Digital Government
Mapping the world with GIS wares
Desktop mapping programs are growing ever more popular in government agencies, thanks to their ability to combine geographic and other types of data. The programs are being used for an increasing variety of purposes: analyzing crime patterns, tracking demographic data, allocating aid in urban areas
Digital Government
More feds giving due diligence its due
Over the past year or two, a new phrase has entered the federal information technology acquisition vocabulary: due diligence. When the concept was just beginning to enter the federal lexicon, I wrote a column about the idea [FCW, June 22, 1998]. The phrase is adapted from the commercial mergersand
Digital Government
Storage vendors enter records fray
When a federal judge ruled 17 months ago that agencies had to start managing their electronic records, one of the first questions raised by information technology managers was how they would store millions of files. Now some storage system vendors think they have the answer. At FOSE last week, two
Digital Government
Coast Guard to expand enhanced GPS system
The Coast Guard last week announced plans to double the coverage provided by its enhanced Global Positioning Satellite system that serves marine users navigating coastal and inland waterways.
Digital Government
House Science Committee digitizes hearing room
As the 106th Congress heads into a legislative year with such highprofile technology issues as the Year 2000 problem and aviation modernization on the agenda, the stage on which many of these issues will play out has undergone a major multimedia makeover. After a fourmonth facelift, the main hear
Digital Government
Litronic nears deal to acquire Pulsar
Security systems vendor Litronic Inc. is close to completing a deal to acquire federal systems and services provider Pulsar Data Systems Inc., according to Litronic executives.
Digital Government
Report: DOD needs cyberattack authority
The Pentagon should consider changes to policies that currently prohibit the Defense Department from mounting a counter cyberattack if its computers are attacked, the National Research Council recommended in a report released today.
Digital Government
Can agencies get credit for trade-ins?
The following topic was raised by a vendor representative: Can government agencies trade in used equipment for credit on new purchases? If so, what rules apply? In general, federal government agencies are authorized to take advantage of the tradein allowances that are offered by many commercial co
Digital Government
Roster
Teresa Sorrenti, director of acquisition operations and electronic commerce at the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service, has been nominated to be vice chairwoman for the United Nations/Economic Commission for Europe member states. The group is the forum for countries in North Am
Digital Government
NARA adds history to Digital Classroom
As more schools come online, teachers are searching for ways to use the World Wide Web in the classroom. Last month, the National Archives and Records Administration released its first set of online materials for teaching American history, containing nine lesson plans that use digitized documents t
Digital Government
AT&T's big gamble
Pushed by the loss of several key federal contracts, the last division of AT?#038; Amp;T to operate in a protected competitive environment has entered the roughandtumble world of postreform telecommunications. It's a new world where agencies are free to choose providers, where margins are slim, and losers
Digital Government
Expert: NIH needs $200M for research
The National Institutes of Health should invest $100 million to buy a stateoftheart supercomputer and another $100 million to develop software and train scientists to use the system for biomedical research, the head of a pharmaceutical company told Congress last week. Frederick Hausheer, a physi
Digital Government
AF taps 24 for final ITSP awards
The Air Force this month awarded a fourth and final round of 24 blank
Digital Government
OMB report: Feds must shore up state Y2K efforts
The Clinton administration is requiring federal agencies to take the lead role in working with states to ensure that social service programs are uninterrupted by Year 2000 computer problems.
Digital Government
DOD to step up defense of GPS
The Defense Department plans to add a new set of military antijam frequencies to the next series of military Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, to prevent the loss of critical positioning information during a battle, a top DOD official said today.
Digital Government
CIO Council issues guidelines to fight federal software piracy
A committee for the CIO Council released model guidelines today that will help agencies comply with last year's executive order on computer software privacy.al chief information officers to handle future information technology problems, according to the CIO Council.
Digital Government
Feds find silver lining in Y2K struggle
Despite the havoc it has given federal managers, the Year 2000 problem may have better equipped federal chief information officers to handle future information technology problems, according to the CIO Council.
Digital Government
CIO Council to rethink commercial standards
The CIO Council is creating a working group to look at how the government can make better use of the technical standards created by private industry, according to a member of the council.
Digital Government
EU to launch homegrown satellite navigation system
The European Union plans to go ahead with development of its own $2.4 billion to $3.2 billion global navigation satellite system (GNSS), partly out of concern about having to rely on the existing Pentagonmanaged Global Positioning System.
Digital Government