Digital Government
NASA PC cluster on IT crime trail
NASA has designed a lowcost, highperformance computing cluster of PCs to analyze evidence gathered from network intrusions and other computer crime investigations. The space agency's Computer Crimes Division (CCD) is using a Beowulfclass highperformance computing cluster to process evidence gat
Digital Government
Intercepts
Dumping DISA? My sniffer satellite has picked up a number of signals that Lt. Gen. David Kelley and his crew on Courthouse Road face defections by unhappy customers on both the telecom and data processing sides of DISA's house. I have picked up mediumstrength signals that one of the uniformed serv
Digital Government
Anti-piracy bill threatens security tests
A bill designed primarily to protect digital copyright laws contains a provision that could make illegal the network security testing often used by federal agencies to gauge how safe their networks are from hacker attacks or other unauthorized uses. The legislation, called the Digital Millennium Co
Digital Government
FAA orders GPS risk assessment
With the future of one of its major modernization programs on the line, the Federal Aviation Administration and two aviation groups have hired Johns Hopkins University to test whether the satellitebased Global Positioning System can provide the only navigation service for airlines, freeing up the
Digital Government
Fedwire
Lee confirmed for OFPP post The Senate on July 30 approved Deidre A. Lee to be administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. Lee has served as associate administrator for procurement at NASA since March 1993. Before that post, she served as NASA's deputy associate administrator for pro
Digital Government
Contracting for better GPRA results
Several years ago, the Department of Veterans Affairs contracted for information technology to help the agency reduce the processing time for veterans' benefits claims. At the end of the day, the vendor got paid, but processing times were reduced only minimally. I relate this example neither to ins
Digital Government
Panel to publish guide
The Information Technology Resources Board has developed another guide for government IT managers that shares 'lessons learned' gathered over the past several years of reviewing an array of federal IT programs. ITRB is an interagency group of federal IT officials tasked with assisting agencies in t
Digital Government
Bell Atlantic, GTE combo could aid feds
Although driven by a strategy focused on the commercial market, the proposed $52 billion merger of GTE Corp. with Bell Atlantic Corp. announced last week may bring the benefits of soupedup products and services to federal customers, telecommunications observers said. Under the terms of the agreeme
Digital Government
BOP taps two vendors for network buy
The Bureau of Prisons earlier this month awarded blanket purchase agreements to Vanstar Government Systems Inc. and Intellisys Technology Corp. for providing the bureau with all the hardware, software and services it needs to maintain its networks. Products and services supplied under BOPnet 2000 w
Digital Government
Office Suite Success
The manufacturers of the three major suites of office applications have extended their ongoing battle to new fronts in their scramble to give users products that encompass Internet and voice applications. But federal users have been less concerned with these breakthroughs than simply adhering to ag
Digital Government
Rep. Mica's proposal is not fed-friendly
Federal employees should take notice when the chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Service drafts legislation that is patently unfriendly to their interests. Rep. John Mica (RFla.) has included some troubling provisions in a draft version of civil service ref
Digital Government
System helps Treasury ease its HR paperwork
The Treasury Department, which spends 75 percent of its $12 billion budget on its 158,000 employees, is developing a computer system to reduce the paperwork burden that is associated with human resources tasks and to provide new personnel management tools. The system, to be based on software from P
Digital Government
Intercepts
The antennae of the Interceptor are folded again this week while he's overseas. The FCW staff who remain stateside, however, have set up dishes to intercept the latest talk at DOD and civilian agencies. SEEING STARS. Our Northern Virginia antenna has picked up signals that Keane Federal Systems Inc
Digital Government
DOD programs to protect systems against cyberattacks
The Army this month kicked off a plan to deploy to 400 of its bases worldwide a system that will monitor and detect intrusions to networks, marking one of the first uses of an enterprisewide information assurance solution in the Defense Department. As part of its Command and Control Protect (C2 Pro
Digital Government
Tauzin plan would block tax for E-Rate
Rep. W.J. 'Billy' Tauzin (RLa.) was expected last week to introduce legislation to block the Federal Communications Commission from levying a separate telecommunications tax to fund the Education Rate (ERate) program, a billiondollar program designed to subsidize Internet connections for schools
Digital Government
CIOs float plan for federal IT architecture
A committee of the Chief Information Officers Council has issued a draft plan for a governmentwide information technology architecture designed to help agencies meet a mandate to align computer systems with agency business and mission needs. While the plan does not provide a detailed overview of a
Digital Government
AF awards $486M training pact
The Air Force this month awarded contracts to five vendors under a $486 million program that will provide the Air Force and the Defense Department with training and simulation applications. Under the the Training Systems Acquisition (TSA) contracts program, the Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC) at
Digital Government
GAO: DOE supercomputers underused, underscrutinized
The Energy Department is not getting enough use out of its 42 supercomputers and needs to take a closer look at its plans to buy five more machines during the next two years, the General Accounting Office said in a new report. The study, requested by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. John Kasich
Digital Government