Digital Government

Sprint adds new interactive toll-free service to FTS 2000

Sprint began offering last month a new interactive tollfree service on FTS 2000 to allow agencies to provide 24hour automated information to callers in a more efficient manner. The service, known as Interactive Voice Response (IVR), is already being installed in pilot tests at the Veterans Benefi

Digital Government

Administration revamping Access plan

The Clinton administration is overhauling its strategy for delivering federal services electronically, seeking closer cooperation among agencies, state and local governments and private entities that serve similar constituencies. The new strategy departs from the 'Access America' plan, which the Na

Digital Government

CINEMA sales fall flat at GSA

Despite projections by the General Services Administration that a governmentwide contract offering electronic commerce, Internet access and email services would bring in $600 million over five years, the program has netted only about $500,000 after nearly a year. In April 1997, GSA awarded the Com

Digital Government

A Legal View: What are rules when compatibility is limited?

A company executive raised the following topic Now that the Federal Information Resources Management Regulation (FIRMR) is gone, what are the rules on compatibilitylimited acquisitions

Digital Government

Secure Messaging

Many products and technologies are available today that allow agencies to secure electronic messages, but sifting through the wave of offerings to find the best fit for a particular need can be a daunting task. Add to that secure messaging standards that are still in development and a federal publi

Digital Government

Fedwire

Soloway chosen for DOD post Stan Soloway has been selected as the next Defense deputy undersecretary for acquisition reform, filling a slot that has been open since Colleen Preston resigned from the job last year, sources familiar with the appointment said last week. The White House must give final

Digital Government

FAA works with controllers to solve unsafe STARS design

The Federal Aviation Administration is closer to solving what air traffic controllers describe as hazardous design flaws in the new computer equipment and software the agency plans to install in airport control towers nationwide, FAA administrator Jane Garvey told a House committee yesterday.

Digital Government

Gansler says IT savings will help modernize nation's defense

Jacques Gansler, Defense undersecretary for acquisition and technology, went to the Hill Feb. 26 to champion the Defense Department's plans to operate more efficiently by using information technology and by streamlining procurement. But a highranking member of the House National Security Committee said the plan does not go far enough and that program cuts may be needed.

Digital Government

BTG focuses on engineering

BTG Inc. president and chief executive officer Edward H. Bersoff does not feel the need to rewrite the script on how to run his company after deciding to leave the product reseller business last December. In Bersoff's mind, BTG is returning to its core business. Speaking at his company's Fairfax, V

Digital Government

DOD adds attack capability to infowar

The latest Pentagon reorganization plan creates for the first time an offensive information warfare (infowar) operation within top echelons of the Defense Department and gives information warfare both offensive and defensive increased visibility and clout. The proposed plan, which is part of a

Digital Government

OMB report urges agencies to use commercial EC products

As expected, the Office of Management and Budget this week sent Congress a strategic plan for electronic commerce that encourages agencies to take advantage of new technologies such as the Internet.

Digital Government

DOD, GSA unveil dueling nets

The Defense Department and the General Services Administration unveiled plans last week to build stateoftheart telecommunications networks to serve the vast pool of more than 300,000 DOD and civilian employees in the Washington, D.C., area. GSA made it clear that it intends to develop a Washingt

Digital Government

Eicon targets agencies with ISDN modem

Eicon Technology Corp. has introduced a new modem designed specifically for government agencies using highspeed Integrated Services Digital Network connectivity. The Diva T/A modem, which costs $349, is designed to consolidate on a single ISDN line fax, email, World Wide Web browsing and voice fu

Digital Government

Kodak adds high-end camera to DCS 500 Series

Eastman Kodak Co. recently introduced a new highend digital camera to its DCS 500 Series that provides several features designed to help military and other government photographers manage the images they shoot more easily. The DCS 520 resembles the digital cameras already used by the Defense Depar

Digital Government

CDC Awards $33M Contract to Expand HIV Database

CDC Awards $33M Contract to Expand HIV Database

Digital Government

CIOs' blueprint makes Year 2000 top priority

Tackling the Year 2000 conversion problem tops the list of priorities for the council of chief information officers, according to a report the CIO Council recently released. In the report, which also lists technology investment and interoperability as important issues agencies should focus on in th

Digital Government

Thousands of federal computers attacked

Tens of thousands of federal government machines fell victim to a nationwide denialofservice attack earlier this week on Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT computers, according to a government emergency response team member.

Digital Government

Industry Watch

Report on fed IT vendors to be published FCW Media Group this month will release the results of its thirdannual survey on the competitiveness and past performance of 83 top product and services vendors. The overall competitiveness leader this year is again HewlettPackard Co., foll

Digital Government

OAO builds management solution

As part of a massive desktop and outsourcing project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), OAO Corp. has designed a remote monitoring infrastructure built around management products provided by Boole & Babbage Inc. One of the first federal desktop outsourcing projects, JPL's $200 million Deskt

Digital Government

Bid protests reappear, but decisions should not cause alarm

After a brief hiatus, bid protests are back in the news. Two years ago, the bid protest jurisdiction of the General Services Administration's Board of Contract Appeals disappeared. Like East Germans with regard to the Berlin Wall, one strains to remember that the GSBCA, once such a towering presenc