Desktop IV Bonanza
O ne thing about the folks down at the Air Force Standard Systems Group: They drive a tough bargain. Facing Air Force insistence that Windows 95 is an upgrade to Windows 3.1 under terms of the Desktop IV contract, the two contractors had no choice but to capitulate. Government Technology Services Inc. and Zenith Data Systems will deliver the upgrades as needed.
Tales from the crypto: Whispers foretell of a new security app
The scariest thing about electronic security is that it doesn't exist. Sure, many agencies go to great lengths for it. But there just hasn't been any practical way to implement electronic security on a widespread basis within single, network-distributed or Internet applications. It's sad to think we can achieve electronic security only on a standalone machine in a screened room with no windows or doors.
Defense Department Briefs
Amid growing consensus that the Defense Department's Technical Architecture for Information Management (TAFIM) standard is just slightly narrower than the Grand Canyon, purple-hearted techies from each of the services are trying to hammer out a set of specifications guaranteeing cross-service interoperability. The Army Center for Military History in Alexandria, Va., is scanning 17 million pages of records from the Persian Gulf War to research potential causes of the unexplained illnesses reported by thousands of
The latest weapon in encryption war: a T-Shirt
A T-shirt now available for sale through the Internet is the latest and most amusing sign of the bankruptcy of current U.S. government policy on encryption. The T-shirt has a machine-readable encryption algorithm that is subject to export controls under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). In effect, the T-shirt is a munition.
Projects suffer as budget fight enters Month 5
Agencies are facing the next slope of the budget roller coaster head on, delaying and preparing to halt systems projects that are strapped for cash without fiscal 1996 monies. "If things don't change following the expiration of the current continuing resolution, we're going to be far enough into the fiscal year that this is going to have considerable impact," said Gary Gillespie, senior technology adviser to the Interior Department's IRM director.
Notes 4.0 arrives at last as Lotus slips OpenDoc a Mickey
The Rat tunneled his packets on down to the Lotusphere celebration in the home of that round-eared rodent in Orlando, Fla., late last month. The atmosphere was, well, Disneyesque. Lotus and a crowd of friendly faces officially greeted the somewhat tardy release of Lotus Notes 4.0, complete with a futuristic dance ensemble that looked like escapees from an Epcot Center display.
Pentagon to services: Ante up more for your BPR programs
Military IRM managers interested in business process re-engineering (BPR) can call on central Defense Department funding now, but starting in 1997 they'll have to reach into their own pockets. In the five years since DOD's Corporate Information Management initiative was launched, the services and agencies have been able to tap the CIM Central Fund, managed by the assistant secretary of Defense for command, control, communications and computers. The contributions have been modest--the fund averaged around
With $10,000 Creation Station, turn your desk into a TV studio
Turnkey digital video editing has reached an affordable range at last for government offices eager to produce their own personnel training systems and public information kiosks. The Creation Station from Advanced Digital Systems Inc. of Waltham, Mass., and Sigma Designs Inc. of North Kingston, R.I., is priced from $7,549 to $11,649 on ADS' General Services Administration schedule. It comes complete with Motion Picture Experts Group MPEG-1 encoding and decoding cards plus image- and sound-editing software
Army gives EDI a tryout on the killing fields of Bosnia
The Army is ramping up electronic data interchange at joint contracting centers in Bosnia and Hungary to see how well it will work near the front lines. A temporary contracting office in Kaposvar, Hungary, uses EDI to locate and buy materials from U.S. suppliers for quick shipment to troops working with the NATO peace-keeping force in Bosnia. A second EDI office will open in Tuzla, Bosnia, this month.
Congress passes IT overhaul
By the end of July, the Brooks Act will be history. After languishing because of a presidential veto, the 1996 Defense authorization bill that repeals the law was resuscitated and approved by both the House and Senate. At press time, President Clinton was awaiting the bill for signature. White House and congressional aides said he would sign it into law.
By trying to play Gulliver, giant AT&T appears not to swift
You'd think AT&T Corp. would be feeling good. After all, it's streamlining itself, the blizzard of '96 is history, and it's not too soon to look for good things to happen this spring. But the folks at AT&T are in a protest snit. They want the General Accounting Office to stop the nonsense of the Defense Information Systems Agency's plan to award about a dozen contracts for the continental U.S portion of the next-generation Defense
One delivery order spawns a convoluted GSBCA protest ordeal
Sometimes a simple action can lead to a protest replete with complex legal twists and turns. The following saga involves a pair of protests at the General Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals. It all began last fall, when the Defense Information Systems Agency issued a delivery order for a mainframe it wanted to buy through an existing, 3-year-old contract. The circumstances of the contract were complicated by a settlement that resulted from a protest
TSM will be initial posting for White House's new IT squad
With the General Services Administration bowing out of its systems oversight role, the White House is forming a team of mid-level managers to resuscitate troubled information technology projects. Though Office of Management and Budget has yet to name a single member to this Presidential Technology Team, or PTT, it has chosen its first assignment: the IRS' Tax Systems Modernization.
32-bit CardBus takes bandwdth to 33 Mhz if you're compatible
The culprit is the desire for newer and more useful features, regardless of the millions of PC Card devices already out there. CardBus, a new 32-bit PC Card interface being adopted by the industry, has advantages over the 16-bit standard based on the ISA bus--the most important being bandwidth doubling to 33 MHz.
The ship of state needs a steady course and stable crew
Four weeks of furlough and snow can put one's federal career into a new perspective. Just as Congress and the administration agreed to suspend the lockout of non-essential federal employees, Mother Nature struck with her record-breaking blizzard. Presumably, she decided to remind the politicians and federal employees that she had the last word.
EBT cards for food programs get smarter
ST. LOUIS--To keep pace with the food, nutrition counseling and medical requirements of needy mothers and children, the Agriculture Department's Women, Infants and Children program is turning to electronic benefits transfer. Though WIC funding will increase by nearly 6 percent to $3.7 billion this year, the number of clients served each month is expected to grow by nearly 9 percent, to 7.5 million.
Gates is determined not to miss the next wave
Americans always have been fascinated by the great captains of industry, be they robber barons, philanthropists or both. Today there is no larger capitalist colossus than Bill Gates, the 40-ish, $13 billion man. Part of our fascination is sheer admiration for the Harvard dropout who had the courage and vision to sell software in a way that it became a de facto world standard.
A D.C. fortune cookie: Stay unruffled in govt. game of chicken
B y the Chinese calendar, it's the Year of the Rat, but yours truly accepts no responsibility for what's happened so far. Actually, it's looking more like the Year of the Cognitively-Challenged Higher Primate. The blizzards that iced Washington this month blanketed the end of the second federal furlough of the fiscal year. Mother Nature wasn't the only one doing a snow job, the Rat mused.
'It's time to turn the organization charts upside down'
When budgets are tight, it's hard to find the resources needed to innovate. But these days, budgets are getting so tight that many agencies no longer can assume that funds will be there to continue doing business as usual. Of course, agencies facing elimination have even tougher choices. Can they afford to innovate when their existence is in question?
Contract award for Desktop V is off fast track
The Air Force has given up trying to award the billion-dollar Desktop V contract without entering into discussions with bidders. The change of plan will delay the award by at least three months. Vendors said the move also renews doubts about the feasibility of awarding large PC buys using the so-called fast-track approach. After delays in planning the buy, the service set a bid deadline for last July and promised to award in December without
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