Digital Government
Koskinen offers policy tools for Y2K fix
Describing the Year 2000 computer fix as 'a management challenge, not a technical fix,' John Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, last week said he will press for a wide range of policy and legislative initiatives to help agencies meet the Year 2000 deadline. Koski
Digital Government
FEDWIRE
AmEx dumps federal charge card biz American Express Co. last week said it plans to drop out of the competition to supply agencies with the next generation of charge cards. In February, the General Services Administration selected five banks and American Express to compete for the federal government
Digital Government
Intercepts
* Rocket mail. Not every PC vendor in the federal market develops a marketing campaign that gains the instant attention of a fourstar general. Raytheon did so last month with a mailing designed to convey in a dramatic way its acquisition of the former Hughes Data Systems and the Air Force Desktop
Digital Government
Raytheon backs off plan to sell AF IDIQ contracts
Concerned about damaging its relationship with the Air Force, Raytheon Co. has decided, at least for the present, to continue to service the contracts it acquired when it purchased Hughes Electronics, including the Desktop V and Air Force Workstations contracts. The company reportedly abandoned eff
Digital Government
Census relies on IT for faster, low-cost count
Faced with the task of counting hundreds of millions of people and delivering those results in just months, the Census Bureau last month began a dress rehearsal for the 2000 census by testing computers ranging from digital imaging systems to an online system that will disseminate customized census
Digital Government
Mechling schools current, future leaders on IT role in government
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Jerry Mechling, director of Harvard University's Strategic Computing and Telecommunications in the Public Sector program, recently experienced firsthand how information technology can help individuals deal with government agencies. He was driving to a conference in upstate New Yo
Digital Government
MathSoft broadens statistical package
MathSoft Inc. this week will introduce a new release of its statistical analysis software designed to appeal to people outside the company's traditional base of professional number crunchers. SPlus is a datamining software tool that allows statisticians in scientific and similar communities to ca
Digital Government
Roster
S.W. 'Woody'' Hall, chief information officer for the Energy Department, is joining this week the Customs Service as the CIO and assistant commissioner for information and technology. Hall replaces Edward Kwas, who retired in January. ***Two computer scientists, Ian Foster, with Argonne National La
Digital Government
GSA awards Citibank smart card task order
The General Services Administration awarded Citibank a task order to provide GSA employees with integrated purchase and travel cards and to test smart card applications, the company announced today.
Digital Government
MMS dives into better whale tracking
The Minerals Management Service last month awarded a software contract that will help the agency better analyze the migration habits of the endangered bowhead whale, whose seasonal wanderings bring it close to offshore oil rigs. MMS, an Interior Department agency in charge of managing the nation's
Digital Government
Senate panel eyes extra Y2K funding
The chairman of a newly formed Senate committee on Year 2000 last week disputed the Clinton administration's estimates of the cost of fixing the problem and said the committee will consider 'significant appropriations' for agencies struggling to fix computers by 1999, despite longstanding White Ho
Digital Government
INS awards $400M pact to SAIC
The Immigration and Naturalization Service on Friday awarded a $400 million contract to Science Applications International Corp. to oversee the continued development of the agency's far-flung information systems.
Digital Government
Forest Service reforms financial management
American Express Co. last week said it plans to drop out of the competition to supply agencies with the next generation of charge cards, which will test innovative services such as smart cards and electronic commerce applications.
Digital Government
4 get high ranks in pre-bid evaluation for $430M FBI pact
Using pastperformance evaluations, a General Services Administration contract office has identified four out of more than a dozen potential prime contractors that have the best chance of winning a $430 million systems integration deal at the FBI.
Digital Government
EPA unveils new public-access site
The Environmental Protection Agency has launched a World Wide Web site that pulls together regulatory compliance data from five major manufacturing industries into a searchable public database.
Digital Government
AmEx to dump federal travel, purchase card biz
American Express Co. last week said it plans to drop out of the competition to supply agencies with the next generation of charge cards, which will test innovative services such as smart cards and electronic commerce applications.
Digital Government
Administration may rely on National Security Council telecom systems if Year 2000 shutdowns occur
John Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, told industry today that the Defense Department will allow the administration to use DOD's telecommunications systems to coordinate disaster relief if massive system shutdowns occur when the Year 2000 arrives.
Digital Government
SSA's Pianalto named Trail Boss of the Year
Vincent Pianalto, program manager for the Social Security Administration's $1.2 billion Cooperative Processing Initiative, won Trail Boss of the Year honors yesterday at the annual meeting of graduates of the General Services Administration's training program for project managers of complex government programs.
Digital Government