Digital Government
Report: Agencies' Internet, BBS tab hits $349 million
Federal agencies spent $349 million on Internet and electronic bulletin board system activities from fiscal 1994 through 1996 according to a report that was released last week by the General Accounting Office. The bulk of the expenditures about $325 million was spent on giving employees access to t
Digital Government
OMB: IT service orders must include specifics
The Office of Management and Budget is preparing to issue new regulations that will require agencies planning to buy information technology services from the General Services Administration's multipleaward schedules program to provide more detailed specifications on the type of work they will ask
Digital Government
Senate moves on bill to restrict agencies from hiring agencies
The controversy over the Federal Aviation Administration's award of a $250 million data processing contract to the Agriculture Department is breathing new life into efforts in the Senate to push forward legislation that would bar the government from engaging in any functions that can be effectively
Digital Government
Sprint takes gripes public
Sprint escalated its criticism of the General Services Administration's recently released FTS 2001 solicitation with a letter last week to GSA administrator David Barram accusing the agency of riddling its solicitation with governmentunique requirements. Gary Forsee president and chief operating o
Digital Government
Vendors work for one e-mail protocol
Security vendors are working to merge two security standards for electronic messaging that would make it easier for military and civilian agencies to send secure electronic mail to each other. For years there have been several competing standards to secure email but none of these could interoperat
Digital Government
Nexar launches its new line of expandable systems
Nexar Technologies Inc. today took the wraps off its latest line of PCs designed to support multiple microprocessors and to make the task of upgrading major system components easier. Nexar's Cross Processor Architecture (XPA) midtower PC follows the Nexar 9000 and Nexar II in the company's evolutio
Digital Government
OPM raises the bar for new COs
The Office of Personnel Management has established new qualifications for civilian agency contracting officers that are designed to create a more highlytrained work force. As of Jan. 1 1998 new hires for positions in the GS1102 job category such as contract administrators contract specialists a
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
Shakespeare on Y2K Connie Morella (RMd.) last week trotted out Shakespeare's "Richard II" to cap her speech on the Year 2000 problem. In her closing remarks at a National Institute of Standards and Technology conference Morella said unprepared feds may soon be singing the bard's sad tune: 'O cal
Digital Government
DOD counting on contractors to get compliance work done
The Defense Department is repairing or has scheduled the renovation of about 11 percent of its nearly 14 000 information technology systems in its Year 2000 compliance effort and expects to rely on contractors to get the work done. Sam Worthington DOD's director of IT and the Year 2000 program mana
Digital Government
AWARDS
BTG Inc. A $30.3 million award for a Structured Query Language database management system. Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Office of Information Technology. Science Applications International Corp. A $4.4 million award to provide Global Information Infrastructure gateways to 20 African cou
Digital Government
N.Y. DMV Awards Contract for International Registration Plan
N.Y. DMV Awards Contract for International Registration Plan
Digital Government
Security culture needed in government
ADD THE AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT TO THE GROWING LIST OF FEDERAL AGENCIES THAT HAVE FALLEN VICTIM TO HACKER ATTACKS. ONCE AGAIN IT APPEARS THAT NO SENSITIVE INFORMATION WAS COMPROMISED BUT THIS LATEST UNLAWFUL INTRUSION SERVED TO HIGHLIGHT THE SEEMING EASE WITH WHICH FEDERAL SYSTEMS CAN BE COMPROMISED
Digital Government
SET-ASIDES
SBA testing Internet service for contractors The Small Business Administration is testing a new Internetbased service designed to make it easier for federal agencies and prime contractors to find small firms for contracts and subcontracts. Called the Procurement Marketing Access Network or ProNet
Digital Government
USPS nixes $30M contract, opts for 'preferred' partners
The U.S. Postal Service last week canceled a $30 million contract for software to manage its air highway and rail transportation networks in favor of procuring the services under its recently announced "master" contracts. The Transportation and Logistics Software contract called for winning vendo
Digital Government
'Government makes a difference'
At a time when criticizing the federal government and its employees has become high fashion the presence of someone like John Ortego seems almost anachronistic. Quite simply Ortego still thinks our government has a substantial and positive impact on the everyday lives of U.S. citizens. And he stand
Digital Government
Vendors see STARS in INS program
The Immigration and Naturalization Service later this month plans to release a draft request for proposals for a halfbilliondollar megacontract to provide INS with a full range of information technology services. The upcoming Service Technology Alliance Resources (STARS) program will supply INS
Digital Government
IBM rolls out new CMOS products
IBM Corp. last week introduced a new family of microprocessorbased System/390 mainframes that supersedes the capacity of the largest systems based on older processor technology. In addition to the new hardware IBM introduced a new version of its Unixbranded OS/390 operating system along with othe
Digital Government
Feds find limited applications for multimedia technology
Multimedia technology which combines sound video text and graphics is the engine behind a National Biological Service (NBS) effort to inventory Florida's waning manatee population and the fuel for a new naval doctrine series that incorporates old Hollywood movie footage. Applications such as th
Digital Government
NIMA goes Hollywood
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency is turning to Hollywood to help soup up the maps and satellite imagery it provides to the military services and intelligence community. NIMA currently is evaluating a highly sophisticated system for storing retrieving and manipulating images recorded by satel
Digital Government