Digital Government

DOD says SPS costs rise $100 million

Defense Department officials last week confirmed that the $326 million Standard Procurement System, a vital yet troubled part of the Pentagon's paperless contracting initiative, will need an additional $100 million to fix software problems and to sustain existing automated procurement systems. Late

Digital Government

Air Force poised to roll out global PKI

The Air Force is preparing to roll out a global publickey infrastructure security initiative that will tap into the bevy of contractor support available on the service's $750 million Information Technology Services Program (ITSP). Announced last month, the Air Forcewide PKI effort will be managed

Digital Government

Intercepts

WHISTLEBLOWERS AND MORTICIANS. In a letter to Defense Secretary William Cohen, Rep. Dan Burton (RInd.) recently accused some department apparatchiks of injecting partisan politics into the investigation of Peter Leitner the senior DOD trade adviser whose computer was ransacked as he testified b

Digital Government

Intercepts

THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES. That's the message coming from dozens of Standard Procurement System users that officials at the Defense Logistics Agency and American Management Systems Inc. don't want you to hear.Shortly after the appearance of our frontpage story on SPS in the Aug. 2 issue of FCW, m

Digital Government

DOD: Change Passwords

Concerned that efforts to fix computer systems for the Year 2000 problem may expose its information infrastructure to cyberattacks, the Defense Department has ordered its network managers to change all administrative and user passwords on their unclassified networks. The order is the result of mand

Digital Government

AF takes pre-award process paperless

Frontline Solutions Inc. last month delivered to the Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC) a software application that, for the first time, will fully automate the process of issuing requests for proposals in a collaborative environment. Developed under a twoyear, $749,000 Small Business I

Digital Government

SRA attracts top Defense talent

Teamwork is an essential ingredient of success, whether you are talking about the military or the information technology business. For many companies, new and old, assembling the right mix of talent and experience can mean the difference between leading the industry and reacting to it. So what do y

Digital Government

SGI debuts Intel servers

Continuing its push outside the Unix market, Silicon Graphics Inc. last week unveiled its first line of server systems based on Intel Corp. processors, supporting Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT 4.0 and Red Hat Inc.'s Linux 6.0 operating systems. SGI's new SGI 1400 server expands the company's entryl

Digital Government

CDW-G poised to pick up Navy IT-21 BPA

The Navy this week plans to award a $20 million blanket purchase agreement covering desktop and notebook systems to Chantilly, Va.based CDWG Inc., Navy officials confirmed. Jim Swizewski, contracting officer with the Navy's Fleet Industrial Supply Center, Norfolk, Va., last week said a deal with

Digital Government

CDW-G wins AF box buy

The Air Force late last month awarded CDWG Inc., Chantilly, Va., an $83 million blanket purchase agreement covering desktop, portable and server systems. The twoyear deal with CDWG, signed July 23, broadens the desktop, server and portable offerings available on the Air Force Standard Systems Gr

Digital Government

Hill gets tough on DOD budget

In what has been described as a turning point in the Defense Department's longterm budget plans, the House of Representatives this month passed the fiscal 2000 Defense appropriations bill, while harshly criticizing DOD's methods of addressing critical shortfalls in modernization and of overseeing

Digital Government

House calls on DOD to halt SPS rollout

Concerned about the viability of a $326 million automated procurement program, Congress has called on the Defense Department to suspend deployment of any additional hardware, software and networking equipment needed to run the system. Buried deep in the House report on the fiscal 2000 Defense Appro

Digital Government

Intercepts

Although nobody has heard a word from the Interceptor since he set out last week on vacation in his canoe, I'm optimistic that the avid Global Positioning System user took a lesson from one of our joint story endeavors here at Federal Computer Week and affixed a handheld GPS system to the inside of

Digital Government

GAO report: Benefits of Army digitization program uncertain

The Army has not produced conclusive evidence that its $20 billion plan to field dozens of advanced information systems to help soldiers exchange information will make its forces more effective on the battlefield, according to a General Accounting Office report released last week. The report, 'Batt

Digital Government

Congress renews call for Y2K center

With more than 6,000 Russian nuclear weapons aimed at the United States and only 154 days left until the Year 2000, lawmakers yesterday urged Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin to renew efforts to form a joint nuclear Year 2000 early warning center.

Digital Government

CDW-G captures Air Force pact

The Air Force last week awarded Computer Discount WarehouseGovernment Inc., Chantilly, Va., an $83 million blanket purchase agreement covering desktop, portable and server systems, completing the first phase of a major acquisition strategy.

Digital Government

Study calls for reserve virtual IT warfare unit

A yearlong study completed last week by a senior panel of Defense Department officials recommended an unprecedented expansion in the role the reserves play in national defense, including the formation of a virtual cyberdefense unit to protect the nation's critical infrastructure. The study, Reserv

Digital Government

Dedication is the best defense

Early one Friday morning in 1997, Air Force Col. Dale Meyerrose turned on his computer at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia and discovered that President Clinton had sent him an email message. Questioning the probability of receiving an email message directly from the commander in chief, Meyerro

Digital Government

DOD prioritizes Y2K problems

The Defense Department has instructed all military commanders to maintain their units' ability to go to war in the event of widespread Year 2000related critical infrastructure failures, relegating local community assistance to the bottom of the department's priority list. Local commanders at milit

Digital Government

New Sun Solaris positioned for NT users

Sun Microsystems Inc. last week unveiled the latest version of its Solaris Easy Access Server, a product that enables organizations to take advantage of the stability and scalability of its Unix operating system while maintaining the familiarity of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT. Easy Access Server 3