Fed portal lures IT execs

A federal information technology company plans to launch a World Wide Web

portal next month that will provide information to government employees.

Plans for planetgov.com may also include e-commerce applications.

Executives with Fairfax, Va.-based ITC (formerly IntelliSys Technology

Corp.) have begun to lure high-tech company officials and Washington, D.C.-area

IT journalists to work on planetgov.com. The site will provide news and

other content for local, state and federal workers. ITC officials declined

to comment.

Two top executives from Federal Sources Inc. (FSI), a federal market

consulting firm in McLean, Va., joined the portal this month. Thomas Sanders,

who was named president of FSI late last year, and Piper Gioia, director

of Internet-related sales at the firm, have left to join the portal.

A third FSI executive — Mary Ann Hirsch, director of consulting services — resigned from the company. Hirsch, who could not be reached for comment,

did not join planetgov.com.

Sanders declined to give specifics about his responsibilities at the

new company.

Executives with New York-based publishing giant Primedia Inc., which bought

FSI in 1998, have asked Thomas Hewitt, the former chief executive officer

and founder of FSI, to work in an advisory role until FSI can fill the positions.

"We are going to find a CEO," said David Ferm, CEO of Primedia Business

to Business. "It's going to be a matter of weeks, not months."

Planetgov.com also has hired Nancy Ferris, technology editor at Government

Executive magazine, according to sources. Ferris could not be reached for

comment.

Government portal Web sites that provide e-commerce solutions and news content

are a promising growth area in the government IT market, said Patty Pickett,

vice president of civil programs with Netigy Corp., a provider of electronic

business solutions for the commercial and government sectors.

Pickett envisions agencies taking the lead in creating and operating

simple yet industrial-strength sets of Web site services, which they would

then provide to lower-level bureaus and offices.

Colleen O'Hara contributed to this article.