Digital Government

SGI revs processors, system software

Silicon Graphics Inc. has revamped its workstation line with faster processors and a new version of its 64bit system software, leading the way among Unix vendors battling to offer better price/performance with faster chips. In other workstation moves, Digital Equipment Corp. last week announced a

Digital Government

TSM on the ropes

Ten years into its development, Tax Systems Modernization is "in serious jeopardy" and could fail unless the Internal Revenue Service substantially improves its network security design and systems architecture, develops performance metrics and upgrades the technical skills of its information mana

Digital Government

Candidates practice pitches on-line

In addition to kissing babies and attending barbecues, this year's presidential hopefuls are trying to reach out and connect to voters online. To access what has to be the best site for presidential campaign information, go to the Vote Smart Web, sponsored by Project Vote Smart, a nonpartisan grou

Digital Government

Vendors aim ATM at lower-speed nets

WASHINGTON D.C. Many of the Asynchronous Transfer Moderelated products announced or demonstrated last week at ComNet reflect a vendor push to bring ATM to users outside the scope of the highspeed highbandwidth applications typically associated with the technology. ATM was initially billed as

Digital Government

Feds tap work flow to manage business processes

Federal agencies, seeking to streamline such operations as making engineering changes, fulfilling Freedom of Information Act requests and processing employee promotions, are turning to workflow automation tools for help. A variety of software packages offer users the capability to map their busine

Digital Government

Editorial

Budget brownout We hesitate to beat a dead horse and we're grateful the third government shutdown has been averted but we think putting off decisions is a poor way to manage the disagreement. Congress has funded the highvisibility programs whose shutdown caused a public furor and left the ot

Digital Government

National Computer Center preps for mainframe facelift

The Social Security Administration Last Month Issued A Request For Proposals To Upgrade Mainframes The Agency Uses To Process Everything From Social Security Benefits To Administrative Programs. Under The Mainframe Acquisition Project (Map), The Cost Of Which Should Reach Well Into The Tens Of Mill

Digital Government

Flood data rides Internet wave

As the East Coast battled record floods last month, the U.S. Geological Survey used the Internet to distribute minutesold data about rising rivers to federal, state and local agencies responding to the emergency. The availability of USGS' satellitederived river data on the Internet's World Wide W

Digital Government

TDA I, II snagged by GTSI, Win

Government Technology Services Inc. is the apparent new winner of Treasury Department Acquisition I (TDA I), a twoyear contract to supply desktop systems to Treasury users. The Internal Revenue Service, which ran the procurement, selected GTSI over Electronic Data Systems Corp., which originally w

Digital Government

IT is the glue to hold effective government together

The pressure on our government has never been greater. Never in our history has there been so much public scrutiny and secondguessing of every decision, and the urgency to reduce spending at every level only turns up the heat on government to try to do more with less. Adding fuel to that fire is t

Digital Government

Intercepts

Staying The Disn Course. Lt. Gen. Al Edmonds Does Not Buy The Central Argument Of At&T's Disn Protest That It Be Allowed To Submit An Integrated Bid For One Simple Reason: He Never Again Wants To Face The Possibility Of "Turning Dod Upside Down" When Faced With The Expiration Of A Single MegaCon

Digital Government

Air Force's upgrade decision could resonate industrywide

The Air Force's threat to hold Desktop IV contractors in default if they do not supply Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 95 operating system and Office 95 free to users could have broad ramifications for buyers and sellers of federal information technology. Prime contractors Government Technology Services

Digital Government

Traveling Software debuts LapLink for Windows 95

Traveling Software Inc. last month introduced the latest version of its remotecontrol software, a welltimed announcement considering that January's foul weather stranded many federal workers at home. Traveling Software's LapLink for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 95 is the most recent addition to a se

Digital Government

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

After the Shutdown: Part 1 I must take exception to the Jan. 22 column by Bureaucratus. He says that Congress is blackmailing the president by refusing to appropriate funds to operate the government. He says that Congress should not try to achieve its political goals by jerking federal employees ar

Digital Government

PMO gets help to develop ESnet interface

The federal Electronic Messaging Group (EMG) is trying to make sure that specialized areas are included in the governmentwide electronicmail initiative and is pulling together the Energy Science Network (ESnet) and Federal Networking Council (FNC) to develop a "functional interface" for the ESne

Digital Government

Boole enhances multiplatform management

Boole & Babbage Inc. last week enhanced its systems management offering for the multiplatform distributed environment by adding support for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT and Novell Inc.'s NetWare and offering a host of new functions and applications. Ensign Release 3 (R3) gives Boole & Babbage a str

Digital Government

DTIC chief heads DOD Web effort

Last month when officials in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (OSDPA) wanted to set up a World Wide Web site containing information about Bosnia, they turned to the Defense Technical Information Center for help. Kurt Molholm, DTIC's administrator, said it took the

Digital Government

AWARDS

ESystems Inc. A $16.2 million award for an option quantity of the Joint Tactical Terminal. Army CommunicationsElectronics Command, C4IEW Acquisition Center, Fort Monmouth, N.J. 077035008. Universal Tax Systems Inc. A $2.7 million award for electronic filing software packages. Treasury Department

Digital Government

Hewlett-Packard ranks first in past-performance study

HewlettPackard Co. has emerged as the toprated federal product supplier in terms of past performance, according to a recently released International Data Corp. report. The report, undertaken by IDC's Government Market Services unit in Falls Church, Va., provides pastperformance ratings for 26 ha

Digital Government

Part 15 rewrite sparks old debate

The upcoming rewrite of Part 15 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) is likely to rekindle debate over how much flexibility contracting officers should have when negotiating with vendors in competitive procurements. Many contracting officials contend that Part 15, which sets the rules for co