Digital Government
Civilian links the fleet's users
Civil engineers as a rule do not glamorize the tools of their trade. Bulldozers, for example, hold a fascination for small boys but are simply very large machines that are capable of moving large amounts of earth more efficiently than a shovel. Similarly, Monica Shepherd, who worked as a Navy civil
Digital Government
Intercepts
The Interceptor has folded his antennas for the next 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. Y2K TAR BABY. If you haven't heard all the Republican ja
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FEDWIRE
Final EBT rule on deck Federal employees, retirees, veterans and vendors who are not already receiving salaries, benefits and payments electronically soon will be required to sign up for electronic deposit, but the Financial Management Service said last week that it will offer options to people wit
Digital Government
Network Computers: Still a hard sell
A year or two ago, some people thought the Network Computer (NC) would revolutionize the computer industry, offering an alternative to the PC that could be fielded at a substantially lower cost. While no one today claims that NCs can replace PCs, there does seem to be a market for the systems to a
Digital Government
NARA floats plan for storing records about IT systems
A draft proposal from the National Archives and Records Administration would establish set lengths of time for maintaining records about the development, operation and maintenance of federal information systems throughout the government. The plan, which is modeled after an information technology re
Digital Government
New preference policy may change little
Changes announced to federal affirmativeaction policies last week may not spark more business for minorityowned firms, according to agencies and industry. The Clinton administration's new policy extends governmentwide a program authorized for the Defense Department, NASA and the Coast Guard that
Digital Government
CIA reveals cyberterrorists targeting U.S.
Speaking publicly about information warfare threats for the first time, the director of the CIA said last week that several foreign governments are developing information warfare programs and that terrorist groups are watching how the United States responds to hacker attacks on government systems a
Digital Government
Roster
Jim Flyzik, chief information officer at the Treasury Department and chairman of the CIO Council, this month received the IT Executive of the Year Award from the Association for Federal Information Resources Management. The association also gave its Congressional IT Leadership Award to Rep. Constan
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
Practice what you preach. The 1998 World Congress on Information Technology, partially funded by the federal government, convened with much fanfare last week at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va. The conference's impressive roster of speakers included industry gurus Larry Ellison and Michael Del
Digital Government
House strikes compromise for Year 2000 funding
House leaders plan to move emergency spending proposals for the federal Year 2000 problem out of the Defense and Treasury departments' appropriations bills and into a separate appropriations bill to allay concerns of conservative balancedbudget advocates. If the Year 2000 proposals were to remain
Digital Government
Feds question Seat Management
Despite the buzz surrounding the General Services Administration's award of the Seat Management contract expected this week, some agency representatives said they have doubts they would use the contract. The Seat Management contract, like the Outsourcing Desktop Initiative for NASA contract awarded
Digital Government
USGS, Microsoft unveil Web database
Microsoft Corp. last week unveiled what it describes as the largest database ever to be put on the World Wide Web a 1 terabyte file of aerial images of the United States and other regions of the globe. The image file is the product of a research project with the U.S. Geological Survey. The databa
Digital Government
GSA develops sked for records
The General Services Administration is developing a new schedule program that would offer records management and archival services to federal agencies. Agencies could use the schedule to outsource the tracking, maintenance and storage of both paper and electronic records, said Patricia Miller, dire
Digital Government
Government execs should try marketing
In line with Vice President Al Gore's directive to reengineer government, and to offset some of the effects of downsizing and budget cuts, savvy government executives are turning to business marketing and public relations techniques to improve communications with their constituents employees, cu
Digital Government
Cognos upgrades query, report tools
As part of a strategy to create more sophisticated methods of managing and distributing reports, software vendor Cognos Inc. this month announced forthcoming new releases of two of its database querying and reporting tools. Cognos develops 'business intelligence' software that helps organizations e
Digital Government
Editorial
Not too late for training investment For the federal information technology acquisition community, last week's announcement that the Air Force had awarded two blanket purchase agreements to fulfill its desktop and server needs marked the end of an era. The Air Force's move away from its long and st
Digital Government
GAO rips SSA's $1B modernization project
The Social Security Administration's $1 billion modernization effort faces significant technical and management challenges, thereby threatening the program's continued progress and success, according to a report released this month by the General Accounting Office. Under the Intelligent Workstation
Digital Government
New CEO, government VP look to replicate Dell's success with direct-sales model
Micron Electronics Inc., which this month appointed a new chief executive officer and a new toplevel official in charge of government business, has set out to finetune its directsales effort and to climb into the top tier of PC manufacturers within the next few years. According to Harry B. Heisl
Digital Government
Lexmark unveils new color printer
Lexmark International Inc. fortified its line of color printers with the announcement earlier this month of five machines ranging from inexpensive inkjet printers for home and smalloffice use to a highend color laser printer that can turn out pages at a rate of 12 per minute. Speed, not price, i
Digital Government