Digital Government
Rules seek to emulate private-sector planning
New budgeting guidelines issued by the Office of Management and Budget this month demand that agencies treat their information technology acquisitions more as private companies do as investments that contribute to the bottom line. Revisions to OMB Circular A11, Part 3, "Planning, Budgeting and
Digital Government
Senate panel trims TSM funds
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted last week to restore $163 million to the Internal Revenue Service to run its existing information systems but, like the House, put the brakes on the troubled Tax Systems Modernization program. The panel's $402.5 million proposed budget for TSM, slated for a
Digital Government
Wang boosts fed strategy with I-NET buy
Wang Laboratories Inc. bought networking company INET Inc. last week for $167 million, positioning both companies to expand their presence in the federal marketplace. The acquisition was first reported in Federal Computer Week July 22. According to the terms of the deal, which must still be approv
Digital Government
Vendors want input into ITMRA
A coalition of vendors wants to help the Office of Management and Budget develop new policies to carry out the Information Technology Management Reform Act. The Industry Coalition on Information Technology (ICIT), composed of five IT trade associations, wrote to OMB deputy director for management J
Digital Government
Parties clash over Web-links policy
Oldfashioned politics clashed with new technology on Capitol Hill last week as House Democrats challenged their Republican colleagues to overturn a new policy restricting World Wide Web links. At issue is a rule, approved by the House Oversight Committee in late May, that allows House committee me
Digital Government
Librarians: Various platforms needed to give public access
The government should prepare to offer the public access to electronic documents through a variety of platforms and formats including printed materials for the foreseeable future because not everyone will be able to obtain or read federal information provided through the Internet, technology ex
Digital Government
Rubin: Cuts imperil TSM program fix
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin last week warned Congress that a plan to cut more than 2,000 information systems employees at the Internal Revenue Service's Tax Systems Modernization seriously jeopardizes the agency's ability to fix the troubled program. Rep. Jim Lightfoot (RIowa), chairman of the
Digital Government
Bill would halt 8(a) program
The leader of the House Small Business Committee plans soon to offer legislation canceling the Small Business Administration's $5.5 billion 8(a) contracting program, although it is unlikely such a measure would get through Congress this year. Rep. Jan Meyers (RKan.), who is retiring from the House
Digital Government
OFPP touts DOT pact as model for agencies
The Office of Federal Procurement Policy wants agencies to copy a recent Transportation Department procurement for computer services as a way to expand contracting opportunities for small and small, disadvantaged businesses (SDBs). In a memo to government procurement executives and agency directors
Digital Government
Threat of new TSM prime puts contractors in a tizzy
As House appropriators prepare a new budget for the Tax Systems Modernization (TSM), some Internal Revenue Service contractors are wrangling over the wisdom of creating a new prime contract as they try to head off expected funding cuts and possible changes to the contracting strategy for the beleag
Digital Government
Officials: Revised A-76 urges better IT management
Recent revisions to federal policies that concern outsourcing should encourage agencies to manage information technology and other functions better but not necessarily contract them out, Office of Management and Budget officials said last week. "The main point is to create competition on a level p
Digital Government
Nature of CIO Council undecided
The emerging Chief Information Officers Council could become either an influential force in information technology management and procurement or a "debating society" that shares war stories over lunch, depending on how seriously its members take their charge
Digital Government
House mulls role of tech in day-to-day operations
They may not be calling it business process reengineering, but the House Rules and Organization Subcommittee has begun to grapple with questions of how technology might change the way the House operates. "The goal is to determine how we can meet the internal demand for more flexibility and effici
Digital Government
GIS project will digitize 80,000 maps in 5 years
The Library of Congress has launched one of the government's most ambitious geographic information system (GIS) projects to date, with plans to digitize and place online as many as 80,000 maps within the next five years. At the end of the project, a 20terabyte database of historic American and Eu
Digital Government
Capital planning guides to help agencies manage IT Investments
An ad hoc interagency group of senior information resource, executives has drafted guidelines for managing future technology investments that agencies will have to follow if they want their IT systems funded. Agencies that do not follow these guidelines "won't get money," said General Services Ad
Digital Government
Rules set limits on race-based methods
Newly proposed rules for contracting with minorityowned businesses would sharply limit setasides and other "race conscious" procurement methods agencies could use to hire such firms. Under the Justice Department plan released last week, statutory contracting goals would still apply, but agencie
Digital Government
Caere reorganization serves integrators
Caere Corp., Los Gatos, Calif., has reorganized its operations into two divisions that will market highend imaging and desktop products separately. Dean Hovey, the vice president and general manager of Caere's new Imaging Products Division, said the firm plans to promote its highend, optical char
Digital Government
Study: IT understanding lags among senior managers
Lack of longterm leadership from senior managers at all levels of government and a dearth of funding are the key obstacles to improving agencies' use of information technology, according to a new study published by Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. The study, "Information Technol
Digital Government
IRS seeks prime to take TSM's reins
In an effort to rescue the Tax Systems Modernization, the Internal Revenue Service plans to hire, within the next two years, a prime contractor to take charge of the beleaguered multibilliondollar program. In the meantime, the IRS said it will delegate the technical work for TSM to TRW Inc., which
Digital Government
GAO faults management of `best practices' at Customs
The Customs Service has not managed its systems modernization programs in accordance with "best practices" for deploying information technology, the General Accounting Office reported this month, but the agency still has time to correct its mistakes to ensure these projects succeed. In a letter t
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