Digital Government

Entrust debuts PKI products for Microsoft platforms

Entrust Technologies Inc. this month announced a new set of security solutions for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0 operating systems for users who cannot afford to wait for the release of the more securityminded Windows 2000. The announcement of two new publickey infrastructure (PKI)

Digital Government

Air Force responds to vendors' complaints

After strong industry complaints about its controversial acquisition strategy for purchasing computer products, the Air Force this month announced it will loosen the criteria it uses to choose bidders when it develops the next contract under the acquisition. The Standard Systems Group released a sp

Digital Government

CIO program expanded

The General Services Administration, the CIO Council and other federal and industry groups have begun to expand a program serving the interests and needs of smallerlevel agency information technology leaders. GSA last year started the IT Leadership Roundtable as a forum for CIOs and other IT execu

Digital Government

GAO: NASA systems full of holes

Outofdate information security policies have left significant vulnerabilities in NASA's missioncritical systems that could allow unauthorized users to steal, modify or delete important operational data, according to a General Accounting Office report released last week. GAO, working over the pas

Digital Government

GAO unearths computer security weaknesses at NASA

Many of NASA's missioncritical information systems are vulnerable to attack, and almost all the systems do not meet the agency's own requirements for risk assessment, according to a General Accounting Office report released today.

Digital Government

GSA eyes share in savings for popular IT contracts

The General Services Administration is talking with NASA, the National Institutes of Health and the Transportation Department about incorporating incentivebased contracting options into several of the government's largest programs for information technology products and services. GSA is working wi

Digital Government

Bridging IT and citizens

Richard Burk, director of community connections at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a man who is willing to sacrifice himself to help people in need. He started out doing that in the Peace Corps and in local government, but, in his view, there is no better place to help people th

Digital Government

Agencies lay groundwork for intrusion-detection network

A group of federal agencies has completed the initial model of a governmentwide intrusiondetection network that will provide a common center for response to cyberattacks on agencies.

Digital Government

Vendors step up PKI push

Now that publickey infrastructure technology is being accepted, information security vendors are touting their PKI solutions as a way for agencies to support new applications, rather than simply a way to increase security.

Digital Government

Agencies to plunge into incentive-based contracting

The Army and the General Services Administration are among the leading agencies that plan to take advantage of a new incentivebased approach to buying technology products and services.

Digital Government

Security concerns drive feds to training program

With 2000 just more than six months away, many federal and industry organizations have begun to turn their Year 2000 efforts away from ensuring that systems are compliant and toward protecting systems from cyberattacks and abuse by employees. But the technology in the information security arena is

Digital Government

Act would set digital guidelines

Government agencies and information security vendors are cautiously optimistic about a bill introduced in the House last month that aims to encourage the development of a nationwide electronic commerce infrastructure. The Digital Signature Act, sponsored by Rep. Bart Gordon (DTenn.), would require

Digital Government

FTS streamlines Web site design

As part of an effort to improve its marketing, the General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service last month gave its World Wide Web site a face lift, making it easier for users to locate the information they need about contracts and services. The site, at fts.gsa.gov, is often the fi

Digital Government

OMB '100 percent' behind Air Force buying strategy

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. The federal government's top procurement official last week expressed support for the way the Air Force conducted the awards of three contracts worth more than $400 million but said her office is looking into questions raised by industry groups protesting the agency's acquisitio

Digital Government

GSA accepts bids on governmentwide PKI program

The General Services Administration is one step closer to awarding the first contract aimed at providing publickey infrastructure technology governmentwide after receiving proposals on its Access Certificates for Electronic Services program. As the first contract designed to provide the technology

Digital Government

GSA selects 12 for Millennia services pacts

The General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service last week awarded to 12 vendors its $25 billion Millennia contract for information technology services. The Millennia contract, awarded by FTS' Federal Computer Acquisition Center (Fedcac) Solutions Development Center, covers software

Digital Government

GSA blazes new trail

The General Services Administration and the CIO Council last week sketched out a plan to replace the Trail Boss training program with a program specifically designed to equip executives with the financial, technical and political skills required to manage projects in the new environment created by

Digital Government

GSA begins STAR program for IT professionals

Leading federal education and training groups today outlined their plans for a new program to help federal information technology professionals and managers deal with the changing way the government conducts business.

Digital Government

SEC unveils Internet tool for fund investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission this month unveiled a free Internetbased tool that allows investors to compare how much it costs to hold funds. The Mutual Fund Cost Calculator (www.sec.gov/mfcc/mfccint.htm) will help users understand the actual dollar cost of holding one fund vs. another o

Digital Government

Report prompts agencies to rethink Web privacy

A recent report criticizing agencies for not posting the information they may collect about visitors to their World Wide Web sites is raising privacy concerns among Web site managers. The Department of Health and Human Services put a Privacy Policy link on its home page the same day that the Center