Digital Government
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Worthy Idea, Worthy Cause I recently read Allan Holmes' article, "Clinton to expand computer donations" [FCW, Feb. 19]. My impression is that it is a worthy idea supporting a worthy cause. Here's a reality check for you, though. I am field manager for the Social Security Administration in upstate
Digital Government
Hardware/software testing facility opens
The Army has consolidated eight laboratories dedicated to testing commercial hardware and software products into a new 42,000squarefoot building at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. The $4.2 million building officially opened last week. The new testing facility, the largest of its kind in the Defense Departme
Digital Government
Catching up on some unfinished business
I have received a fair amount of correspondence recently, and I would like to respond to those letters that appear to be of broad general interest. One writer drew my attention to changes in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (which appeared in the March 1995 Federal Register that requir
Digital Government
INTERCEPTS
Exit Paige. Emmett Paige Jr., the ASD/C3I, has no plans on reupping for a second four years if Clinton wins the election in November. Paige, who spent most of his federal career wearing Army green, said, "I had more influence as general than as ASD/C3I.... I also had more fun as a general." Serg
Digital Government
ROSTER
The Internal Revenue Service has appointed Arthur A. Gross as its new chief information officer, replacing Hank Philcox, who retired last year. Gross was selected as a result of a nationwide search. As the deputy tax commissioner for revenue and information technology with the New York State Depart
Digital Government
White House pushes PBO plan
Vice President Gore last week announced details of a plan that would turn some agencies into performancebased organizations (PBOs) operating more like commercial businesses and providing more flexibility in procurement and more control over finances and personnel. The Agriculture Department's Anim
Digital Government
INDUSTRY WATCH
Corel Unleashes WordPerfect Suite Corel Corp. earlier this month announced the revised versions of WordPerfect and the other personal productivity applications in the PerfectOffice suite that it promised when it bought the applications from Novell Inc. in January. The application suite is now calle
Digital Government
Microsoft unit to receive support contract through PTO
The Patent and Trademark Office plans to award Microsoft Corp.'s consulting unit a solesource contract next month to support the company's current and future product suite. The contract will be open to other agencies as well as PTO. PTO's Microsoft Consulting Services procurement, a fiveyear task
Digital Government
Stalking the elusive Java
Java may be the future, but it's not yet the present at least, not on government Internet sites. Gateway Guide went on a hunt for Java applets on governmentsponsored World Wide Web home pages and came up with little more than the sites highlighted in the last issue of FCW [March 4, page 1]. Int
Digital Government
DISA to tap updated I-CASE pact
Once hampered by outmoded technology, the Integrated ComputerAided Software Engineering contract, held by Logicon Inc., is being revamped with new offerings and may be tapped as the key buying vehicle for commercial software products to be used in command and control systems. The Defense Informati
Digital Government
AWARDS
Systems Group Inc. A $10.7 million award for software development and acquisition process integration. Air Force, Asc/Pkwr Area C, Building 1, Room 111, 1940 Allbrook Drive, Suite 3, WrightPatterson Air Force Base, Ohio 454335309. Software Productivity Solutions Inc. A $600,000 award for domaino
Digital Government
Changes to federal benefits: So close and yet so far
Although President Clinton vetoed the budget reconciliation bill, the House and Senate have reached a meeting of the minds on federal employee benefit issues. In fact, it is likely that those portions of the separate House and Senate reconciliation bills will resurface, either by themselves or as p
Digital Government
Java interest percolates
Java, a software language that is all the rage among Internet users, is still too new to make a big splash in the federal market. But many agencies are exploring how they might benefit from this new concept in network computing. Developed by Sun Microsystems Inc., Java supports a new form of softwa
Digital Government
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
NWS/USGS Teamwork While the Feb. 5 article "Flood data rides Internet wave" primarily examined how the U.S. Geological Survey used the Internet to distribute data about rising rivers, the article also discussed National Weather Service operations during recent East Coast flooding. What follows ma
Digital Government
Future remains unclear for excised provisions
The Clinton administration is willing to try again to enact governmentwide procurement reform provisions that were jettisoned in acquisition bills, but so far an exhausted Congress is showing little enthusiasm. Both House and Senate aides said last week they prefer to focus their efforts on making
Digital Government
GILS breathes new life into Web
The Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) has put a real live, breathing Government Information Locator Service on the Internet, and the center's GILS server is apparently being considered as a de facto standard for other agencies who want to bring their own GILS online. Point your browser t
Digital Government
Acquisition reform tops list of priorities
Rep. Tom Davis (RVa.), like the legendary former Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, has learned well the lesson that all politics are local. This truism has caused Davis to embrace causes that most of his colleagues, whatever their party, view as strictly insidetheBeltway concerns.~~Davis' distr
Digital Government
AWARDS
Micro Star Inc. A $2.9 million award for routers and support equipment. Army Cecom Acquisition Center, Fort Monmouth, N.J. 077035008. Diginet Research Inc. A $492,752 award for distributed environment for interactive documents data review. NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 217, Greenbelt, Md
Digital Government
How can appropriations be used?
The following question was asked by a government program manager: I recently started a new assignment that requires me to meet with many corporate and international government representatives, both domestically and overseas. Most of the people I meet expect us to exchange business cards as a normal
Digital Government