<FONT SIZE=2>If integrators want to look at the future of network-centric procurement, a good starting point is the Joint Vision 2010 and Joint Vision 2020 documents, said Louis Ray, president and chief executive officer of Matcom International Corp., an IT and engineering services provider in Alexandria, Va., that does work in military tactical data links. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Soon after New Year's Day, a Boeing Co. 737-400 research and test airplane will take off from Seattle. The plane, called Connexion One, will carry equipment to test satellite-based communications systems for air traffic management.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The Army is seeking sources for a monitoring and management system for its telelogistics program that can provide integrated watercraft systems management, support logistical functions and track and prioritize information. Details can be found at www.FedBizOpps.gov, Solicitation No. DAAE0703RT002. Responses are due Oct. 18.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Charleston, S.C., is planning an RFP for engineering and technical services to support experimentation and training exercises. The contractor will provide software development, engineering, operational planning, technical expertise and support and management to the involved facilities. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The Defense Information Systems Agency is issuing a request for proposals for the Joint Staff Support Center for an Integrated Information Management System. Support services will be needed for three sites at the Pentagon and one at Fort Detrick, Md. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Mark Forman, the administration's e-gov czar, is waiting for industry to bring government the next iteration of customer relationship management. </FONT>
Fast feds:<FONT SIZE=2> The main Web page for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services loaded in less than half a second, among the fastest on the Web, according to benchmarker Keynote Systems Inc. Other speedy sites: FBI, Supreme Court, Centers for Disease Control and Library of Congress, all loading in less than a second.</FONT>
Whatever the White House's new draft cybersecurity plan lacked in specific requirements for the private sector, it more than made up for in proposed spending to improve security at federal agencies.
<font SIZE="2">Even though Congress has failed to agree as of this writing on any of the 13 spendingbills for fiscal 2003, lawmakers are expected to approve the president's $52 billionspending request for information technology products and services.</font>
<font SIZE="2">Cybersecurity strategy</font><font SIZE="2">The White House Sept. 18 released a draftwith a 60-day comment period. The plan sets out security recommendations for home computerusers, businesses, industries and government agencies. The plan pushes the philosophy thatthe federal government cannot act alone in protecting against cyberattacks. </font>
The number and size of bundled contracts issued by federal agencies has reached a 10-year high, to the detriment of small business, according to a new report issued Oct. 2 by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Federal agencies are making much greater use of governmentwide agency contracts, or GWACs, to meet their information technology requirements. Technology-related orders from GWACs have more than doubled over the past four years, from $1.1 billion in fiscal year 1997 to $2.4 billion in 2001, according to Input Inc., a Chantilly, Va. market research and consulting company.
<!--HEADING--><font SIZE="2">Address:</font><!--/HEADING--> <!--STORY--> <font SIZE="2">General Accounting Office</font> <!--/STORY--> <!--STORY--> <fontSIZE="2">441 G St. NW</font> <!--/STORY--> <!--STORY--> <font SIZE="2">Washington, D.C. 20548</font> <!--/STORY--> <!--STORY--> <fontSIZE="2">(202) 512-5500</font> <!--/STORY--> <!--STORY--> <font SIZE="2">www.gao.gov</font> <!--/STORY--> <!--STORY--> <font SIZE="2">Founded:1921</font> <!--/STORY--> <!--STORY--> <font SIZE="2">Comptroller general: David Walker</font> <!--/STORY--> <!--STORY--> <font SIZE="2">Employees:3,275</font> <!--/STORY--> <!--STORY--> <font SIZE="2">What it does: GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency,often referred to as the watch dog for Congress. It studies how the federal governmentspends money and advises Congress and federal agencies on what it finds, with recommendedactions if necessary. GAO evaluates programs, audits expenditures and issues legalopinions.
In the post-Sept. 11 world, corporations must confront numerous liability issuesrelated to terrorism. One is the liability of the corporation, its directors and officersfor business decisions related to a company's preparedness for terrorist attacks.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Steve Cooper, then chief information officer for Corning Inc., was speaking at a CIO forum aboard a ship sailing under a British flag in New York harbor. After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Coast Guard asked the ship, because it was under a foreign flag, to go out to open sea. One day and 200 hundred miles later, Cooper and the passengers disembarked in Boston. Angry, Cooper -- who had served in the Navy during the Vietnam era -- tried to figure out what he could do personally to make a difference in the new national situation.
With more and more federal agencies relying on outsourcing, contractors are providing a wide variety of support services on behalf of the government, including travel arrangements, fingerprinting and various security checks on people and banking services to agency employees. Many contractors, however, are unaware that in taking on these contracts, they now are subject to the terms of the Privacy Act of 1974.</FONT>
