Digital Government
E-FOIA expected to spur agency demand for systems
A new law requiring agencies to make documents available to the public in electronic form is likely to cement demand for systems to automate processing of Freedom of Information Act requests according to vendors. The Electronic FOIA Amendments of 1996 (EFOIA) require agencies to provide documents
Digital Government
Switches challenge routers
Federal agencies are turning increasingly to switching equipment and less to traditional routerbased networks in their quest to meet users' seemingly boundless appetite for bandwidth according to resellers manufacturers and federal network managers. Although the router market is thriving in the fe
Digital Government
Ipsilon products to support Cisco's router protocol
In an escalation of the market battle between Ipsilon Networks' Internet Protocol switching technology and router leader Cisco Systems Inc. Ipsilon officials said last week they now support Cisco's router protocol. Larry Blair vice president of marketing at Ipsilon said last week that the new capab
Digital Government
FEDERAL BYTES
To market to market When is a computer like a fish? Ask Skip Kemerer who runs NASA's Scientific and Engineering Workstation Procurement. At the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils technology acquisition conference last week Kemerer said buying computers wasn't so different from
Digital Government
NWS to offer long-term forecasts
The National Weather Service is developing a new system that for the first time will provide longterm river forecasts to better predict the probability of floods and droughts. The Advanced Hydrologic Prediction System (AHPS) will rely on advanced modeling to produce flood and drought forecasts tha
Digital Government
Execs upbeat that initiatives will continue in second Clinton term
President Clinton's second term in office spells stability and solid prospects for the information technology industry. That is the analysis of a number of systems integration executives interviewed recently. Clinton's reelection avoids the procurement dislocations that often come with a change in
Digital Government
AWARDS
TROY Systems Inc. A $37.7 million award for information systems support services. Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Washington D.C. Columbia Services Group Inc. A $13.9 million award for information technology help desk and network support services. Transportation Department Federal Hig
Digital Government
A balanced electronic civil defense
If we believe the scenario painted by the Defense Science Board in its recently completed report on the effects of information warfare on this country's infrastructure of power financial and transportation systems we are all in a precarious position.
Digital Government
USS Belleau Wood assaults DOD Web site boilerplate
Charts graphs ponderous policy documents and photos of gear predominate on many a federal World Wide Web site especially in the Defense Department. Rarely does one find carefully crafted prose. But check out the home page of the USS Belleau Wood (www.c7f.yokipc.navy.mil/bwood.html) which offers up
Digital Government
It's Ada vs. the commercial world - and the lady's still slugging
Although Ada the Defense Department's chosen programming language does not have the market sizzle of some commercial languages its widespread use in weapons systems and missioncritical programs feeds a steady market for development and support tools. Ada's dominance in weapons systems and in aircr
Digital Government
Contract award revisions
Agency officials vendors and lawyers lent their support this month to a sweeping overhaul of how the government awards negotiated contracts though they said some details of the proposed rewrite of Part 15 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation should be reconsidered. Fred Gelden counsel to the Elec
Digital Government
Lotus, Microsoft to lure feds with new 32-bit apps
The new generation of 32bit office application suites from Lotus Development Corp. and Microsoft Corp. featured prominently at the Comdex computer trade show this week will take the federal market by storm according to the vendors and their resellers. Lotus is using Comdex to introduce SmartSuite
Digital Government
CGES expands its thrust into the federal market
Fresh from winning its biggest agency deal Comark Government & Education Sales Inc. is seeking to broaden its business in the federal market. In September CGES captured an estimated $50 million contract with the Census Bureau to supply notebook computers. The pact the largest indefinitedelivery in
Digital Government
Need the Statehouse Internet-Ready? Consider Your Electric Company
For most communities the information superhighway lies in the future a reality only in government white papers and marketing promises from telephone and cable TV companies
Digital Government
USDA slaps new moratorium on large buys
The Agriculture Department has frozen all spending on information technology products and services until it develops an agencywide plan for how its IT purchases should be conducted.The moratorium affects all orders over $250 000 from existing IT contracts and the General Services Administration's m
Digital Government
Bay pursues GSA sked
For the first time in many years Bay Networks will hold its own General Services Administration schedule and will appoint and manage agents to sell the company's products to government users. Bay's new GSA schedule program will help the company increase its schedule revenue and take advantage of wh
Digital Government
Court rules that HUD forced employee to retire
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently gave the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) a lesson in legal procedures. The case involved a 37year veteran of federal service who objected to his reassignment to the Fort Worth Texas regional offices of the Department of Housing and U
Digital Government
GSA brokers AT&T, IRS deal
The General Services Administration's Federal Telecommunications Service late last week brokered a deal between the Internal Revenue Service and AT&T to ensure that the company will correct problems encountered in switching the Treasury Department's FTS 2000 network traffic from Sprint to AT&T. Joh
Digital Government