Digital Government
Schools scrimp on software investment
For a couple of years, schools have invested heavily in their infrastructure and hardware to infuse technology into the curricula, but software purchasing has been and still is low, according to a report this year by the Software Information Industry Association (SIIA).
Digital Government
OPM assures feds, retirees that benefits are Y2K-safe
The Office of Personnel Management today launched a media campaign to assure federal employees, retirees and their families that their federal health and life insurance programs, retirement benefits and other services will be unaffected by the Year 2000 computer problem.
Digital Government
Most agencies miss performance, budget link
Most government agencies are doing a good job defining relationships between proposed information technology programs and performance goals, but less than half are explaining how money spent will achieve those goals, according to a report by the General Accounting Office released earlier this week.
Digital Government
DOD says military health systems Y2K-ready
The Defense Department announced today that its medical team spent about $130 million to ensure that health services provided for military personnel and other beneficiaries will not be interrupted by the Year 2000 computer problem.
Digital Government
Feds Looking to Fund State Driver History Projects
The U.S. Transportation Department's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is looking to fund state projects that improve the reporting and recording of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) traffic convictions within a state and between states.
Digital Government
State IT Officials Should Hone Recruitment Skills, CSG Concludes
States without the deep pockets to lure information technology workers should work harder to market the size and scope of their technology projects, according to a survey that the Council of State Governments is preparing on IT recruitment and workforce development problems.
Digital Government
Feds, States Pilot Smart Health Cards
State and local officials in Bismark, N.D., and Cheyenne, Wyo., next month will kick off a multistate pilot project with the federal government to deliver a variety of public health programs on a single smart card.
Digital Government
Details demanded on E-Rate subsidy.
Two powerful U.S. congressmen last week sent Federal Communications Commission chief William Kennard a pointed letter demanding more details on the FCC's plans to pay for the $2 billion ERate educational technology subsidy program.
Digital Government
GSA eyes share in savings for popular IT contracts
The General Services Administration is talking with NASA, the National Institutes of Health and the Transportation Department about incorporating incentivebased contracting options into several of the government's largest programs for information technology products and services. GSA is working wi
Digital Government
OPM shouldn't delegate screening
The Office of Personnel Management recently issued proposed rules that would delegate to agencies the responsibility of determining whether individuals are suitable for federal employment (Federal Register, Jan. 28, 1999, Vol. 64, No. 18, Pages 4,336 to 4,342). Such determinations are intended to w
Digital Government
Acrobat 4.0 most powerful yet
Go to any agency World Wide Web site to download a document file and most likely you'll find it in one of three formats: ASCII, Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format. The problem with ASCII files, of course, is that they cannot offer much in the way of formatting. Microsoft Word
Digital Government
GAO tepid on feds' Y2K progress
The General Accounting Office last week gave lukewarm praise to the departments of Education and Labor for fixing their Year 2000 computer problems. Both departments have made substantial improvements since last year, said Joel Willemssen, GAO's director for civilian agencies information systems, t
Digital Government
DynCorp to offer feds satellite access to Net
Government customers are clamoring for bandwidth just the same as nearly every commercial organization, and DynCorp hopes its new alliance with a satellite Internet service provider will result in solutions that meet federal customers' needs. DynCorp, a Reston, Va.based information technology serv
Digital Government
Mark Boyer, Alaska CIO, Joins Cisco
Mark Boyer, who has been commissioner of Alaska's Department of Administration, has joined Cisco Systems Inc. as publicsector senior manager. In this new role he joins Michele Grisham, who heads the publicsector consulting team within Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group.
Digital Government
Visio wins DOD BPA
Visio Corp. said it signed a $10.7 million, twoyear blanket purchase agreement with the Navy covering the company's line of technical drawing and diagramming software designed to help develop and manage information systems. The new Visio contract will be open to all military services and Defense D
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
ACRONYM ANARCHY. The government has been known to play fast and loose with its acronyms, creating new abbreviations at will and sometimes even reassigning new meanings to the same acronyms. Case in point: FTS. This acronym was derived from the FTS 2000 program and originally stood for Federal Tele
Digital Government
IT reform's rocky road
When Congress passed the Information Technology Management Reform Act three years ago, it was hailed as the fix for the worst federal IT blunders, from drawnout procurements to multibilliondollar system failures. But today, agencies' compliance with the law is spotty, according to an FCW survey,
Digital Government
Fedwire Briefs
SSG alters BPA strategy The Air Force Standard Systems Group last week indicated that it might open up its Information Technology Tools program to a wider range of resellers than originally anticipated. Under the new strategy, SSG still intends to send invitations to vendors that are included in a
Digital Government
Anteon expands Air Force mentor-protege program
Anteon Corp. has broadened its participation in the Defense Department's mentorprot?#233;g?#233; program by picking up two more small, disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) that will work with the Fairfax, Va.based integrator on Air Force technology contracts. Anteon will play the role of mentor for Fiore Indust
Digital Government