The circuit
- By Judi Hasson
- Jun 11, 2001
Name That Title
Before the Senate power shift June 5, at least one former chairman was
clearing off his desk with flair. Early that day, Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.)
released a two-volume report on the top management changes facing the federal
government. Because staff members of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee
compiled the findings, normally the report would have gone out under Thompson's
name as chairman. But knowing he would be reduced to ranking member, the
cover simply says "Senator Fred Thompson, Committee on Governmental Affairs."
Staying Wired
The CIOs at the Department of Health and Human Services all 13 of
them have decided that Research in Motion Ltd. BlackBerry handheld computers
are the best way to keep in touch. So far, about half of the CIOs have been
equipped with the $400 wireless devices that enable them to communicate
even if the agency e-mail system crashes. Considering the state of some
federal IT programs, a backup's a good idea.
Settling in, Sort of
The newest information technology executive at HHS is in the building.
Janet Hale was nominated for assistant secretary for management and budget that's the chief information officer, folks and awaits confirmation.
Until then, we hear she's not allowed to work in her real office and instead
is working out of temporary digs at the Humphrey Building.
That must be hard for this high- powered business executive who most
recently served as associate administrator for finance at the House of Representatives.
Hale, who has a master's degree in public administration from Harvard, was
vice president of the U.S. Telephone Association from 1995 to 1998.
Seamless Borders
The Customs Service is moving toward making modernization a reality.
IBM Global Services Inc., which recently won the $1.3 billion Customs Modernization
Prime Integration Contract, awarded $150 million to subcontractor Computer
Sciences Corp. to develop information and network security for the contract.
IBM Global also plans to lend a hand if needed to keep the aging and often
unreliable Automated Commercial System (ACS) running on life support.
"We see this holistically. We are in place for the success of Customs
operation, not just modernization," said Harry Sundberg, director of the
e-customs partnership for IBM Global. And if ACS is having problems, "IBM
is ready and willing to bring solutions," he said. Customs has launched
a Web site (www.customs.gov/modernization) to keep the public up-to-date
on its progress.
Push on Paperless
Three companies Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corp., General Dynamics Aviation
Services and BF Goodrich Aerospace are the latest firms seeking the government's
approval to go paperless. They want to make repair manuals available to
the Federal Aviation Administration on disk instead of on paper, according
to NetCompliance Inc. (www.netcompliance.com), an Internet solutions provider
that is helping many companies take the paperless route.
NetCompliance boss Krish Krishnan said, "The aviation industry could
better track, refine and methodically improve" its compliance record by
throwing out the pencils and putting it all in a computer.
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