Post Newsweek honors IT leaders, agency projects
Connecting state and local government leaders
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have had a lingering effect on government IT efforts. Many agencies are working toward greater security and intergovernmental cooperation.
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have had a lingering effect on government IT efforts. Many agencies are working toward greater security and intergovernmental cooperation.But ultimately, the aim of most IT projects is the same as it ever was: to deliver services better. This goal is reflected in the 10 winners of the Post Newsweek Tech Media Agency Awards, given last week at the Post Newsweek awards gala in Washington.Post Newsweek also honored four members of the federal IT community for their outstanding individual contributions over 20 years'the age of GCN, for which the evening was a birthday celebration.Miriam F. Browning, who this year retired as the principal director of enterprise integration in the Army CIO's office, joined the GCN Hall of Fame.Retired Lt. Gen. Emmett Paige Jr., who now is vice president for DOD operations of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s IT division, received the DOD executive 20-year award, while the legendary Jack Brooks, former chairman of the House Government Operations Committee, was named civilian executive of the last 20 years.Milt Cooper, former president of CSC Corp., was given the 20-year industry executive award.The agency award winners, chosen from among 115 entries, were:
Miriam F. Browning, recently retired from the Army CIO's office, joined the Hall of Fame during GCN's 20th anniversary gala.
- The Army Information Management Support Center, which lost 90 percent of its office facilities and all of its server farms in the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon. The center's staff set up a help desk telephone hotline in three hours, restored basic desktop computing services within 70 hours and re-established remote access services by Sept. 20.
- The Customs Service Office of Field Operations in Tucson, Ariz., which worked with the Transportation and Agriculture departments, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Federal Protective Service and state and local law enforcement agencies to build an integrated information system at seven Arizona ports of entry.
- The Defense Manpower Center, which is implementing the Defense Department's Common Access Card program. The department has issued more than 1 million cards and linked them to DOD benefits systems.
- The Education Department's Office of Student Financial Aid, which has used middleware to modernize a systems architecture that the agency itself compared to a 'giant hairball.' The office integrated old, stovepiped systems and used the Web to improve communications between Education officials and students receiving loans.
- The Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, which offers unprecedented access to weather maps through its My WxMap project.
- The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which has linked several Web applications to the New Jersey Environmental Management System. The apps include a business processing portal, a mapping and query tool, and a public records management system.
- The Securities and Exchange Commission, which completed its modernization of the Electronic Data Gathering and Retrieval system.
- Walter Reed Army Medical Center's Department of Pathology, which has implemented a real-time telepathology system on the Web. The system lets Army doctors consult with physicians around the world to diagnose diseases.
- The Waterford, Mich., Department of Public Works, which made almost no use of computers in 1996. In six years, the department has implemented a fiber-optic network connecting 50 computers.
- The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, which uses its WISDOM data warehouse to provide timely, accurate information to employees of the Wisconsin Works program.