People
Va. Sheriff's Office Posts Electronic Neighborhood Watch
Va. Sheriff's Office Posts Electronic Neighborhood Watch
Digital Government
Year 2000 survival is No. 1 priority for federal agencies
Is survival of the millennium the focus of your agency's Year 2000 compliance program? If not, it should be. It's too late to concentrate on overall compliance of your information technology enterprise - the fact is, there will be problems and issues regardless of the strength of your overall approach and how long your plan has been in place.
Digital Government
NOAA overhauls Web site, agencies join to fight fraud
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has overhauled its home page to reflect the rich data and images the agency collects as part of its mission to monitor, assess and predict oceanic and atmospheric conditions.
Digital Government
Outsourcing opens security risks
The federal government's push to outsource its operations, including information technology programs, has created new opportunities for unauthorized access to private and sensitive information stored in government databases.
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
According to the General Services Administration's IT policy World Wide Web page, federal authorities last month were investigating Santa Claus, identified as the CEO of North Pole Enterprises, for multiple violations of citizens' privacy. According to GSA, Claus is suspected of maintaining extensive computerized files on the habits of nearly 400 million persons throughout the world, most of them children.
Digital Government
No OMB extensions for disability retirement claims
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled that the Office of Personnel Management has no administrative discretion to extend the time limit for filing a disability retirement claim
Digital Government
Merged standard could allow governmentwide secure e-mail
In a move that could extend Defense Message System capabilities to civilian agencies at lower costs and allow governmentwide secure e-mail interoperability, the National Security Agency has committed to merging its secure messaging protocol with the de facto commercial standard.
Digital Government
Adding a dose of reality to Y2K
The Federal Election Commission last month awarded a software development and research company a contract to make campaign finance reports available and searchable online.
Digital Government
DOD, VA to develop info sharing initiative
The Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs have agreed to work together to develop a system that will allow DOD and VA health care providers to share patient records and related information electronically.
Digital Government
Windows 98: Beta sports few new features for feds
For all the sound and fury that has accompanied its development, Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 98 operating system is likely to have more impact in the political arena than in the government market.
Digital Government
Advice to ex-feds: Don't forget where you came from
The federal IT universe is heavily, and increasingly, populated by ex-feds -- people who've taken buyouts or been the victim of downsizing or just deserted for the greener pastures often available in the private sector. Because I'm now an ex-fed as well, I am hardly in a position to complain or to moralize, although I hope that the Jim Flyziks and the many hundreds of other good folks in the federal IT work force stick it out with the government as long as possible. We need good people in the federal government's IT talent base in an era where the need for IT talent has not diminished but where public-private salary gaps are wider than ever. I feel a real sense of admiration for those manning the forts in the government.
Digital Government
New sked plan boosts online buys
General Services Administration officials plan to issue this week a solicitation that would merge all the information technology schedules into a single program while placing new requirements on vendors, including a controversial measure to require that all IT products be available on the GSA Advantage electronic commerce (EC) system.
Digital Government
Software delays satellite navigation program
The Federal Aviation Administration announced today it will delay by more than a year the rollout of its major satellitebased navigation system.
Modernization
The FCC: No Friend of Local Government
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 promised a new era of advanced communications services universally available at affordable prices all provided by carriers operating in a competitive environment.
Digital Government
Oregon County Clicks With Objects-Based GIS
Since their inception, geographic information systems have often sat on the periphery of traditional systems development.
People
CertCo Leverages Utah Digital Signature Deal
When Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt signed a proclamation with the state's first official electronic signature last November it symbolized the coming together of years of work to establish a legal and technical framework for electronic commerce in the state.
Digital Government
We look at three GIS packages designed with state and local users in mind
Most of the time you get what you pay for. And if somebody offers you something for free you have to figure that's probably just about what it's worth.
Digital Government
Is Your Intranet a Trojan Horse?
Intranets promise to bring elite applications to users more easily than traditional network systems.
Digital Government
Labor agencies strong-arm congress for y2k funds
The U.S. Labor Department has sent off the only set of checks the federal government will probably distribute expressly to help state agencies pay for their Year 2000 software conversion work.
Digital Government