Digital Government
Supervisors hold all the cards during a RIF
Do you think you've got the right to protest decisions made by your supervisor during a reduction in force (RIF)? Think again. A case recently decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit [Case 983090, Thomas K. Winans v. Department of the Navy, April 13, 1998] shows that those rig
Digital Government
Drop anchor at Navy's Y2K site
Anyone wrestling with the Year 2000 problem in the federal government would do well to drop by the Navy Department's Year 2000 World Wide Web site (www.doncio.navy.mil/y2k/year2000.htm). The site offers a cornucopia of general links to Year 2000 information as well as links specifically related to
Digital Government
INS picks 3 for mega IT deal
The Immigration and Naturalization Service last week awarded to three vendors the largest segment of its $1.2 billion program to continue development of the agency's full range of information systems from the computers by which agents verify the identities of border crossers to the systems INS workers use to process information on citizenship candidates.
Digital Government
IAC elects new board members
The Industry Advisory Council, a group of private companies that sell information technology products and services to the federal government and a member council of the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils, this week announced its new executive board members, who will take office July 1.
Digital Government
Air Force's mega IC4I pact finds new home at Alabama
The $929 million program established to provide the intelligence and military command and control communities with information technology products and services recently pulled up stakes and moved to the Air Force's Standard Systems Group (SSG) in Montgomery, Ala., in a lastditch effort to breathe new life into the lagging contract.
Digital Government
Social Security Administration's mega-modernization effort threatened, GAO reports
The General Accounting Office reported last week that continued success of the Social Security Administration's $1 billion modernization effort is threatened by significant technical and performance measurement challenges.
Digital Government
NSA to declassify two security algorithms
The National Security Agency plans to declassify two computer security algorithms one of which is the Skipjack encryption algorithm used in Fortezza PC cards clearing the way for commercial firms to work with the Defense Department on security products such as smart cards.
Digital Government
TimePlex acquisition fills product line gapFCW-MKTT
TimePlex Federal Systems plans to begin offering to federal agencies an Asynchronous Transfer Mode concentrator that the company will sell as a result of its parent company's purchase of Simulation Laboratories Inc., a Defense Department contractor based in Ijamsville, Md. Leaders of TimePlex Inc.
Digital Government
NASA's fire site sizzles; NPR's page aims to be plain
It is wildfire season again, and NASA has launched a new World Wide Web page designed to bring uptodate information about fires to the public and the scientific community. Point your browser to modarch.gsfc.nasa.gov/fire_atlas/fires.html to view satellite and infrared images of the most recent bl
Digital Government
Windows 98: A tweak, not a major overhaul
With the release of Windows 98 due June 25, federal information systems managers face a critical question: Is it worth the money and effort to upgrade?
Digital Government
DOD enlists industry help on telemedicine project
Strategic Monitored Services (SMS) Inc. has teamed with Sprint's Government Systems Division and the Defense Department to kick off a 13month pilot to study the viability of using World Wide Webbased telemedicine technology to treat chronically ill patients. The $4.7 million project, which is sch
Digital Government
NARA circulates governmentwide draft records plan
Federal agencies would have until early next year to devise a plan for maintaining, preserving or disposing of their electronic records or at least have a timetable for doing so according to a draft electronic records policy being circulated governmentwide.
Digital Government
Fedwire
NARA issues draft erecords plan The National Archives and Records Administration plans soon to recommend that agencies begin including electronic records from office automation applications in their recordpreservation plans. According to a summary of the draft report of NARA's Electronic Records
Digital Government
New online auctions buck the old system at BLM
Faced with an increase in the population of wild horses, which cause overgrazing of federal lands, the Bureau of Land Management has turned to the World Wide Web to find homes for the animals. This year, BLM will try to find owners for about 6,000 wild horses and burros that now live on federal lan
Digital Government
USPS open to federal suit
In a ruling that may open up more protests of contract awards from government corporations, the Court of Federal Claims this month declared that the U.S. Postal Service is a federal agency and may be sued in federal court. The court ruled that although USPS is an 'independent establishment,' it is
Digital Government
Preparing for CSOC launch
The two teams bidding to provide space operations services to NASA are proposing 'virtual mission control centers' that will tap Internet and other commercial standards for data acquisition and communications. Boeing North American Inc.'s Space Systems Division and Lockheed Martin Space Mission Sys
Digital Government
Bill revamps procurement training
A House subcommittee last week approved a bill that would make sweeping changes in how agencies manage their procurement work force, requiring the administration to create standards for procurement training and education and to develop new ways to measure the performance of the procurement system i
Digital Government
CIO keeps focus on people
Perhaps no chief information officer in government has a past as varied as the General Services Administration's Shereen Remez. She has worked as a psychologist, an archivist, a marketing executive and a public affairs official. If that weren't enough variation, Remez plays classical guitar and is
Digital Government
SGI/Cray system lowers vector computing cost
Silicon Graphics Inc./Cray Research last week unveiled a new supercomputer based on its popular vector technology that is designed to provide users of its earlier, proprietary Cray computers with a migration path toward future systems built from commodity parts. The Cray Scalable Vector 1 (SV1), in
Digital Government