Digital Government
Vendors gripe about D.C. telecom contract
Despite industry skepticism officials at the General Services Administration last week said they believe they will see 'robust competition' for its forthcoming contract to acquire nextgeneration telecommunications services for federal locations in the metropolitan Washington D.C. area. The agency
Digital Government
A lesson learned, again
In recent weeks Defense Department officials have acknowledged that the Defense Message System as originally conceived was too much of a 'grand design.' It prescribed complex and costly solutions where a simpler architecture that relies more on commercial technology might better meet users' needs.
Digital Government
Hughes, NYC vendor team on Army project
Hughes Training Inc. earlier this month turned to a Wall Streetbased vendor to help develop the distributedobject architecture that will be at the heart of a major Army simulation training program. The Fusion Systems Group Inc. runs Sun Microsystems Inc.'s New York Object Reality Center which spe
Digital Government
Army opts for BPAs to buy software, peripherals, chips
The Army Small Computer Program office last week decided to cancel plans for an indefinitedelivery indefinitequantity contract for PC software peripherals and chip upgrades opting instead for blanket purchase agreements that will be more limited in scope. The Standard System Technology Support1
Digital Government
SRA's vice president, program manager makes work fun
If there is a secret to succeeding as a vendor in the federal marketplace it might be singlemindedness. Jeffrey Westerhoff a vice president and program manager at SRA International Inc. illustrates how an intense focus on a project results in achievement. He spends 13 hours a day on the job runnin
Digital Government
Senate panel passes new bill requiring key-recovery technology
A Senate committee last week quickly passed a bill that would require any encryption product purchased by the federal government or with federal funds for use in securing government networks be based on the controversial keyrecovery technology. Without holding any hearings the Senate Commerce Scie
Digital Government
Paragon aims software at feds
Paragon Imaging Inc. Woburn Mass. this month rolled out to the federal market a new product that company officials say will mean saved time for federal imagery analysts. The new offering is a software package called Electronic Light Table 7000 R.3. The software surpasses its predecessor ELT/6000 in
Digital Government
DEA to roll out booking system
The Drug Enforcement Administration next month plans to launch a longawaited program to automate the process of booking suspected drug runners. The agency says it will release in July a request for proposals for the Automated Booking StationLite (ABSLite) project which will digitize all the info
Digital Government
Small firms provide expertise on NASA deal
Hughes STX is tapping two small disadvantaged businesses for their expertise on its recently awarded $148 million NASA Ames Software Support contract. Aerospace Computing and Recom Technologies Inc. are subcontractors to Hughes on the Ames deal. Both companies have previous business ties with NASA.
Digital Government
Agencies hail browsers for information access
At the Department of Health and Human Services Bill Boyle financial systems analyst for the Program Support Center appreciates a key benefit of World Wide Web browsers: They reduce the need to teach communications processes so he can focus on teaching how to use key applications.The distinction is
Digital Government
GovNews forum grows;NASA site gets face lift
The National Science Foundation has revamped its International GovNews project to make it possible for anyone with World Wide Web access to read and post information to more than 200 government newsgroups. GovNews is a project that through the Internet Usenet broadcast platform creates a twoway me
Digital Government
Agencies grapple with Clinger-Cohen
As agencies began this month to prepare their budget submissions for fiscal 1999 they confronted for the first time the gap in knowledge about information technology and business management among IT professionals and nontechnical executives. Federal agencies are preparing their first IT budgets acc
Digital Government
Lockheed revamps DMS architecture
Lockheed Martin Corp. has revamped its Defense Message System architecture from a "messagingcentric" architecture to a "groupwarecentric" system that will better meet the needs of Defense Department users with "significant cost savings " according to company officials. Paul LeVesque a Lockh
Digital Government
Micro Focus tool offers `windowing' support
Micro Focus last week introduced a Year 2000 software tool that embraces "windowing " an approach that offers timepressed organizations a faster way to fix the datechange problem. Micro Focus' SoftFactory/2000 tool and methodology provides an option to date expansion for preparing computer syst
Digital Government
ROSTER
John Koskinen deputy director of management at the Office of Management and Budget last week announced his retirement date would be July 9. Koskinen said he planned to 'take a sabbatical' with his wife to 'go see places we have always wanted to see.' As previously reported Koskinen has not yet reve
Digital Government
No justice for panicked fed
A case decided in December by the U.S. Court of Appeals makes a compelling argument for thinking carefully before you agree to give up your government job. The case involved a former communications specialist in a print shop that was operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Facilities Ser
Digital Government
NASA to purchase data from private-sector satellites
In a sharp break from its traditional method of using its own satellites to collect data on the universe NASA plans to purchase scientific data from the commercial sector. NASA's Stennis Space Center last month issued a request for offers to purchase weather and climate data gathered by privatesec
Digital Government
NUMA productlaunched
Data General Corp. is targeting the General Services Administration schedule with its recently introduced Aviion AV 20000 an Intel Corp. microprocessorbased system that uses NonUniform Memory Access technology. The AV 20000 Data General's most powerful server is designed for largescale computing
Digital Government
IRS seeks $258M morefor Year 2000 solution
The Internal Revenue Service said last week that it will need an additional $258 million next year to make its systems centurydate compliant because it has uncovered new requirements since it requested $84 million for its Year 2000 upgrade in President Clinton's budget. 'The size of the need as we
Digital Government