Digital Government

Stagnant councils dissolved

In accordance with recommendations included in a strategic review completed late last year the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils has eliminated some of its inactive councils and will focus more of its efforts on state and local government issues. The FGIPC board of directors

Digital Government

Labs seek vendor input on ASCI project

Three national laboratories this month asked computer manufacturers and integrators to offer advice on how to structure a multimilliondollar project that will boost supercomputing speeds by 1 000 times what is now available. The Lawrence Livermore Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories jointl

Digital Government

HP Forms New Government Organization

HP Forms New Government Organization

Digital Government

Lack of detail prompts MSPB to overturn Navy dismissal

The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) has overruled the Navy reinstating an employee fired by the department for making racial slurs after determining that the Navy did not give the employee enough information to adequately defend himself. The employee Cecil Mason worked for the Navy as a motor

Digital Government

ROSTER

Frank Lalley associate deputy assistant secretary for telecommunications at the Department of Veterans Affairs was appointed last week chairman of the Interagency Management Council. Lalley replaced former chairman Dave Bittenbender chief of telecommunications at the Justice Department who stepped

Digital Government

Justice rethinks JCN, sets stage to test companies through pilots

The Justice Department has discarded the request for proposals for a $200 million nationwide highspeed telecommunications network pact in favor of buying services off an existing departmentwide contract. DOJ officials will delay the Justice Consolidated Network (JCN) contract up to 18 months so th

Digital Government

Outsourcing makes sense

In its latest report the Defense Science Board repeated a recommendation that the Defense Department get out of those lines of business that are not part of its core function and focus on operations that only it can perform warfighting for example. Outsourcing to the private sector duties such as

Digital Government

DOD sinks the Clipper

The Defense Department plans to remove the government key escrow software from its Fortezza cards used on the Defense Message System a move that signals the death of the Clinton administration's controversial Clipper initiative and one that should encourage civilian use of the cryptographic cards.

Digital Government

USPS trims billion-dollar wireless plan, eyes COTS

The U.S. Postal Service is dramatically scaling back an ambitious nationwide wireless communications program that would have cost more than $1 billion in equipment and services and is instead tailoring its requirements to accommodate offtheshelf hardware. In an effort to enhance its mailtracking

Digital Government

FAA pressed to revamp sooner

Even as the Federal Aviation Administration struggles to find money to keep key modernization programs on track a White House commission last week called for the FAA to develop a plan in the next six months to accelerate the revamp of the nation's aging air traffic control system. Rather than proce

Digital Government

GigaLabs revs Gigabit Ethernet switch

GigaLabs Inc. announced today a backbone Gigabit Ethernet switch that the company says will enable government users to take advantage of their highend workstations. The GigaStar 3000 provides Gigabit Ethernet and input/output switching in the same device. The product offers up to eight fullduplex

Digital Government

How exaggeration can hurt contractors

A corporate official asked the following question: On occasion our company finds itself in a dispute of some sort with one of our government customers. In these cases the agency generally asks us to estimate the potential monetary impact. Sometimes this can be difficult. In addition some people nat

Digital Government

FEDERAL BYTES

`The Price Is Right' this ain't Catching the spirit of smart government business practices the Army Small Computer Program Fort Monmouth N.J. is sponsoring a Return on Investment Contest which invites Army groups to submit details of successful reengineering efforts. But before you let your imagin

Digital Government

Hartmanis sees beauty in applying hard science to life

Juris Hartmanis likes to imagine showing the Pentium chip to John Von Neumann the famed Princeton University scientist whose 1950s weatherforecasting machine filled up his entire basement. 'I think it would totally blow the mind of a firstrate scientist of the '50s or '60s if he would not have wa

Digital Government

Wang to CIOs: Integrate use of Internet

Charles B. Wang chairman and chief executive officer of Computer Associates International Inc. has guided the development of some of the most widely used systems management tools in the government including the company's flagship product CA Unicenter. Over the last several years San Jose Calif.bas

Digital Government

FCC ruling could boost wireless development

The Defense Department plans to remove the government key escrow software from its Fortezza cards used on the Defense Message System a move that signals the death of the Clinton administration's controversial Clipper initiative and one that should encourage civilian use of the cryptographic cards.

Digital Government

Putting government on a high-tech diet

President Clinton plans to rely on information technology to help manage a government that thinks smarter and works harder on a leaner funding diet in fiscal 1998. But he and top agency officials want to ensure that agencies think equally smart and work hard for the billions in IT dollars they plan

Digital Government

AWARDS

CDSI Business Applications Solutions Co. A $20 million award for VA mortgage loan servicing. Department of Veterans Affairs Washington D.C. Sylvest Management Systems Corp. A $4.9 million award for acquisition of microcomputer hardware and software laser printers and microcomputer support services.

Digital Government

Schedule A expands 15 percent

Buoyed by the new flexibility in the General Services Administration's program regulations GSA Schedule 70A business for workstation and mainframerelated products and services grew dramatically during fiscal 1996. Overall Schedule A revenue for the fiscal year which ended Sept. 30 reached nearly

Digital Government

Year 2000 solutions are fighting time and money

The General Accounting Office warned federal agencies last week that potential computer malfunctions due to the Year 2000 problem are among the top risks to agency operations over the next three years. Unless agencies upgrade their systems to prevent such failures which will occur if systems impr