Digital Government

Hill backs earthquake systems

The House of Representatives last week passed a bill that allocates more than $200 million in fiscal 2000 for new computer projects to monitor and analyze earthquake activity, including systems that would provide early warnings to help save lives. The Earthquake Hazards Reduction Authorization Act,

Digital Government

FBI gets ISI plan to Congress

As required by Congress, the FBI this month submitted to Capitol Hill appropriators a plan to develop a system that agents will use to share evidence and information on crimes in hopes of solving cases faster. The plan lays out how the FBI will pull off its multimilliondollar Information Sharing I

Digital Government

Rep. pushes for National Y2K Test Day

Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (DTenn.) last week introduced a bill that would require federal agencies to conduct a widescale, endtoend test of key computer systems to determine if they are prepared to handle the Year 2000 computer date change.

Digital Government

GTE's JCON given a new life

GTE Government Systems Corp. has won a fourth year of business on a key Justice Department contract for office automation, despite a major change in program strategy. The department originally awarded the contract in March 1996 under its Justice Consolidated Office Network program, only to scrap th

Digital Government

GAO: VA needs more Y2K testing

The Department of Veterans Affairs the Cabinetlevel agency that Congress considers to have made the most progress in fixing Year 2000 computer problems still faces Year 2000 loose ends that could jeopardize its performance, according to the General Accounting Office. Joel Willemssen, directo

Digital Government

Fighting for his ideals

Bert Concklin is no Boy Scout. In fact, when he was a kid growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia in the 1940s, he got thrown out of the Cub Scouts for fighting. And the monkeyshines didn't end there. Concklin president of the Professional Services Council, a group that lobbies for federal cont

Digital Government

Interior kills ALMRS

After spending more than $400 million, the Bureau of Land Management has killed a longrunning modernization program because of ongoing problems, delays and a fastapproaching deadline for resolving its Year 2000 computer problem. Interior Department officials decided in January to allow the Automa

Digital Government

GPO: Feds not coordinating electronic info

The federal government does not plan or coordinate the massive amounts of electronic information it disseminates to the public, according to a federally commissioned study released late last month. The Government Printing Office, which commissioned the report, concluded that there is an 'overall la

Digital Government

DOJ inks deal for records access

The Justice Department last month inked a deal with ChoicePoint Inc. to provide federal investigators with online access to a wide array of public documents, which should make it easier and faster to track down suspects and solve cases. The DOJ contract, worth an estimated $5 million a year over th

Digital Government

INS awards first task orders under $1B program

The Immigration and Naturalization Service last week awarded Electronic Data Systems Corp. and Computer Sciences Corp. the first task orders off a broad $1 billion computer systems contract that the agency will use for everything from enhancing border enforcement to compiling financial data.

Digital Government

DISA selects Motorola for satellite comm

The Defense Information Systems Agency has awarded Motorola Inc. a $219 million contract to supply satellite communications products and services throughout the Defense Department. Under the threeyear contract, Motorola will provide mobile phones, pagers and other communications services operating

Digital Government

USIA agency spreads Kosovo news abroad

The World Wide Web's leading news sources, such as the online versions of the major newspapers and CNN, provide a deluge of articles about the crisis in Kosovo. A number of Defense Department sites also provide information on certain aspects of operations. But those sites are not the only news sour

Digital Government

Horn hands agencies poor financial grades

The chairman of a House oversight committee last week gave half of the major federal agencies failing grades on their ability to manage financial information. Some observers say the poor performance stems, in part, from inadequate or outdated information systems. Rep. Steve Horn (RCalif.), chairma

Digital Government

Rep. Horn slams agencies for poor financial management

The chairman of a House oversight committee today gave out the first report card on federal agencies' ability to track how they spend taxpayers' money, failing half of the 24 agencies.

Digital Government

Bureau of Public Debt to punch digital clock

The Bureau of Public Debt this month expects to close a deal to install a software program for tracking employees' work hours originally developed by another agency. The new electronic timekeeping program, already in place at the Interior Department's U.S. Geological Survey, will replace the bureau

Digital Government

Feds investigate Melissa virus

Federal officials said today said they are looking for the source of a computer virus that affected both government and privatesector systems on Friday.

Digital Government

Congress may put squeeze on FBI data sharing project

Tight budgets and fears of cost overruns may keep Congress from giving the FBI all the money it seeks for a project that would allow agents to share data on crimes under investigation more easily. Those familiar with the FBI's $430 million Information Sharing Initiative say Congress may decide to

Digital Government

IT key to FBI mission, director tells Senate

FBI Director Louis Freeh told a Senate committee today that investing in technology will be key to fulfilling the agency's mission next year.

Digital Government

House panel told a dash of Y2K fear not all bad

The Clinton administration is close to calling victory in its battle against the Year 2000 bug, but some experts told Congress today that the federal government should not be so assured and should show more concern about potential problems.

Digital Government

Reno launches security alliance

Attorney General Janet Reno and the Information Technology Association of America today unveiled a set of initiatives to combat computer crime. A key component of the initiatives is a 'personnel exchange program,' in which IT professionals will work and learn side by side with computer crime specia