Digital Government
VA forms office to improve IT management
Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs late last month created a toplevel office devoted to managing information technology across the department, a move that should help the agency squeeze greater efficiency and better service out of its sprawling network of medical centers and benefits
Digital Government
Command Software renames, beefs up anti-virus offering
Command Software Systems Inc. has upgraded and renamed its antivirus software product, adding new scan technology that detects and automatically destroys the newest generation of macro viruses that infect Microsoft Corp. Word and Excel documents. Command AntiVirus with FPROT Professional, formerl
Digital Government
Roster Change
Ken Buck last month began working as assistant to the commissioner at the Federal Technology Service at the General Services Administration. Buck was the acting procurement executive at the Commerce Department. The Industry Advisory Council this week announced its new executive board members, who t
Digital Government
GSA picks 8 for seat management
The General Services Administration last week tapped eight vendors for a desktop outsourcing contract estimated to be worth $9 billion. Wang Government Services, Multimax, Litton/PRC Inc., EER Systems, IBM Global, Federal Data Corp., Tech Services (previously DynCorp) and Science Applications Inter
Digital Government
SSG takes over Air Force's struggling IC4I contract
The nearly billiondollar program established to provide the intelligence and military command and control communities with information technology products and services last month pulled up stakes in a lastditch effort to breathe life into the struggling contract. The Integration for Command, Cont
Digital Government
Bell Atlantic tests voice-based tech for call routing
Bell Atlantic Federal Systems has begun beta tests of a new voice recognition system that will automatically connect callers to specific employees within federal agencies by prompting the caller to say the employee's name. Alexander McAllister, a member of the technical staff at Bell Atlantic Feder
Digital Government
Pulsar introduces secure and mobile PCs
Pulsar Data Systems Inc. will unveil its first namebranded products this week at the EGov '98 Show in Washington, D.C., as part of an ongoing effort by the Lanham, Md.based PC reseller to build its services and integration business. The products are the first in a series expected from Pulsar's T
Digital Government
Set-Asides
TAC runs out of time An advisory group charged with developing a federal standard for keyrecovery technology most likely will not issue a standard before its charter expires at the end of this month. The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to Develop a Federal Information Processing Standard for th
Digital Government
Editorial
Seat management still unproven Five years from now, the General Services Administration and NASA may be viewed as pioneers in federal information technology management for leading the push into desktop outsourcing. But that is not the case yet. In desktop outsourcing frequently called seat manage
Digital Government
USPS wants control of '.us' domain
Angling for a role in the world of electronic media, the U.S. Postal Service said it wants to manage a toplevel Internet address domain that would allow it to take advantage of possible electronic services in the future. With the backing of the White House, USPS is floating a proposal that would g
Digital Government
PTO to put patent, trademark data online
The Commerce Department's Patent and Trademark Office plans to make 20 million pages of patent and trademark information available on the Internet for free in a move that will create one of the largest databases of its kind. Under the plan, which was driven by Vice President Al Gore's reinventing g
Digital Government
Visionael brings net design tools to feds
Network design and documentation vendor Visionael Corp. has made inroads in the government market since opening its federal office in February, highlighted by two significant customers at the Defense Department. The company's Visionael Net suite consists of tools that help large organizations docum
Digital Government
Court sets risky WPA precedent
A recent decision by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit [Case 973250, William E. Willis II v. Department of Agriculture; April 15, 1998] sets a dangerous precedent for federal employees who want protection under the Whistleblower Protection Act. According to my reading of the ruling, onl
Digital Government
Intercepts
The Interceptor has folded his antennas for the month to take some muchneeded R&R overseas. In the interim, the FCW staff has erected new dishes to intercept the latest talk on the street at the Defense Department and civilian agencies. SETTING A NEW COURSE. Rear Adm. J.J. Dantone has held positio
Digital Government
Industry Watch
Kasten Chase offers remoteaccess Fortezza Kasten Chase Applied Research Ltd. last week announced its new Fortezzabased Secure Remote Access Solution, which has been approved by the National Security Agency as part of its remoteaccess security program. The system, which was developed jointly by t
Digital Government
SEC taps BDM to upgrade online database
The Securities and Exchange Commission last month awarded BDM International Inc. a contract to design the second generation of the agency's online database of information on publicly traded companies. Under the $49 million, threeyear contract, BDM will redesign the Electronic Data Gathering, Analy
Digital Government
Senate panel obliterates infowar funds
The Senate Appropriations Committee last month gave the goahead to a bill that strips the Defense Department of funds to protect against information warfare attacks. Following the lead of the House, the Senate version of the 1999 Defense appropriations bill eliminates all $69.9 million requested b
Digital Government
GSA's proposed digital-certificate program draws fire
The General Services Administration is finding it difficult to generate interest among agencies and vendors for a program that would provide identity verification so that the public could access data at or send information to agencies. The Access Certificates for Electronic Services (ACES) project,
Digital Government
NSF exec brings supers to science
Stephen Elbert, the new director of the National Science Foundation's Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACI), tries to work technology into his job routine as much as possible. His love of technology became apparent when he asked to set up a videoconference for a telephone int
Digital Government