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GovExec.com Today
August 18, 2004
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In this issue:
* Military counseling services will stay in place
* Navy appoints new leader for NMCI
* Auditors critical of DHS's initial IT strategy
* Lawmakers worry that homeland security overshadows civil rights
* Policymakers preach patience in intelligence reform
* Panelists revisit inability to share anti-terrorism data
* Today's column: Management Matters
* The Earlybird: Today's headlines
* Quote of the day
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1. Military counseling services will stay in place
By Shane Harris
The General Services Administration has extended a contract to provide mental health
and counseling services to military service members, a move that likely will please
Defense Department officials, but roil industry executives who have complained that
the contract was unfairly awarded.
GSA awarded a "bridge contract" to Ceridian Corp. so that the company could continue
providing services under the Military One Source project, an online resource for
service members and their families to obtain various mental health and counseling
services, including referrals to physicians. The contract, which took effect Aug. 8,
expires in six months. At that time, GSA will hold a new competition, said agency
spokeswoman Mary Alice Johnson.
The One Source contract has been subject to controversy since last year, when it was
discovered that a unit of GSA made the award using a contract designed for information
technology services, not counseling. The unit, the Federal Technology Service, is
under investigation by the GSA inspector general for similar misuse of technology
contracts in some of its 11 regional offices. FTS procures goods and services on
behalf of other agencies for a fee. The Denver regional office handled the One Source
contract for the Defense Department.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081704h1.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081704h1.htm
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2. Navy appoints new leader for NMCI
By David McGlinchey
Navy Secretary Gordon England has appointed a new chief to lead the development of
the Navy Marine Corps Intranet, a program awash in controversy and delays.
Rear Adm. James Godwin will take the reins of NMCI, a huge, secure computer system
designed to connect all Navy and Marine Corps personnel. Texas-based defense
contractor EDS is developing the intranet, which could end up costing the Navy more
than $8 billion by the time all users are connected. In June, England announced that
Rear Adm. Charles Munns was leaving the program to become the submarine force
commander for the Atlantic Fleet. Program officials believe he will leave NMCI in
October. The Navy announced Godwin's appointment on Aug. 6.
In a June interview, Munns acknowledged that the program has had some troubles, but he
told Government Executive that it has passed its "tipping point" and is improving
rapidly. The program continues to be faced with criticism, from senior officers to
mid-level civilian managers. Service personnel complain that NMCI has poor
connectivity, slow delivery and an inability to handle all the functions performed by
legacy technology.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081704d1.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081704d1.htm
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3. Auditors critical of DHS's initial IT strategy
By Amelia Gruber
The Homeland Security Department's draft plan for upgrading and merging computer
systems from the 22 agencies forming the department isn't well thought out, government
auditors cautioned in a new report.
A preliminary version of the department's strategy for integrating technology, called
the "enterprise architecture," is missing "key elements," the Government
Accountability Office stated in the report (GAO-04-777). For example, the plan fails
to rank the relative importance of the department's various computer systems, and
lacks comprehensive procedures for securing information during transfers.
The draft technology strategy, published last September, also draws heavily from
"existing architectures of several of the department's predecessor agencies, along
with their respective portfolios of system investment projects," according to the
report. In part because Homeland Security officials conceived the IT plan about five
months before the department published a broad overall business plan, the technology
strategy looks like the "sum of component agencies' business strategy parts," GAO
found.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081704a1.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081704a1.htm
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4. Lawmakers worry that homeland security overshadows civil rights
By Chris Strohm
The FBI was criticized for conducting surveillance on activists during a
congressional hearing Tuesday called to consider a broad range of options that would
increase the government's homeland security powers.
Two Democratic lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee said the FBI may
have gone too far by monitoring people and groups across the country planning to
protest at the Republican National Convention in New York from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2. The
New York Times reported on the surveillance effort on Monday.
The hearing touched on a range of ideas for increasing security measures in response
to the final report from the 9/11 commission, such as creating a networked system of
databases that allows law enforcement officials to access broad information about
people, and developing a national identification card for U.S. citizens. Lawmakers and
witnesses alike expressed concern for preserving civil liberties while increasing
security.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081704c1.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081704c1.htm
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5. Policymakers preach patience in intelligence reform
By Chloe Albanesius, National Journal's Technology Daily
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin on Tuesday
hesitated to fully support the immediate creation of a national intelligence post.
A national director "could conceivably lead to some efficiencies in some aspects of
intelligence collection and some modest but indefinable improvement in the support
those agencies provide to other elements of the government," Rumsfeld told the Senate
Armed Services Committee.
But he urged lawmakers to make sure that the possible consolidation of the National
Security Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National
Reconnaissance Office outside of the Defense Department would "help resolve the
intelligence-related problems and difficulties we face and not create additional
problems."
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081704tdpm2.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081704tdpm2.htm
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Brought to you by the Graduate School, USDA
{ Link:
http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;10123875;5622871;f?http://www.grad.usda.gov/ecqs }
{Image: Brought to you by Graduate School, USDA}
Need to learn how to write ECQ statements?
The Graduate School, USDA offers a one-day { Link:
http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;10123875;5622871;f?http://www.grad.usda.gov/ecqs }
ECQ writing course that teaches participants the competencies that comprise each ECQ,
as well as the history of the Senior Executive Service, with a focus on policies,
demographics and statistics along with the application process and procedures. The
course features self-assessments, coaching and an opportunity for follow-up.
Upcoming Sessions in Washington, D.C.
-- Tuesday, September 14, 2004
-- Thursday, November 4, 2004
{ Link:
http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;10123875;5622871;f?http://www.grad.usda.gov/ecqs }
For more information and to register, please click here.
_____
6. Panelists revisit inability to share anti-terrorism data
By Greta Wodele, National Journal's Technology Daily
Three years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, intelligence officers at
agencies like the CIA and FBI still do not have open access to each other's databases.
Former New Jersey Republican Gov. Thomas Kean, the chairman of an independent
commission that investigated the attacks, simply replied "no" on Tuesday when asked if
intelligence agencies have computer interface capability. He added that intelligence
officials have not provided a timeline for such action but said, "They're working on
it."
Kean and Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic House member from Indiana,
testified before the House Homeland Security Committee on the so-called 9/11
Commission's recommendations to bolster information sharing.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081704tdpm1.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081704tdpm1.htm
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7. Today's column: Management Matters
Managing Information
The government's inability to assess Iraq's weapons programs represents a failure of
management.
Full column: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081804mm.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/081804mm.htm
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8. The Earlybird: Today's headlines
Get links to the top news of the day:
{ Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/ebird.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/ebird.htm
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9. Quote of the day
"DHS runs the risk that its efforts and investments will not be well integrated, will
be duplicative, will be unnecessarily costly."
-- Government Accountability Office report on { Link:
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=29242&dcn=todaysnews }
information technology strategy at the Department of Homeland Security.
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