Agency outsources imaging and mapping duties via $600 million omnibus project
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency plans to do away with much of its in-house mapping and imagery work, handing it over to vendors through new task order contracts. NIMA recently awarded contracts to 15 vendors under its $600 million Omnibus Geospatial Information and Imagery Intelligence Solicitation program. The vendors will get access to national reconnaissance information to create the maps for customers throughout government.
Microsoft posts year 2000 info, tips about real-time clocks
After several months of revising, Microsoft Corp. has reposted a white paper about year 2000 readiness that it pulled off its Web site late last year. The new document, at http://www.microsoft.com, is the company's official readiness disclosure about a topic that is giving PC managers heartburn. Microsoft's paper grew out of several months of discussions with Compaq Computer Corp., Dell Computer Corp., Gateway Inc., Greenwich Mean Time-UTA L.C. of Arlington, Va., Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Intel Corp.,
As new IT chief at NPR, Hirning will push public access
The new computer chieftain of Vice President Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government said she wants to continue the work of her predecessor by using information technology to streamline government. Katie Hirning succeeds Greg Woods, who left the post in December to take a new chief operating officer post in the Education Department's Office of Student Financial Assistance. He had been NPR's deputy director for IT, customer service and regulatory reform since 1993.
Message manager routes, responds to site visitors' e-mails... EnterpriseComputing
The GTE Web Solutions Group has built an e-mail response system that manages e-mail sent by Web site visitors. The Java application and related consulting services are available on General Services Administration schedule contracts, said James Kane, an information systems division vice president with GTE Government Systems of Chantilly, Va. The $59,950 inResponse system acknowledges messages, routes e-mail for response and creates reports. It runs on top of an Oracle7 Release 7.3 database server and any Web
NIST eases restrictions on use of RSA-encrypted signatures
The National Institute of Standards and Technology last week approved a modification of the federal Digital Signature Standard that will let agencies use encryption algorithms from RSA Data Security Inc. of Redwood City, Calif. Federal Information Processing Standard 186-1 will now support ANSI X9.31, which allows for the use of RSA-encrypted digital signatures.
Network Storage Buyers Guide
Tuck these tips away DVD technology will drive down prices for standard CD-ROM optical systems. Tape autochangers are good entry-level systems for budget-conscious information systems managers. Automated storage systems can save an organization up to 50 percent annually in personnel costs. Next-generation tape cartridges will store more than 100G per cartridge. The main tradeoff between tape and optical systems is capacity vs. media durability.
Here's a telling tale of voice recognition gender-bending
When I first reviewed Voice Xpress Plus software from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products USA Inc. of Burlington, Mass. [GCN, June 22, 1998, Page 27], it performed poorly even after hours of training in my voice patterns. It changed the sentence, "There were no oranges, apples, grapes or pears in the snack bar" into poorly punctuated gibberish: "There was no Oranges, Apple's, rapist were pairs in back bar."
As PC prices fall, feds are shopping for name brands
When SMAC Data Systems added Compaq Computer Corp. products to a Navy blanket purchasing agreement late last year, the move represented more than just a contract modification. It signaled a general shift in government contracts away from clone PCs and toward top-end, brand-name products. "We have to adapt," said Roland Hua, vice president of corporate development at SMAC, a Gaithersburg, Md., 8(a) manufacturer that made a name by selling its own no-name systems to agencies. "There are
Intel takes inside track to faster chips
Intel commands nearly 80 percent of the worldwide CPU market, according to MicroDesign Resources Inc. of Sebastopol, Calif. Intel's 21-year-old x86 architecture is the standard for almost all PCs and workgroup servers. Last this month, Intel will introduce new chips to extend the life of that architecture. The Pentium III, formerly code-named Katmai, will be the newest member of Intel's P6 family, which includes the Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Celeron and Xeon. The Pentium III has
Following delays, GSA releases RFP for governmentwide digital certificate service
After making significant revisions, the General Services Administration last month issued a final request for proposals for a digital certificate service to be used by agencies governmentwide. Through the Access Certificates for Electronic Services program, GSA wants a vendor to provide a certificate service that will make it possible for citizens to do business electronically with agencies. The winning vendor must establish a public-key infrastructure using commercial products.
Fore Systems switches will support MPLS
Fore Systems Inc. of Pittsburgh will support the Multiprotocol Label Switching standard in its ForeRunner ASX-4000 switches late this year. MPLS, an Internet Engineering Task Force specification for Layer 3 switching, uses tags with forwarding information to speed packets on their way. It saves switches and routers from having to look up destination addresses in Internet routing tables, and it can assign various quality-of-service levels to traffic across IP and asynchronous transfer mode WANs.
Find answers to nagging compatibility questions
"Even all Microsoft Corp. products don't interoperate." How can we make all this stuff work—together? It's a common refrain that echoes through systems shops. Now a group of agencies and vendors is working to create an online clearinghouse to help government agencies answer that question for specific products.
Study warns of acute risk to federal infrastructure
The Clinton administration's efforts to protect the nation's critical systems infrastructure is unlikely to keep the country from averting an "electronic Waterloo," a Washington think tank recently warned. In its new report, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said there are "info-guerrillas intent on doing major damage to the citadel of capitalism, and cybergeniuses in their late teens and early 20s are the new frontline fighters, arguably more important to the nation's defense than the
GCN | OPINION
As rabidly partisan as Congress has become, conservative and liberal members' agendas do occasionally intersect. Today's example—an overlapping information policy agenda—comes from the good old Freedom of Information Act. FOIA began life as a nonpartisan effort, driven mainly by persistent congressional fights with the executive branch over access to records. Over time, however, the political ground has shifted. Over the last 10 or 15 years, conservatives have tended to grumble about FOIA while liberals defended it.
Online biomedical database tracks equipment for date code readiness
The Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services departments have established an online database that identifies the year 2000 status of biomedical equipment. VA and HHS have restricted data in the online clearinghouse, at http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/yr2000/year2000.html, to publicly releasable information from manufacturers. "The clearinghouse will provide timely and easily obtainable information about medical devices that health care practitioners, medical treatment facilities and consumers may use or manage," said Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer, VA undersecretary for health.
FAA begins upgrade project on its controller-pilot comm system
The Federal Aviation Administration has taken the first step in rolling out a next-generation communications system for air traffic controllers and pilots. FAA last month awarded a two-year, $6.1 million contract to Computer Sciences Corp. to build the first component, known as Build 1, of the Controller Pilot Data Link Communications System.
LAB NOTES
As time goes by. Scene: Redmond, Wash., 1997. First Microsoft Outlook programmer: "So when's Columbus Day observed?" Second Outlook programmer: "Oct. 12, I think." First programmer: "Thanks." That was probably what happened during development of Microsoft Outlook 98, which has the oddball notion that Columbus Day is observed on Oct. 12, instead of the proper one: second Monday in October. Outlook lists the observed dates for holidays without listing the true dates, which is an oversight.
Chewing on recent GAO rulings leaves bitter taste
Two recent decisions leave me scratching my head. One of them concerns Dual Inc. (B-280719, Nov. 12, 1998), in which GAO sustained a protest. In the case, the Air Force was procuring a training system. Camber Corp. submitted its timely proposal at an unspecified date, probably in March or April 1998. It proposed using its Flight Simulation Division to perform the contract. At the time, it was negotiating the sale of that division.
GPO's value is more than saving money | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Government Printing Office takes a different view from that expressed by my friend Robert Gellman in his column, "Government printing has centralized problem" [GCN, Jan. 11, Page 17]. With a price exceeding $1 billion a year, only half of which goes through GPO, the government needs a system that maximizes printing value for its tax dollar, not one that results in wasteful duplication of staffing, resources and effort throughout myriad departments, agencies, bureaus and offices.
Clinton budget proposes $10 billion for Defense IT operations
The president's fiscal 2000 budget has a $267.2 billion slice for the Defense Department, including approximately $10 billion for information technology. The budget is only a slight increase over this year's. The budget proposal earmarked $2.8 billion for the Army's Force XXI battlefield digitization program—a $200 million increase over this year's budget. Force XXI is designed to network tanks, trucks, humvees, helicopters and soldiers in the field through the service's
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