Digital Government
New GPS civilian signals to cost as much as $700 million
A White House announcement last week to improve the accuracy and reliability of the Global Positioning System by adding two new civilian signals could end up costing as much as $700 million a bill that civilian agencies will have to pay, according to a source familiar with the proposed systems architectures.
Digital Government
Troubled weather-forecasting system gets go ahead
ate last month Commerce Department Secretary William Daley gave the goahead for full deployment of a system designed to improve weather warnings and shortterm forecasts.
Digital Government
Compaq enters Gigabit Ethernet switch market
Compaq Computer Corp., best known for its servers and personal computers, entered the Gigabit Ethernet market last week with the introduction of two switches that it says will increase bandwidth on agency networks. Compaq already sells hubs, routers and other products that support Ethernet, Fast Et
Digital Government
Corrections
The story 'Toshiba gives new look to Equium line' [FCW, March 16] included an incorrect estimate for the time it takes to put memory or change the motherboard in the Toshiba Equium 7000S and 7000D. The correct amount is 10 seconds to add memory and 30 seconds to change the motherboard. In the March
Digital Government
Locate GPS info on Coast Guard site
Last month the Pentagon and the Transportation Department agreed to add two civilian frequencies to the Global Positioning System, giving added importance to an upcoming Coast Guard meeting on civilian GPS. The Pentagon/DOT agreement, according to Vice President Al Gore, will improve numerous comme
Digital Government
FTS chief stands strong on services
Original artwork commemorating the Persian Gulf War adorns the walls of Dennis Fischer's office in Tysons Corner, Va. The painting holds a special meaning for Fischer, the commissioner of the General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service, because it recalls the one time in his life w
Digital Government
HP slashes technical workstation prices
Looking to expand the market for its Unixbased technical workstations, HewlettPackard Co. last week slashed prices by up to 37 percent on its most popular models. The price cuts come 16 months after HP began consolidating its workstation manufacturing facilities and restructuring its business ope
Digital Government
Agencies ramping up outreach programs
The federal government is stepping up its efforts to compel outside organizations that share data with agencies to fix their Year 2000 computer problems, administration and agency officials told a congressional panel last week. The departments of Transportation and Health and Human Services as well
Digital Government
USPS unveils first online postage software, more to come
The U.S. Postal Service last week demonstrated the first approved Internetbased product that allows users to print postage from their PCs. A small group of users in the Washington, D.C., area will begin to test EStamp Corp.'s EStamp Internet Postage software, which will allow the group to log on
Digital Government
Hill proposes $200M more for Year 2000 fix
Congress, faced with the ticking of the Year 2000 clock, used the 1998 supplemental appropriations bill to add more than $200 million in funding to help the Federal Aviation Administration and the Treasury Department rectify computer date problems in key systems before the turn of the century. The
Digital Government
CBD Watch
Navy. Research and development support services. Sol. N6133998R0017. (CBD, April 2) The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division needs R&D support services that encompass basic research, applied research, advanced development, prototype development and technology transfer in areas such
Digital Government
New rules address Y2K worker shortage
Seeking additional manpower to fix the millennium bug that is affecting thousands of federal computers, the Office of Personnel Management last week said it would let agencies hike the salaries of programmers working on Year 2000 projects and waive rules that limit how much retired programmers coul
Digital Government
GAO: Financial information at risk
Gene Dodaro, the General Accounting Office's assistant comptroller general, told members of Congress last week that computer security could be compromised as agencies work to fix their Year 2000 problem, leaving critical financial information vulnerable to cyberattacks. Dodaro, testifying before th
Digital Government
IRS rightly slams misuse of information
In one of those rare instances in which I applaud an action taken by the Internal Revenue Service, the agency fired an employee for misusing its Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS) to seek taxrelated information on friends and relatives. The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and the U.S. C
Digital Government
Taking reform efforts to school
The Central Contractor Registration database, the cornerstone of the Defense Department's plan to move to a paperless contracting process by 2000, has hit a snag. DOD contractors, presumably among the primary beneficiaries of an electronic contracting environment, are reluctant to sign up. Slow and
Digital Government
Industry Watch
Litton completes TASC buy Litton Industries Inc. has completed its $432 million acquisition of TASC Inc. from Primark Corp. following approval of the transaction by Primark shareholders, Litton said last week. Litton announced the acquisition of the Reading, Mass.based company in December, boostin
Digital Government
Interagency office to respond to weapons of mass destruction
With the fear of a terrorist detonating a biological or nuclear weapon in the United States or against U.S. troops abroad becoming more plausible, the Defense Department last month announced it plans to form a special office that would oversee efforts to defend against such attacks and to assist ci
Digital Government
Agencies, industry slow to embrace commercial practices
More than a decade ago, a commission headed by David Packard came up with a novel idea: The federal government should adopt commercial procurement practices. But the Packard Commission's bold notion took a while to ferment. After 10 years of increasingly aggressive legislative and regulatory change
Digital Government
Army awards three BPAs for PC wares
The Army last week awarded blanket purchase agreements potentially worth a total of $300 million to three resellers to provide peripherals, accessories and software for its installed base of desktop and laptop computers. Comark Federal Systems, Government Technology Services Inc. and Vanstar Govern
Digital Government