Newsbriefs

A proposed State Departmentchange to acquisition rulesincludes new federal regulationsfor issuing identification cardsto contractors.The proposed rule wouldrequire contractors to useinteroperable, smart identificationcards to gain access to federalbuildings as required byHomeland SecurityPresidential Directive-12.Contractors requiring access tothe agency's information systemsalso would need cards.A nonpartisan ethicsgroup has launched a projectto rank the ethics and complianceprograms of governmentcontractors.The Ethisphere Institute willsolicit information from contractorsthrough Jan. 15. Theinstitute will distribute a questionnaireto collect informationand intends to use thedata to create a ranking of1,000 contractors.The Practicing Law Institute,LexisNexis and Corpedia, alongwith several corporations, createdthe institute two yearsago. The institute takes a nonconfrontationalapproach, cofounderAlex Brigham said.The goal is to recognize firmsthat are doing a good job withtheir ethics and complianceprograms and encourage othercompanies to improve theirperformance, Brigham said.Science ApplicationsInternational Corp. has promotedAmy Alving to chieftechnology officer. Alving, formerlythe company's seniorvice president, will direct theOffice of Technology. She willwork with SAIC organizationsin all areas related to scienceand technology, helping to notonly guide technology investmentsbut also develop andrecruit technical talent.Alving joined SAIC in 2005.Many state and local officialswho work at fusion centers reportproblems logging on to federalnetworks and have difficulty handlingthe high volume of informationthey get from federal authorities,according to a GovernmentAccountability Office reportissued Nov. 29.Of the 58 fusion centers surveyed,officials at 31 said theyhad trouble accessing federal systems,12 reported challengesmeeting security requirements, 18said they had trouble handlingthe high volume of informationcoming in, and 11 said theredundancy of data frommultiple sources waschallenging.Twenty-seven companiesthat were onthe Small BusinessAdministration's list ofthe Top 100 small businessesin 2006 arenowhere to be seen onSBA's 2007 list.The change reflects SBA's newsize standard policies and a 14-month effort to scrub improperlylisted businesses from the smallbusinessdatabase. Only one firmon the list had been incorrectlyclassified, 16 had outgrown theirsmall-business status, and 10 hadbeen acquired by larger companies,SBA said.The Visualization Tools forSituational Awareness andEmergency Response program ishelping the Coast Guard developsituational awareness, but morehelp is needed to track small boatsand noncooperative vessels, officialssaid.The Homeland SecurityDepartment's Science andTechnology Directorate is fundingViz Tools as a proof-of-conceptdemonstration to correlate sensorsand automated vessel-trackinginformation with advancednotification-of-arrival informationand other port activity.The planned Canadian hybriddriver's licenses that would substitutefor passports won't passmuster ? or get their holdersacross the U.S.-Canada border? a Homeland SecurityDepartment official said.DHS nixed BritishColumbia's request to use thenew IDs as is. But if the combinationlicense/border-crossingidentification cards wereupgraded to meet the requirementsof the WesternHemisphere Travel Initiative,the enhanced licenses could beused in lieu of a passport at theborder, a DHS spokeswomansaid.After evaluating 21,000comments, Homeland SecurityDepartment officials have submittedrevised federal standardsfor state driver's licensesand identification cards to satisfythe Real ID Act of 2005.The Office of Managementand Budget has until Februaryto review the rules, but it likelywon't take that long becauseDHS has kept the agency inthe loop as the changesevolved, a DHS official said.The Homeland SecurityDepartment this month willrequest proposals for helpimplementing the core of theCoast Guard's NationwideAutomatic IdentificationSystem communication system.This stage of the maritimedigital broadcast system implementationwill create a functioningcore operating systemcovering three designated areasfor initial operating capability,systems engineering, logistics,physical and logical hardwareand software for shore stations.The Defense Departmentawarded many task orderswithout competition and failedto justify going outside thedepartment for acquisitionservices, a DOD inspector general'sreport said.An audit of 98 NationalInstitutes of Health's ElectronicCommodities Store III taskorders worth $33.2 millionshowed 95 failed to give allcontractors a chance to bid,and on 31 contracting officersoffered no reasons for theawards, the report stated.In last month's soft launchof a Homeland SecurityDepartment program, foreignvisitors passing through somelanes at Dulles InternationalAirport in Virginia had all oftheir fingerprints scanned.The full launch, set for Dec.5, will cover all foreign visitors.Also, all foreigners visiting theUnited States on visas musthave a digital photographtaken and a scan of their twoindex fingers under the U.S.Visitor and Immigrant StatusIndicator Technology program.The 10-finger U.S. VISITscans are to be fully operationalat U.S. airports and allland and sea border crossingsby the end of 2008.The Homeland SecurityDepartment has deployedrobust information technologysecurity controls in itsAutomated Targeting Systemto protect air travelers' personalinformation, but key vulnerabilitiesremain, said a DHSinspector general's report.Privacy advocates have criticizedthe system since it firstdrew widespread attentionwhen described in a PrivacyAct notice a year ago, but it hasbeen operating for more than adecade in various forms.Boeing Co. and its teammateson the $8 billion SBInetcontract have established formalmentoring relationshipswith 11 small businesses. Sevenare directly with Boeing andfour are through Boeing'steammates. Boeing's protégésare: SCI Consulting Services Inc.,of Vienna, Va., and SESolutions Inc., of Reston, Va.,participate through UnisysCorp.; Technica LLC, of NorthCharleston, S.C., participatesthrough DRS TechnologiesCorp.; and SynchronizedNetwork Solutions LLC, ofPenrose, Colo., participatesthrough LGS Wireless Inc.The Homeland SecurityDepartment needs to do moreto award contracts to smalland midsize technology andinformation technology firms,the HouseHomelandSecurityCommittee'schairman saidin November.Small businessesare moreflexible than large contractorsand can react more quickly tochange, said Rep. BennieThompson (D-Miss.).It is important to make bigcompanies form strategicalliances with small and midsizecompanies so the companiescan be heard before DHSawards large contracts, hesaid.The E-Verify program uses adatabase that doesn't meetaccuracy standards set byCongress, said a U.S. Citizenshipand Immigration Servicesreport.USCIS and the SocialSecurity Administration runE-Verify, which lets employersverify Social Security numbersfor new workers. The USCISdatabase has improved inrecent years, but doesn't meetCongress' accuracy requirements,isn't up-to-date enoughto meet Illegal ImmigrationReform and ImmigrantResponsibility Act of 1996rules and remains vulnerableto errors caused by incorrectinformation submittedby employers, the reportstates.The Senate HomelandSecurity and GovernmentalAffairs Committee hasapproved its version of theInspector General Reform Actalong with three other billsaffecting agency policies on egovernment,telework and realproperty disposal.The committee alsoapproved the E-GovernmentReauthorization Act, theTelework Enhancement Actand a bill to create a test programfor agencies to dispose ofsurplus real property.The IG bill received the mostdiscussion, but none garneredany real opposition.Several TransportationSecurity Administration informationtechnology programshave not been integrated intoan effective infrastructure, andthe agency's chief informationofficer lacks authority and staffto integratethe systems,share dataand reducemanual workprocesses, according toa Homeland SecurityDepartment inspector generalreport.As part of its response tothe terrorist attacks of 2001,TSA rushed to set up securityscreening programs at 450airports.The $6.3 billion agency,which became part of DHS in2003, has continued to developnumerous IT initiatives in adecentralized fashion andstruggles to coordinate its ITsystems, the report states.