20 things in 20 years that changed government IT
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. So goes the famous quote by philosopher and novelist George Santayana. Anniversaries ' such as Federal Computer Week's 20th, which we are celebrating this year ' are a good time to remember the past and learn from it.
Teresa Takai s 10 tips for change
Michigan's governor gave the state's chief information officer full authority to consolidate, reassign and restructure the executive branch's IT staff.
DHS doesn t take cyberattack threats seriously, former IG says
The United States and the Homeland Security Department are 'manifestly and woefully unprepared' for a cyberattack, the former DHS inspector general said.
Editorial: Is GSA worth saving?
This is the time for a larger conversation about the agency's role in procurement.
As GSA begins evaluating pair of ACES bids, Commerce agency sets deal for PKIservices
The Commerce Department's National Technical Information Service has formed a partnership with Electronic Data Systems Corp. to provide public-key infrastructure services to federal, state and local government organizations. The move comes as at least two contractors have bid on the General Services Administration's governmentwide digital certificate service contract. The partnership between NTIS and EDS has been in the works for a year and was driven by requests from NTIS customers, said Chris Louden, director of NTIS' FedWorld.
Experts: A good data warehouse improves decision-making
What steps are critical for data warehousing success? DENVER—A well-managed data warehouse can dramatically improve an organization's decision-making capabilities, several experts said during a recent panel discussion. A data warehouse is one of the most effective ways for information technology to add value, said Kimberly Baker, vice president and general manager for data warehouse systems at NCR Corp. of Dayton, Ohio. But
GAO: Agencies fail to account for Y2K funds
Nine agencies did not keep track of year 2000 expenditures, according to a GAO report released last week. Five agencies only estimated expenditures, and three agencies—the departments of Agriculture, State and Treasury—refused to respond to GAO inquiries. "GAO discovered that some funds were spent on non-Y2K activities," according to the Office of the House Majority Leader, Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas).
GSA adds a new strategy to training
WILLIAMSBURG, Va.—The General Services Administration and the Chief Information Officers Council are creating a new training program for federal information technology professionals and managers. The Strategic and Tactical Advocates for Results program will focus on strategic thinking, said Emory Miller, director of IT professional development in GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy, during a presentation last month at the Trail Boss Roundup conference.
IRS foresees another decade of dependence on tape records
WILLIAMSBURG, Va.—The success of the IRS' modernization project will depend on the replacement of its tape Master File, the agency's chief information officer said last month. "We have modern equipment. We just have antiquated software," CIO Paul J. Cosgrave said. It takes the IRS a week to update the taxpayer Master File because the data is still stored on magnetic tape, he said.
Justice lifts applet ban
In a continuing effort to give users access to information via the Web while protecting government systems from cyberthreats, the Justice Department has set a new applet use policy that has the approval of the National Security Agency. Four months after instituting a departmentwide ban on applets because of security concerns, Justice has lifted the moratorium on most of the script codes. The details of the new policy were included
Turnaround skill gains AF officer Trail Boss honor
WILLIAMSBURG, Va.—Lt. Col. William V. Cox, who spearheaded the turnaround of three Air Force systems, took trail boss of the year honors in a ceremony last week at the General Services Administration's annual Trail Boss Roundup. Cox is deputy director of the Functional Information Special Project Office for the Standard Systems Group at Maxwell Air Force Base's Gunter Annex, Ala.
Koskinen: Protect Y2K emergency fund account
Clinton administration officials this month pleaded with lawmakers to protect year 2000 emergency funds from partisan budget crossfire. John A. Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on the Year 2000 Conversion, said the money is critical as agencies enter the homestretch on year 2000 efforts. Koskinen asked that the emergency funds appropriated last year not be withdrawn.
Many IT chiefs will spend New Year's Day at work
Do you know where you will be on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2000? As the government moves beyond year 2000 tests of mission-critical systems, agencies are formulating plans that detail New Year's Day responsibilities. The so-called Day 1 plans are an integral part of overall agency contingency and business continuity plans, federal information technology executives said.
DOD aims to protect unclassified network by speeding traffic and limiting protocols
DENVER—The Defense Department is beefing up its Non-Classified IP Router Network to protect traffic on the network from attack. DOD wants to more quickly move traffic that could be used maliciously, said Col. John Thomas, chief of the Defense Information System Agency's Global Operations and Security Office. The redesign of NIPRnet, which the department uses for unclassified but sensitive communications, will likely be finished this month, Thomas said recently at the Government Information Technology Executive Council's Information
Feds see flexibility as key factor to PC outsourcing
DENVER—In the government's first brush with desktop PC outsourcing, managers are finding that communication is critical to success. PC outsourcing is in its infancy, but project managers for two major programs said they have already learned that the rollout requires flexibility between contractors and agencies' users.
EPA faces Web impasse
Bowing to pressure from lawmakers and the government's national security community, the Environmental Protection Agency will not post online its worst-case projections of the release of toxins by chemical plants. After Rep. Tom Bliley (R-Va.) began looking into the plans for posting the data, national security officials raised concerns that such data could increase the possibility of terrorist attacks.
OMB orders Y2K tests of critical services systems
OMB identifies must-run services As the March 31 deadline for year 2000 readiness becomes a memory, federal agencies have two primary targets: high-impact services and systems deemed important if not mission-critical. The Clinton administration announced last month that 92 percent of the government's 6,123 mission-critical systems met the deadline. But a staff member for the House's special Y2K Task Force said the administration needs to move its focus
DOD exec offers an off-the-shelf caveat
Here's how to buy commercial the Frye way DENVER—Commercial off-the-shelf products have been portrayed as a silver bullet that can solve many information technology problems, but their use is not a panacea, a Defense Department official said.
NARA wants archiving plans in place by 2002
Agencies will have until 2002 to set polices on preserving e-mail and other electronic documents deemed to be federal records, the National Archives and Records Administration said in a recent bulletin. The bulletin is the first guidance on dealing with such records since federal District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman ruled in 1997 that NARA's previous policy was null and void. That regulation, General Records Schedule 20, let agencies print out electronic documents and then delete
CIO Council: The next stop is security
As personnel costs rise, agencies will become more dependent on information technology to do their jobs, said G. Edward DeSeve, the outgoing chairman of the federal Chief Information Officers Council. Before a standing-room-only crowd of more than 400 people at a keynote session last month at the FOSE trade show in Washington, the CIO Council's executive leadership painted a picture of the government IT landscape when the year 2000 problem no longer monopolizes time and resources.
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