Digital Government
NTIS: A relic that led feds into cyberspace
The Commerce Department has announced its intention to close down the National Technical Information Service. Secretary William Daley said he would submit legislation to Congress for this purpose, and the department announced that it had started talks with the Library of Congress about taking over
Digital Government
Visitors can be G-men at FBI's FOIA site
Elvis Presley wanted to help Nixon combat drug crime. John Wayne was eager to help J. Edgar Hoover duke it out with communists. Frank Sinatra blatantly offered his services to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, although bureau officials wanted 'nothing to do with him.' Those are not exactly shock
Digital Government
Intercepts
Y2K DEFENSE. The Pentagon's Joint Task Force for Computer Network Defense, headed by Air Force Maj. Gen. John Campbell, and the FBI's National Information Protection Center plan to hold a toplevel conference called 'Preparing for Cyberwar' in early October. I don't know if this means the two outfi
Digital Government
Dell offers software/hardware bundles
Dell Computer Corp. announced last week that it now offers multiyear volume licensing agreements on Microsoft Corp. software bundled with Dell hardware. The government integration agreement (GIA) with Microsoft, available via Dell's General Services Administration schedule, allows an agency to set
Digital Government
OPM gives break to Y2K workers
Faced with the prospect of using or losing vacation days, government employees who must stay on the job because of the Year 2000 problem will be able to carry over annual leave days, the Office of Personnel Management said last week. Fixing the Year 2000 problem requires government employees to wor
Digital Government
SQL Server gains ground on Oracle
Microsoft Corp. is not used to playing second fiddle, so you can imagine how strange the mood must have been around the software giant's federal division during the past few years knowing that 75 percent of the government market would not touch your database product. But things started to change fo
Digital Government
USGS seeks seismic network bid
The U.S. Geological Survey is sending out for bid again a contract to run and maintain a network of computers that collects seismological data from around the world. The network, called the Global Seismographic Network, gives scientists and governments quick information about the size and locations
Digital Government
Feds to push security from talk to action
A program started at an agency as a way to collect and teach information security best practices will be spread across the federal government with the backing of the CIO Council and the General Services Administration. The U.S. Agency for International Development's Model Information Systems Securi
Digital Government
Project management?portal-style
Agencies that want outside help for project management, but don't want to pay high consultants fees, have a new alternative: an Internetbased project management portal. RobbinsGioia Inc., a management firm in Alexandria, Va., has launched PM Boulevard, an online project management tool that combi
Digital Government
LOC Web site to offer access to holdings
The Library of Congress plans by October to complete installing its integrated library system, called Voyager, that will allow the public to use PCs to conduct comprehensive searches of the extensive collections available at the world's largest library. Voyager, from Des Plaines, Ill.based Endeavo
Digital Government
Security gaps persist in DOD nets
Despite countless warnings dating to 1996, the Defense Department's information networks continue to be plagued by serious security flaws and weaknesses that have opened up almost every area of the department to cyberattacks and fraud, according to a new General Accounting Office report. Released l
Digital Government
Portable electronic book readers debut in Dayton
Portable electronic book readers will make their classroom debut next week at Resurrection Catholic School in Dayton, Ohio. A pilot program calls for electronic books to be used for every subject in a fourth grade classroom for a minimum of one grading period.
Digital Government
Print Screen Works holds key to Windows printing
Print Screen Works 5.5 is a handy little program from SilverLakeTech.com that turns the Print Screen key on the keyboard into a hotkey tied directly to the printer. When viewing any screen in Microsoft Corp. Windows, a user can press the Print Screen key and the image immediately prints. Print Sc
Digital Government
Check Point secures net from within
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. this week announced its new virtual private network architecture, which will provide highavailability security not only from network to network but also within an agency. The company's new Secure Virtual Network (SVN) architecture is a longterm strategy to b
Digital Government
Rewritable CD drives get faster, cheaper
Who could argue with better technology, faster speeds and lower prices? That's what is happening in the rewritable CD (CDRW) drive market today. In this comparative review, we look at three rewritable CD solutions priced less than $400. These solutions are great for offices that need to duplicate
Digital Government
Spawar orders buying review
The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, concerned about possible abuses in information technology contracting, has instituted highlevel reviews of new, streamlined computer contracts based on the General Services Administration schedule. Rear Adm. John Gauss, Spawar commander, said he ordered
Digital Government
DOD is right to sit out Y2K
Although it may seem callous, the Defense Department's formal dictum this month that it would not help cities and counties if the Year 2000 bug caused widespread havoc or food and water shortages is the right decision. It is easy to react to DOD's decision, spelled out in a message sent to all the
Digital Government
IT contract bundling pinches out small firms
Investment banking firm Boles Knop ?#038; Amp; Co. LLC this month released a report that confirms what many industry observers have suspected that federal spending on information technology is increasing slowly, but less of that money is going to small business. The bundling of previous IT contracts into n
Digital Government
Open-market buys deserve equality
What do you do if you are a government buyer and you want to purchase, for example, a pointofuse automated medication supply system from a General Services Administration schedule vendor and a couple of smaller, related items that aren't yet available on the schedule? If you happen to be the Army
Digital Government