News in brief
Stanley Associates Inc. has filed for an initial public offering of stock that could raise more than $130 million. Stanley will use the IPO money to pay off a $100 million loan it took in February to buy Morgan Research Corp.
Phil Nolan, president and CEO of Stanley Associates
Zaid Hamid
According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Stanley will use the IPO money to pay off a $100 million loan it took in February to buy Morgan Research Corp. Other proceeds will be used to fund additional growth including more acquisitions.
Stanley had $285.1 million in revenue for the year ended March 31. Stanley is ranked No. 58 on Washington Technology's 2006 Top 100 list of the largest federal IT contractors.
Senate extends card deadline
The postponement applies to the People Access Security Services (Pass) smart card, which would be issued to Americans, Canadians and Mexicans who frequently cross the U.S. border.
Feds fail to guard private data
Although agencies that use data mining, in which large amounts of data from different sources are aggregated, searched and analyzed, took many necessary steps, none followed all key procedures, the GAO official said.
Clearance conundrum
The Information Technology Association of America proposed a fully legislative overhaul of the granting procedure.
Montoni returns to Maximus
A settlement has been reached with the employee, who has since left the company, Maximus said in a press release.
Taking over as CEO is Richard Montoni, who earlier this year left his Maximus post as chief financial officer.
DHS to fund pandemic watch
The system will aggregate and integrate data from food, agricultural, public health and environmental monitoring as well as public and private sector intelligence organizations.
TWIC procurement in the wings
Jackson added in subsequent remarks to reporters that the department seeks to jump-start the Transportation Security Administration program with $15 million in funds drawn from other agency funds.
DHS restores iris scans
Contractors now have the option of collecting and enrolling iris scans in addition to 10 fingerprints they must collect from people for the program. Iris scans alone will not be sufficient for enrollment, however.
Hold the money
The committee approved $33.1 billion in spending for the department for fiscal 2007, but withheld $1.3 billion until DHS responds with requested data.
Army to revisit ITES-2
Most of the protests lack merit, officials said, but the department will look again at the bids because it must re-evaluate so-called subfactor data, which could affect ratings and, conceivably, awards.
DHS illegal-alien nets stultify
The problems predate the agency's creation in 2003.
For example, an IT upgrading project initiated five years ago was scuttled by poor system performance and compatibility problems.
Although a new contract for the pro-ject was awarded in December 2004, scant progress has been made, the IG said.
IBM, Alvarion join for wireless
The companies have tested their WiMax solution, which comprises IBM's suite of mobile applications built on Alvarion's broadband and mobile wireless systems, in a pilot project for a Fresno, Calif., public safety network.
House Dems urge SBA reform
The bill would increase the federal government's small-business prime contracting goal from 23 percent to 30 percent.
The Empowering the Next Generation by Investing in the Nation's Entrepreneurs Act also would reduce the cost of SBA's 7(a) loan program, its largest, long-term lending program.
DHS to rate local interop plans
Chertoff emphasized that interoperable radio communications have stalled mainly because of problems cities and regions have in agreeing on governance plans for the systems. Such plans include protocols for which types of communications have priority in a disaster situation.
Trailblazer 'overachieved'
Considering the Trailblazer's cost overruns and delays, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked Hayden why he claimed the program "overachieved."
"What my memory tells me I said was that a lot of the failure in the Trailblazer program was in the fact we were trying to overachieve," Hayden said. NSA "went far too much with industry" and "should have had more government participation" in Trailblazer.
"Sixty percent of the difficulty in the program was just the raw difficulty of the challenge. The other 40 percent were things that were within our control," Hayden said.
Aging IT clogs detention
The Deportable Alien Control System began in 1984. However, the system "does not contain or is not capable of readily furnishing key information for reliable assessments," the IG said. For example, it cannot show how many aliens are categorized as mandatory for detention, and how many failed to show for immigration hearings.
Poll: Cybersecurity a big concern
As a result some adults aren't making purchases online, among other activities, the alliance said. Also in the survey, 70 percent of likely voters agreed that Congress should pass a strong data security law.
Two IDs for merchant marines
The proposed rule would require merchant mariners to have the Transportation Workers Identification Credential to document the worker's identity as well as a new consolidated mariner form to document the mariner's professional skills and capabilities.
DHS uses non-profit's cyberware
The DHS Office of Procurement Operations said it is awarding a one-year, sole-source contract to the Center for Internet Security for the tools. The agency did not specify the contract's value.
States assess privacy laws
At press time, 12 more states were expected to sign subcontracts.
The national health IT coordinator's office also added $5.7 million to the $11.5 million contract with RTI for a total value of $17.2 million.
Lunar Lander face-off
NASA and the X-Prize Foundation will conduct a $2 million Lunar Lander Analog Challenge at the X-Prize Cup Expo in Las Cruces, N.M., Oct. 20-22.
OMB: Laws blunt savings efforts
Those savings could be restricted in the future, OMB warned. Because it is expensive to develop bids, and those bids would be shared with agencies to enable a cost comparison, contractors may be reluctant to bid the jobs, the OMB report said.
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