Access America opens a full-service site for seniors
The National Partnership for Reinventing Government has unveiled a Web site designed to provide senior citizens with access to multiple government services. Access America for Seniors at www.seniors.gov is under the auspices of Vice President Al Gore's Access America program. The seniors program comes just a month after Gore presented Access America for Students, which serves up government services for students [GCN, March 29, Page 9].
CIOs tell agencies to prepare for post-2000 security push
As agencies attempt to work through a myriad of rules for critical infrastructure protection, the new leadership of the Chief Information Officers Council has published guidance to all the guidance. At least four significant provisions from various government sources for critical infrastructure protection already exist, said Thomas R. Burke, assistant commissioner for the General Services Administration Federal Technology Service's Office of Information Security.
CIO Council proposes PC personal use policy for feds
How strict must agencies be about employees using e-mail for personal messages—say, from an office PC to a kid in college? How about buying something online, such as a book from Amazon.com? The Chief Information Officers Council says government employees' use of agency computers needs to be managed but not micromanaged, according to a draft guidance the group will soon submit to lawmakers.
IRS: New effort at modernizing must start fresh
IRS sets six filing goals Following a decade of failed modernization efforts, the IRS is essentially starting over, a senior IRS executive said this month. The last modernization effort was a $3.3 billion failure, said Albert E. Mazei, assistant commissioner for the IRS' Program Management and Architecture Office.
CIOs honor Koskinen for IT leadership
The Chief Information Officers Council this month presented John A. Koskinen with its first Azimuth Award for his work as the administration's year 2000 czar. The council plans to give the award annually to someone who has provided vision and direction to government information technology. The group recognized Koskinen during a dinner cruise aboard the Potomac Spirit in Washington.
Gore backs all-access pilot to bring online services to college students
The Education Department will spearhead a program to let college students find services online beginning this fall. The program, called Access America for Students, is based on Vice President Al Gore's Access America plan and will give students access to both government and commercial services. Federal agencies, academic institutions and vendors will align their resources to serve students and enable complete government transactions online, Gore said.
OMB issues an online deadline
OMB issues guiding principles on electronic government Agencies will offer all government services electronically within 31/2 years, or they will have to answer to the Office of Management and Budget. That is the gist of a draft OMB regulation issued this month to help agencies implement the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, which was included as part of the fiscal 1999 omnibus
Treasury to test seat management concept
The Treasury Department will be the second user of the General Services Administration's Seat Management Program. Treasury will use GSA's desktop outsourcing program for 1,600 PCs at its headquarters as a seat management pilot, Treasury chief information officer James Flyzik said. The pilot could determine whether seat management will be used elsewhere in the department, he said.
After a late start, Postal Service scrambles to deliver 2000 fixes
The Postal Service's motto says that neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night will keep mail carriers from their appointed rounds. The motto, however, says nothing about date code failures. The service has few options should its systems fail Jan. 1, said Norman E. Lorentz, the Postal Service's senior vice president and chief technology officer, at a House hearing last month.
GSA assumes liability risk on ACES project
In the latest action on its digital certificate service project, the General Services Administration this month determined that vendors will be safe from liability if they follow contract specifications. Liability arose last month as one of the two impediments vendors saw to success of the Access Certificates for Electronic Service (ACES) project. Vendors also told GSA officials at a bidders conference that they doubted they could make money from ACES [GCN, Feb. 8, Page 3]. GSA
Defense worries insiders are helping hackers
The recent string of well-publicized attacks on Defense Department systems seems to indicate a new, more complex modus operandi for perpetrators, security experts warned last week. Defense officials confirmed last week that a major cyberattack against its critical information systems has been under way for several months. Deputy Defense secretary John Hamre briefed the House Armed Services Committee on the cyberattacks during a closed meeting Feb. 23, committee staff members said. Hamre warned lawmakers that the hack
Survey: CIOs gain acceptance across the board
What ITAA survey of CIOs suggests The government's chief information officers say they are becoming more visible within their organizations and are gaining clout with management, a new survey reports. CIOs increasingly find themselves with a place at the table of senior agency executives, according to the survey by the Information Technology Association of America. ITAA, an Arlington, Va., industry group,
NSA reduces its IT staff by outsourcing legacy applications
After a couple of months' work, the National Security Agency is touting its program to outsource legacy applications as a success. Under the five-year, $20 million Breakthrough Program contract awarded to Computer Sciences Corp. last summer, NSA is outsourcing 20 legacy applications [GCN, Aug. 31, 1998, Page 3]. NSA is using savings from the reduction in personnel costs to pay for the contract. Under the contract, CSC is paid based on the number of NSA employees
CIOs mull how to compete for IT talent
The council's Education and Training Committee hosted a brainstorming session at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's Virtual Government conference in Washington to get feedback on its ideas. The committee in May will submit a final plan to the CIO Council, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Personnel Management.
NIH lets agencies tap vendor performance system
The National Institutes of Health has created a database that agencies can use to help manage vendor past-performance evaluations. NIH's Contractor Performance System is one of the first government databases that lets agencies evaluate a vendor's performance on multiple contracts, agency officials said. "We're the only game in town that has been up and running," said Diane Frasier, director of NIH's Office of Contracts Management.
OMB's DeSeve will move to private sector
OMB's acting IT boss G. Edward DeSeve has taken a position with KMPG Peat Marwick. G. Edward DeSeve, the top management official in the Clinton administration and stand-in information technology boss, is leaving his post at the end of the month to join the private sector.
GSA expects its first Seat task order to provide better service—invisibly
The General Services Administration has begun preparing its employees for the transition from in-house run PC operations to the outsourcing of its PCs under the Seat Management Program. As GSA implements its task order, the first under Seat Management, the agency wants to alleviate users' concerns that there will be significant changes on their desktops. Officials said at an orientation for users that they expect outsourcing of the agency's PC operations to Litton PRC Inc. will
GSA official to naysayers: Federal EC is here
Despite the conventional wisdom that electronic commerce has been slow to develop, one key proponent said the world of the electronic government is already here. There have been some radical changes in the way government does business, said G. Martin Wagner, associate administrator of the General Services Administration's Office of Governmentwide Policy.
Study reveals that IT is key to agencies' performance
That the Social Security Administration gets top grades for its year 2000 efforts is old news. But a new review of government practices earned Social Security an A for overall performance as well as for information technology management. Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs did the two-year review for its Government Performance Project, which the Pew Charitable Trusts is funding through a four-year grant.
State's globe-trotting employees will get wired, IT chieftain vows
But State's recently arrived chief information officer said he plans to turn the situation around by making the department's primary responsibility, diplomacy, the heart of its new information technology plan. CIO Fernando Burbano said the agency is gearing up for the 21st century and shedding its fuddy-duddy ways. A new long-term IT plan, systems staff organization changes and a renewed focus on management issues will help the department sweep aside its reputation as a second-tier systems
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