Digital Government

Senate: Nix notebooks on floor

Despite growing pressure to embrace technology in all sectors of government members of the Senate Rules Committee agreed last week that laptop computers should not be allowed on the Senate floor. The agreement came in response to a request by Sen. Michael Enzi (RWyo.) that the committee allow him

Digital Government

Deciding the future of telecom

Federal telecommunications users face daunting choices at the turn of the next century. They will no longer be required to use the General Services Administration's longdistance telecom services and they will probably be deluged with calls from vendors and even other agencies touting alternatives

Digital Government

GSA, vendors work to form Seat Management bid teams

Vendors were still scrambling last week to strike teaming arrangements to respond to the General Services Administration's $9 billion Seat Management solicitation a program to outsource the management of agencies' desktop systems. Representatives from more than 100 companies met last week with GSA

Digital Government

MCI wins protest against AT&T

The General Accounting Office last month handed MCI a longdenied victory issuing a protest decision that confirmed the longdistance carrier's assertion that a proposed modification to the General Services Administration's FTS 2000 contract went beyond the scope of the contract. The protest filed

Digital Government

GSA pares required services in amended FTS 2001 RFP

The General Services Administration plans to amend the solicitation for the FTS 2001 longdistance network to classify as 'optional' 10 of the 19 network services previously specified as 'mandatory' for bidders. Bob Woods commissioner of GSA's Federal Technology Service said the 10 optional service

Digital Government

Bills back Y2K fix, restrict IRS funding (Part 1)

Congressional appropriators are offering strong words and solid funding to some federal agencies struggling to address the Year 2000 computer problem. Language specifically addressing the Year 2000 issue appeared in bills pertaining to the Internal Revenue Service the Labor Department and the Depar

Digital Government

Bills back Y2K fix, restrict IRS funding (Part 2)

Conferees on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees' Subcommittees for Treasury Postal and General Government last week agreed on a bill that repealed cooperative purchasing declined to ban games on federal computers and placed tight restrictions on funding associated with the Internal Reve

Digital Government

GSA: Regional offices mismanaged FAST

Highlevel officials at the General Services Administration's Federal Telecommunications Service last month criticized the way some of their regional offices are handling the Federal Acquisition Services for Technology (FAST) program directing most of their criticism at the Kansas City Mo. office.

Digital Government

Feds tackle telecom date problems

Federal executives have begun to address an aspect of the Year 2000 problem that has not attracted much publicity but is just as threatening and even more complicated than some of the problems associated with computers: how to fix telecommunications equipment to make certain it operates correctly o

Digital Government

GSA's digital signature plans hinge on standards

The General Services Administration hopes to award in January a governmentwide contract for digitalsignature services to give citizens secure access to private data but policymakers at the agency must settle issues related to federal standards before the solicitation can be issued this fall. Judi

Digital Government

ATM switch headlines new Lucent net wares

Lucent Technologies Inc. last week announced the forthcoming release of a series of datanetworking products including a core Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switch that was scheduled to be shipped to the Energy Department's Sandia National Laboratories late last week. Dave Schriftgiesser Lucent's

Digital Government

Computer wizards on display

The Computer Museum of Boston in conjunction with Goldman Sachs & Co. and the Association for Computing Machinery are cosponsoring next month a portrait exhibit of computer 'wizards ' including a few subjects who made their mark working for the federal government. Rep. Ed Markey (DMass.) the only

Digital Government

Cabletron modules to integrate fiber optics directly into switches

Cabletron Systems Inc. next month will begin shipping a family of modules for its SmartSwitch 6000 that will allow users to integrate fiber optics directly into their Cabletron switches.The company last month introduced four new 24port 10BaseFL Ethernet SmartSwitches designed specifically for its

Digital Government

GSA, DOD mull joint telecom deals

HERSHEY Pa. Officials from the Defense Department and the General Services Administration said last week they may cooperate on local telecommunications service contracts in at least three cities to obtain greater volume discounts and avoid duplicating each other's efforts. Speaking at GSA's IRMCO

Digital Government

IBM offers leasing through GSA

The General Services Administration late last month awarded a leasing contract to IBM Corp. that will allow federal users to lease the company's equipment through schedule contracts held by IBM or any of its resellers. Chris Stergiou manager of GSA marketing at IBM Global Government Industry said t

Digital Government

BPAs blitz to top of the charts (Part 2)

After a year of explosive growth for the multipleaward schedule (MAS) program the General Services Administration plans in fiscal 1998 to apply tighter oversight of blanket purchase agreements (BPAs) to encourage small groups of agencies to cooperate on schedule purchases and to kick off a new mar

Digital Government

IMC chair focuses on strategic concerns

As the government focuses more intensely on applying business principles to information technology programs, federal executives will need less in the way of technical knowledge and more of the analytical skills required for making smart investment decisions. Frank Lalley, associate deputy assistant

Digital Government

GTSI adds MicroTouch whiteboards to GSA sked

MicroTouch Systems Inc. said last week that Government Technology Services Inc. (GTSI) now carries the company's product line of electronic whiteboards to General Services Administration schedule customers. MicroTouch's suite of four products which resemble typical whiteboards used in conference

Digital Government

Private group would advise IT managers

The Industry Advisory Council (IAC) has begun an initiative to bring together former federal information resource management officials and federal information technology executives from the private sector to create a pool of experts who will be available to offer advice to federal agencies on issue

Digital Government

Final schedule rule draws industry fire

The General Services Administration last week released its final rule on schedule contracts to a lessthanappreciative industry audience retaining the government's ability to conduct postaward audits as well as a requirement that vendors offer the government the same discounts and price reduction