Digital Government

DOD flags MCI/BT merger

The Pentagon last month expressed concern about serious threats to national security if the proposed $20 billion merger between MCI Communications Corp. and British Telecommunications is allowed to proceed. Defense Department officials did not say they are looking to block the merger. But in a care

Digital Government

DISA's Edmonds plans to step down

Air Force Lt. Gen. Al Edmonds director of the Defense Information Systems Agency last month announced plans to retire though he did not set a date. Edmonds who became the second director of DISA on July 29 1994 said in an interview that he will leave the agency satisfied that he has met the major c

Digital Government

Intercepts

Latham rides again? My wideranging Beltway mobile unit keeps picking up signals that Don Latham has a good chance of returning as ASD/C3I with OMB's Bruce McConnell (an ardent ASD/C3I wannabe) slotted as Pentagon CIO and a DASD. To those out there in C3land who find this preposterous please reme

Digital Government

Shuttle site a space odyssey

NASA launched the space shuttle Atlantis along with a new shuttle World Wide Web site on Jan. 12 the birthdate of the mythical HAL computer in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001. While the Web site (shuttle.nasa.gov) does not sing "Daisy Daisy Give me your answer do... " it does have other bells and whistle

Digital Government

DOD opens PC contracts

Reflecting the new competitive environment of federal information technology procurement the Defense Department last month reversed its personal computer procurement policy and opened ordering on all of its PC contracts to any military service. DOD officials predicted that the Army's PC2 and Porta

Digital Government

Intercepts

The hawk and dove. That about sums up the leading candidates to replace Emmett Paige as ASD/C3I. Owen Wormser a retired Air Force fighter pilot and head of a small Alexandria Va.based company called Command and Consulting Inc. has mounted an allout campaign for the job. Wormser who said "I have

Digital Government

SSG, vendors eye ordering off Net

The Air Force Standard Systems Group (SSG) and its contractors anticipate speeding up orders and possibly payment by using Internetbased electronic commerce for the Desktop V PC contract this year. How much electronic ordering and credit card payment will be used for Desktop V a $1 billion contrac

Digital Government

Pacom's Shea tackles tri-service comm challenges

HONOLULU It is no surprise that the Pacific Command (Pacom) the military organization that manages land sea and air forces with responsibility for 100 million square miles of the Earth's surface would require extremely reliable and effective communications. That explains why Col. Robert Shea dire

Digital Government

Hackers' attack on AF blunted

Hackers successfully spoofed and replaced an Air Force World Wide Web page last week but Air Force and Pentagon officials emphasized that the attackers did not penetrate the main Web servers that support a number of other Defense Department Web sites. According to Capt. Terry Bowman the Air Force's

Digital Government

Portable-2 protested

International Data Products Corp. and Commax Corp. late last month protested the Army's Portable2 contract a development that could delay shipments under that program for months. IDP delivered a protest against the $236 million Portable2 contract the day before Christmas with Commax Corp. filing

Digital Government

IT not tied to budgets

The Defense Department still fails to include in its plans for new information technology projects an accompanying budget to pay for the new systems DOD comptroller John Hamre said last month. In a speech to the Washington chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Hamre

People

Army trims field to four

The Army cut at least four bidders from the competition for its Portable2 contract including industry leader Compaq Computer Corp. industry sources said last week. The downselect leaves a field of four companies vying for the $150 millionplus prize: Comax Technologies Inc. Government Technology

People

Air Force taps uncommon officer

As a rule second lieutenants don't end up in charge of much of anything especially projects visible to anyone higher than a major. But the Air Force Standard Systems Group (SSG) tapped 2nd Lt. Chad Lynch to run its most visible event of the year: the annual Air Force Information Technology (AFIT)

People

California dreamin'.

My Orange County antenna site has picked up mediumstrength signals that Deborah Castleman would like to replace Emmett Paige Jr. as ASD/C3I. Castleman served as a DASD/C3I to Paige before resigning to help design and develop an electric car. Now I hear she's charged up by the results of the last e

Digital Government

USS Belleau Wood assaults DOD Web site boilerplate

Charts graphs ponderous policy documents and photos of gear predominate on many a federal World Wide Web site especially in the Defense Department. Rarely does one find carefully crafted prose. But check out the home page of the USS Belleau Wood (www.c7f.yokipc.navy.mil/bwood.html) which offers up

Acquisition

It's official: GTE wins wireless pact

Capping off a 27month effort the General Services Administration this month awarded a $300 million nationwide contract for cellular telecommunications services a move designed to cut most federal users' cellular bills by up to 60 percent. The award is the first in a series of PostFTS 2000 contrac

Modernization

Navy launches RFI for HYDRA follow-on

'The Navy has issued a request for information for an onboard commercial wireless communications system that industry values between $20 million and $100 million. The Navy's Integrated Wirefree Communications System procurement is a followon to a smaller program the Hierarchical Yet Dynamically R

People

Intercepts

* Basic enjoyment. Emmett Paige Jr. the ASD/C3I finally made his departure official in a talk he gave here at the annual AFCEA AsiaPacific Conference saying he planned to formally submit his resignation by Nov. 15. Paige who will continue to serve as long as necessary said he did not 'enjoy the jo

People

Navy favors outsourcing IT smorgasbord

The Navy plans to conduct a pilot information technology outsourcing program in the Pacific Fleet that could lead to a whole new way the service acquires computer and communications products and services used on shore and at sea.

People

DT V 8(a) protested; ZDS clears up backlog

The Air Force's recent selection of International Data Products Corp. as the apparent winner of the Desktop V smallbusiness contract has been met with a protest from Dynamic Decisions Inc. Rosslyn Va. Bob Hesser director of federal sales at DDI declined to provide any details of his company's prot