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U.S. still No. 3 in e-gov

The third annual worldwide ranking of e-government initiatives by Accenture LLP of Chicago leaves the Top 3 unchanged from last year: Canada and Singapore, followed by the United States [see story at <a href="http://gcn.com/vol20_no8/inbrief/3972-1.html"> gcn.com/vol20_no8/inbrief/3972-1.html</a> ].

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OMB advocates J2EE, .Net for e-gov

The Office of Management and Budget is recommending that the architects of the 24 e-government initiatives use Java 2 Enterprise Edition or Microsoft .Net as underlying technology.

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CIOs make e-commerce inroads

State and local governments have steadily increased their adoption of e-commerce.

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GSA is likely to advocate smart-card security

The General Services Administration tomorrow likely will recommend that federal buildings be secured with smart-card technology. A GSA official will testify at a House Government Reform subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy hearing to explain what commercial technologies are available to secure federal buildings.

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Maryland posts info about sex offenders on the Web

Maryland’s Public Safety and Correctional Services Department yesterday officially launched its first Internet sex offender registry at <a href="http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/sor">www.dpscs.state.md.us/sor</a>.

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Labor launches the first of OMB’s 24 e-gov projects

A government benefits portal is the first Office of Management and Budget <br>e-government initiative to get off the ground.

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IRS taps Aspect for $150 million follow-on contract

The IRS has awarded Aspect Communications Corp. a six-year, $150 million contract to maintain automated voice response systems at 40 customer service centers.

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Microsoft .Net, J2EE could build e-gov structure

The Office of Management and Budget is recommending Microsoft’s .Net and Java2 Enterprise Edition as possible architectures for its 24 e-government projects.

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Maryland measures its e-gov readiness

Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend yesterday announced results of a survey that shows that 64 percent of the state’s households and 89 percent of its businesses have computers, and 42 percent of the businesses conduct transactions online. The eReadiness Maryland study found that most use dial-up Internet connections, whose speed drops from 52.6 Kbps down to 23.2 Kbps in some areas because of aging copper telephone wiring.

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OMB allocates $4.1 million of e-gov fund

The Office of Management and Budget soon will dole out $4.1 million to a trio of <br>e-government programs, the FirstGov project and to an effort to educate agencies about managing change.

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NIST opens new round of ATP competitions

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has set deadlines for the latest R&D funding competition of its Advanced Technology Program and is encouraging applicants to submit their proposals online.

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Forman downplays IT work force crisis

Among the many IT concerns within the federal government, a shortage of workers is not a barrier to the administration's e-government plans, IT czar Mark Forman said last week.

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EPA taps CSC for a $285 million data exchange project

The Environmental Protection Agency has negotiated a $285 million, seven-year task order for Computer Science Corp. to operate the Central Data Exchange, an electronic point of entry for environmental information required by EPA.

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Massachusetts Treasury tangles its checkbook

The Massachusetts State Treasury failed to reconcile its bank statements, establish proper controls over its systems and efficiently oversee its computer contractor, leaving abandoned stocks, bonds and dividends vulnerable to loss, theft and misuse, state auditors recently concluded.

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General Accounting Office warns of XML pitfalls

Incomplete standards for using Extensible Markup Language and the lack of uniform, government-specific data structures are some potential pitfalls awaiting agencies that want to use XML, according to a General Accounting Office report released today.

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Postal Service uses private sector for new model

The destitute Postal Service has asked Congress to preserve its government status but make it more commercial to improve its competitive stance, postmaster general Jack Potter said today at the National Press Club in Washington.

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Use of government sites booms

Sixty-eight million Americans have used government Web sites, according to a survey released yesterday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project in Washington. That's up from 40 million users two years ago.

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Justice awards INS task order to KPMG

The Justice Department has chosen KPMG Peat Marwick of New York to provide project management office support services for the entry exit data system, the government’s proposed system to track information about persons coming in and out of the country.

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OMB will soon release requests for e-gov initiatives

Requests for proposals for the Office of Management and Budget’s 24 e-government initiatives likely will be issued in the coming months, according to a senior administration official.

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FirstGov’s switch to new search engine delayed

Equipment problems have delayed <a href="http://FirstGov.gov">FirstGov.gov</a>’s switch to a new search engine, which was scheduled for March 31, and forced the General Services Administration to issue a purchase order to continue with its current engine, a GSA spokesperson said.