Digital Government

AWARDS

General Sciences Corp. A $9.1 million award to provide software support for the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System. National Weather Service Washington D.C. Odetics Inc. A $612 062 award for maintenance services. U.S. Army TankAutomotive and Armaments Command Acquisition Center (AMSTA

Digital Government

GSA seeks backup systems

The General Services Administration last week kicked off a disaster recovery procurement that will succeed a $50 million contract awarded to Comdisco Inc. in 1993 but with a greatly expanded scope. The Federal Systems Integration and Management Center's Computer and Communications Recovery Services

Digital Government

MAGIC switch from Motorola could yield public safety network

The Customs Service is working on developing an integrated radio communications network that would allow federal state and local law enforcement officials to communicate easily with one another.The project called MultiAgency Government Interoperable Communications (MAGIC) would allow Customs to co

Digital Government

GSA defends Post-FTS 2000 revisions

Members of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee last week challenged the General Services Administration's decision to amend its acquisition strategy for the $5 billion FTS 2000 followon program and questioned why the agency discarded the widely supported previous strategy. Many mem

Digital Government

OMB will issue Year 2000 cost updates

The Office of Management and Budget last week announced it will issue quarterly updates on the federal government's cost of fixing the Year 2000 problem as well as on the agencies' progress in fixing systems. Sally Katzen administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs said at a

Digital Government

Court upholds demotion for no-show employee

A recent ruling from the Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a U.S. Postal Service decision to demote an employee charged with unsatisfactory attendance. The employee Roger T. Williams had been absent without leave for 40 hours over a threeweek period in March and April of 1995. An administrative law

Digital Government

Minnesota Ponders Electronic Voting

Minnesota Ponders Electronic Voting

Digital Government

Intercepts

Gauss far from gone. The DISA GCCS and GCSS czar Rear Adm. John Gauss finds rumors of his imminent departure laughable. To those who believe or wish he would retire Gauss pointed out that he has not yet spent three years in grade as an 07 and he plans to hang around at least long enough for th

Digital Government

Taking the bullets out of reform

Only months after the enactment of major procurement reform legislation participants have begun likening the federal contracting arena to the Wild West a time when law was often unwritten or created by the powerful. Indeed the rules have changed dramatically. Agencies now have many choices when i

Digital Government

Nuts-and-bolts FAA site provides wealth of data

Despite the increased use of tools and technologies to add superficial glitz and pizazz to federal Web sites the public still pounces on those providing timely relevant or valuable information. Take a look at the Federal Aviation Administration's Aviation Safety Data site which opened for business

Digital Government

Federal Data woos NYMA

In a bid to boost its presence in the professionalservices arena Federal Data Corp. is negotiating to acquire NYMA Inc. a former 8(a) company based in Greenbelt Md. A source close to Federal Data a Bethesda Md. integrator said the company's discussions with NYMA are "moving along " and an agreem

Digital Government

CBD WATCH

Air Transport Association. Research and development for an Aviation LocalArea Network Augmentation System for the Global Positioning System. Sol. AVLAAS10. (CBD March 6) Several questions were submitted regarding the AVLAAS request for proposals. Answers can be obtained via the Internet/ATA home

Digital Government

Cisco alliance seeks interoperability, lower integration costs

Cisco Systems Inc. has formed an industry alliance with seven other information technology companies to mesh security products and standards into an interoperable enterprise framework. Alliance members include Cylink Corp. HewlettPackard Co. Microsoft Corp. Oracle Corp. RSA Data Security Inc. Secu

Digital Government

VA opens up PAIRS - again

The Department of Veterans Affairs last month changed directions with its procurement strategy for a large agency computer services contract and decided to permit all contractors regardless of size to compete. The move sparked questions and criticism from the Small Business Administration because t

Digital Government

AGENDA

11 Small Business Procurement Conference. Fort Myer Officers Club. Arlington Va.Call Nomiki Handakaros at (301) 2062940 extension 238. 11 International Council on Systems Engineering dinner meeting. Tysons Corner Va.Call Abe Meilich at (703) 9131505 email abe.meilich@lmco.com Web www.vtcorp.com/

Digital Government

SET-ASIDES

OMB: Raise limit on executive compensation T he Office of Management and Budget late last month submitted to Congress a proposal to remove the current $200 000 limit on executive compensation as an allowable cost on contracts. OMB wants to base allowable costs on commercial compensation surveys. Un

Digital Government

The Eagle Awards

The Eagle Awards will be announced on March 19 at the dinner honoring the Federal 100 winners. The Eagle Awards are given to two individuals each year one from government and one from industry who have made outstanding contributions to the federal IT community in the previous year. They are sel

Digital Government

AMS, KPMG, Lockheed vie for NASA deal

NASA has narrowed the field to three vendors for a 15year contract that will provide an agencywide integrated core financial management system using commercial software packages. The project is thought to be among the first in the federal government to integrate systems supporting various financia

Digital Government

GAO guidebook outlines steps for wise spending decisions

Agencies trying to figure out how information technology expenditures will benefit their operations without posing undue risks can turn to a new General Accounting Office guidebook for evaluating IT investments. The publication "Assessing Risks and Returns: A Guide for Evaluating Federal Agencies'

Digital Government

OMB's rules could rehash interagency buying

Federal agencies and vendors involved with governmentwide contracts said last week that management guidelines for such vehicles recently issued by the Office of Management and Budget generally make 'common sense.' But one of the recommendations that agencies think about limiting interagency purch