Digital Government
Is There Cash in Your Conduit?
As telecommunications competition heats up, many communities will be faced with an onslaught of street construction.
Digital Government
IRS reform legislation bolsters modernization effort
Tucked inside the Internal Revenue Service reform legislation approved by the Senate last week are provisions aimed at keeping the agency on track to modernize its computer systems. The measure, the most sweeping reform of the tax collection agency since 1952, focuses mainly on revamping the IRS to
Digital Government
Facing Your Year 2000 Liability
Fears that Year 2000 bugs will interrupt vital state and local government services are daunting enough for most information technology professionals working on the datechange problem.
Digital Government
City Adds Telecom to Basic Service Menu
A booming number of Americans regards telecommunications as more of a necessity than a luxury, but is your Internet connection truly as essential as clean water? Is cable TV as valued as sewer services?
Digital Government
Police Check Out Faster, Friendlier Investigative Tools
Det. Doug Garrett, a crime analyst with the city of Kent, Wash., earlier this year investigated a crime ring suspected of auto theft, mail theft, forgery and drug trafficking.
Digital Government
Don't shortchange infowar
For the most part, Congress has properly responded to crises involving information technology. But last month's decision to gut the Defense Department's fiscal 1999 information warfare budget was the technological equivalent of Congress shooting itself and the nation in the foot. In their respe
Digital Government
Hard Bodies
If you need a notebook computer that can take a littleor a lotof abuse, consider buying a ruggedized model.
Digital Government
Electronic payments lag as deadline looms
With the deadline for agencies to make all payments electronically just less than six months away, less than 40 percent of the payments the government makes to the private sector are done electronically, the Treasury Department reported last week. The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 mandate
Digital Government
Smartronix toughens Panasonic laptop
Although the solid magnesium case of Panasonic's CF25 laptop makes it unusually tough, some military users are taking its ruggedization a step further with the assistance of startup hardware and software designer Smartronix Inc. Smartronix, based in California, Md., is providing users with extra
Digital Government
GAO to Navy: Get control of your Year 2000 efforts
In the latest of a string of reports criticizing the Defense Department's efforts to address its Year 2000 problems, the General Accounting Office took aim at the Navy with a searing indictment of the service's Year 2000 management and oversight controls. In a report released last week, 'Defense Co
Digital Government
ATF out front with seat management
While skeptical federal agencies mull the pros and cons of seat management, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms already has installed desktop computers, laptops, office automation software and localarea networks agencywide under a $30 million seat management pact with Unisys Corp. it award
Digital Government
NASA, NIMA unveil 3-D mapping
NASA and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency last week unveiled a device the agencies will use during a space shuttle mission next year to gather highresolution digital images that can support environmental research and improve battlefield accuracy. The device consists of a 60meter mast and t
Digital Government
Roster
The Federal Aviation Administration has named Herman A. Rediess director of the agency's Office of Aviation Research. Rediess served for the past year and a half as the chief scientist for test and evaluation at the FAA's William J. Hughes Technical Center. In his new post, Rediess will spearhead t
Digital Government
IRMCO issues annual call for nominations
The General Services Administration is soliciting nominations for its annual Information Resources Management Conference (IRMCO) award, which is presented each year to an individual or a team of federal information technology professionals who has improved service to the public. Joan Steyaert, depu
Digital Government
GAO to Navy: Get control of your Year 2000 efforts
In the latest of a string of reports criticizing the Defense Department's efforts to address its Year 2000 problems, the General Accounting Office took aim at the Navy with a searing indictment of the service's Year 2000 management and oversight controls. In a report released last week, 'Defense Co
Digital Government
How do agencies check references?
A reader asked the following question: Many solicitations require offerors to identify references in their proposals to assist agencies in the evaluation of the companies' experience or past performance. Is an agency obligated to check with all the listed references? What are the rules on reference
Digital Government
FWS system arms inspectors with fresh data
The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) plans to launch a new computer system this year that will give more uptodate information to the people who enforce wildlife trade, helping them keep a tighter rein on illegal animal trade. Each year, about $3 billion worth of legal wild animals and wildanimal
Digital Government
PC vendors deliver on new PII
Major PC manufacturers are supporting Intel Corp.'s new Pentium II processor with highend servers and workstations that target a more lucrative market that is dominated by Unix workstations from Sun Microsystems Inc. and HewlettPackard Co. Intel formally announced the new 32bit Xeon processor la
Digital Government
GAO: 'No one in charge' of Y2K
The General Accounting Office's chief scientist last week said 'no one is in charge' of the federal government's Year 2000 preparations and that nobody knows for sure just how much headway the government is making in its battle against the clock. Speaking at the Year 2000 National Security and the
Digital Government