Digital Government

Labor exec makes most of resources

When Shirley Malia took over as director of the Labor Department's Information Technology Center (ITC) at the beginning of the year, she found that even small departments such as Labor can pose challenging IT problems. Malia's primary challenge at Labor is to make the most of the limited resources

Digital Government

Maps Employ Remote-Sensing Images

SPOT Image Corp. is providing the Defense Department with satellite image coverage of Bosnia. The Reston, Va., company operates three satellites offering images with 10meter resolution. The Air Force receives SPOT imagery through a portable satellite receiving station called Eagle Vision. Eagle Vi

Digital Government

GPRA not a cure-all for federal problems

Comptroller General of the United States Charles A. Bowsher recently testified before Congress on the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). For those of you who are not familiar with it, GPRA requires agencies to set strategic goals, measure performance against those goals and report progr

Digital Government

Rockwell snares $1.3B GPS satellite contract

The Air Force last week ensured the viability of the Global Positioning System well into the next century by awarding Rockwell a $1.3 billion contract for 33 improved GPS satellites. Donald Beall, Rockwell's chairman and chief executive officer, called the award "a significant milestone" for the

Digital Government

GSA circulates draft of public key encryption policy

The General Services Administration recently released the first draft of a public key encryption policy, which is the first step toward establishing governmentwide standards for the technology. But the agency must resolve many issues before a final policy can be issued. GSA's Federal Security Infra

Digital Government

New Mapping Tools Aid Bosnian Mission

In Operation Joint Endeavor, the military is relying on new imagery software and other offtheshelf technology to deliver 3D and multilayered maps to the field. DOD commanders in Joint Endeavor now have as part of their arsenal the Defense Mapping Agency's PowerScene application and other terrain

Digital Government

Commanders, Soldiers Bridge Distances With VTC

SARAJEVO, Bosnia Step inside the nondescript door of one of a series of standard 40foot shipping containers that serve as overflow offices at the CINC IFOR compound here, and you'll see a plush video teleconferencing room with three giant TV screens. Adm. Leighton Smith, commander in chief of t

Digital Government

SCO announces Internet products; BTG, DLT, GBC/Globelle to resell wares

The Santa Cruz Operation Inc., a leading Unix vendor in the federal market, will announce today the first two offerings in its planned line of Internet products. In both offerings, SCO has integrated bestselling Internet packages from Netscape Communications Corp., Morning Star and others with its

Digital Government

Army Logistics

The Army is using a number of tiered logistics systems in Operation Joint Endeavor. At the company level, the Army uses the Unit Level Logistics System to order and track supplies, according to a spokesman for Computer Sciences Corp. CSC supports ULLS and other retail logistics systems out of the A

Digital Government

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

VBA Verification I must comment on an article and chart, prepared by Elana Varon, that appeared in the April 1 Federal Computer Week. The chart appeared in an article titled "Fiscal '97 request hits the street," under the heading of "Major FY 1997 IT Spending Proposals," and cited the Departmen

Digital Government

Sun, Digital target feds with mainframe-class servers

Sun Microsystems Inc. and Digital Equipment Corp. are staking out territory in mainframeclass computing with the introduction earlier this month of new highend, Unixbased server technology. Sun's new 64bit Ultra Enterprise servers and Digital's TruCluster solution take different approaches, but

Digital Government

Digital Diagnoses

The National Library of Medicine's huge online database of medical reports and articles, which physicians and medical researchers rely on to make diagnoses and to conduct research, is now available over the Internet. At a health care conference in Washington, D.C., this month, NLM officials descri

Digital Government

New Logistics Systems Identify, Track Bosnian Shipments

If the Defense Department ever ran a contest for the cleanest airfield, Tuzla Air Base, Bosnia, stands a good chance of winning, despite the mud. That's because Tuzla, the main airhead for the 1st Armored Division and its headquarters, is the most obvious beneficiary of a new Pentagon approach to l

Digital Government

Ameritech to donate $2M for document digitization

Telecommunications company Ameritech Corp. said it will donate $2 million to the Library of Congress to help local libraries, state archives, universities and other nonfederal institutions digitize their American history collections for inclusion in the National Digital Library program. The contrib

Digital Government

ROSTER

Eliza McClenaghan has been appointed chief information officer at the State Department. She previously served as special assistant to the undersecretary for management and worked on management and information resources management issues and as a senior adviser to the acting CIO. Dean Mesterharm was

Digital Government

70 A contract holders get one-year extensions

Running short of time on negotiations for fiveyear Schedule 70 A contracts, the General Services Administration will announce May 6 that it is extending all current contracts for a year. GSA will also have an "open season" that will allow noncontract holders to join the program and let current c

Digital Government

Census releases draft RFC for DCS

The Census Bureau is one step closer to awarding a contract for the decennial census imagebased data capture system with the recent release of a draft request for comments. The draft RFC, issued this month, overhauls an earlier document the bureau released last November for vendor comment. As a re

Digital Government

Cordant ready to run with IC4I deal

Cordant Inc. is ramping up to do battle with BTG Inc. on the $929 million Integration for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence program. The Air Force awarded IC4I smallbusiness setaside contracts to Cordant and BTG on Dec. 1, 1995. Days later, the Air Force halted work on

Digital Government

Move to legislation angers FAA officials

The House Science Committee has angered Federal Aviation Administration officials by attempting to put into law some of the key concepts of the agency's recently enacted acquisition system. The FAA said language in the Omnibus Science Authorization bill, marked up in full committee last week, prema

Digital Government

SSA offers satellite classes nationwide

The Social Security Administration plans to begin offering training classes this month via satellite to 220 offices nationwide. The Interactive Video Training Network (IVTN) will link SSA field offices and processing offices so that new hires and existing employees who need advanced training can re