Without IT Service, agencies are left to their own devices
Although the Brooks Act remains in effect for now, the General Services Administration is sloughing off its systems procurement oversight authority like so much dead skin. The first wave came last month when--without the expected law change--GSA Administrator Roger Johnson approved an organizational change dismantling the Information Technology Service and shifting most of the ITS oversight staff to running GSA's own systems. Yes, GSA still must grant agencies authority for any IT buy greater than
GSA dismantles its IT Service
The General Services Administration is dismantling its Information Technology Service and has put ITS chief Joe Thompson in charge of GSA's internal systems strategies. The move took place last month after the Clinton administration decided not to wait for enactment of procurement reform legislation that would strip ITS of most of its governmentwide oversight responsibilities.
IRS, SSA to let public try digital signatures
The government will use electronic tax filing and on-line Social Security benefits reviews as the first public tests of a public-key infrastructure for the Digital Signature Standard. Starting in February, the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration will let about 1,000 citizens in San Jose, Calif., and Dayton, Ohio, file income taxes and check the status of SSA benefits using home PCs, federal kiosks and the Internet.
GSA puts surcharge on Group 70
Starting in April, agencies will pay 1 percent more for purchases made through the General Services Administration's IT schedule contracts. The schedule vendors will pass the 1 percent surcharge along to GSA to finance the schedules program. The surcharges will apply to all Multiple-Award Schedule Group 70 contracts covering Pbs, mid-range and mainframe hardware, packaged software, financial management software and telecommunications.
Agencies urged to process data for each other
Unleashing competition among agencies for data processing services may be the best way to eliminate duplicative and legacy financial systems as well as cut costs, the Chief Financial Officers Council reported this month. At the same time, Office of Management and Budget Controller G. Edward DeSeve said the administration will step up its endorsement of agency cross-servicing arrangements.
Digital signatures: GSA tosses a hot potato back to NIST lab
Digital signatures are what the government needs for electronic commerce, but a way to use on-line John Hancocks remains unresolved and agencies shouldn't expect any help before 1997. Responsibility for a prototype on which agencies would model their digital signature applications has passed back and forth between the General Services Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. NIST officials agreed last year to build a pilot system. GSA took over the effort this spring.
OMB: Agencies must close small data sites
HERSHEY, Pa.--With new marching orders from the Office of Management and Budget, agencies must consolidate government data centers to close about half of them, or roughly 100 centers, by June 1998. OMB plans to release the final plan before month's end. The new OMB bulletin will require all agencies to compile data center inventories by March 1 and to develop consolidation strategies by next June.
10OMB: Agencies must close small data sites
HERSHEY, Pa.--With new marching orders from the Office of Management and Budget, agencies must consolidate government data centers to close about half of them, or roughly 100 centers, by June 1998. OMB plans to release the final plan before month's end. The new OMB bulletin will require all agencies to compile data center inventories by March 1 and to develop consolidation strategies by next June.
OMB gears up for year 2000's date shift
HERSHEY, Pa.--The Office of Management and Budget is drafting guidelines to ensure that the turn of the century does not turn into a government computing catastrophe. Bruce McConnell, chief of OMB's Information Policy Branch, said agencies need to start altering the calendar dates in their computer programs to handle the change for the year 2000.
Systems folks facing furloughs just like other federal workers
Federal information technology workers can expect no special treatment if the president and Congress cannot resolve their budget differences or work out a temporary funding arrangement by month's end. If the government shuts down Oct. 1, the decision on who will be furloughed and who will continue on the job is being left to each department, and there are no special requirements involving the continued operation of government systems.
Existing rules for fed records apply to e-mail
The new rule on preserving e-mail as a federal record is pretty simple: Use the same guidelines you would follow for any other document. That's the bottom line for the National Archives and Records Administration's new e-mail records rule. What it means is that users will be the government's primary electronic records-makers and managers.
GSA moves IT policy offices from IT Service into new unit
After more than a decade of shaping the government's IRM landscape, the General Services Administration's Information Technology Service is getting out of the systems procurement policy-making business. GSA Administrator Roger Johnson has drafted plans for incorporating ITS' policy functions into a new Office of Governmentwide Planning, Policy and Leadership.
Procurement reform tussle will continue on House floor
House Republicans and Democrats will take their procurement reform fight to the House floor, and a lively battle seems inevitable. The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee last month approved Rep. William F. Clinger Jr.'s procurement bill, but only after the Pennsylvania Republican assured committee Democrats they could offer amendments during floor debate. The House is expected to vote on the bill next month, committee staff members said.
Debate ends; MAS duties move
After weeks of internal debate, General Services Administrator Roger Johnson has approved the consolidation of all GSA schedule programs into a single operation run by the agency's Federal Supply Service. The shift, which officially takes effect Oct. 1, ends the Information Technology Service's role as chief negotiator and manager of the Multiple-Award Schedule information technology contracts.
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