People

Michigan will combine four pension plans into one system

Michigan’s Office of Retirement Services has accepted delivery of the first stage of a $25.2 million public retirement system for its Office of Retirement Services, the agency said. Under the Vision ORS project, the agency will integrate four public pension plans into one system.

People

Election reform deal would send billions to states

A long-awaited compromise over election reform procedures appears to have formed in a Congressional conference committee, and $3.8 billion in federal funds for new election technology could be on its way to states.

People

Lawmakers adjust e-gov bills in bid to get them passed this year

The House Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy last week approved the E-Government Act of 2002, but stripped out a requirement for a governmentwide CIO.

People

At 1st birthday, e-gov push toddles along

Almost a year after the Office of Management and Budget outlined an ambitious rollout of 24—now 25—e-government initiatives, project leaders have had mixed success in meeting deadlines.

People

GSA successfully tests E-Authentication gateway prototype

The General Services Administration’s prototype of the E-Authentication gateway last week passed its initial test and is being geared up to handle transactions for five or six other projects by Dec. 31.

People

NARA issues e-mail archiving guide

The National Archives and Records Administration yesterday released a guide detailing how agencies can provide NARA with e-mail and message attachments for archiving as records.

People

SSA launches eVital in Colorado

The Social Security Administration today initiated an application that will give immediate online verification of birth and death information directly from state agencies.

People

Lawmakers still hope to finish an e-gov bill this year

House lawmakers are making a late push to give agencies more than $200 million in e-government funds and to establish some type of governmentwide IT manager.

People

Agencies tie IT security to budgets

With a little prodding from the Office of Management and Budget, agency IT managers are tying system security to their enterprise infrastructures through the budget process. Some said today that securing their infrastructures ranks just as high as e-government for fiscal 2003.

People

Five agencies soup up their Web sites to load fast

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ main page loaded in less than half a second. Sites run by the FBI, the Supreme Court, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Library of Congress were just slightly slower, all taking less than a second to pop up. The FBI site has been among the fastest on the Web for almost a year, according to Keynote Systems Inc. of San Mateo, Calif.

People

Load testing delays Online Rulemaking’s debut

Although the Transportation Department planned to launch its Online Rulemaking portal this week, the DOT team has found it needs a couple of more weeks to make sure the system that can handle 1,000 simultaneous users.

People

Disaster portal set for soft launch tomorrow

A pared-down version the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s <i>disasterhelp.gov</i> will go online tomorrow for beta testing. FEMA officials have scheduled the full rollout of the portal for late next month.

People

CDC outlines IT needs for emergency vaccination clinics

The government is offering to help state and local governments design IT components of smallpox vaccination clinics in the event of an outbreak of the disease.

People

Auditors push Colorado to offer licenses online

Colorado’s Legislative Audit Committee is urging the state’s Revenue Department to incorporate online processing of driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations into its planned new system for motor vehicle regulation, as a way of cutting costs and speeding service.

People

Forman pushes House to meet e-gov fund request

The Bush administration is applying a full-court press to the House to authorize its request for a $45 million e-government fund. Mark Forman, the Office of Management and Budget’s associate director for IT and e-government, yesterday told lawmakers that the fund was “critical to achieving the promise of e-government.”

People

Four agencies achieve interoperable PKI

After five years of work, the General Services Administration’s Federal Bridge Certification Authority has made the public-key infrastructures of four agencies interoperable. For the first time in history, federal agencies will accept each other’s digital certificates through the bridge.

People

Secretary Norton is cited for contempt in Indian trust case

A federal judge yesterday found Interior secretary Gale Norton and assistant secretary for Indian affairs Neal McCaleb in contempt of court for failing to fix systems that manage trust fund accounts for American Indians.

People

OMB-centric world

At the recent Interagency Resources Management Conference in Hershey, Pa., a reader said that GCN’s coverage of the Office of Management and Budget had intensified noticeably in the past year.<@SM>

People

Next year, tax forms will talk

In the next filing season, about 50 tax forms will talk to disabled users.

People

Web sites reinforce security and privacy policies, review finds

A Brown University analysis of government Web sites found that more federal and state sites are taking security and privacy seriously compared to last year.