Digital Government

Robbins-Gioia eyes new management role on BLSM

RobbinsGioia Inc., a services and support firm specializing in complex program management, will take on a new role team leader if it wins the bid for the Air Force BaseLevel Systems Modernization (BLSM) II, a $400 million systems integration project. RobbinsGioia is leading one of the half

Digital Government

Export ban puts damper on agency efforts

The administration's encryption export ban is hampering federal agencies' efforts to build a secure electronic infrastructure, according to some agency officials and vendors. Most, if not all, federal agencies have identified the need for strong encryption to carry out future service to the citizen

Digital Government

Editorial

While we are certainly aware of the burdens placed on contracting officers and agencies by full and open competition in the procurement phase of an acquisition, there can be little argument that multiple awards bring the government the best prices and the latest technology. One glimpse into the dow

Digital Government

NTIS plans to put FFRDC tech documents on-line

The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) plans to offer an alternative to the Government Printing Office's Federal Depository Library program that would provide libraries with electronic access to government documents that are not available through GPO. In a pilot program to begin this spr

Digital Government

IRS won't use the Internet?for now

The Internal Revenue Service has abandoned plans for a pilot project offering electronic filing over the Internet for the April 15 tax deadline, although the agency may test such a system later in the year, Treasury Department deputy assistant secretary for information systems Wushow "Bill" Chou

Digital Government

D.C. snubs fed help; rings up big bills

The District of Columbia government, mired in debt and unable to pay its contractors, has repeatedly rejected assistance from the federal government to reduce the cost of its telecommunications programs and has engaged in what several executives describe as a pattern of reckless spending. Sources s

Digital Government

Draft bid due for imaging, workflow wares

The National Institutes of Health plans to release next week a draft statement of work to acquire imaging systems and workflow solutions to control the mountain of paperwork that the agency's institutes, centers and divisions create. NIH plans to award by September multiple taskorder contracts, in

Digital Government

Feds to benefit in brewing price war

Compaq Computer Corp. may have touched off a renewed price war in the PC market with the recent announcement of lowpriced, highpowered models. HewlettPackard Co., IBM Corp. and Digital Equipment Corp. responded with new models and price cuts of their own. This round of price competition could ac

Digital Government

1996 Federal 100 Judges

This year's Federal 100 judges met at FCW's offices Saturday, Jan. 6. The weather was threatening, but in true Federal 100 fashion, they dodged the Blizzard of '96 by finishing the selection in nearrecord time. Each year's panel has its own personality, and the panel's choices reflect the values,

Digital Government

Cahoon made assistant archivist for policy, IRM

The National Archives and Records Administration has named L. Reynolds Cahoon the new assistant archivist for policy and information resources management, replacing Ralph Bledsoe, who retired late last year. Cahoon most recently served for six years as managing director of the family history depart

Digital Government

Repeal of the Brooks Act: an answer to everyone's prayers?

The DOD authorization bill for fiscal 1996 repeals the Brooks Act and, without much fanfare, changes the way every information technology federal contractor and their lawyers will do business with the government. The most significant impact of the revocation of the Brooks Act is the eliminati

Digital Government

FEDERAL BYTES

And They Can Continue to Use Their Crayons The Pentagon has grand plans to develop paperless mapping and imagery products, but the Marines don't want to embrace this new digital world, according to Rear Adm. Joseph Dantone, director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency Implementation Team. Da

Digital Government

Logicon revamps I-CASE software and hardware

The Defense Department's Integrated ComputerAided Software Engineering contract is poised to offer software development, database and workstation products at prices designed to beat the General Services Administration schedule. Earlier this month Logicon Inc., the ICASE prime contractor, added Te

Digital Government

Amdahl claims SSA contract favors IBM

Amdahl Corp. charged that the Social Security Administration's multimilliondollar mainframe buy unfairly favors IBM Corp. to the exclusion of other bidders. In a prebid protest filed with the General Services Administration's Board of Contract Appeals earlier this month, Amdahl claimed SSA "virt

Digital Government

AF secretary on wings of a dream

Secretary of the Air Force Sheila Widnall, the first woman to hold the top civilian post in any of the three military services, calls her job the culmination of "a lifelong dream. It brings many of the threads of my life together." These include, Widnall said, "a lifelong fascination with airpla

Digital Government

Hewlett-Packard unveils improved Color LaserJet

HewlettPackard Co. last week announced a dramatically improved color laser printer, which will soon be available through the General Services Administration schedule. HP's Color LaserJet 5 replaces the company's Color LaserJet product, released in 1994. The product, like its predecessor, employs a

Digital Government

Congress threatens TSM funds

Members of Congress last week warned the Internal Revenue Service that they will cancel the Tax Systems Modernization next year unless the agency proves to them within the next two months that it can repair the multibilliondollar program. "We're done," said Rep. Jim Lightfoot (RIowa), chairman

Digital Government

IRS to tap GSA for TDPI

An upcoming procurement experiment by the Internal Revenue Service could change how agencies make volume purchases of computer equipment, software and services and elevate the importance of a General Services Administration schedule contract in vendors' contract portfolios. The IRS plans to use the

Digital Government

Revision calls for Windows NT, COTS hardware

The National Guard Bureau (NGB) last week announced details for a new architecture for the Reserve Component Automation System that swaps out Unixbased Xterminals in favor of PCs running Microsoft Corp. Windows NT software and other commercial offtheshelf (COTS) components. RCAS, originally awa

Digital Government

Acquisition reform focuses on Net

In one of the first examples of what is expected to be a growing trend among government agencies, the Federal Aviation Administration is making the Internet a cornerstone of its acquisition reform initiative. While using the World Wide Web to educate the general public and its own employees about t