Digital Government
HUD faces fight to exit `high-risk' list
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has a lot more work to do to clean up information technology deficiencies that leave the agency open to waste and fraud the General Accounting Office reported last month. The sharply worded report issued as part of GAO's renowned 'HighRisk Series ' c
Digital Government
INDUSTRY WATCH
Lucent sells switching gear on HITS L ucent Technologies Inc. said it sold $16 million worth of digital network switching gear for the Defense Information Systems Agency's Hawaii Information Transfer System (HITS) through an agreement with Wheat International hardware supplier to AT&T Government Ma
Digital Government
Round Two
The World Wide Web address for the Government Information Technology Services Board published in the Feb. 17 special report, "Virtual Government: The Puzzle of Intergovernmental Networks," changed after the report went to press. The new address is www.gits.fed.gov.
Digital Government
Agencies battle to meet IT rules
Two federal laws that required agencies to show how the billions of dollars spent on information technology were helping programs run better played at best a minimal role in the formation of fiscal 1998 budgets. The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) and the ClingerCohen Act demand fede
Digital Government
Rejections sometimes are justified
Although federal employees are often on the receiving end of unjust treatment sometimes they get exactly what they deserve. In such a case the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently reviewed a decision by the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) concerning the government's denial o
Digital Government
What are the rules for oral proposals?
A government contracting official raised the following question: It seems that many agencies have begun to require offerors to give oral presentations in addition to their written proposals on new procurements. In some cases oral presentations are about the only things on which the sourceselection
Digital Government
Air Force to expand software reuse project
The Air Force awarded late last month contracts to Hughes Aircraft Co. Raytheon Co. and TRW Inc. under a $500 million program that could dramatically reduce the cost and development time of major command and control software programs. The fouryear Command and Control Product Line (CCPL) program ru
Digital Government
Move beyond talk on Year 2000
It was good news and bad news for agencies at last week's hearing on the Year 2000 held by the House Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee on Government Management Information and Technology. The panel's leadership was pleased with the increased visibility the codefix problem has achieved b
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
Let's get Mikey Some of the nation's leaders aren't too excited about flying into the new millennium. At last week's House Year 2000 hearing Rep. Steve Horn (RCalif.) asked Michael Huerta the Transportation Department's acting chief information officer if he would be on the first flight leaving on
Digital Government
Pinellas County, Fla., Ties Together Resources in Vision 2000
Pinellas County, Fla., Ties Together Resources in Vision 2000
Digital Government
Texas AG probes Microsoft
The controversial decision at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) to move to an allWindows environment may fuel the antitrust investigation of Microsoft Corp. now under way by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas. The Texas AG's office requested documents from JSC as part of its larger antitr
Digital Government
Treasury delays data services swap until after tax season
The Treasury Department has temporarily given up its yearlong effort to transfer its data services from Sprint's to AT&T's portion of the FTS 2000 network and will run the services on its internal Treasury Communications System at least until after the 1997 tax season. Jim Flyzik acting chief info
Digital Government
DISA pulls plug on $350M pact
With momentum building behind a proposal to turn over many basic operations to the private sector the Defense Department last week instructed the Defense Information Systems Agency to cancel a $350 million setaside program for data center support services. As announced by DISA director Lt. Gen. Al
Digital Government
Intercepts
The ASD/C3I hunt again. The search for a new ASD/C3I has almost become long enough for a soap opera. I continue to pick up signals that SecDef William Cohen still likes the bifurcated approach to the job with a deputy assistantship for a CIO (reserved for OMB IT guru Bruce McConnell) and an ASD s
Digital Government
The Judges
This year's Federal 100 judges met at FCW's offices on Saturday Jan. 4. The weather which is almost always remarkable on the day of the judging was remarkably warm and sunny a condition that increased the value of the judges' contribution of their day off. Each panel of judges has its own persona
Digital Government
Training would put needy to work
Mitretek Systems of McLean Va. is crafting a special training program that may allow federal agencies to simultaneously tackle two vexing problems updating their computer systems so they function in the Year 2000 and providing jobs for welfare recipients. Mitretek and Virginia Tech's Northern Vir
Digital Government
Baltimore firm tapped for Treasury's TCS
The Treasury Department has begun to buy keymanagement technology from Information Resources Engineering Inc. (IRE) to allow users to remotely access its nationwide network the Treasury Communications System. The Baltimore firm is providing tokenbased encryption products including secure modems a
Digital Government
No more free rides on the community network
Has your jurisdiction been asked to participate in a community network?
Digital Government
CAN YOU OUTSOURCE IT ALL?
As the cost of providing information technology services escalates and IT budgets shrink local governments are increasingly turning to outside contractors to achieve the efficiency and cost controls they have been unable to produce on their own.
Digital Government