Digital Government

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

I read the article 'Librarians: Various platforms needed to give public access' [FCW, June 24] and have seemed to develop a bad taste. While the story is OK, I think the individual being interviewed is a sophomore when it comes to understanding public needs. In the first place, he underestimates th

Digital Government

Deja vu - $3B DEIS II

The Defense Information Systems Agency last week awarded the fiveyear, $3 billion DEIS II program, which could become the largest systems integration contract ever, to the same six prime contractors who held the original Defense Enterprise Integration Services pact. The primes BDM Federal Inc.,

Digital Government

Sun led fed RISC market in FY '95

Sun Microsystems Inc. dominated the federal market for reduced instructionset computing (RISC) workstations and servers in fiscal 1995, according to a new report, but the landscape could change dramatically given the recent spate of multipleaward hardware contracts. Sun topped Silicon Graphics In

Digital Government

HUD, DOJ use mapping for crime reduction

The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the National Institute of Justice plan to launch this summer a geographic information system (GIS) application designed to reduce crime in public housing projects. The Computer Mapping of Crime in Public Housing program will track emergency '911"

Digital Government

Feds embrace network management but seek technical enhancements

Federal users are pushing for more standards and functionality in network management products as they grapple with multivendor environments and emerging technologies such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Federal users are real fans of network management technology more so than commercial or v

Digital Government

JULY

812 Information Security Principles and Practice. Holiday Inn Fair Oaks. Fairfax, Va. For more information, call (703) 9932090. 812 Recent Developments in Information Security. Holiday Inn Fair Oaks. Fairfax, Va. For more information, call (703) 9932090. 813 Best Practices in Data Warehousing:

Digital Government

ROSTER

The Air Force assigned Maj. Gen. Ronald Kadish, currently program director for the C17 Systems Program Office, to be the next director of the Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass. Kadish will replace Lt. Gen. Charles Franklin, who started his Air Force career as an enlisted memb

Digital Government

Wang wins $3 million U.S. Courts contract

Wang Federal Inc. last week captured a $3 million contract with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to provide jury database services to district courts. Under the fiveyear contract, Wang will create a central National Service Center to support the district courts. Potentially, all 94 dis

Digital Government

Report calls for CIOs' role in agencies' upper echelons

Agencies should emulate the private sector and make chief information officers part of an agency's inner executivemanagement circle if the government's push to establish a topexecutive position for information technology is to succeed, according to a draft report from the Industry Advisory Counci

Digital Government

RFP for COTS financial system hits the streets

As part of its highprofile effort to streamline and consolidate its hardware, software and network systems throughout the agency, NASA has released a request for proposals for its planned Integrated Financial Management Project. The RFP follows the agency's decision last year to dump the NASA Acco

Digital Government

Boeing lands B1-B systems overhaul

Boeing Co. won a $125 million contract last month to reequip the Cold Warera B1B bomber with a new generation of computer technology, in preparation for its future role as a conventional bomber. Boeing will install the new avionics system under a fiveyear Engineering and Manufacturing Developme

Digital Government

DIA cools on Java; DISA keeps perking

Two key Defense agencies last week took opposite stands on the security threat posed by the use of the Java operating system developed by Sun Microsystems Inc. The Defense Intelligence Agency called for a temporary halt to its use while the Defense Information Systems Agency plans for Java to play

Digital Government

Personnel proposals invite abuse

The Office of Personnel Management has issued proposed regulations that it says would give federal managers greater latitude to promote, train or make other personnel moves that facilitate the conduct of agency operations. OPM developed these new regulations in response to the president's promise t

Digital Government

Agencies differ in degree of flexibility

Vice President Al Gore's plan to make certain government agencies performancebased organizations (PBOs) that would operate like commercial businesses means different things to different agencies, and not all are getting the same degree of flexibility in how they comply. About four months ago, Gore

Digital Government

SBA shuts out Pulsar from role on NOAA procurement

The Small Business Administration denied a contract award to Pulsar Data Systems Inc. after the company was selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as one of four 8(a) companies to supply scientific workstations, networking products and services. SBA determined that Pulsar w

Digital Government

GSA governmentwide to feature 'master contracts'

The General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service will brief industry officials this week on its plans for a governmentwide credit card solicitation it hopes will serve as the platform for future smart card applications at other agencies. The Defense Department expressed interest in the

Digital Government

Editorial

The problems at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service have a familiar ring to them. Even an occasional observer of the federal scene will spot similarities between the difficulties DFAS is experiencing and those of many large software development projects. In fact, John Gioia of RobbinsGioia,

Digital Government

How does a company challenge small-business set-asides?

The following question was asked by a corporate official: We want to compete in a procurement that is currently restricted to small businesses. However, our company is not considered to be 'small.' How can we get the agency to open the procurement to all prospective offerors? It can be difficult to

Digital Government

Census paves electronic paths

Take a test drive of the Census Bureau's new Electronic Subscription Service at http://www.census.gov/prod/www. Census' new service free for the next few months may pave the way for the Internet eventually to eclipse printed paper as Census' primary means for disseminating data to the public. A

Digital Government

FCC telemedicine committee makes debut

The Federal Communications Commission recently introduced its Telecommunications and Health Care Advisory Committee, which will provide guidance to the FCC on how to improve the telecommunications infrastructure to deliver telemedicine and other health care services to rural areas. Greg Lawler, com