Digital Government
What exactly is a pre-award survey?
A reader raised the following topic: Before awarding a new contract, a contracting agency may conduct a preaward survey on the company tentatively selected for the award. How does the preaward survey process relate to the technical evaluations that are done on the competing proposals? What are th
Digital Government
Delivering on the promise of 'plug and play'
When the Defense Department in 1993 began to search for a replacement to the antiquated World Wide Military Command and Control System, there was no system capable of meeting all the requirements for commanding military forces on a global scale. But officials soon realized that a cross section of t
Digital Government
Municipal officials pushed on Internet taxation
Proponents of taxing Internet sales rallied municipal officials to throw their weight at Congress Friday at the 1999 Congress of Cities.
Digital Government
PCs, laptops, GPS help find missing
Honolulu To fulfill their mandate to identify and return the remains of the Americans still missing in action from the Vietnam War, the selfdescribed 'jungle detectives' assigned to a task force to look for the remains rely heavily on a database that contains the records of all 2,043 Americans
Digital Government
Calm under pressure
Clay Hollister knows how to manage emergencies. Hollister, the chief information officer at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, received his toughest lesson in crisis management when he and his family were taken hostage by the Palestinian Liberation Army during the civil war in Lebannon. In 19
Digital Government
DOJ's Condon moves to SRA
Mary Ellen Condon, the director of the information management and security staff at the Justice Department, last week left her post to take a job managing information technology projects for the federal division of systems integrator SRA International Inc. Condon, who joined Justice four years ago,
Digital Government
Higher Ed Turns to ERP to Maintain Software
A growing number of higher education users are adopting enterprise resource management software to eliminate problems maintaining heavily customized software or to replace systems that are not Year 2000compliant. Frederick Community College in Frederick, Md., installed PeopleSoft Inc.'s Financial
Digital Government
BMC tackles e-biz reliability concerns
BMC Software Inc. recently announced new products and services designed to improve the reliability and performance of electronic commerce applications. BMC, viewed as the fifthlargest independent software company, unveiled an initiative called Service Assurance for EBusiness, which builds on its
Digital Government
Keeping data within reach
In the Information Age, government agencies must find ways to handle data generated, shared and demanded at everincreasing rates. And it's not just handling the volume of data that poses a problem. Today's information technology managers need to store all that data securely and determine how often
Digital Government
Fedwire Briefs
The privacy watchdog group Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a lawsuit in federal court Dec. 3 that aims to force the National Security Agency to release sensitive documents thought to contain evidence of surveillance operations against U.S. citizens. EPIC wants documents recently denied
Digital Government
Sit up straight!
Proposed regulations aimed at reducing aches and pains caused by poorly designed working environments could be a real headache for federal information technology managers whose employees spend hours at a time hunched over their computers. Under the regulations proposed last month by the Occupationa
Digital Government
Vendors team on 'Seat' alternative
San Diego Litton/PRC Inc. and Micron Electronics Inc. have teamed up to offer government agencies the opportunity to test drive desktop outsourcing without turning over all their systems to an outside contractor right away. Many agencies have been looking at the General Services Administration's
Digital Government
Feds join online auction craze
The federal government may follow private companies into the hot electronic commerce game with plans to test next year an online auction site for federal products and surplus property, including everything from computers to houses. FinanceNet, an electronic clearinghouse that provides information o
Digital Government
Intercepts
Another Delay in WLMP? My Fort Monmouth, N.J., antenna site has picked up mediumstrength signals that Army Cecom may delay award of the $1 billion Wholesale Logistics Modernization Program contract until Dec. 27, which should make a good postholiday present for the winner of the two remaining bid
Digital Government
Communities
Va. Adopts Plan to Use Digital Signatures The Virginia Council on Technology Services (COTS) in October moved closer to embracing the use of digital signatures for government business. The approved plan recommends that the commonwealth should start to use digital signatures on a limited basis in
Digital Government
Phoenix shows off Web site
Phoenix city leader showed off his city's World Wide Web site and gave tips on how others can create one like it at a seminar titled Building Technology Strategies at the 1999 Congress of Cities.
Digital Government
Goldtouch ergonomic products enrich desktop experience
With the Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposing a new program to police workplace ergonomics, agency managers may be on the lookout for products to improve employee comfort. One way to combat the hand, arm and shoulder strain that often comes from using traditional flat keyboards and mice is to use the Ergo Suite of ergonomic desktop products from Goldtouch Technologies Inc.
Digital Government
FEMA updates hazard software
An updated version of disasterloss estimation software developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency is available to help emergencyresponse officials nationwide better prepare for and recover from earthquakes. FEMA last month released HAZUS99 a new version of its Hazards US software pro
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
TRUE OUTSOURCING INITIATIVE. Not following protocol in the military can bring a program manager problems, but not always the kind you would expect. When Steve Miller moved to his position as deputy director of the WrightPatterson Air Force Base Special Operations Force System Program Office, he fo
Digital Government