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After an on-again, off-again search for a president and chief operating officer, CACI International Inc., Arlington, Va., has found its man. He is Ronald Ross, president of Computer Sciences Corp.'s systems engineering division who joined the company in 1981 and previously spent 20 years with the National Security Agency.

CACI has not had a president since Ray Olson left in November 1996. Since then, chairman and chief executive Jack London has been handling those duties.

Ross' appointment will strengthen CACI in several areas including security, large outsourcing projects and intelligence, London said. "This is a very strategic hire for us," he said. Ross begins work Oct. 1 and was not available for an interview.

"To lure that senior of a guy is a good move," said Thomas Meagher, an analyst with Ferris, Baker Watts, Baltimore.

London took his time finding the right
person. After Olson left to pursue other projects, London said he aggressively recruited replacements through December 1996, but was not satisfied with any of the candidates. "I went into a holding pattern for a few months," he said. About three months ago, he began his search anew.

THE YEAR 2000 SOLUTION, DEFINED

When is your year 2000 fix not a fix? When it uses different definitions and techniques from various customers and clients, that's when.

That's why a panel of experts, sponsored by the Washington-based Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Computer Society, has drafted the first standard definition of year 2000-compliant technology.

The proposed definition says a system is fixed when the "technology, including but not limited to, information technology, telecommunications, biomedical, embedded systems, or any other electromechanical or processor-based system, when used in accordance with its associated documentation, is capable of accurately processing, providing, and/or receiving date data from, into, and between the 20th and 21st centuries, and the years 1999 and 2000, including leap year calculations; provided that all other technology used in combination with said technology properly exchanges date data with it. The technology itself must independently meet these requirements, and the interfaces, when it exchanges date data, must properly exchange date data as defined herein."

And you thought a fix was a fix.

SPLITTING UP THE TELECOM PIE

The General Services Administration made its initial awards for telecommunications services to six companies. Winners of the $3 billion GSA Technical and Management Support Services contract are Science Applications International Corp., San Diego, Calif.; Booz-Allen & Hamilton Inc., McLean, Va.; Unisys Corp., McLean, Va.; Boeing Information Services Inc., Vienna, Va.; DynCorp, Fairfax, Va.; and BDM International Inc., McLean, Va.

More contractors likely will be added to the five-year contract in coming months, GSA said. The contract can provide support services to agencies as they move to the Federal Telecommunications Service 2001 contract when that is awarded.

BEHIND THE TIMES ON YEAR 2000?

At the current rate of progress, the average small business may wrap up its year 2000 problem just in time to kick back and watch the 2012 Super Bowl, according to a survey prepared by Leon Kappelman, a professor at the University of North Texas, Danton, Texas.

The 175 companies in the survey recently reported that they had completed 11 percent of their year 2000 repairs. Last year, the companies had completed only 5 percent.

Depending on how you look at it, that's only a 6 percent improvement compared to last year, justifying a predicted completion date of 2012. Alternatively, one could say the companies have doubled their completed repair work in just one year, allowing a prediction that they will fix all of their computers by mid-2000 and will manage to repair their computers four times over by the end of 2001.

ELECTIONS ARE NVTC'S FUTURE

The Northern Virginia Technology Council is trying to increase industry's clout in the upcoming elections with a new publicity campaign, dubbed "Tech Votes 97."

Complete with bumper stickers, buttons, voter registration forms and a sound bite, "Technology is Virginia's Future," the get-out-the-vote effort is intended to win legislative victories on issues such as education, transportation and taxation. Only two-thirds of the 170,000 workers in Northern Virginia's high-tech industry are registered to vote, according to a NVTC statement.

The NVTC has also applauded the "Tech Ten" legislators who have supported the NVTC's issues during the last year. The legislators include five senators and also five representatives who are up for election this November. The representatives facing re-election are Delegates Ted Bennett, D-Halifax; Alan Diamonstein, D-Newport News; Ken Plum, D-Reston; Jim Scott, D-Vienna; and David Albo, R-Springfield.

The NVTC includes such companies as Science Applications International Corp., San Diego, Calif., and Landmark Systems Corp., Tysons Corner.

WEINBACH NAMED UNISYS CEO

Unisys Corp., Blue Bell, Pa., tapped former Andersen Worldwide managing partner and chief executive Lawrence Weinbach as its new chairman, president and CEO. Weinbach replaces James A. Unruh, who announced in June that he would step down once a successor was found.

Unisys customers can expect a hands-on approach from Weinbach. "I'm a front-line executive," he said. "I like getting close to customers ... [and] hearing what they like and especially what they don't like."

Weinbach said he will spend the next few months immersing himself in the company to determine what direction to take the company. While he did not rule out selling portions of the company to reduce debt, Weinbach said he believes Unisys' debt can be reduced with the company's cash flow.

Weinbach has spent his entire career with Andersen Worldwide and served as managing partner and CEO since 1989. He stepped down from that post at the end of August to join Unisys.

INTEL, COMPAQ JOIN FORCES

Intel Corp., Santa Clara, Calif., and Houston-based Compaq Computer Corp. have allied to develop high-performance networking technologies, products and specifications. The goal of the alliance is to further industry standards and speed deployment of new networking technologies, the companies said. The companies will cooperate through licensing, cooperative engineering and product development.

CDSI and ACS FORM BILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESS

Computer Data Systems Inc., Rockville, Md., has agreed to merge with Affiliated Computer Services Inc. CDSI will become a subsidiary of the Dallas-based integrator. The deal is valued at $373 million, and is expected to be closed by the end of the year, pending shareholder approval and regulatory clearance. Special meetings of ACS and CDSI shareholders will be held in the next 90 days. After the merger, ACS will have about $1.1 billion in annual revenues.

RUNNING ON THE HIGH-TECH PLATFORM

The race for governor of Virginia is in full swing, with polls showing a neck-and-neck race between Republican Jim Gilmore and Democrat Don Beyer. To fuel their expensive TV advertising campaigns, both candidates are out furiously beating the bushes for extra funds.

According to their financial reports released Sept. 15, Beyer has raised $4.6 million and has $1.4 million still left in the bank for the rest of the campaign. Gilmore has raised $5.66 million and has $1.5 million left in the bank.

In the race for lieutenant governor, Democrat L.F. Payne has raised $1.32 million and has $700,000 left in the bank, while Republican John Hager has raised $1.3 million and has $463,000 still left in the bank.

To raise more funds, six high-tech executives from Northern Virginia, including Dendy Young, president of Government Technology Services Inc. in Chantilly, Va., will host an Oct. 15 fund-raiser for Gilmore.