<FONT SIZE=2>	The Washington State Office of Deaf and Hard of Hearing is planning an RFP for a vender to help develop a superior Braille TTY device. The procurement should be released in February. The office has been working with deaf-blind individuals and technical instructors to determine the type of Braille TTY is best for them to use. A proof of concept for a device has been developed, and the state now wants a vender to refine and produce it.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>	The Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration will release a request for proposals in February for a contractor to develop a data warehouse component for the state's Medicaid management information system, called TennCare.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>	IBM Corp.'s withdrawal from the competition for the Georgia Convergent Communications Outsourcing Project has pushed the $1.8 billion project to the brink of cancellation, according to analysts and industry experts. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The elections. The economy. The graying work force. Chief information officer resignations. All these are shaping technology strategies within the public sector and leading to one conclusion: State and local government organizations face a monumental challenge this year.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Been there, done that.</FONT><FONT SIZE=2>California most likely will not re-establish a statewide technology office this year after the old one was shut down in 2002 for malfeasance.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Arlington County, Va., needs test and audit services to ensure the county's compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The services will be the last phase of a five-phase plan by the county. The other phases have been awareness, assessment and gap analysis, compliance strategy development and remediation. The RFP is expected in the first quarter of 2003.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>	Washington state wants to develop a statewide enhanced 911 automatic location identification and selective database system. The system will use national industry standards and will consolidate up to 39 Washington county E-911 systems. A request for information received little response when it was released in mid-2002, but the state procurement office intends to move forward by the end of 2003.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The Florida State Technology Office wants to build a statewide infrastructure for technical and business solutions. The infrastructure will be called the MyFloridaNet Initiative. The initiative will provide improved service delivery and resiliency and enhanced cost performance though a more efficient communication platform. The project also is aimed at eliminating stovepiped systems. An invitation to negotiate is expected this month. FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Atlanta's Bureau of Purchasing and Real Estate wants to build a citywide wireless network. The contractor will design and build wireless fidelity networks at selected city-owned facilities, and will serve as network manager. The length and value of the contract have not been determined. The request for proposals is expected in the third quarter of 2003.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Technology companies hoping to protect or even expand their work with cash-strapped state governments will need to step forward with solutions that can produce short-term savings or generate badly needed revenue for state customers. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The federal government is extending its buying power to state and local governments through a small provision in the E-Government Act of 2002, which Congress passed last month.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Now and then, market forces in state and local government align such that significant new business opportunities emerge seemingly overnight. On these all-too-infrequent occasions, there is a near ideal match between the needs of government buyers and what the information technology industry is selling.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Georgia governor-elect Sonny Perdue is expected to support the state's groundbreaking $1.8 billion telecommunications outsourcing project when he takes office next month, because the project will help him deliver on a pair of key campaign promises.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The Ohio Rehabilitation and Correction Department wants to buy a new cashier and commissary system. The RFP is expected in December or January. The new system will be formatted in Windows NT and Oracle 8. It will connect the information from 31 separate penitentiaries to a central office database for aggregating data. Each institution, however, will maintain its own records.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The Minnesota Metropolitan Council is soliciting proposals from vendors to replace its fixed-route scheduling and garage operations software for its Metro Transit operations. The RFP is expected this month. Metro Transit provides mass transit bus services to Minneapolis and St. Paul and outlying areas. The new system will provide long-term stability, significant cost savings over the current system and more efficient work processes. The scheduling system is mandatory; the addition of an integrated garage operations system is a desired option.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Energy, Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife, is planning to procure a point-of-sale-system for fishing and hunting licenses. The RFP is expected in the first quarter of 2003. There are about 300 sale points for the licenses. The project is expected to be worth $4 million.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans to release a solicitation to buy a highway asset capture system. The request for proposals is expected by the end of January. The cabinet wants to use technology advances to reduce duplication of effort and allow for greater data sharing. It also wants a system to capture, store and migrate data into its existing highway information system database.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>It only takes one day to change the nature of government. With the outcome of the elections Nov. 5, there is a new political reality at the federal level: One party now controls the executive office and both houses of Congress.</FONT>
<b>Telecom services<br></FONT></b><FONT SIZE=2>The Department of Aviation for Miami-Dade County, Fla., needs a contractor for telecom services. The request for proposals is expected by year's end. The length of the contract has not been released, but it is expected to be worth about $50 million.<br><br>
<FONT SIZE=2>Now that the National Association of State Chief Information Officers has gained a seat at the table with federal CIOs in shaping policies that affect both federal and state governments, the organization intends to forge the same collaborative relationship with local government.</FONT>
