholds Boeing protest of Seat Management
The General Services Administration has sustained Boeing Information Services' agencylevel protest against GSA's $9 billion Seat Management contract, but work on the contract will continue until a final decision is announced. The agency protest official delivered the response to Boeing and GSA Aug
Digital Government
VA site reacts to war movie
Steven Spielberg's latest epic, the World War II movie 'Saving Private Ryan,' seems to have stirred up more than sales at the box office. The Department of Veterans Affairs has set up a section on its World Wide Web site for those veterans who may suffer from flashbacks or posttraumatic stress dis
Digital Government
GSA to use Seat Management for its offices
The General Services Administration is taking a stand behind its Seat Management program, becoming the first federal agency to announce plans to outsource its desktop systems, maintenance and support worldwide. Speaking at a GSA subcontracting forum last week, GSA Administrator David Barram, Federa
Digital Government
CSC nabs NSA outsourcing pact
The National Security Agency last week awarded an outsourcing contract for the maintenance and operation of several of its topsecret computer systems that for the first time involves the transition of NSA employees to the private sector. Computer Sciences Corp. last week announced that it had won
Digital Government
Fedwire
NASA awards $2 billion pact NASA's Kennedy Space Center last week awarded a $2 billion contract to Space Gateway Support, Herndon, Va., to perform base operations at Kennedy and the Air Force's 45th Space Wing. The 45th Wing includes Cape Canaveral Air Station and Patrick Air Force Base. SGS is a j
Digital Government
CBD Watch
Air Force. Technology for readiness and sustainment. Sol. PRDA No. 9828MLKT. (CBD, Aug. 19) The Air Force Research Laboratory, Human Effectiveness Directorate, Crew Survivability and Logistics Division, is soliciting research proposals for the Technology for Readiness and Sustainment program at W
Digital Government
Geographic council backed
While federal agencies still take issue with a report calling for a central council to coordinate the federal, state and local collection of geographic data, some states are beginning to support the idea. North Carolina recently threw its weight behind the proposed National Spatial Data Council, a
Digital Government
Cognos ships EC toolkit
Cognos Inc., a Canadian business intelligence software vendor, plans to begin shipping this week a new release of DataMerchant 2.0, its electronic commerce software development toolkit for improving databasedriven EC applications. The 2.0 release includes an enhancement dubbed Dynamos, which is an
Digital Government