Leading corporations have adopted strategic sourcing and enterprise spend-management initiatives to improve efficiency and enhance the bottom line. Some government agencies are watching and preparing to follow suit.
	The National Imagery and Mapping Agency changed its name to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to better reflect its intelligence capabilities. The change was mandated in the 2004 Defense Authorization Act. The agency's Web site is www.nga.mil.
	Saying it doesn't have enough employees to safeguard contractors' confidential information, NASA officials proposed changes meant to strengthen protection of proprietary data when it must be disclosed to non-NASA support workers.
	Congress is increasingly convinced that commercial software tools are adequate for the data mining and analysis requirements of fighting terrorism and protecting personal data from misuse. But agencies charged with countering terrorism are slow to evaluate and adopt available tools, said Patrick Murray, staff director and chief counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Market valuations for publicly traded government IT companies rose an average of 17 percent over the last six months, according to Input Inc., a Reston, Va.-based IT market research firm.
	The Army Corps of Engineers is looking for munitions response and related services at former defense sites, active Defense Department installations, base realignment and closure sites, property adjoining defense installations and other sites.
	The Energy Department is conducting a market survey to identify small businesses to provide specialized support services to the Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology. The department wants companies to provide support of space nuclear reactor power systems, evaluation of radioisotope nuclear power requirements and power source designs. The contractors also will provide assistance on launch activities involving nuclear materials and terrestrial and marine nuclear systems.
	The Transportation Department is doing market research to make a build vs. buy decision for a Web-based, enterprisewide, acquisition management information system.
	For months, the telecommunications industry has been waiting to learn whether WorldCom Inc. will be debarred from government procurements because of problems with its accounting practices and record-breaking bankruptcy.
Washington revolves around relationships. Knowing the right people and belonging to the right organizations are critical to getting business done. <b>Steve Charles</b>, executive vice president of immixGroup Inc., wants to join the Coalition for Government Procurement, a well-connected industry group representing companies that hold contract schedules with the General Services Administration. The coalition's close ties with GSA make it a key organization for schedule-holders such as immixGroup. But the coalition won't let immixGroup join, Charles said.
Congress is increasingly convinced that commercial software tools are adequate for the data mining and analysis requirements of fighting terrorism and protecting personal data from misuse.
The Defense Department, NASA and the General Services Administration have jointly proposed changing the Federal Acquisition Regulation to overhaul the database that tracks companies excluded from federal procurements.<br>
The Homeland Security Department's border systems modernization is receiving renewed congressional scrutiny just as the agency is seeking proposals for the massive overhaul.
Language in the fiscal 2004 Transportation-Treasury spending bill that would have curtailed some new procedures for competition of federal jobs has been altered in an omnibus spending bill.
In October, the Agriculture Department issued a report on its competitive sourcing program, from which one could infer that competition at DoA is, indeed, DOA.
	A lack of money and coordination at the state and local level is delaying implementation of Enhanced 911 emergency service for cellular phones, according to a General Accounting Office report.
