<FONT SIZE=2>Information technology services firms with significant work in the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security will be winners under the Bush administration's proposed $59.3 billion federal IT budget for fiscal 2004, industry executives and analysts said. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Lawmakers are pushing appropriators to restore $40 million to the E-Government Fund, money the Senate axed from the omnibus fiscal 2003 appropriations bill.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The Transportation Security Administration's effort to put federal screeners at every U.S. airport exceeded its contract by nearly $600 million, according to a new report.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Government buyers and large federal contractors will look for small-business partners at events nationwide this year through a new Small Business Administration program, sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington and Hewlett-Packard Co. of Palo Alto, Calif.</FONT>
Harris Corp. and ITT Industries Inc. have been chosen by the Federal Aviation Administration to develop competing prototypes for the agency's Next Generation Air/Ground Communications System, called NexCom.
The Commerce Department's 2004 budget request includes funding to strengthen the nation's measurement and standards infrastructure, modernize the Patent and Trademark Office, homeland security standards, and continue development of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's environmental satellites.
Information technology takes up the largest share of all research to be funded by the National Science Foundation in its proposed 2004 budget of $5.5 billion.
Anteon International Corp. won a five-year, $82 million subcontract from BearingPoint Inc. to support U.S. Navy foreign military sales for the E-2C and C-2 aircraft, the company announced today.
Seventeen companies have won contracts under the General Services Administration's Connections program, administered by the Federal Technology Service, to provide telecommunications equipment, support services and solutions to federal agencies.
Installing financial management systems could be a hot market area for systems integrators as at least four major agencies are expecting to spend more than $500 million over the next four years to overhaul their systems.
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency is increasingly relying on contractors to supply both employees and technology, its director, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper Jr., said today.
<FONT SIZE=2>In its recent report, the Volcker Commission suggested that personnel flexibilities granted to the Department of Homeland Security could serve as a model for reform across government. The same could be said for the department's procurement policies. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The sheer bulk of the multibillion-dollar federal market for commercial services represents a significant opportunity for businesses interested in working with the government. Until now, however, the government's competitive-sourcing process for commercial activities under Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-76 has been routinely criticized as counterproductive, discouraging many would-be participants from entering the market.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Silicon Graphics Inc. is trying to break open a new government market for high-end computers with a new technology that aggregates memory banks of multiple Linux machines. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md., has assembled a team to pursue a $500 million contract to build the battle management subsystem for the Air Force's Multi-Sensor Command and Control Aircraft program. </FONT>
