Digital Government
INDUS buys fellow 8(a), doubles size
In a move to expand its base of federal customers, information technology and systems integrator INDUS Corp. has acquired the federal division of Vigyan Inc., an 8(a) specializing in aerospace engineering, for an undisclosed sum. With the purchase, announced last week, INDUS, a Vienna, Va.based 8(
Digital Government
Senate panel trims TSM funds
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted last week to restore $163 million to the Internal Revenue Service to run its existing information systems but, like the House, put the brakes on the troubled Tax Systems Modernization program. The panel's $402.5 million proposed budget for TSM, slated for a
Digital Government
AF, IC4I vendors huddle to smooth out problems
The Air Force this month launched an intensive effort to straighten the kinks out of its $929 million program for products and services in the intelligence and command and control communities. More than six months after making the first awards on the Integration for Command, Control, Communications
Digital Government
Proposed specifications would improve mail security
In an effort to make postage meters more secure, the U.S. Postal Service has proposed two new specifications that, among other things, would provide the opportunity for postage to be printed from PCs. The specifications, published in the Federal Register for comment, propose a new indicium, or post
Digital Government
FBI tech tracks evidence
Although the FBI last week declined to comment on its role in the ongoing investigation of TWA Flight 800, Danny Greathouse, former chief of the FBI Disaster Squad until his retirement this year, said the bureau is probably using the same technology it employed in its investigation of the 1995 bomb
Digital Government
Hill eyes reform of federal printing
Sen. John Warner (RVa.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, expects to issue a report at the end of the year that will result in legislation to reform government printing and improve public access to public government documents. At a committee hearing last week on public
Digital Government
Wang boosts fed strategy with I-NET buy
Wang Laboratories Inc. bought networking company INET Inc. last week for $167 million, positioning both companies to expand their presence in the federal marketplace. The acquisition was first reported in Federal Computer Week July 22. According to the terms of the deal, which must still be approv
Digital Government
How to handle multimedia?
Thanks to booming interest in the Internet and aggressive marketing by PC vendors, 'multimedia' has become a hot button in the federal market. It is seen as a significant factor in the future of training, simulation and document management. How to handle the data products of multimedia is a problem
Digital Government
Navy, NOAA use high tech in search
The Navy and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration wasted little time in responding to the crash of TWA Flight 800 this month, dispatching personnel, vessels and hightechnology equipment to the crash scene off the eastern shore of Long Island, N.Y. Capt. Raymond Scott McCord, t
Digital Government
AWARDS
Interstate Electronics Corp. A $6.9 million award for the design, development and delivery of a Translated Global Positioning Range System. Air Force, Aeronautical Systems Center, ASC/VXGK, 102 West D Ave., Suite 300, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. 325426808. Praxis Inc. A $1.2 million award for resea
Digital Government
OS/2 Merlin, NT 4.0 resource dilemma
Sometimes when you publish an opinion, it can come back to haunt you years later. In 1993 I was one of a few vocal critics that derided Microsoft Corp. for creating an operating system (OS) Windows NT 3.1 that required a minimum of 12M of memory, recommended 16M to 24M of memory and required at
Digital Government
GSA releases RFP for ISVS follow-on
The General Services Administration's Federal Telecommunications Service last week released a request for proposals for a $60 million governmentwide contract for outgoing international voice telecommunications service. The International Direct Distance Dialing (ID3) contract will provide service t
Digital Government
GSA's interim rule positions are 'unwise and flawed'
On Feb. 16, the General Services Administration issued an interim rule amending the General Services Acquisition Regulation. Ostensibly, the rule implemented the portions of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA) of 1994 that dealt with truth in negotiations and the acquisition of commerci
Digital Government
SEWP to reopen for non-NASA buyers
NASA's Scientific and Engineering Workstation Procurement (SEWP) contract, one of the most popular agencywide vehicles for Unix workstations, peripherals and networking gear, will reopen to nonNASA customers as early as this week. The General Services Administration closed SEWP to nonNASA agencie
Digital Government
An employee isn't always an employee
What does it take to fit the definition of "employee" in the U.S. Postal Service? Not tenure. Rather, the ability to fit within the narrow confines of the U.S. Code, as one postal worker recently discovered. This Catch22 saga began in 1993, when Joseph DeQuarto who went to work for USPS in 198
Digital Government
NFC chooses CD-ROMs over paper for financial reports
The Agriculture Department's National Finance Center (NFC) has developed a system that allows it to distribute financial reports and data to its clients on CDROM rather than paper, saving the agency $7 million over five years. The NFC provides financial and administrative services to more than 40
Digital Government
How can companies protect data?
The following question was asked by a company official: We often provide sensitive business information to government agencies as part of the proposals submitted under various solicitations. Standard solicitation provisions state that the information will be treated as confidential, and in this con
Digital Government
Cabletron offers feds trade-in special
Taking advantage of the new flexibility of the General Services Administration's multipleaward schedule (MAS) program, Cabletron Systems Inc. has begun allowing schedule customers to trade in old Cabletron gear for credit against purchases of new equipment. Marsha Holland, director of business dev
Digital Government
OFPP pushes agencies for pilot-project ideas
Agencies that want to test acquisition ideas have the opportunity nominate their procurements for one of more than two dozen pilot projects being planned by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. Under the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA) and the Information Technology Management Refo
Digital Government