GPO shouldn't be the Cinderella of Congress
Once upon a time, when books were printed on paper, the federal government established the Depository Library Program (DLP). When the government printed a book, it sent copies to selected libraries nationwide. There's a limit to the number of copies that can be distributed, so the DLP made books available in central locations where people could find them. A simple idea that made sense then. It makes sense now.
Out of step
If the past few years have taught us anything, it's that the government should be cautious about trying to develop and enforce standards for itself in a vacuum. Especially when those standards fly in the face of market realities, feds waste years of effort fulfilling oversight mandates. For example, the regulatory powers-that-be insisted on Open Standards Interconnection standards--and their offspring, the Government OSI Profile--before grudgingly accepting TCP/IP for government networks, long after the market at
Defense Department Briefs
The ballyhooed Global Command and Control System has still not quite taken over for its predecessor, the World-Wide Military Command and Control System. But Pentagon officials say the new system could be used for Operation Joint Endeavor as soon as March. "We've got 99 percent [of the system testing] done," a Defense Information Systems Agency official said at a recent Pentagon briefing. One critical test remains: synchronizing the 16 databases that will feed GCCS around
Offend Republicans and Democrats? Me? Don't mind if I do
The Rat took plenty of heat for his list of things to do during a government shutdown [GCN, Jan. 22, Page 58]. His suggestions apparently have struck some of the more ditto-headed among us as slams against the Republicans in Congress. Having always been an equal-opportunity offender, the Rat cringes at the thought of being considered a mouthpiece of the liberal media. He doesn't even have a spit valve.
The World Wide Web sprung from the Cold War - imagine
Imagine all computers talking quickly and easily to each other. Imagine never filing or updating others' documents because they do it for you. Imagine having all agency programs and policies at your desktop. Imagine discovering all that is written about a topic and printing it out in minutes. Science fiction? No--these incredible possibilities are real, thanks to the amazing network of networks called the Internet. The Internet is to computers what the telephone system is
Improvements zoom on digital lightweight camera by Kodak
The zoom lens-equipped Digital Camera 50 is both a great sequel to Kodak's ground-breaking DC 40 camera [GCN, Sept. 4, 1995, Page 1] and a missed opportunity. For less than $1,000--about the same as last year's model--you get a pushbutton 3X zoom that equals what you'd see in a 37- to 111-millimeter zoom lens on a low-end 35mm camera. Even better, a PC Card slot now lets you plug in flash memory cards for 2M
FEC will accept finance reports on line--sort of
Congress has directed the Federal Election Commission to accept campaign finance reports on line beginning Jan. 1, and the commission plans to comply with the letter of the law. After it gets the reports, however, FEC will print them and handle them as if they were submitted on paper. The cost to receive and print the first year's reports: $200,000.
Defense Department Briefs
Emmett Paige Jr., assistant secretary of Defense for command, control, communications and computers, is determined to ensure that all new military systems comply with the evolving Defense Information Infrastructure's Common Operating Environment. An outgrowth of the COE developed by the Defense Information Systems Agency for the Global Command and Control Systems, the DII COE will seek to assure interoperability among disparate administrative and support systems through specifications that are considerably narrower than DISA's Technical Architecture
Rat plays mole with Socks, uncovers some news for Defense
The Rat is still shaking off net-lag. Disguising himself as one of Socks' cat toys last week, he took advantage of Hillary's book tour to get a free ride to the West Coast, where he tunneled with impunity into the nets of Microsoft and Borland. The first packet the Rat turned up had some good news for the Defense Department. Microsoft will release the Defense Message System pieces for its Exchange e-mail server at the
DMS product delays threaten July rollout
Waiting for DMS? You'd better exhale. The Pentagon's long-anticipated Defense Message System is emerging from its vaporware stage, but it will be at least another year before the average user can rip the shrink-wrap off a package of DMS-compliant messaging and security services. At the first DMS Expo last October and in numerous interviews and speeches, senior Defense Department systems officials have set July 1996 as the target for initial operational capability, or IOC, for
Beware of change in buying rules that is too simple to be true
Today marks the end of the 43rd annual Federal Government Suggestathon. This year's topic, the same as it is every year, was: Streamlining the acquisition process. A big difference this year is the use of electronic communications to stimulate participation and, given the subject matter, the participants. The entries were judged by a panel with more blue ribbons than you'd see at a state fair.
Govt. supports industrial policy, defense style
Republican policy-makers generally do not like industrial policy, that buzzphrase of the 1980s, or any industrial policy where the government is the prime player. But look at what's happening in the defense industry and you can see industrial policy with a vengeance. This new policy was created with the heartfelt approval of those in the Pentagon--which soon may have to be renamed the Norman Augustine Building in honor of the longtime leader of Lockheed Martin
Locked printer bins succeed in protecting your documents
These days, few network managers have the time or budget to support standalone printers turning out sensitive documents behind locked doors. A workgroup printer makes more sense, especially one with its own locked doors in the form of secure, password-protected bins. Each of the 10 bins on the Xerox 4517mp's optional mailbox/collator protects up to 50 single- or double-sided pages from unauthorized eyes. The user must punch in a four-digit passcode at the printer console
Agencies scramble to inventory their data centers by March 1
Exactly how many computers, computer operators, systems programmers and administrative staffers does a modern government data center need? Agencies are scrambling to find out. The final answer is due in June, when all agencies must submit data center consolidation strategies to the Office of Management and Budget. But clues for solving the consolidation riddle are starting to emerge as agencies wrap up work on data center inventory reports due March 1.
Hang on to all those museum-quality CD-ROM 2X drives
OK, I promise to stop griping about standards incompatibility, but please bear with me for one more column. CD-ROM has come a long way since I paid $1,100 for an early Amdek player larger and heavier than today's average notebook computer. Your standard desktop machine now probably has enough room to accommodate a multidisk, multispeed CD-ROM changer.
Building the network was the easy part
In late 1993, the Navy pulled a handful of aeronautical engineers from their aircraft projects to build a backbone network for the Naval Air Systems Command. They finished in about 18 months, but that was the easy part. Now some of the same "aeros" must figure out how to pay for the network's long-term upkeep and how to deal with the round-the-clock work style it encourages. And they cannot forget the Defense Department's approaching deadline
Gutsy move, OMB
Federal insiders for years have snickered that there's no "M" in OMB--the Office of Management and Budget. OMB has had a management load-of-hay dropped on its shoulders with passage of the information technology procurement reforms attached to the 1996 Defense authorization bill. Now OMB, instead of the General Services Administration, is to ensure agencies' big information systems projects come out right.
Java's difficulty goes down bitter, but new tools may add cream
What's the deal with all those other coffee-flavored products pouring into the marketplace--HotJava, JavaScript, Roaster, Espresso and Shockwave? And what are government sites doing with them? The answer so far is: very little. You can visit places like Leigh Brookshaw's resource page at http://www-igpp.llnl.gov/people/brookshaw/java/ at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to see how Java can be used for graph plotting.
Furlough or no, watch for stale Web page information
While many employees waited at home for resolution of the budget stalemate and then removal of Washington's snow last month, their agencies' home pages provided the public with valuable information and services. But as funding and technological support start to decline, you and your customers need to beware of Web pages that have become stale.
GSBCA's opponents use flawed ideas to do away with board
As this column is being written, the General Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals is almost sure to lose jurisdiction over information technology bid protests. In 1984, as part of the Competition in Contracting Act, Congress amended the Brooks Act to let the board hear such protests. The goal was having bidders enforce the procurement laws through protests. A fair and competitive system would ensure that taxpayers got their money's worth.
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