Digital Government
Commerce makes commitment to small biz
Before procurement reform, using 8(a)s was almost the only game in town for government agencies to use to award contracts quickly and with a minimum of red tape. This encouraged too many 8(a)s to develop the unfortunate 'business model' of seeking work on the back of an inefficient procurement syst
Digital Government
Agenda
JULY 1999 1315 Automated Review Management System Prospect Course. Hawthorne Hotel. Salem, Mass. Call (916) 5577999; Web, www.armstcx.spk.usace.army.mil/html/arms_prospect_course.html. 15 Unlocking the Federal Market: Using GSA Schedules as the Key. Boston. Web, www.globalservicesinc.com; or call
Digital Government
Digital Commerce
In what could serve as a model across government, Commerce Department Secretary William Daley last week announced that he plans to move Commerce from a 'paperbased bureaucracy' to an alldigital department by 2002. 'I want to build a department that conducts personnel actions, procurement and as m
Digital Government
Tadpole-RDI offers a 'luggable' Unix
Our theme in the accompanying workstation comparison is choice, which for Unix systems does not end at the desktop. If you need portable Unix, you have choices as well. TadpoleRDI Inc. offers several options for users who need portable, binary compatibility with Unix hardware. The bill is large, h
Digital Government
Sun to offer Java-based remote access
Sun Microsystems Inc. plans to offer a Javapowered remoteaccess solution to the Defense Department and other federal agencies that need a secure, costeffective way to support remote users. Known and used internally throughout Sun's corporate structure for more than a year before its public relea
Digital Government
Unix choices up, prices down
In today's federal market, the expanding presence of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows and Windows NT operating systems is hard to ignore. However, some federal organizations, particularly NASA and the Defense Department, have opted to use Unix systems for computing power and stability. We are taking our a
Digital Government
Live Video Is Coming to a Local Government Site Near You
When the CSPAN cable TV channel debuted in the 1980s, supporters declared there was nothing as politically intimate as bringing governmentinthemaking into your living room. In 1999, live, local government is getting intimate enough to fit comfortably in your lapor laptop, at least. Pluggedin
Digital Government
Selling Cities on the Web
In our cover story this month, we examine some of the problems civic Webmasters face as they lead their governments onto the World Wide Web. 'Selling Cities on the Web,' by freelance writer Heather Harreld, was inspired by a workshop for Webmasters hosted by Public Technology Inc. during PTI's ann
Digital Government
DOD begins FTS 2001 switch
The Defense Department last month made the government's first significant transition to FTS 2001 when it moved 8,500 users in the Washington, D.C., area off AT?#038; Amp;T's FTS 2000 network. MCI WorldCom will handle all of DOD's FTS 2001 voice traffic, and Sprint will carry the department's FTS 2001 framer
Digital Government
DOD Health Affairs awards Lot IV of D/SIDDOMS II
The Defense Department Health Affairs office late last week awarded contracts to Planned Systems International Inc. (PSI) and Puma Systems Inc. under a potential $500 million program that seeks to replace the agency's homegrown computer systems with offtheshelf products.
Digital Government
IRS expands TeleFile options to lure more users
During a recent meeting held by the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee, Internal Revenue Service officials decided to give taxpayers who file electronically by telephone a wider range of payment methods. Currently, TeleFile taxpayers file their returns via telephone and then mail in t
Digital Government
StorageTek offers data outsourcing
Storage Technology Corp. last week launched a new service that will allow customers to outsource their data storage, rather than buying equipment and managing it onsite. Through its new Storage Utility solutions program, StorageTek, Louisville, Colo., will manage customers' data either onsite or
Digital Government
White House Kicks Off 'Y2K Community Conversations'
The White House is convinced that Americans want 'straight talk' on the Year 2000 computer problem, so it has assembled a toolkit aimed at communities struggling to develop public outreach campaigns. Dubbed 'Y2K Community Conversations,' the project is spearheaded by President Clinton's Council on
Digital Government
B-2 soars, proving report wrong
Despite the release last month of yet another scathing report by the General Accounting Office on the capabilities of the B2 stealth bomber, the NATO air campaign over Kosovo may have put to rest concerns about 'significant flaws' in the plane's missionplanning and defensive avionics systems. Whi
Digital Government
Proposed agency no threat to DOE research
The head of a presidential advisory panel told the House Science Committee last week that a proposal to create a new nuclear weapons agency would not disrupt unclassified scientific research performed at Energy Department laboratories. Former Sen. Warren Rudman (RN.H.), who now heads the President
Digital Government
Growing Your Own Skilled IT Work Force
Tucson, Ariz., like many cities, is experiencing a surge in its hightechnology sector. Because Tucson is my home, I am happy to see the local economy thriving. On the other hand, prosperity has brought some problems.
Digital Government
Vendors team on certificate management
Security Dynamics Technologies Inc. and subsidiary RSA Data Security Inc. last week announced their entry into the digital certificate management market with their new Keon Certificate Server 5.0. This is the first full move for the companies into the publickey infrastructure arena, which uses di
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
ROCKIN' WITH BILL. Last week the Commerce Department awarded governmentwide IT services contracts to 29 small businesses. The contracts were awarded under the auspices of the Commerce Information Technology Solutions program, called 'Commits.' However, Commerce officials tell us that the acronym is
Digital Government
Internet "Forensic Tool" Can Trace Past Web Activity
A new Internet forensic tool has been introduced that aims to help educators, police and other law enforcement officials trace the past World Wide Web activity of computer users.
Digital Government