<FONT SIZE=2>President Clinton recently said: "When times are good and the money is rolling in, you can almost have a lobotomy and be governor." He just as easily could have been talking about selling technology to the states.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The January release of two proposed rules on contract bundling again draws attention to the debate over procurement strategies and their impact on small business. But the new rules are not the only manifestation of that focus. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The president's budget proposal for fiscal 2004 cuts funds for 25 cross-agency e-government projects by nearly 24 percent, to $173.9 million, not including investments by the Defense and Federal Emergency Management Agency, to be announced next month. Thirteen projects got more money, nine projects less and two held steady.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Deirdre Lee, director of defense procurement and acquisition policy, said the General Accounting Office and Congress will be watching how Defense contracting officers implement Section 803. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The State Department is moving to strengthen its global telecommunications network, as a looming war and threatened terrorist attacks create an urgent need for reliable communications.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>When the Marine Corps needed to carve fat from operating expenses at its bases, it turned to cutting-edge accounting software from SAS Institute Inc.</FONT>
The Homeland Security Department expects to craft most of an enterprise architecture for the nation's response to terrorism by Sept. 1, CIO Stephen Cooper said today.
As the Transportation Security Administration tries to establish a results-oriented work culture, the fledgling agency is using an interim performance management system to decide who gets bonuses, government auditors said in a new report.
Secretary of Commerce Don Evans is proposing that Congress consolidate the bureaus within the department responsible for technology and telecommunications policy.
Savi Technology Inc. was awarded a three-year procurement contract by the Department of Defense, valued up to $90 million, for Radio Frequency Identification hardware and related software and services.
SI International Inc. won a one-year, $50 million contract extension to support the Air Force Space Command, North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Strategic Command.
Soon, federal agency contracting officers will be able to call on the staff of the General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service for help with contracting for professional services, GSA Administrator Stephen Perry said Wednesday.
<FONT SIZE=2>When John Engler ended his run as Michigan governor last month, after 12 years in office, and began looking for a new job, he didn't want a cushy boardroom appointment or a figurehead executive post.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The departments of Homeland Security and Defense aren't the only ones getting a boost in IT spending in President Bush's fiscal 2004 budget proposal. The Commerce Department, for example, will see its IT budget rise to a proposed $1.54 billion in 2004, a $175 million increase over the 2003 request, according to the Office of Management and Budget.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The White House is asking for significant funding increases in fiscal 2004 for Defense Department transformation efforts, such as satellite communications, space-based radar and cryptology, that are rich in information technology, a senior defense official said at a briefing last week. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The Bush administration has a new tool for measuring how well agencies and their programs are performing. Administration officials used the new Program Assessment Rating Tool, or PART, during 2004 budget process to review about 234, or 20 percent, of federal programs, according to budget documents. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The Office of Management and Budget is on a mission to search out and destroy duplicative spending on information technology products and services. </FONT>
