Digital Government
Proposed rules shave days off bid-protest process
The General Accounting Office last week issued proposed rules for expediting the bidprotest process. The Information Technology Management Reform Act, which gives GAO jurisdiction over all bid protests in IT procurements, requires the agency to shave 25 days from its consideration of cases. Beginn
Digital Government
Feds sample hot Java apps
Government scientists are getting the first taste of what some call the next Internet "killer app": Javabased collaborative software environments. Leading the development of these environments is the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, where participating students have selfassuredl
Digital Government
Demand for TCP/IP software heats up
The proliferation of desktop computers and localarea networkbased technology and the Internet explosion are driving a healthy demand for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) software in the federal sector. Government network administrators are looking to expand connectivity be
Digital Government
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
DISN Differences In his April 1 FCW OpEd column, AT&T's Harry Carr argued that the current staggered approach of the Defense Information Systems Network procurements "artificially constrains the competition...and will cost taxpayers and warfighters an unnecessary $1.5 billion." Mr. Carr went on
Digital Government
AWARDS
Ogden Professional Services Corp. A $31.8 million award for strategic communications systems modems, engineering and technical services. Navy, NCCOSC, RDTE Division, Code 214B, 53570 Silvergate Ave., Building A33, San Diego, Calif. 921525113. SRA Technologies Inc. A $2.7 million award to support H
Digital Government
Agencies draft own plansx
Despite the lack of an electronic messaging policy from the Office of Management and Budget that has been delayed indefinitely, most agencies have drafted their own and are moving ahead with implementation of their email systems. Jack Finley, program manager for the General Services Administration
Digital Government
HCFA unveils Medicare RFP
The Health Care Financing Administration late last month released a request for proposals for a $127 million computer system intended to give the agency closer control over the huge Medicare health program for the elderly. The Medicare Transaction System (MTS), which will consolidate nine processin
Digital Government
New group to lobby on federal purchasing
A new information technology vendor group has formed to develop industrywide positions on how the government should implement the new Information Technology Management Reform Act (ITMRA). The Industry Coalition on Information Technology (ICIT), a collection of vendors and trade associations, hopes
Digital Government
Consortium serves up Web guides for do-it-yourselfers
If you're putting up a new World Wide Web site or just refreshing an existing one, you might want to visit the Federal World Wide Web Consortium's Home Page Guidelines at http://skydive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/consortium/guide/hmpggl.htm. The consortium, led by the National Science Foundation's National Cent
Digital Government
NTOPS halted after 2 protests filed
The Navy's dual award to Concept Automation Inc. and Cordant Inc. for 60,000 desktop and laptop computers was suspended last week, following a protest to the General Services Administration's Board of Contract Appeals by International Data Products Corp. Separately, Zenith Data Systems filed an age
Digital Government
Ada point man staves off chaos
Charles Engle Jr., the Pentagon's point man for the Ada software language and resolving the Year 2000 software conundrum, told a joke that gives some insight into the complexity of these two jobs. Speaking at last month's Defense Department Software Technology Conference, Engle related a tale of an
Digital Government
Intercepts
Info warfare aweigh. Look for Vice Adm. Walter Davis, currently director of the Navy Space and Electronic Warfare Command (N6), to take on a new information warfare role within the month. To reflect this new mission and the importance of IW the command will be renamed Space, Command and Contr
Digital Government
Congress increasingly does business via Web
Last month, at the height of the debate over a proposed constitutional amendment to limit House and Senate members' terms in office, supporter Sen. John Ashcroft (RMo.) devoted his home page to the subject. More than 30,000 visitors to his Web site were encouraged to register their opinions on the
Digital Government
Hughes, ZDS grab $1B Desktop V prize
Hughes Data Systems and Zenith Data Systems last week won the richest federal PC prize of the year: the Air Force's Desktop V program, valued at roughly $1 billion. The Air Force awarded Hughes a contract valued at $924.4 million and ZDS a contract valued at $1 billion. Each of these contracts cove
Digital Government
NIH preps $100M IT smorgasbord
The National Institutes of Health last week launched a $100 million information technology services and systems program that will be open to all federal agencies. In doing so, NIH is the latest organization to pitch its contracting office into competition with other agencies, a trend that observers
Digital Government
Subcommittee to monitor agency plans
The House Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology will monitor how federal agencies manage the process to make their computers year 2000compliant. The subcommittee, which held a hearing this month on how the two digits "00" in 2000 will cause government computers to fai
Digital Government
Late deal dodges FGIPC/IAC split
An 11thhour agreement between leaders of two prominent governmentrelated information technology professional organizations resolved a damaging dispute that threatened the future of the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils (FGIPC) and the Industry Advisory Council (IAC), its ch
Digital Government
DOD Taps Current Pacts
The thirst for commercial offtheshelf hardware and software meant the Army and vendors had to scramble to fill rush orders, with the Army Information Systems Command's Army Small Computer Program office at Fort Monmouth, N.J., serving as the focal point for Bosnian orders. The office manages seve
Digital Government
GPO drafts plan to boost electronic publishing
Under a draft strategic plan to expand its electronic publishing activities, two years from now the Government Printing Office would be distributing in digital form 10 times as many documents as it does today. The digital copies obtained as diskettes, CDROM discs or from online services wou
Digital Government