Digital Government
SRA lands EPA pact
The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday awarded SRA International Inc. a fiveyear, $124 million contract to help it update its business processes and its information systems architecture.
Digital Government
IG: DOT data center does not compete
The Transportation Department's inspector general recommends closing the agency's data center within the next two years because it cannot compete with other commercial and federal centers, according to a recently released DOT audit report. Although the Transportation Administrative Service Center (
Digital Government
Best value is key to securing federal IT
President Clinton astounded the information technology community last month when he proposed in his fiscal 2000 budget more than $1.4 billion for critical infrastructure protection. This is the first concerted federal effort to protect the vulnerable U.S. infrastructure including components such
Digital Government
Census readies offices for 2000
The Census Bureau recently finished automating and began staffing 130 out of 520 temporary census field offices that will support data collection activities during the next national head count. Under the Automation Infrastructure Local Census Office program, Census will lease, set up and automate 5
Digital Government
Feds investigate Melissa virus
Federal officials said today said they are looking for the source of a computer virus that affected both government and privatesector systems on Friday.
Digital Government
Report: Allow cyberwar response
The Pentagon's policy of prohibiting the Defense Department from mounting a counter cyberattack if its computers are attacked puts the military at risk, according to a report released last week. DOD's 'purely passive' approach to protecting its information systems from cyberattacks could result in
Digital Government
Fingerprint ID systems point to increased security
No longer the exclusive domain of science fiction, biometrics the use of physical traits or characteristics to identify a human being has entered the real world as a viable security option. Some of the most popular biometric systems today include fingerprint recognition, iris scanning, retina s
Digital Government
HUD fights GAO's 'high-risk' label
The Department of Housing and Urban Development and several members of Congress are questioning the General Accounting Office's reasons for keeping HUD on the GAO's list of 'highrisk' agencies, specifically, and what criteria in general makes any agency highrisk. HUD has a history of organization
Digital Government
On the road to ERP
The old maxim 'no pain, no gain' sums up the process of setting up enterprise resource planning systems. The benefits of ERP which integrates software modules covering the gamut of business management functions, including planning, manufacturing, sales and marketing systems have been well docum
Digital Government
IBM unveils tool for managing e-catalogs
IBM Corp. last week released a new client tool to work with its electronic commerce server software. The tool will help agencies build and manage electronic catalogs. Called Catalog Architect, the tool makes it easier for agencies to manage and update product information stored in online catalogs,
Digital Government
Letters to the Editor
On SDB preferences and fed employee suggestions Many in the smallbusiness community will rightly applaud your sensibility about the Defense Department eliminating the preference for small and disadvantagedbusiness procurements ['Preference cutoff handcuffs DOD,' FCW, March 3]. Other than creatin
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
THE BIGGER THE NERD. At a House hearing on Justice Department financial management this month, Rep. Steve Horn (RCalif.), chairman of the Government Management, Information and Technology Subcommittee, asked witnesses in a roundabout way how realistic their approach to computer security was. '
Digital Government
Set-Asides
IRS to relax tax rule The Internal Revenue Service may soon loosen a requirement that will result in fewer small businesses having to file taxes electronically. The IRS now requires small businesses that pay more than $50,000 in payroll taxes to use the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS)
Digital Government
IBM's new Xeon system proves speedy
Tested by Anna Bernat and Andreas Uiterwijk IBM Corp. recently released its latest Black Beauty: the IntelliStation Z Pro Workstation with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT 4.0. In our testing, the Z Pro was so fast that we initially thought it was a dualprocessor system. But with only one of Intel Cor
Digital Government
Congress may put squeeze on FBI data sharing project
Tight budgets and fears of cost overruns may keep Congress from giving the FBI all the money it seeks for a project that would allow agents to share data on crimes under investigation more easily. Those familiar with the FBI's $430 million Information Sharing Initiative say Congress may decide to
Digital Government
HHS tackles recordkeeping with workflow
The Department of Health and Human Services is deploying a workflow system in Secretary Donna Shalala's office that will include electronic recordkeeping capabilities possibly the first such system to be installed in the top reaches of a federal agency. The installation is significant because it
Digital Government
Sprint wins bulk of DOD low-speed network services
Sprint captured the largest initial order on a new $600 million, multiple vendor, 10year Defense Department contract to provide relatively lowspeed network services departmentwide across the United States. The Defense Information System Agency created the program to meet the needs of DOD organiza
Digital Government
DOD scales back GPS feature
Citing security reaspons, the U.S. Space Command this month stopped issuing important supplemental data on it
Digital Government
The TSP needs greater flexibility
Congress is said to be contemplating changes to the Thrift Savings Plan to make the program more flexible for federal workers and to open the program to military service members. The program can certainly use more flexibility. Currently, TSP enrollees who want to invest in the stock market can do s
Digital Government