Digital Government

Bureaus ferret out stats; FEMA tracks storms

The Commerce and Labor departments have launched a joint Web page that features a search tool to let users access and manipulate large demographic and economic data sets. Point your browser to ferret.bls.census.gov/cgibin/ferret to access the Federal Electronic Research and Review Extraction Tool

Digital Government

Vendors give K6 a thumbs-up

ATLANTA Last week's Spring Comdex show featured vendor support for Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s K6 chip a projection of Windows NT 5.0 availability from Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates and a slew of new notebooks from Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. At Comdex Digital Equipment Corp.

Digital Government

Intercepts

Eminently Emmett. Paige Jr. of course whose prepared remarks for his retirement ceremony as ASD/C3I last month carried the same pungency as his utterances throughout his tour of duty. DOD still relies too much on "sneakernet" to exchange data Paige said while most "systems or applications are no

Digital Government

GAO: IT projects need financial makeover

The General Accounting Office told Congress last week that the Transportation Department must improve the way it buys and accounts for costs on information technology projects.

Digital Government

Don't forget 'cooperative' aspect

As one observer noted last week cooperative purchasing allowing state and local governments to buy off the General Services Administration's multipleaward schedules has had an unusual life. That pattern continued last week as an 11thhour decision from House and Senate conferees rejected bill

Digital Government

Navy casts Net into deep-sea exploration

The Navy's oceanographer develops systems for undersea surveillance navigation and global weather and oceanographic forecasting so it is understandable that the World Wide Web site oceanographer.navy.mil evokes the sea's magnificence and provides a wealth of information about the tools needed to ma

Digital Government

Federal Bytes

It's trick photography A working group composed of 23 Bell Atlantic employees and four government officials got to rub elbows last week with actor James Earl Jones when he presented them with one of Vice President Al Gore's Hammer Awards honoring them for their work on 'The Blue Pages ' a joint end

Digital Government

AT&T puts Net, intranet on GSA sked

As part of a new strategy to market its services directly to users AT&T has begun beefing up its General Services Administration schedule contracts with new Internet and intranet services.

Digital Government

Vendor aims to ease Internet searches with new software

Core Software Technology this week begins shipping a new version of a software package that gives agencies a single user interface for accessing geospatial information in a hodgepodge of databases. The new product TerraSoar Release 2.5 replaces Core's ImageNet Plus product which the company created

Digital Government

Industry reacts with mixed reviews to FTS 2001 RFP

Vendors attending a preproposal conference last week for the General Services Administration's multibilliondollar FTS 2001 longdistance contracts privately criticized the agency's solicitation as full of governmentunique requirements and skirting commercially acceptable procurement practices.

Digital Government

AF, Sterling test remote viewing plan

At a time when government software programs are under close scrutiny the Air Force Global Weather Center and contractor Sterling Software Inc. are forging a unique relationship in which the government can regularly view

Digital Government

House panel eyes solutions to SSA on-line privacy problem

Social Security Administration officials under fire for a system that allowed easy access to personal earnings and benefits records over the World Wide Web were told at a House hearing last week that the agency's actions could serve as a blueprint for other federal agencies that use the Web to dist

Digital Government

AWARDS

Digital Wizards Inc. A $16.75 million award for voice communication systems engineering services. Navy NCCOSC RDTE Division San Diego Calif. Intermetrics Inc. A $4 million award for software testing services. U.S. Postal Service Washington D.C. Cyberbyte Inc. A $3.4 million award for advanced C4I s

Digital Government

ICEMAN goes to the White House

Members of Congress sent a letter to the White House late last month expressing concerns about a recent $250 million Federal Aviation Administration award to the Agriculture Department for data processing services. The FAA awarded the Integrated Computing EnvironmentMainframe and Networking (ICEMA

Digital Government

Kelley nominated for director

Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen last week ended more than a month of speculation by nominating Army Maj. Gen. David J. Kelley as the new director of the Defense Information Systems Agency. If confirmed by Congress Kelley presently DISA's vice director will replace Lt. Gen. Albert Edmonds who

Digital Government

GAO ruling pushes sick feds to retire

In a recent ruling concerning the government's Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) the General Accounting Office said agencies should initiate disability retirement procedures if an employee has been on leave with an illness for more than a year and is not expected to return to his job. VLTP wa

Digital Government

Navy awards BPAs for shipboard tech

The Navy last week put into place a key component of its Information Technology for the 21st Century (IT21) initiative with the award of four blanket purchase agreements for building shipboard technology solutions. The Navy awarded BPAs to Computer Sciences Corp. Lockheed Martin Corp. Litton/PRC I

Digital Government

Roster

Col David Chadwick deputy chief information officer for the Marine Corps is retiring this month. As his replacement the Marines have named Col. John F. Bouldry who currently is head of the Systems Integration Division in the Marines' command control communications computers and intelligence office.

Digital Government

Pentagon kicks off networking renovation

As part of a decadelong wedgebywedge renovation of the Pentagon the Defense Department plans to award a single 10year systems integration contract worth several hundred million dollars to build a new communications backbone and management capability. The Pentagon Information Management and Tele

Digital Government

NSA expands Fortezza

The National Security Agency has backed off its hardline approach and has expanded the Fortezza card program to cover software and smart card applications in hopes that more federal agencies will consider using the technology. NSA officials who previously had insisted on Fortezza encryption to be