Digital Government

Customs spearheads move toward automated trade

The Customs Service working with more than 50 other federal agencies and hundreds of private companies this month installed a prototype of a system designed to speed up trade by merging data needed for the import and export of products into a single system. The system dubbed the North American Trad

Digital Government

Base Technologies wins ADP support services contract

The Labor Department's Unemployment Insurance Service last month awarded a contract worth up to $25 million to Base Technologies Inc. for ADP support services that will help the agency track the flow of unemployment payments at the state and local levels. The McLean Va.based small business will of

Digital Government

GSA does an about-face, reopens KC BOA channel

Bowing to pressure from a group of 8(a) vendors the General Services Administration plans to reopen the highly successful Basic Ordering Agreement program in the agency's Kansas City Mo. region and award as many as a dozen vendors sixmonth contracts worth up to $90 million each. Bob Woods commissi

Digital Government

Exide wins $625 million Air Force contract

Exide Electronics Group Inc. late last month said it won an Air Force contract to provide up to $625 million worth of uninterruptible power systems (UPS) and other equipment to any military or civilian agency. The contract awarded by the Air Force's Air Logistics Center in Sacramento Calif. will ru

Digital Government

AT&T files tariff with FCC

AT&T has filed a tariff with the Federal Communications Commission for a set of international and domestic services geared toward the government that will compete with existing international contracts and potentially siphon some nonmandatory users from the FTS 2000 network.The new Government Worldw

Acquisition

Booz, Allen snares $620M telecom services pact

The General Services Administration last week awarded a contract to Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc. for up to $620 million worth of telecommunications support services that will complement the PostFTS 2000 contract. ~~The Telecommunications Support Contract 2 services available to agencies throughout t

Digital Government

Agencies cite challenges in franchising

Agencies are achieving mixed results in their efforts to offer franchise services to other agencies citing problems such as inexperience with marketing and pricing as potential obstacles to success. ~~The Office of Management and Budget earlier this year selected six agencies to establish pilot pro

People

GSA offers up `home page of home pages'

The General Services Administration last week unveiled the Government Information Exchange (GIX) World Wide Web page an Internet site the agency hopes will serve as the first stop for government employees and private citizens seeking information on federal state local and foreign government program

Digital Government

GSA revises its strategy for Post-FTS 2000

Responding to concerns from Congress and industry the General Services Administration has once again revised its PostFTS 2000 strategy decreasing the length of the contracts and allowing for a second competition in the third or fourth year of the program. A memo circulated to members of the Intera

Digital Government

GAO to offer dispute resolution for protests

HERSHEY Pa. The General Accounting Office plans to tell agencies this month that it will allow them to request alternative dispute resolution services to avoid involvement in lengthy protest procedures. Ronald Berger associate general counsel for procurement law at GAO said at the Information Res

Digital Government

Experience, business savvy drive Vets Benefits' CIO

Despite his rise to the upper reaches of government management Newell Quinton chief information officer at the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is one of the most unassuming federal executives one is likely to meet. But what ultimately comes through after a meeting with Quinton is the breadth

Acquisition

Leasing fare added to IT schedule menu

HERSHEY Pa. The General Services Administration will award next month three or four schedule contracts to vendors who will lease laptops and other information technology products to federal users. Bill Gormley assistant commissioner of acquisition at GSA's Federal Supply Service said last week at

Digital Government

GSA line-charge reduction on horizon

The General Services Administration is poised to reach its fiscal 1996 goal of bringing local telecommunications charges under $20 per line a move that many observers believe will lead to even bigger cuts through competitive pressures on local phone companies. Cuts in Overhead Save the Day The redu

Digital Government

GSA proposal pushes info swap via TV and Internet

The General Services Administration's Office of Information Technology is putting the finishing touches on a proposal to set up quarterly meetings to allow senior federal IT officials and employees throughout the government to share information. The conferences to be held in the auditorium at GSA h

Digital Government

Web conference site facilitates info exchange

The General Services Administration's emerging Information Technology Applications Division has established a new electronic Web conference site to allow users to exchange information on smart card technology. The new site is the latest of about a dozen Web conference sites set up by GSA in recent

Digital Government

GSA plans to open WITS to multiple contractors

The General Services Administration plans to negotiate with about a halfdozen telecommunications vendors to offer fast packet service Internet access Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and other services on the Washington Interagency Telecommunications System (WITS) network in the national capital r

Digital Government

FGIPC formsint'l panel onsecure services

The Federation of Government Information Processing Councils (FGIPC) is creating an advisory council made up of officials from federal state local and foreign governments to focus on promoting secure electronic information exchange between different levels of government and U.S. citizens. FGIPC pre

Acquisition

HQ, regional offices set to kick off FAST

Contracting personnel at General Services Administration headquarters hope to issue a solicitation this month for a $1 billion program to channel agencies' information technology requirements to small disadvantaged 8(a) vendors as well as contractors holding schedule and governmentwide contracts. O

Digital Government

GSA adds IT policy division

In its latest round of reorganizations the General Services Administration last week announced the formation of an IT policy office and the consolidation of two other departments into the growing empire of telecom czar Bob Woods. The new Office of Information Technology which will operate within th

Digital Government

Microsoft taps NSA's expertise in federal SNA market

Network Software Associates Inc. wellknown among federal agencies as a leading provider of Systems Network Architecture connectivity products has struck an informal deal with Microsoft Corp. to lend NSA's federal marketing credibility to the software giant's SNA Server offering. Al Dekin product m