Digital Government
Hughes completes key test of EOSDIS
Hughes Information Technology Systems last month successfully demonstrated for the first time the functions of a massive NASA database and archival system that ranks as the largest civilian information system ever built. The test of NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)
Digital Government
Set-Asides
FACNET not be all end all The Federal Acquisition Computer Network (FACNET) the mandated governmentwide systems architecture for conducting business electronically is only appropriate for certain contracts according to a General Accounting Office report released this month. For example FACNET is no
Digital Government
Intercepts
* Disappearing data centers. After enough studies to sink a ship the Pentagon has finally decided to slash the number of DISA data centers from 16 down to five according to Tony Valletta the acting ASD/C3I. Valletta who spoke at a Crystal City Va. IT confab sponsored by the American Defense Prepare
Digital Government
Aldmyr pitches travel package to fed agencies
Government travelers frustrated by the administrative lead time often associated with booking flights might find relief through a new version of a travelplanning software package aimed exclusively at the federal sector. Aldmyr Systems Inc. Lanham Md. recently released Version 4.0 of PerDiemAzing w
Digital Government
LAN switching prices drop
As highspeed localarea network switching technology continues to pour into the market the price per port of existing products continues to fall most markedly at the lower end of the spectrum. The price of LAN switching gear increasingly viewed in the federal sector as an alternative to traditiona
Digital Government
Controllers: Design flaws plague STARS
A critical $1 billion air traffic control program that is already under intense congressional scrutiny needs a design overhaul to address potential safety hazards according to air traffic controllers. Under the Federal Aviation Administration's Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System contra
Digital Government
Feds tackle telecom date problems
Federal executives have begun to address an aspect of the Year 2000 problem that has not attracted much publicity but is just as threatening and even more complicated than some of the problems associated with computers: how to fix telecommunications equipment to make certain it operates correctly o
Digital Government
GAO offers draft language for IT management guide
Before agencies can measure how well their information systems perform they should know what their goals are for the programs these systems support and be able to manage their internal information technology operations well according to a draft IT management guide that the General Accounting Office
Digital Government
Effects of new legislation vary from agency to agency
We now have a year's experience with the Information Technology Management Reform Act or as it more commonly known the ClingerCohen Act. It is time to take a brief look at how the agencies are carrying out the new law. One thing you quickly discover is that agencies were positioned very differentl
Digital Government
ACS adds MIPS to CDSI's business
Computer Data Systems Inc.'s pending merger with Affiliated Computer Services Inc. would dramatically increase the data center resources that the Rockville Md. company could bring to bear in the federal market. CDSI last Sunday announced that it agreed to be acquired by ACS a Dallas company engaged
Digital Government
Road to FY '98 paved with progress
As vendors collect lastminute orders from agencies and fiscal 1997 draws to a close it is hard to miss how much things have changed in the last year. In truth this fiscal year ends very much like it began: with the award of contract buying vehicles to many companies. The National Institutes of Hea
Digital Government
Agenda
SEPTEMBER 2930 Eighth Annual Virginia GIS Conference. Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center. Hampton Va.Visit www.institute.virginia.edu/vapdc/gis.htm. 29Oct. 2 Kalthoff Fall 97 EDM/PDM User Forum. Omni Rosen. Orlando Fla.Sponsored by Kalthoff International this forum will present the latest in
Digital Government
Improper drug-test request backfires on Marine Corps
A recent decision by the Federal Court of Appeals demonstrates that federal employees need not be intimidated by strongarm tactics imposed by agency managers. The case involved Gary Cox a utility systems operator at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma Ariz. who refused to provide a urine sample f
Digital Government
AF pact pumps up base protection
As part of its response to the June 1996 terrorist bombing of a U.S. Air Force military complex in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 airmen and wounded 250 others the Air Force this month awarded TRW Inc. a $495 million contract to build intrusiondetection systems for U.S. military bases worldwide. The
Digital Government
CIO crusades for equal federal and industry payscales
Amid mounting rumors that he will soon leave his post as chief information officer at the General Services Administration Joe Thompson stops short of confirming any immediate plans to retire. But he will look you right in the eye and say he has had offers from industry offers that pay far better
Digital Government
Awards
Digital Systems Research Inc. A $20.2 million award for the localarea network support acquisition project. Agriculture Department Office of Operations Procurement Operations Division Washington D.C. BTG Inc. An $11.4 million award to provide services for the Army's Information Management Support C
Digital Government
Compaq shows Pentium II machines, Net PC wares
Compaq Computer Corp. today updated its Deskpro PC line with Pentium IIpowered models which are headed toward the Air Force's Desktop V among other federal contracts. Compaq introduced the Pentium IIequipped products in its Deskpro 2000 4000 and 6000 lines. The products feature 233 MHz 266 MHz an
Digital Government
Hewlett-Packard to ship plug-and-play CD drive
HewlettPackard Co. plans this week to begin shipping a new plugandplay compact disc drive designed to provide an alternative to floppy disks for storing large files. The HP SureStore CDWriter Plus would enable users to record data on CDRecordable (CDR) or CDRewritable (CDRW) discs. Although
Digital Government