State pilot will let contracting officers create RFPs and receive bids online
With a technical assist from the Army, the State Department next month will launch an electronic commerce pilot. Using its own Web site as a front end, State will piggyback on the online buying system created by the Army's Communications-Electronics Command at Fort Monmouth, N.J. CECOM will charge State a one-time $30,000 fee.
Judge chides NARA for bucking archive ruling
Enough is enough is the view a federal judge has taken on a government records policy that lets agencies delete electronic records as long as they have printed copies on file. The National Archives and Records Administration "flagrantly violated" an October order that prohibited federal agencies from deleting electronic records without regard for their content, U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman concluded this month in a 10-page ruling.
CIOs advise best use of e-mail
That cute, animated Web birthday card sent to a federal employee is slowing down agency e-mail systems, a new report on improving agency e-mail interoperability said. The report, from the Chief Information Officer Council, offers guidelines on streamlining messaging. E-mail interoperability is a key issue for the CIO Council, and council members focused on it during the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's recent Virtual Government conference.
NARA lacks processing power
The National Archives doesn't have the computing power it will need to copy and store the millions of electronic files headed its way, Archives officials said. Deputy archivist Lewis Bellardo brought up the problem confronting archivists during a speech to members of the Association for Federal Information Resources Managers in Washington.
NARA awaits public opinion on policy options
The National Archives and Records Administration is turning to the public for help on guidelines for archiving electronic documents. The NARA Electronic Records Work Group this month issued some preliminary options for replacing General Records Schedule 20, which had been the government's policy for archiving electronic documents until a federal judge tossed the schedule out as inadequate. NARA is appealing the ruling.
I-TIPS tracks IT dollars
The departments of Agriculture, Energy and Housing and Urban Development are testing a system that lets agencies manage the money they spend on systems as capital investments. The Information Technology Investment Portfolio System (I-TIPS), which agencies can run as an intranet application, will help systems managers ensure that IT investments mesh with their agencies' critical objectives, Energy and USDA officials said.
Council eyes better federal IT training
The Chief Information Officers Council wants to improve technical training so agencies can retain systems workers, improve skills generally and train nontechnical employees to use systems. To assess the current level of information technology education and training, the council last month distributed a 12-page survey to its 30 member agencies.
GSA: Contract out IT work if it makes sense
Whether government employees like it or not, federal agencies are turning increasingly to vendors to manage their information systems. A new report from the General Services Administration's Information Technology Management Practices Division concluded that for many projects, outsourcing is a good idea. By relying on contractors, the report said, agencies can focus on the regulatory tasks for which they were created.
Clinton nominates Lee for OFPP post
President Clinton has nominated Deidre A. Lee as the next administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. If the Senate OKs her nomination, Lee will replace Steven Kelman, who left the Office of Management and Budget post in September to return to his teaching job at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
OMB moves up 2000 deadline
With pressure mounting to make sure federal systems can handle dates come 2000, the Office of Management and Budget has moved up by eight months the deadline for agencies to finish date code fixes. In a memorandum to agency chiefs, OMB Director Franklin D. Raines said he wants all systems 2000-ready by March 1999. OMB had previously set a deadline of November 1999 for agencies to complete all systems date code work.
Is DOD the archiving savior?
A Defense Department archiving program could be a white knight for government agencies working to establish an archiving policy for electronic documents. The Defense Information Systems Agency's Joint Interoperability Test Command Records Management Application (RMA) test at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., could become the standard for storing and managing documents governmentwide.
Govt. needs more IT workers
As the global market for IT workers grows increasingly competitive, federal, state and local governments can't seem to attract enough of them. And sky-high salaries in the private sector are driving many government IT workers into corporate offices. "This has always been a problem. It's now an acute problem," said Justice Department chief information officer Mark A. Boster. "There's no such thing as DOJ stock options. So what do I offer? I offer a beginning
IT fares well in '99 budget plan
The $1.7 trillion spending plan, the first balanced budget in years, reflects the Clinton administration's push for a streamlined government. "The administration has an ambitious agenda to continue reinventing government so that it is more effective, more efficient and more responsive to the American people," the budget policy statement said.
Defense database is under fire
The ABA's Section on Public Contract Law has concluded that the CCR program isn't broad enough. The program, which requires that all Defense contractors provide company data to DOD, should be governmentwide, not just Defense-wide, the ABA group concluded recently. "We are unclear why the proposed rule is being issued only by the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council and not jointly with the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council," said Marcia G. Madsen, Public Contract Law Section chairwoman
Will Katzen retain year 2000 oversight?
But some lawmakers and industry officials said last week that the White House is considering keeping Katzen in charge of year 2000 oversight. The White House announced this month that Katzen, administrator of the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, will become the deputy director of the White House's National Economic Council.
Agencies lag in E-FOIA efforts
Plagued by limited funds, personnel and resources, agencies have found that although the Freedom of Information Act may be going electronic, many government documents are not. An informal GCN survey of 19 agencies found seven had not yet met E-FOIA's November mandate that agencies create an online reading room for frequently requested documents and document indexes.
So who's minding the store?
At least that's what participants said during the annual Government Information Technology Acquisition Conference held recently in Falls Church, Va. Amid widespread concern that a faulty buy could turn back the clock on procurement reforms, information technology contracting officers asked the Office of Management and Budget to step up supervision. But OMB officials demurred, saying that oversight belongs to agency CIOs.
Ruling means agencies need plan for wiping electronic documents
In a decision late last month, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman threw out a two-year-old National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) regulation that let agencies wipe out electronic documents regardless of content. The sharply worded ruling criticized archivist John W. Carlin, who proposed the rule, General Records Schedule 20.
GAO: 2000 czar must be stricter with agencies
The Clinton administration's year 2000 czar must rein in agencies' year 2000 work if critical systems are to be ready in time, a report from the General Accounting Office said. GAO praised the administration for creating the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion and appointing a 2000 chief. But if the council is to be effective, the report said, it must use its influence to make sure agencies prevent disruptions to critical services.
IRS sets plan to outsource returns processing
In an outsourcing report mandated by Congress last year, IRS laid out its plans for farming out systems work. But before massive outsourcing can begin, IRS must modernize some critical systems itself, the report said. ''Regardless of the merit and cost benefit of outsourcing, the long lead time associated with outsourcing dictates that the IRS develop and implement a near-term plan to replace the deteriorating, noncentury date-compliant core systems which process more than 90 percent
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