Timeline of GCN 20 years

The Office of Management and Budget launches a sweeping program to improve administration of federal agencies. Joseph R. Wright Jr., deputy director of OMB, spearheaded the program.'DecemberThe head of the General Services Administration's new IRM Service discusses implementing the Paperwork Reduction Act.'JanuaryTimothy Braithwaite of the Social Security Administration says the advent of the microcomputer raises questions about the accuracy and integrity of information systems.'MarchThe General Accounting Office informs Office of Management and Budget director David Stockman that there is a near-total lack of centralized small-computer management in the government.'April A group of private-sector computer experts and business executives say the federal government could save $11.2 billion over the next three years through systems use.'JulyAt least a half-dozen civilian agencies are using the Air Force Civilian Personnel Data System, which runs on Burroughs mainframes.'AugustThe Office Technology Plus microcomputer store in the General Services Administration's Washington headquarters building had been expected to achieve $2.5 million in sales in its first year, but sales totaled $4.2 million after the first four months.'JanuaryAn Office of Personnel Management study suggests that 28.5 percent of all federal computer jobs are graded too high.'MayIf the IRS shares information with other federal and local agencies, citizen compliance with tax laws may erode, the IRS commissioner tells a Senate subcommittee.'JulyThe green punch cards that the Treasury Department uses as federal government checks will disappear over the next couple of years, to be replaced by paper checks. Most other agencies already have switched to faster and more direct means of data entry and are not mourning the IBM Corp. decision.'AugustThe 43 new members of the House have the benefit of an office management guidebook that stresses the importance of information management.'JanuaryCongress will investigate a computer-related error that caused 27,000 companies to receive dunning letters for employee withholding taxes that they already had paid.'MarchInformatics General Corp. of Rockville, Md., sues the Defense Department to overturn the award of an $11.5 million contract to Electronic Data Systems Corp. DOD hired EDS to help it evaluate proposals for development of the Composite Health Care System.'April The Securities and Exchange Commission has been pilot-testing its electronic filing system since September 1984, but Rep. Glenn English (D-Okla.) expresses doubts that the project will proceed as planned.'May Comptroller general Charles Bowsher calls for a complete rebuilding of federal financial systems and processes.'JuneBoth private and public officials attack National Security Decision Directive 145 at a House hearing, arguing that it is confusing and inappropriately gives the Pentagon control of civilian computer security.'JulyThe Agriculture Department awards a $223 million, 10-year contract to Electronic Data Systems Corp. for office systems to be installed at 5,000 offices nationwide.'OctoberThe General Services Administration publishes a draft request for proposals to replace the aging Federal Telecommunications System with new intercity services by 1990.'DecemberParadyne Corp., eight current or former employees, and a former Social Security Administration official are indicted by a Florida grand jury on charges of conspiring to defraud the agency in connection with a computer contract.'JanuaryZenith Data Systems won a $28 million contract to supply notebook computers to the IRS. The contract followed a $242 million Defense Department contract to Zenith for desktop PCs, the largest microcomputer contract ever awarded by the government.'March The Data Encryption Standard has been protecting federal data since 1978, and now the National Security Agency reportedly wants to replace it with a more secure encoding technology.'MayThe IRS revises plans for its massive Tax System Redesign program. It will rely more on in-house development and has espoused distributed databases.'June'I'm not leaving; they're telling me to go,' the famous computing pioneer tells GCN after the Navy announces she will retire at age 79.'JulyThe Patent and Trademark Office completes the first stage of its new automated patent search system, which replaced a patent examination process begun by Thomas Jefferson.'AugustMaj. Gen. Alan Salisbury, commander of the Army Information Systems'Engineering Command, says his office no longer would grant waivers to program managers who want to build systems in a language other than Ada.'DecemberThe administration's annual forecast says agencies will spend $16.4 billion on IT in fiscal 1987.'JanuaryRep. Jack Brooks (D-Texas) criticizes a White House directive to safeguard government data and its implementation by the National Security Agency as 'an unprecedented expansion of the military's influence into our society, which is unhealthy and potentially dangerous.' The administration responds by backing off on its data security plans.'MarchThe annual management report from the White House designates 17 major systems development projects as 'presidential priority systems' and calls for spending $1.4 billion over two years on them.'AprilDespite maneuvering by bidders and congressional pressure to open the contract to more winners, the General Services Administration says it's sticking with plans to award the FTS 2000 telecommunications contract to a single company.'AugustAn interagency task force calls for simpler recruiting procedures and updated IRM job classifications to stem the flow of skilled technical workers from government to industry.'SeptemberA bankruptcy judge orders the Justice Department to pay Inslaw Inc., a Washington software company, more than $5 million in retroactive licensing fees. The department appeals the ruling.'OctoberAlthough the Air Force was authorized to buy only 90,000 PCs from Zenith Data Systems, orders for the Z-248 exceed 225,000 units and demand remaines strong.'JanuaryFrancis J. Balint, deputy chief of the Commerce Department's Automation Division, was named the first trail boss under a new General Services Administration program to centralize procurement management.'FebruaryThe Federal Aviation Administration will build its $5 billion Advanced Automation System in Ada, becoming the first civilian agency to use the language for a large application.'MayAfter 11 years as commissioner of GSA's IRM Service, Frank J. Carr retires.'AugustIn mid-1988, the Air Force changes its Desktop III PC specifications to require MS-DOS instead of OS/2.'SeptemberNow that FTS 2000 contracts have been awarded to AT&T Corp. and US Sprint Communications Co., GSA officials must work on meshing the different networks proposed by the two companies.'DecemberA team led by BDM International Inc. wins a $52 million contract to provide an electronic filing system to the Securities and Exchange Commission.'JanuaryDuring a congressional investigation into whether the Navy exhibited pro-IBM Corp. bias in mainframe procurements, the Navy's authority to buy ADP equipment without specific GSA permission is limited to $2.5 million.'FebruaryAs part of its probe of possible procurement bias, the House Government Operations Committee asks the General Accounting Office to review an $800 million contract that the National Institutes of Health awarded to IBM Corp. last year.'May Government users greet Release 3 of Lotus Development Corp.'s widely used spreadsheet with cautious optimism.'JuneDevelopment of the software for the Federal Aviation Administration's Advanced Automation System is several months behind schedule, and agency officials blame the delay partly on immature Ada software technology being used by contractor IBM Corp.'AugustUnisys Corp. will deliver up to 250,000 16- and 20-MHz 386 computers to Defense Department units under the Desktop III contract awarded this month.'NovemberSecurity breaches on the Defense Communications Agency's unclassified data network have escalated to several incidents a day.'DecemberNow that the protest of the Desktop III contract award to Unisys Corp. has been settled, military micro buyers can look forward to getting well-equipped machines at exceptional prices.'JanuaryTo win big federal PC contracts, vendors cut their prices drastically, and some predict the effect will drive all but the biggest vendors out of business.'MarchLongtime IRM official Henry H. Philcox was named the first CIO of the IRS.'AprilUnisys Corp. introduces a Posix option for its CTOS operating system, a non-Unix multitasking OS.'JuneAn independent analysis concludes that agencies would pay more for certain FTS 2000 data services than they would pay for the same services on the open market.'JulyA scrap dealer who paid $45 for discarded equipment from the Justice Department apparently got sensitive files on criminal cases in the bargain, and Justice sues him to recover the items.'SeptemberCongress decides to shift about $1 billion from the military services' ADP budgets to the Corporate Information Management office in the Pentagon.'OctoberFederal ADP spending will increase to $20.5 billion this year, the Office of Management and Budget reported.'NovemberU.S. military officials said command and control, interoperability and automated war planning would be crucial to success on the battlefield in the war with Iraq.'JanuaryDigital Equipment Corp. is the apparent winner of a three-year contract to supply LANs to the Navy.'MarchThe Veterans Affairs Department eliminates the job of the first and only person to hold the post of assistant secretary for IRM in a Cabinet department.'AprilThree Agriculture Department agencies put the finishing touches on a prototype system that could lead to the government's first corporate database.'MayUnder a seven-year requirements contract, AT&T Corp. will supply the Treasury Department with 3,200 Unix minicomputers, 50,000 PCs, networks and other items.'JulyIBM Corp. announces that it will deliver AIX/ESA, a version of Unix, to run as a native operating system on the company's mainframes.'SeptemberJust five months after issuing the solicitation, the Air Force awards Defense Department PC requirements contracts totaling $667 million to CompuAdd Corp. of Austin, Texas, and Sysorex Information Systems Inc. of Falls Church, Va.'NovemberThe Securities and Exchange Commission postpones for six months the start of live test filings on its new paperless system for receiving reports from regulated companies.'DecemberThe Federal Aviation Administration chooses Electronic Data Systems Corp. as its outsourcing contractor for the next decade under the Computer Resources Nucleus program.'FebruaryIRS examiners in Ogden, Utah, are using a new client-server system to detect unreported and underreported income. The new system replaced manual methods.'AprilA federal grand jury in Greensboro, N.C., indicts a former employee of the Environmental Protection Agency's major PC supplier, American Coastal Industries Inc., on charges of defrauding the agency of more than $700,000.'JuneAgriculture Department managers have bungled a massive overhaul of administrative processing, independent auditors reports.'JulyAfter last year's selection of two PC suppliers for the Defense Department was overturned by protests, the Air Force awarded a new contract to a single winner, Zenith Data Systems, which bid $740 million.'SeptemberBefore Congress adjourned its session, the House passed a much-discussed ADP procurement bill, but the Senate failed to act.'OctoberThe Defense Department issues a request for information for the Defense Message System, which will replace AUTODIN, its secure messaging network.'JanuaryThe IRS sets a goal of receiving 100 million paperless personal income tax returns by 2001.'FebruaryThe first wave of companies uses the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval System to file financial documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission.'AprilThe answer continues to elude feds. Federal records managers struggle to archive e-mail records as legal battle ensues over White House e-mail policies.'JuneMicrosoft releases first version of Windows NT. The 32-bit operating system weighed in at 3.5 million lines.'AugustThe White House unveils its National Performance Review agenda and issues a nine-point action plan for building the information superhighway.'SeptemberFeds get the first inkling of what lies ahead in preparing federal systems to handle four-digit dates.'NovemberThe Census Bureau retires the first of three Unisys 1100 mainframes, kicking off a systems overhaul in preparation for the next decennial census.'JanuaryThe Office of Management and Budget directs agencies to begin creating online directories to their data for inclusion in the Government Information Locator Service.'AprilDespite the government's push for use of the Open Systems Interconnection protocols, an independent study finds that federal agencies are more likely than any other sector of the economy to use TCP/IP.'MayThe Clinton administration issues a plan that said agencies would deliver federal and state benefits electronically by 1999.'JuneAn e-commerce task force releases a plan identifying 18 federal conventions for using the ANSI X12 standard for electronic data interchange transactions.'JulyThe National Institute of Standards and Technology ends mandatory use of Government Open Systems Interconnection Profile after a 45-day comment period.'SeptemberThe Health and Human Services Department is the first agency to use a fledging federal e-commerce system for a procurement.'OctoberThe General Services Administration pulls the plug on the Patent and Trademark Office's modernization efforts and orders agency to revise its plans.'JanuaryFor the first time, the government plans to decrease its systems spending. The Office of Management and Budget says fiscal 1996 IT spending will drop to 1994 levels.'AprilSen. William Cohen proposes bill to shift IT oversight from the General Services Administration to the Office of Management and Budget'JuneMicrosoft Corp. releases its latest operating system, Windows 95.'AugustThe Office of Management and Budget orders agencies to shutter all small processing facilities by June 1998.'SeptemberTeams of federal employees keep the government's systems running during the White House standoff with Congress over the fiscal 1995 budget.'NovemberLawmakers pass the IT Management Reform Act, known as the Clinger-Cohen Act, and bring an end to the 30-year reign of the Brooks Act over federal systems procurements.'FebruaryA series of industry and government reports conclude that agencies won't meet a deadline to eliminate most paper processes by 1997 as the president ordered in 1993.'MarchThe Securities and Exchange Commission brings the final group of companies onto its Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval System.'MayThe Defense Department revs up to get Web-ready after the Defense Information Systems Agency signs a deal for the Netscape Navigator browser.'JulyOf 24 agencies that responded to a congressional survey, only seven are effectively preparing their systems to deal with dates after Dec. 31, 1999. OMB's John Koskinen vows the government will be ready.'AugustA survey of federal and state systems chiefs finds that most agencies have increased their plug-compatible mainframe capacity to support legacy and new applications.'DecemberThe General Services Administration unveils its Seat Management Program, urging agencies to consider PC operations as a service they should outsource to a vendor.'MarchOn April 1, the Electronic Freedom of Information Act made all electronic messages and records subject to FOIA rules.'AprilThe National Institute of Standards and Technology begins an overhaul of its digital-signature standard so agencies can use commercial signature algorithms.'MayOffice of Management and Budget administrator Franklin D. Raines orders agencies to develop systems architecture plans within a year.'JulyThe Defense Department says it will no longer require DOD programmers to use Ada exclusively for developing software for weapons systems and other applications. The mandate has been in place for 10 years. 'JuneAlthough the General Services Administration had originally planned to accept bids for FTS 2001 in July 1997, changes force it to postpone the deadline until the following year.'OctoberThe Office of Management and Budget decides agencies must finish date code repairs by March 1999 rather than November.'FebruaryAs keeping systems workers grows tougher, the government OKs an IRS plan to spend $61 million over two years to pay bonuses to coders it hopes will stay with the agency.'MarchThe National Archives and Records Administration proposes a plan for archiving all word processing e-mail records that would let agencies use a mix of electronic and paper formats.'JuneThe Ogden Air Logistics Center's Software Engineering Division receives the Level 5 Capability Maturity Model rating. Only four other organizations'all companies'have achieved the top rating.'AugustThe federal CIO Council approves a concept for the first governmentwide enterprise architecture.'SeptemberCongress approves a bill giving agencies five years to post forms online and accept digital signatures.'OctoberNASA becomes the first agency to try the government's new seat management contracts, awarding a pair of orders to outsource PC operations.'November The IRS awards a 15-year, $5 billion contract to Computer Sciences Corp. to modernize its tax processing systems, recommitting itself to an effort begun more than a decade earlier.'DecemberFearing a systems breach, the Justice Department demands that all its bureaus block script code from download via e-mail or the Internet.'JanuaryAfter several tough critiques, Rep. Steve Horn (R-Calif.) lauds agencies' status on repairing date code and said he expected few systems failures come Jan. 1.'MarchBowing to lawmakers' demands, the Environmental Protection Agency decides not post online its worst-case projections of the release of toxins by chemical plants.'AprilThe administration issues an order requiring agencies to post easily accessible privacy policies on their Web sites.'May The CIO Council tables a proposal for a separate salary schedule for IT workers.'JulyThe Army wants to eliminate passwords for verifying systems users.'SeptemberThe Office of Management and Budget details the essentials that agencies need to assure an easy transition to year 2000.'October Supercomputers run by agencies took eight of the top 10 spots on a list ranking the 500 speediest computers in the world.'NovemberAgencies saw their date code repair efforts pay off as systems handled the 2000 rollover without failure.'JanuaryFeds show interest but aren't quite ready to take the plunge and try out Microsoft Windows 2000.'FebruaryWith rules pending on making IT accessible to users with disabilities, agencies raise questions about how they'll pay for the changes.'April As the presidential campaign begins to heat up, Vice President Gore and George Bush both include e-government proposals on their campaign agendas.'JuneCongress reviews agencies' systems security and gives the government a D overall for its cybersecurity readiness.'SeptemberThe president announces plans for FirstGov, a portal to online information governmentwide.'JulyAs part of a Pentagon face-lift, the Defense Department will shift its communications networks from asynchronous transfer mode to a 1-Gbps Ethernet backbone.'DecemberThe Defense Department kicks off use of smart cards under its Common Access Card program, doling out the cards to 200 users at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va.'JanuaryIn his first budget proposal, President Bush calls for more outsourcing and points to IT as a way agencies can cut costs.'MarchAgencies scurry to make sure their Web sites and systems are accessible to disabled users by the June deadline of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998.'AprilThe Social Security Administration pioneers the first large-scale use of the General Services Administrations' public-key infrastructure program.'MayMark Forman, a former senior staff member in the Senate, begins his job as associate director for IT and e-government, a new post at the Office of Management and Budget.'JuneA day after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the government's IT managers begin identifying security changes that will be required to protect the nation's critical data and systems.'SeptemberIn its new Quadrennial Defense Review, the Pentagon highlights five objectives all highly dependent on IT and calls for a network-centric approach to warfighting.'October Having OKed 24 cross-agency e-government initiatives, the Office of Management and Budget tells agencies they will have to reprogram funds and share other resources for the Quicksilver projects.'December