Digital Government
USDA offers a real turkey of a Web site
Looking for some good gobbler gab to accompany Thanksgiving gobbler gobbling? Then dig in to the Agriculture Department's World Wide Web site (www.usda.gov) which serves up a mindboggling array of statistics on turkeys including tips on thawing cooking and storage. The USDA home page which is grap
Digital Government
Losing bidders cry foul over NSA switch pact
A National Security Agency networking contract awarded to Cisco Systems Inc. last month has come under sharp attack by the losing bidders with Fore Systems Inc. filing suit with the U.S. Court of Claims and Cabletron Systems Inc. accusing Cisco of engaging in 'predatory pricing" with its winning b
Digital Government
Ruling sends agencies scrambling
A federal court ruling that blocks agencies from deleting important email and word processing files has government agencies hustling for ways to preserve their burgeoning digital archives. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman ruled late last month that agencies cannot discard the electronic versio
Digital Government
Feds, states agree to Year 2000 interfaces
PITTSBURGH Information technology officials last week hunkered down here to decide how to develop Year 2000 interfaces between federal and state computer systems sidestepping tough issues such as the hefty cost for fixing state computer programs and the portion of that bill the federal government
Digital Government
Dell, Digital roll out new models
Dell Computer Corp. and Digital Equipment Corp. this week will introduce notebook computers including models based on the new Intel Corp. Tillamook 233 MHz chip that help fill out and refine their product strategies. Dell is rolling out a lighter thinner version of its Latitude line of computer
Digital Government
Miros upgrades face recognition security solution
Wellesley Mass.based software maker Miros Inc. this month will roll out the newest version of a face recognitionbased application for computer security. When a person sits down at a computer CyberWatch 3.0 like its predecessors will sift through a video image to locate the face of the person
Digital Government
Senate: Nix notebooks on floor
Despite growing pressure to embrace technology in all sectors of government members of the Senate Rules Committee agreed last week that laptop computers should not be allowed on the Senate floor. The agreement came in response to a request by Sen. Michael Enzi (RWyo.) that the committee allow him
Digital Government
Industry Watch
M&A Technology's fed business blooms Dallasbased integrator M&A Technology Inc. is flush with federal government business this year following a recent blockbuy workstation win from NASA's Johnson Space Center and the addition of a General Services Administration contract. M&A which designs and ma
Digital Government
Letters to the Editor
Acquisition reform needs time Your Oct. 20 editorial 'Procurement reform: A learning curve ' written in response to a recent General Accounting Office decision sustaining a protest was right on the money. There is still too much talk today about whether the goals of acquisition reform can be met wi
Digital Government
Axent lands AF contract for intrusion detection
The Air Force has tapped Axent Technologies Inc. to supply all its bases worldwide with intrusiondetection and security management products in the first known deployment of commercial security technology by an armedservices branch to protect its entire infrastructure. The Air Force will install A
Digital Government
Veterans Affairs awards initial pacts for high-speed network
The Department of Veterans Affairs last month entered the final phase of a $300 millionplus project to supply health care centers with a stateoftheart telecommunications infrastructure. The emerging telecommunications system called the Telecommunications Infrastructure Project (TIP) will replac
Digital Government
SSA awards another round for program
The Social Security Administration last month awarded a $15 million contract to Electronic Data Systems Corp. to hook up hundreds of SSA offices to its interactive training network bringing the agency closer to training its employees via live video on the desktop. Under the fiveyear task order EDS
Digital Government
Asymetrix pitches sea-faring CBT solution to Navy
A symetrix Corp. recently made its third overture this year to capture a larger portion of the Defense Department computerbased training market by demonstrating that the company's CBT products can be used in real time by even the most remote of military users: sailors aboard ships at sea. The rece
Digital Government
Intercepts
* Admirals adrift. When Spawar formally took over San Diego NRAD/NCCOSC last month Adm. George Wagner wanted the new organization's name applied to everything including the former .nosc.navy.mil domain name. Corporate identity is important but the newly renamed .spawar.navy.mil domain left a lot
Digital Government
Does off-duty behavior affect work agreements?
Is drinking while off duty a punishable offense? That issue recently was tackled by the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). On Sept. 27 1996 the Navy removed an aircraft sheetmetal mechanic from his job because of his alleged breach of a lastchance agreement (LCA) signed five months earlier. T
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
Pretty tough There's nothing like the righteous indignation of a congressman to stir the spirits especially when it's aimed at an easy target like the IRS. Rep. James Traficant (DOhio) showed his poetic side this month in a diatribe against the beleaguered agency on the House floor. According to T
Digital Government
Agenda
NOVEMBER 34 Third Annual Online Directories Conference. Hyatt Regency Westshore. Tampa Fla.The theme of this year's conference is 'Consumer and Business Opportunities in a Highly Competitive Marketplace.'Call (609) 9217200 Web www.kelseygroup.com. 34 Auditing and the Year 2000. Chicago Marriott
Digital Government
Cisco's voice-over-IP solution could lure feds
New voice/faxoverIP software and hardware for Cisco Systems Inc.'s 3600 Series routers may save money for federal customers allowing them to offload voice and fax traffic from expensive voice lines onto their existing data infrastructures. Likely beneficiaries include agencies with a mix of wide
Digital Government