Digital Government

Marrying Payment Systems to the Web

Electronic commerce has been hailed as a boon for the public sector in part because it enables state and local governments to replace traditional fee and fine collection systems with less costly collection systems using the Internet.

Digital Government

Biometrics points to greater security

Biometrics, an automated method of recognizing a person based on physical or behavioral attributes, has long been used by the government's supersecret agencies for accesscontrol applications and by law enforcement for largescale fingerprint applications. Now, as the cost of the technology has de

Digital Government

Sign of the times

Now that Congress has passed legislation that will push agencies to the brink of the muchenvisioned paperless government, federal users are focusing as never before on digital signature technology a method of authenticating the identity of a person who has 'signed' an electronic document and of

Digital Government

Industry, feds team to tackle interoperability

Industry heavyweights and government agencies are working together to develop an Internetbased tool that makes it easier for organizations to field systems that can exchange data seamlessly. The Interoperability Clearinghouse would give information technology planners fast access to volumes of tec

Digital Government

GAO highlights access, Y2K concerns at HHS

The Department of Health and Human Services does not have access to the data or information technology systems needed to effectively manage various programs, and concerns posed by Year 2000 conversion efforts further complicate these shortcomings, according to a General Accounting Office report released last month.

Digital Government

Industry Watch

Products meet fed security guides Products from two companies have completed computer security evaluations under the new Trust Technology Assessment Program, a joint initiative between the National Security Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The commoncriteria security

Digital Government

GSA rethinks IT personal use

A governmentwide policy under development at the General Services Administration would loosen a hodgepodge of existing policies governing federal employees' personal use of government office equipment, including computers. According to the draft policy, federal employees could use electronic equipm

Digital Government

NASA lacks IT for procurement oversight

The General Accounting Office will continue to classify NASA's overall contract management efforts as high risk until the agency launches its new integrated financial management system, which is behind schedule, GAO officials said in a report released last month.

Digital Government

Tight NASA budget emphasizes IT

The president's fiscal 2000 budget request calls for $13.5 billion for NASA, marking the sixth year in a row that the space agency's budget had been decreased, down from $13.6 billion for fiscal 1999.

Digital Government

CIAO chief charges against cyberthreats

Jeffrey Hunker always has been fascinated with the gray areas where disciplines and fields of knowledge intersect. His career has been anchored by work in business and technology, but he also is an avid photographer an intersection of interests molded perhaps by his father, a nuclear physicist,

Digital Government

Cost-analysis software wins fed business

Fueled by the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act and dwindling budgets, several federal agencies have begun to use activitybased, costmanagement software from Atlantabased Armstrong Laing Inc. to display the true costs of services. The Treasury Department, the Patent and

Digital Government

Clinton: $1.4B to fight cyberterror

President Clinton last week said his fiscal 2000 budget request will include $1.4 billion for protection of the banking, electric and other critical systems and for computer security a 40 percent increase in the two budget years since the president created the Critical Infrastructure Protection C

Digital Government

Tight budgets pinch training, CIOs report

Many agencies do not have the resources and budget to adequately train information technology managers to meet core competencies as required by the ClingerCohen Act, according to a draft of a survey of agency chief information officers.

Digital Government

Clinton calls for $1.4 billion to secure key systems

The president's fiscal 2000 budget request will include $1.4 billion for protection of the banking, electrical and other critical systems and for computer security, a 40 percent increase in the two budget years since the president created the Critical Infrastructure Protection Commission.

Digital Government

Wang wins $453M NASA network deal

Lockheed Martin Space Operations Co. has awarded Wang Government Services a contract worth $453 million over 10 years to provide widearea network data distribution services to NASA as a subcontractor on the Consolidated Space Operations Contract (CSOC).

Digital Government

Executive order focuses on IT in federal training

President Clinton yesterday signed an executive order designed to encourage agencies to use innovative technology to train federal workers.

Digital Government

A tangled Web

A haphazard approach to hiring and training Webmasters for agency World Wide Web sites threatens the Clinton administration's plan to use the Internet as a way to deliver core services and information to the public. Federal Webmasters have taken on the crucial role of molding and managing agency We

Digital Government

CIOs call for secret clearance

The security committee of the CIO Council last month urged all agency chief information officers and deputy CIOs to obtain a toplevel security clearance usually reserved for those working on sensitive military or intelligence programs. The committee believes CIOs and deputy CIOs need these securit

Digital Government

Report calls PKI key to a digital U.S. government

A fledgling technology built on public key infrastructure (PKI) will be key to the government's success in achieving the digital government envisioned by the Clinton administration, according to a report released today.

Digital Government

Hill questions NASA online souvenir shop

The chairman of the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics last week asked the NASA Office of the Inspector General to determine if the agency has violated federal procurement rules and internal agency Internet policy by operating an online souvenir shop. In a Dec. 16 letter to NASA's Office o