Who's Who in 2004: The List

Profiles of the companies in Washington Technology's 2004 State & Local Who's Who.

Buy Lines: Ensure contractor ethics with close attention, not new laws

It is often said that good people don't need laws to tell them how to act responsibly, while bad people always look for ways around the law. While we can establish norms of conduct, we cannot legislate behavior.

OMB should clarify A-76 rules

The Professional Services Council asked the Office of Management and Budget to clarify which agency personnel have authority to contest an award under a standard public-private competition under Circular A-76.

Billions lurk in new telecom work

The departments of Defense and Homeland Security are preparing four new communications and network projects that will generate billions of dollars in business for IT, wireless and telecom companies.

New procurement provisions set

The Federal Acquisition Regulations councils raised the micropurchase and simplified acquisition thresholds for agencies dealing with potential nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological attacks. The changes were made in an interim rule published Feb. 23 in the Federal Register. The rule takes effect immediately. Comments on the rule are due April 23 via e-mail to 022@gsa.gov.

Web tools to aid maintenance

The Army Corps of Engineers is looking for a developer of Web-based tools to make better use of its geo-information system data. The tools will help in identifying and classifying roads and trails on military installations and modeling their impact on sedimentation within watersheds.

First SmartBuy deal hard won

ESRI of Redlands, Calif., last month became the first vendor to sign on to SmartBuy, the federal government's enterprisewide software licensing initiative, following nine months of hard work by the company and federal agencies to create the agreement.

Share the pain, reap the gain

California is facing a $15 billion budget shortfall, and it doesn't have a lot of money to throw at new information technology initiatives. So state CIO Clark Kelso said government agencies will aggressively pursue share-in-savings contracts with their vendors.

Boeing eyes network-centric market

Boeing Co. aims to capture half of the $200 billion the Pentagon is expected to spend on network-centric operations during the next 10 years, a Boeing official said.

Lack of net-centricity could cost IT programs

The Defense Department might cut funds of information technology programs that don't have network-centric attributes.

Northrop-Siemens team for USPS

Northrop Grumman Corp. has teamed with Siemens Dematic Postal Automation LP, Arlington, Texas, to compete in the Postal Service's Flats Sequencing System/Delivery Point Packaging program.

SBC gets crossover status

A unit of SBC Communications Inc. has won the right to compete for telecommunications services that federal agencies will buy in 2004. Analysts estimate this business is worth about $12.5 billion.

DOD offers buying rules

The Defense Department in February proposed publishing 14 new rules in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement to streamline the acquisition process.

Big contracts ready to roll

Federal IT and command and control contract awards of more than $1 million totaled $6.7 billion in January 2004, a decline from January 2003. But contract awards likely will increase soon, according to a report from Reston, Va.-based research firm Input Inc.

GSA ponders big changes to Networx

The federal government's proposed $10 billion Networx telecommunications and networking program could get a dramatic makeover following a General Services Administration review of industry complaints and suggestions.

OMB lays out plans for five new SmartBuy deals

The Office of Management and Budget clarified goals for the SmartBuy governmentwide software licensing program and detailed plans to put five enterprise deals in place by October.

GSA tells lawmakers Networx can be improved

The General Services Administration is considering major changes to its $10 billion telecommunications governmentwide acquisition follow-on contract to FTS 2001.

SAIC: Come on in, the water's great

Science Applications International Corp. wants you to know it has built a tent so big that the company hopes to fit 2,500 vendors?including competing systems integrators ? inside.

DOD proposes new acquisition rules

The Defense Department this week proposed publishing 14 rules in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement that would streamline the acquisition process.

Northrop taps Siemens division to compete for Postal contracts

Northrop Grumman Corp. has teamed with Siemens Dematic Postal Automation LP to compete in the Postal Service's Flats Sequencing System/Delivery Point Packaging program.