NARA: Agencies must set own records policies
The burden of determining whether an electronic document must be preserved as a record will fall to agencies, a senior National Archives and Records Administration official said last week. Much to the frustration of many agencies, NARA is not likely to establish regulations for identifying among the masses of online data what is or is not a record, said Michael L. Miller, director of NARA's Modern Records Program.
Study warns of acute risk to federal infrastructure
The Clinton administration's efforts to protect the nation's critical systems infrastructure is unlikely to keep the country from averting an "electronic Waterloo," a Washington think tank recently warned. In its new report, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said there are "info-guerrillas intent on doing major damage to the citadel of capitalism, and cybergeniuses in their late teens and early 20s are the new frontline fighters, arguably more important to the nation's defense than the
Following delays, GSA releases RFP for governmentwide digital certificate service
After making significant revisions, the General Services Administration last month issued a final request for proposals for a digital certificate service to be used by agencies governmentwide. Through the Access Certificates for Electronic Services program, GSA wants a vendor to provide a certificate service that will make it possible for citizens to do business electronically with agencies. The winning vendor must establish a public-key infrastructure using commercial products.
OMB and GITS Board offer pointers on PKI use
A new report outlines how agencies can use a public-key infrastructure and digital certificates to ensure that data transmitted online is legitimate. The report, Access With Trust, discusses both internal transactions within agencies and external data exchanges with vendors, state and local governments, and citizens. The report—from the Office of Management and Budget and the Government Information Technology Services Board's Federal PKI Steering Committee—is based on the notion that citizens should be able to do more of
Will digital signature buy draw any bidders?
The General Services Administration might have customers in hand for its digital signature project, but the Access Certificates for Electronic Services project is a procurement looking for contractors. Nearly a month after GSA issued the ACES request for proposals (see story, Page 14), few big-name vendors seem interested in vying for the project to create a governmentwide digital certificate service. At a recent preproposal conference, several vendors—even some big companies such as Electronic Data Systems Corp.—said
All critical government systems will be ready, Koskinen says
The government's year 2000 czar expects that 80 percent of federal mission-critical systems will be ready by the Office of Management and Budget's March 31 deadline. John A. Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, last month told House lawmakers that his council will set separate timetables for systems that are not ready by the OMB fix-it deadline.
Clinton's proposal identifies 2000 problem as No. 1 issue
How Clinton says he'll strengthen governmentwide management Manage the year 2000 computer problem Use results to improve program management Improve financial management information Protect critical information infrastructure Strengthen statistical programs Implement acquisition reforms Implement electronic government initiatives Dealing with the year 2000 problem tops the list of priority initiatives in President Clinton's fiscal 2000 budget proposal—even though the budget will take effect six months after
CIO Council says it will focus on achieving new short-term goals
In the coming year, the Chief Information Officers Council plans to focus more on meeting short-term goals than on setting long-term objectives, according to the council's latest strategy update. Late in December, the council issued an update to its 1998 strategic plan, laying out what the plan called "long-range goals and specific initiatives of the council as it prepares to submit its first formal budget request to the Congress."
IT guru will leave OMB for new 2000 post
In his new job, Bruce McConnell will focus on international issues related to the year 2000. Bruce W. McConnell, who has led agencies through many an information technology policy change in the past 15 years from his post at the Office of Management and Budget, will now focus exclusively on year 2000 issues at a new job in a new administration office.
IT's impact and year 2000 readiness top CIOs' worry lists
Top challenges for federal systems executives have changed little over the last three years, according to an annual survey. Measuring information technology's contribution to performance and dealing with year 2000 fixes continued to dominate the third annual survey by the Association for Federal IRM. AFFIRM said the results show that IT management and meeting the objectives of the IT Management Reform Act are also chief concerns among federal IT officials.
Agencies ponder how to integrate buying reforms
Former AF exec Chip Mather says guides may help. Having developed policies to correspond with procurement reforms passed by Congress in the last few years, agencies are trying to apply them in a way that corresponds to their missions. The first step is integrating the policies, said William C. Greenwalt, senior staff member for the Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring and the District of Columbia.
White House sets up task force
The government will increase its efforts to use information technology to improve training for government employees. To that end, President Clinton this month signed an executive order forming the President's Task Force on Federal Training Technology. Clinton and Vice President Gore announced the training initiative this month at the two-day Global Forum on Reinventing Government in Washington.
GSA recommends setting fees for shared Web services
What type of fee should your agency charge for Web services? Any agency that offers centrally organized Web services needs to establish a fee-for-services policy, the General Services Administration recommends. Cost-sharing will promote efficient use of Web services, GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy said in a recently released draft version of a Web site management policy.
HCFA is 'fully focused' on year 2000 repairs, HHS IT chief says
After a poor start on year 2000 work and with much still to be done, the Health Care Financing Administration acknowledges that it is unlikely that all HCFA systems will be ready in time. Despite the setbacks, HCFA is making progress, said Neil J. Stillman, deputy assistant secretary for IRM at the Health and Human Services Department.
Justice bans Net
Fearing a potentially disastrous cyberbreach of its systems, the Justice Department has taken a hard-core stance on applets: It has banned them. Responding to security concerns, the department is blocking script code such as Java, JavaScript and ActiveX from download via the Internet or e-mail messages because of the potential risks such code poses, said Mark A. Boster, assistant attorney general for IRM and the department's deputy chief information officer.
Justice's IT guru returns to private life
Mark A. Boster's efforts toward better cooperation among Justice bureaus bore fruit, a Justice administrator says. This time Mark A. Boster says he is leaving federal service for good—he thinks. Boster, who has overseen the Justice Department's information technology operations for the last five years, will leave his post as deputy assistant attorney general for IRM and deputy chief information officer this month to return to the private sector.
GSA dips toe in PC outsourcing with PRC award
Just before year's end, the General Services Administration selected Litton PRC Inc. as the lead contractor under the Seat Management Program to take over PC operations for GSA employees. It is the first contract under the program, which GSA set up last year and for which it awarded contracts to eight vendors [GCN, July 13, 1998, Page 1]. To promote the outsourcing of PC work, GSA stepped up as the first customer.
NARA backs DOD electronic records storage policy
The National Archives and Records Administration in November endorsed the Defense Department's standard for electronic records management as a helpful aid for agencies governmentwide. Although widely anticipated—a NARA official helped write the DOD regulation—the standard is a tool agencies can use now while they await a final policy from NARA. The agency has been working on a policy on archiving electronic records since November 1997, when U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman ruled NARA's existing
Survey by Gore's group discovers government isn't quite reinvented
The five-year effort to reinvent government has failed to reach its full potential within agencies, according to the results of a recent survey by Vice President Al Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government. Of the 13,657 federal employees who responded to the survey, 35 percent said they believe their agencies have made reinvention a priority. In response to a question as to whether they understood how good performance is defined in their agencies, only 25 percent
Unemployment payments are safe, Labor says
The Labor Department found out this month that the nation's unemployment insurance systems, overseen by the federal government but run by states, are year 2000-ready. People filing claims for unemployment benefits are assigned a benefit year, which means that as of Jan. 4 unemployment insurance systems began handling dates and calculations that extend into 2000, Clinton administration officials said late last month.
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