Digital Government
Prices plummet; buyers to benefit
Federal PC shoppers this summer will find that computers are loaded with far more memory at lower prices than ever before. Just a year ago, the typical PC had 8M of dynamic RAM (DRAM) installed, but now 16M is looking skimpy as many federal buyers opt for 32M. The reason? DRAM prices have collapsed
Digital Government
Supermini hits $500M mark
Litton/PRC Inc. has reached the $500 million mark in orders on its governmentwide Supermini contract, company officials reported last week. The company is also updating the contract with new servers and PCs. The company reached the halfbilliondollar milestone about three and a half years into the
Digital Government
Axil targets Sun with SPARC-compatible graphics computer
Axil Computer Inc. this week will turn up the heat on Sun Microsystems Inc. with a SPARCcompatible highend graphics computer that provides extra performance and connectivity options while maintaining a 10 to 15 percent price advantage. Going head to head with Sun's 167 MHz Ultra 1 Model 170E, the
Digital Government
DFAS hustles to salvage $81.6 million EDM system
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service is scrambling to correct problems that have stalled an $81.6 million program that was intended to convert the Defense Department's major financial processes to a paperless environment. The Electronic Data Management (EDM) system, a largescale imaging and
Digital Government
DOT plan adds second satellite signal
Global Positioning System suppliers are concerned about the costbenefit tradeoff of a Transportation Department plan that would add a second civil signal to the GPS satellite system. Earlier this month DOT requested industry input about whether it should proceed with the option for a second civil
Digital Government
Fed PC market shrank in fiscal '95
The turbulent federal PC market actually shrank in fiscal 1995 because the Air Force Desktop IV contract exceeded its ceiling long before the Desktop V contract was ready. But Desktop IV contractor Zenith Data Systems still topped federal PC shipments last year. These were among the findings of a n
Digital Government
EIA: 1997 budget forecast for information technology near $50B
Total federal spending for information technology in 1997 will be around $50 billion, or double the $25 billion in IT spending the civil agencies and Defense Department formally report in filings to the Office of Management and Budget, according to the Electronics Industries Association. EIA, in it
Digital Government
HAC approves spending bill; administration objects
The House Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a strict regimen for an ailing Tax Systems Modernization (TSM) as part of an $11.1 billion spending bill for the Treasury Department, the U.S. Postal Service and central government agencies. It came, however, despite vigorous objections from t
Digital Government
OPM regs alter training sites, services
Recently the Office of Personnel Management issued interim regulations governing federal employee training that will offer agencies and workers wider options, including expanded use of the private sector. They might also put a crimp in conference attendance because they call for "strict" controls
Digital Government
Child-support tracking draws fire
Federal and state governments have wasted billions of dollars in a 12year program to develop computer systems to track down parents skipping out on childsupport payments, according to a study released last month. Since 1984, when Congress made federal funding available to states to develop child
Digital Government
Round Two
An article on page 32 of FCW's June 17 issue should have identified Janet ThotThompson as a senior computer systems analyst at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, not the National Research Council.
Digital Government
Cisco signs 4 firms to be GSA resellers
Cisco Systems Inc. last week announced that it signed on four General Services Administration resellers that will exclusively sell the company's internetworking products on GSA's Schedule B/C. BTG Inc., Innova Communications, Pulsar Data Systems Inc. and Sylvest Management Systems Corp. will resell
Digital Government
DISA to offer four contracts totaling $610 million
The Defense Information Systems Agency is expected to release the final request late this week for proposals for a $610 milliondollar, multipleaward services contract for DISA's engineering organization. DISA's Joint Interoperability & Engineering Organization (JIEO) System Engineering Support Se
Digital Government
Intercepts
* Back to Oz. The Interceptor this week returns from twoplus weeks of R&R. The antennas do get comfortable after a couple of weeks, but no one wears them as well as the Interceptor. His official return with next week's column should dispel the popular rumor that the Interceptor had permanently pit
Digital Government
Proposal would establish PBO status
The Federal Supply Service is working on a proposal that would establish it as a Performance Based Organization (PBO), exempting it from regulations it believes hinder it from buying equipment and supplies at the lowest cost for federal agencies. FSS commissioner Frank Pugliese said his proposal wo
Digital Government
Platinum Tech software chosen for NASA's EOSDIS
Electronic Data Systems Corp. has tapped Platinum Technology Inc.'s job scheduling software for a role on NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System. Planned to be one of the largest distributed data and distributed processing systems in the world, EOSDIS will assemble at least seven
Digital Government
Printrak expands marketing reach
Printrak International Inc., the leading supplier of automatic fingerprint identification systems (AFIS), is broadening its marketing reach to include nonlaw enforcement government agencies and the commercial sector. Printrak has built almost its entire business on providing AFIS technology to law
Digital Government
CIOSP program moves to cutting edge
In an effort to award a governmentwide contract before federal agencies begin the fiscalyearend shopping spree, the National Institutes of Health last week prequalified 29 vendors for its $100 million Chief Information Officer Solutions and Partners (CIOSP) project. NIH plans to award 12 to 15 co
Digital Government
Federal EC: FACNET, Internet offer agency options
There are just six months left for federal agencies to comply with the president's mandate to use electronic commerce for many of their procurements. But the question no longer is whether EC will come to the federal government, but how and in what form issues that will be influenced strongly by t
Digital Government