Digital Government
Development plan, furloughs, snow delay Post-FTS 2000 RFP
The General Services Administration is delaying the release of the PostFTS 2000 request for proposals to further develop the implementation plan and because of time lost due to furloughs and snowstorms. Bob Woods, commissioner of GSA's Federal Telecommunications Service, said he did not know how l
Digital Government
Intercepts
Internet brownouts. The explosive growth of the World Wide Web and all those cutsie graphics has already started to choke the Internet, according to Mark Kosters at Network Solutions Inc., which runs the InterNic. Kosters, quoted in a startling story on the MEME list, said the combination of wideb
Digital Government
Study finds past performance puts burden on contractors
Many agencies that are using vendor pastperformance ratings to evaluate bids have turned the application of this evaluation factor into a bureaucratic exercise that may be thwarting the Office of Federal Procurement Policy's intent in promoting it, a consultant's study has found. Sandra Baxter, pr
Digital Government
Vendors unleash 150, 166 MHz Pentiums
Intel Corp. turned the performance crank a couple of notches higher, announcing earlier this month faster 150 MHz and 166 MHz versions of its speedy Pentium processor. Many vendors have announced new models using the chip, while others say they plan to do so in the near future. Dell Computer Corp.,
Digital Government
FEDWIRE
Conferees approve new Defense bill A new version of the Defense authorization bill President Clinton vetoed last month was approved by a congressional conference committee Friday. The measure includes a variety of procurement reform provisions that the administration supports, but it was unclear at
Digital Government
Editorial
The news that Rep. William Clinger and Sen. William Cohen have both decided not to run for reelection stunned the federal information technology community. They are two members of Congress who have been personally interested in the issues of information management and policy. Cohen was in line to
Digital Government
SET-ASIDES
Bill would cover contractors for losses from fed shutdown A group of House Democrats have introduced a bill that would let the government compensate federal contractors for any financial harm caused by the recent government shutdown. The measure, H.R. 2857 sponsored by Reps. Patsy Mink (DHawaii
Digital Government
Navy christens USS Hopper
The Navy christened an Aegisclass destroyer named for Rear Adm. Grace Hopper, who led the service into the computer age. The USS Hopper is equipped with the Navy's most advanced computers and communications systems. Hopper, who died in 1992, was known during her active career as the "Grand Old La
Digital Government
Rules must be relaxed if federal EC is to succeed
The drive to move the federal government to electronic commerce is not working out quite the way it was planned. Agencies may be accomplishing a healthy number of electronic purchases, but they aren't following the script laid down for the Federal Acquisition Computer Network (FACNET), the electron
Digital Government
AGENDA
JANUARY 2224 Simulation of Communications Networks. San Diego. This event is part of the George Washington University Continuing Engineering Education Program. There is a fee of $975. Call the registrar at (800) 4249773 or (202) 9945288. 29Feb. 1 ComNet '96. Renaissance Washington, D.C., Hotel.
Digital Government
Notes 4.0 tangles with Web
Lotus Development Corp. today will formally roll out Lotus Notes Release 4.0, a pivotal product that has won high praise from federal Notes adherents but faces competition from groupware solutions based on the Internet. Agencies and resellers began receiving copies of Notes 4.0 last week. The new p
Digital Government
Raptor announces firewall for Windows NT
Raptor Systems Inc. recently announced what the firm described as the first enterprise network firewall designed for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT. Raptor is betting its new firewall, called Eagle NT, will appeal to network administrators who want to install system firewalls but who do not want to m
Digital Government
Agencies plagued with fiscal fears
Unsure how much, if any, funding they will have next week and for the rest of the year, agencies are scrambling to restructure their information technology spending plans. In more than two dozen agencies and Cabinet departments, information resources managers are curtailing purchases and delaying c
Digital Government
C-Phone helps Target Technologies make fed inroads
The Army is buying desktop videoconferencing equipment from Target Technologies Inc., which is taking on such giants as PictureTel Corp. and Intel Corp. in the market. Target, Wilmington, N.C., offers its CPhone to the Army and all Defense Department buyers through TRW Inc.'s Desktop Video Tele Co
Digital Government
GSA, SSA, Iowa team on benefits program
The National Performance Review office last month presented officials from the Social Security Administration and the General Services Administration with a Hammer Award for a videoconferencing pilot project operated by the agencies in conjunction with the Iowa state government. Ron Piasecki, GSA's
Digital Government
FEDERAL BYTES
What's in an Acronym? Corporate mergers inevitably spawn employee anxiety and stress emotions that are frequently relieved by gallows humor. Lockheed Martin Corp.'s $9.1 billion purchase of Loral Corp. this month is no exception. Loral employees in the Washington, D.C., area, understandably conc
Digital Government
FSS to open schedules to state, local buys
The General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service soon will open up 10 percent of its schedule contracts to purchases by state and local governments, as a first step toward expanding the schedule program beyond the federal government. William Gormley, assistant commissioner in the FSS Of
Digital Government
EPA merges fragmented IT setup
Information technology at the Environmental Protection Agency will become a more integrated and "holistic" business under the terms of a recently completed strategic plan. A fragmented IT regime within the agency will come under the control of a central information resources management office, th
Digital Government
Lockheed, HP offer medical info systems
Lockheed Martin IMS and HewlettPackard Co. have teamed to offer medical information systems and services to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The two companies initially came together to test HP's CareVue patient information system in the Philadelphia VA Medical Center as part of the VA's Hybrid
Digital Government