Digital Government
Pittsburgh Wins $100,000 Award for Internet Bond Sales Practice
The Innovations in American Government program, sponsored by the Ford Foundation, the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Council for Excellence in Government, recently awarded Pittsburgh $100,000 for a program that enhances the sale of municipal bonds over the Internet.
Digital Government
Industry urged to challenge agencies on outsourcing
A senior federal official today encouraged industry to investigate and question how agencies determine what government jobs can be contracted out to the private sector, reinforcing the Clinton administration's commitment to a new procurement reform law.
Digital Government
Navy issues warning on Y2K Trojan horse
The Navy Computer Incident Response Team warned Navy and Marine Corps computer users worldwide that an email attachment masquerading as a utility to check a system's readiness for the Year 2000 date rollover could contain a virus.
Digital Government
Procurement reform's pitfalls
At first glance, recent reports of a slow start to the FTS 2001 telecommunications program might be surprising. After all, the General Services Administration launched FTS 2001 nine months ago with much fanfare, promising that increased competition would bring agencies quick access to new technolog
Digital Government
A helping hand across the digital divide
One of the highlights of this year's government/industry confab that the Industry Advisory Council (IAC) hosts every October in Richmond, Va., was an awards ceremony of a distinctly different sort. The award winner was not a senior executive in industry or government. It was Isabel Hinojosa, who is
Digital Government
Practical knowledge
Information technology is profoundly changing the way the Air Force functions, from communicating to purchasing supplies and equipment. Robert Frye, executive director of the Air Force's Standard Systems Group, is there to put those changes into perspective. Frye has come a long way from his hometo
Digital Government
Satellite resolutions spark interest
Space Imaging Inc. last week released the first commercial highresolution images taken from space, introducing to federal agencies a new tool for monitoring the world's real estate. The blackandwhite images taken by the company's Ikonos satellite focus on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a
Digital Government
Army deals offer DOD price breaks
The Army Small Computer Program last month closed out the fiscal year by signing two enterprise licensing agreements, offering Defense Department customers significant price breaks on key management software packages. The new licensing agreements, the latest in a series of such deals with major sof
Digital Government
Commerical imagery prompts NIMA doubts
The launch last week of the world's highest resolution commercial imaging satellite offers the National Imagery and Mapping Agency an unprecedented opportunity to expand its coverage. But experts are split on whether it jeopardizes the future of the controversial agency. With the successful launch
Digital Government
DLA eyes seat management
The Defense Logistics Agency plans t o outsource desktops and a broad range of support services for at least 2,400 users at its headquarters, with the possibility of expanding the program to more than 41,000 agency users nationwide. That would make the deal the largest seat management effort in the
Digital Government
DOE site makes research easier
The Energy Department last week unveiled a new World Wide Web site that will enable visitors to search through more than 500 scientific and technical research publications. The new site, PubScience (pubsci.osti.gov), was developed through an ongoing partnership between DOE's Office of Science and T
Digital Government
Bytes
Y2K: No laughing matter. Picture this: It's New Year's Eve. You're full of cocktail peanuts and champagne. You're a little giddy and getting giddier. The clock ticks over to midnight. Then the lights go out, and panic sets in. 'Where's the flashlight? What did I do with the bottled water? To heck w
Digital Government
Experts say electromagnetic pulse devices threaten U.S.
Experts this month warned Congress that terrorists and foreign countries may have a new cyberweapon at their disposal to counter U.S. military might electromagnetic pulse devices. When 'detonated,' an EMP weapon produces a pulse of energy that creates a powerful electromagnetic field capable of
Digital Government
Justice names deputy CIO
Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. on Oct. 15 named Linda Burek to head the Justice Department's information resources program. In her new role, Burek will serve as deputy chief information officer and deputy assistant attorney general for information resources management. She had held those p
Digital Government
NARA fees miff feds
A new National Archives and Records Administration program that requires agencies to pay for storage and retrieval of paper records has angered some agencies, threatening NARA's upgrade to its storage and retrieval system. Under the federal records center reimbursable program, which began Oct. 1, N
Digital Government
Laptops improve students' attendance, performance
A year after providing free laptop computers to all of its students and teachers, Mississippi's Hancock High School has seen attendance rates rise and discipline problems decline, the school's superintendent said at last week's Hancock Technology Day.
Digital Government
Outsourcing: Friend or foe?
As the trend to outsource work to private contractors grows more popular in government, it is imperative that Congress keep in check the potential abuse of the process. A recently enacted bill that requires the Defense Department to report on its use of outsourcing is a good first step in this dire
Digital Government
Entry-level servers: Workgroup workhorses
The latest entrylevel workgroup servers, 500 MHz Intel Corp. Pentium IIIs, are ideal for small workgroups. These file and print servers are not meant for department level use or critical data storage. Rather, they are basic workhorses for printing, email and standard file storage, and perfect fo
Digital Government
Roster Change
Joanne Connelly, former editor of Federal Computer Week, last week was named vice president for consulting at Federal Sources Inc. starting Oct. 25. In her new role, Connelly will advise small and large companies about business opportunities in federal agencies. Maj. Gen. David Gust, program execut
Digital Government