News briefs

Public-sector spending on commercial informationtechnology and support services willgrow by 5 percent during the next five years,from $66 billion in 2007 to about $90 billionin 2013, according to a new report fromHouston business advisory firm EquaTerra.The increase reflects government efforts todeal with constrained budgets, underfundedmandates and the wave of retiring babyboomers from government service,EquaTerra said.The indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)has many Alaskansworried about the flow offederal funds into the state,according to theWashington Post.Stevens used his leadershiprole on theAppropriations Committee to funnel moneyand programs to the state. He was the architectof the 1971 law that created AlaskaNative Corporations, now well-known playersin the government IT market.Some Defense Department business systemsmodernization projects need to be better justified,defined and managed, the GovernmentAccountability Office said in a recent report.GAO designated DOD's business systemsmodernization program as high risk in 1995,but DOD continues to invest billions in thousandsof large, complex and critical businesssystems, GAO said.The Defense Department is accepting publickeyinfrastructure certificates from CertipathLLC, an external provider whose membershipincludes several major defense contractors,the company has announced.Certipath is a joint venture of PKIproviders Arinc Inc., Exostar LLC andBelgian firm SITA SC.Voice-over-IP phone calls to 911 numbers willhave the same access and protections as other911 technologies according to a measurerecently signed by President Bush.The New and Emerging Technologies 911Improvement Act seeks to ensure 911 serviceis available during an emergency. Some VOIPnetworks are already able to connect 911 systems.Oracle Corp. last month made claims thatrival SAP knowingly bought an illegal operationthat was set up to steal Oracle productsand customers, the Associated Pressreported.The allegations are part of a fraud casethat Oracle brought against SAP last yearinvolving SAP's acquisition of softwaremaintenance developer TomorrowNow.Oracle alleges TomorrowNow hackedOracle computers to access confidentialinformation.The Homeland Security Departmentannounced a boost in grants from last year's$1.7 billion to $1.8 billion, primarily to statesand cities, to help strengthen local homelandsecurity response.A total of 60 urban areas, including 14 newones, are eligible for $782 million in DHS'Urban Area Security Initiative grant programfor fiscal 2008, up from 46 cities last year. Nocities were dropped from the list this year.The $26 million in total compensation thatLockheed Martin Corp. Chairman and ChiefExecutive Officer Robert Stevens earns makeshim the highest paid executive in theWashington region, according to a WashingtonPost survey.Other Washington government contractingcompany executives on the top 10 listinclude: General Dynamics Corp. chairmanand CEO Nicholas Chabraja, $18.5 million;Michael Laphen, Computer Sciences Corp.'schairman and CEO, with $13.3 million; andformer CSC chairman and CEO VanHoneycutt with $12.5 million.Responding to a sharply critical GovernmentAccountability Office report on the DefenseContract Audit Agency, Sen. Claire McCaskill(D-Mo.) is demanding the resignations ofDCAA supervisors who pressured employeesto soften audit results on federal contractors.The agency is caught in what could be the"biggest audit scandal in the history of thistown," McCaskill said.