Digital Government

DMS gaps force DOD to keep Autodin

A Defense Department official last week confirmed that a large portion of the aging Autodin messaging system will remain in operation as late as 2004 to handle highpriority communications for civilian and military organizations responsible for nuclear weapons and topsecret intelligence informatio

Digital Government

Bugged by Year 2000 talk? Dig the Panama Canal site

All the hullabaloo about the Year 2000 date problem has obscured other major occurrences around Dec. 31, 1999 one of which is the ownership and management rollover of the Panama Canal. For a primer on the 'Path Between the Seas,' check out the Panama Canal Commission's World Wide Web site at www.

Digital Government

Intergovernmental Open System Awards Announced

Intergovernmental Open System Awards Announced

Digital Government

Apple grows PowerBook from G3

Apple Computer Inc. recently introduced a new PowerBook portable computer aimed at mobile professionals and discussed the shifting road map for its Macintosh operating system. The new PowerBook released this month is totally redesigned around the G3 processor and includes features that are designed

Digital Government

New products make images and info more manageable

ANAHEIM, Calif. Vendors at the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) '98 trade show last week introduced a slew of products covering every aspect of information management, from document capture and workflow solutions to handwriting recognition software. The following is a round

Digital Government

Gelco bolsters travel management

Still fresh from winning a major role in the Defense Department's Defense Travel System project, Gelco Information Network last week began shipping a new version of its travel management software, which includes support for Oracle Corp. databases. Gelco Travel Manager 7.1 is the latest version of t

Digital Government

Feds should give outsourcing and privatization a real chance

A largescale outsourcing and privatization (O&P) effort set to begin at the Defense Department could result in the most dramatic change in the federal marketplace in decades. Skepticism abounds, but if government creates the right conditions, the DOD effort could mark the first successful O&P effo

Digital Government

NSA concerns could hamper DOD Y2K fix

The National Security Agency has slapped a security blanket on the Pentagon's efforts to fix the Year 2000 millennium bug, which could further slow the Defense Department's alreadybehindschedule Year 2000 fixes. NSA has determined that all information detailing DOD's computers and its efforts to

Digital Government

Bell Atlantic gets jump on Pentagon overhaul

While the Defense Department evaluates finals bids on the longawaited contract to provide the aboveground communications infrastructure for the Pentagon renovation project, Bell Atlantic Federal Systems has been working for months on the new infrastructure in the basement and mezzanine levels of

Digital Government

Intercepts

IT21 sticker shock. The estimated cost of upgrading a Navy Carrier Battle Group and Amphibious Ready Group has jumped from roughly $50 million to between $80 million and $100 million and that covers only the major ships, according to Monica Shepherd, Atlantic Fleet N6. Shepherd said the Navy f

Digital Government

GSA, vendors near legal battle over universal service fees

The General Services Administration appears headed for a legal confrontation with AT&T and Sprint over $6.6 million that the companies have charged users of the FTS 2000 contract to fund the Clinton administration's universal service plan. AT&T and Sprint have been charging agencies a 4.9 percent u

Digital Government

DOD must step up to fix IT links

Many agencies fail to create seamless links between computer systems that reside in different offices, divisions and bureaus. The lack of interoperability may be a nuisance or, at worst, slow down work, but never has incompatibility endangered lives. However, a General Accounting Office report has

Digital Government

Waivers are no cure for bad agency rules

As part of his initiative to reinvent government, President Clinton has directed federal agencies to establish methods to streamline the granting of waivers, allowing personnel to sidestep internal agency rules. This process appears to treat the symptoms of government inefficiency rather than the i

Digital Government

Records management goes commercial

ANAHEIM, Calif. Seven months after a federal judge spurred agencies to start accounting for their electronic records, records management solutions are hitting the software mainstream. Here at the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) '98 trade show last week, vendors began showc

Digital Government

Setasides

Bill creates NET Center An encryption bill introduced last week would create a new federal center to provide encryption and decryption information to law enforcement officials. The Encryption Protects the Rights of Individuals from Violation and Abuse in Cyberspace (EPrivacy) Act would relax exist

Digital Government

GSA will offer agencies acquisition training pacts

Looking to help agencies better educate their procurement personnel, the General Services Administration plans to issue a solicitation next month for the government's first series of interagency contracts for acquisition training courses. Ida Ustad, GSA's deputy associate administrator for acquisit

Digital Government

Gore calls for top-down electronic privacy review

The Clinton administration last week announced a new plan that requires federal agencies to conduct a topdown review of their organizations' handling of electronic information that is protected by the Privacy Act. Vice President Al Gore, speaking at New York University's commencement ceremony, unv

Digital Government

Workgroup storage users find option-rich solutions

Options abound for agencies that need storage for small to midsize groups of networked PC users as vendors enrich the different storage media with new technology and features. Magnetic disk storage remains the predominant solution for workgroup storage because the response time is superior and the

Digital Government

Agencies, vendors comply with security standard

Agencies and vendors slowly are beginning to comply with a federal standard that has been in effect for almost two years and that governs the purchase of hardware and software security products. A standard that was issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology required agencies after

Digital Government

Robbins-Gioia tweaks earned-value method of assessment

Program management specialist RobbinsGioia Inc. is giving a new twist to the socalled earnedvalue method of assessing contract management, which is already used on various government projects. EVM, which has its roots in the Defense Department, basically integrates three components of project ma