Washington Technology Bits & Bytes

AND YOU THOUGHT THE BID PROCESS WAS COMPLICATED

Talk about bad traffic in the fax lane. In its March executive report, Government Contract Advisor, a monthly information service for the federal acquisition community, produced by Thomson Legal Publishing, recounts a techno-horror tale regarding a recent bid.

A company named Brazos Roofing Inc. tried in September to send in a work repair bid to the Army Corps of Engineers via facsimile machine. After hitting snags in sending, an employee repeatedly tried to call the Corps point of contact with no success. After getting an alternative fax number, Brazos got three pages of the bid in, but ran into more problems with an interrupted transmission.

Then, the main facsimile machine at the Corps ran out of ink. When the bid finally got in, the Corps decided it was late and Brazos was at fault. Not so, countered the General Accounting Office, which ruled that the bid must be accepted.

COMPUTER READS SO COPS CAN DRIVE

When the police are in hot pursuit of a suspect, they don't have time to read the information being downloaded to their in-car laptop computers. So AT&T, Basking Ridge, N.J., HTE, Inc., San Diego, and Software Corporation of America, Orlando, Fla., have integrated their products to include a feature that will "read" the information on the computer to the police officers while they drive.

Such information includes criminal records, rap sheets, and descriptions of criminals. Regulations prohibit officers from reading while they drive.

Other features allow paging other officers from the laptop, downloading mug shots and mapping locations so the police don't get lost.

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