Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Volume 2, Issue 33
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CONTENTS
Got Stuff?
Alliance Seeks to Secure Internet
FCC Delays Fax Rule
Funds Secure Bus Travel
Justice Statistics Are Startling
News of The Weird
FEATURES
Surplus Equipment Initiative Saves Taxpayers Money
A new surplus property collection program will be implemented throughout all Connecticut state agencies. The initiative, called Got Stuff?, will round up excess and underutilized property and equipment inventories in state government. The surplus property will be redeployed to state agencies, sold to municipalities and at public auction, and donated to nonprofit organizations.
Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland has charged all agency commissioners with identifying and implementing long-term efficiencies in state government. The Got Stuff? program is the latest effort to reduce government costs by doing business differently.
In the last year, the states fleet has been reduced by 800 vehicles, and purchasing changes have been made that will save $25 million over the next five years. Smaller state satellite and regional offices have been closed, an early retirement program was instituted, state facilities are undergoing energy-saving evaluations, state printing operations are being evaluated, and information technology staffing, software licenses, and hardware are being consolidated.
The Got Stuff? program is exactly the type of simple, common-sense program we need to make our government more efficient, Governor Rowland says. We will be expanding this program over the next several months to all our major state agencies so that everyone can benefit from usable, surplus equipment.
The Connecticut Department of Administrative Services (DAS), an agency that employed almost 1,200 employees during the mid-1990s and now employs about 300, gathered $216,274 worth of surplus equipment, including scores of computers, facsimile machines, and printers.
Early retirements and streamlining have freed up massive amounts of equipment in all state agencies, and government must evolve with those changes, says DAS Commissioner Barbara Waters. Rather than allowing those valuable assets to sit around collecting dust, the Got Stuff? campaign will result in a statewide tag sale which will benefit those who most need equipment. Everything from toner cartridges to car engines to couches will be turned in statewide and put to good use.
The governor and commissioner also noted the cooperation between DAS and the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP). Due to the Got Stuff? collection at DAS, 22 computers will be transferred to DCP and used for employee training and upgrading the agencys customer service center.
This campaign has saved our agency $48,000, says DCP Commissioner James Fleming. Instead of having to buy new equipment, we will get newer technology to better serve our customers while saving critical general fund dollars.
To assist the various state agencies with their implementations of the Got Stuff? program, DAS will be working with individual agency coordinators and advising them how to proceed with their own collections. Interested parties soon will be able to view surplus property on the DAS Web site at
http://www.das.state.ct.us Multi-Agency Group Seeks to Increase Internet Security
Imagine a procurement process in which all vendors are required to use a standard interface when dealing with myriad government agencies and offices. Imagine issuing purchase orders and no longer having to adapt to multiple identity provisioning technologies. Imagine a process in which security is assured and procurement executives can be certain of all trading partners identities.
This futuristic scenario is fast becoming government-as-usual as organizations such as the Department of Defense (DoD) and the General Services Agency (GSA) join the Liberty Alliance, a group formed in 2001 to solve the complex business and technical issues associated with assuring identity over multiple platforms and devices. Today, the Liberty Alliance represents more than 160 government agencies, businesses, and technology suppliers, along with private and educational organizations.
These organizations recognize the importance of working together to find a way to use the Internet to both improve business processes and provide vendors and constituents with better access to information. Identity management is central to accomplishing these goals and, in fact, is becoming more and more relevant as increasing numbers of transactions move online.
What exactly does the Liberty Alliance do? Liberty has established network identity management standards to create the security and trust online that people have with in-person relationships. These standards make the Internet a more secure and efficient place to do business. For example, an in-person relationship consists of elements of security, trust, convenience, and often, a shared history. A relationship in the digital world should have those same elements.
The Liberty Alliance enables improved security and efficiency in the digital world through what are called circles of trust and account federation. These new terms will become increasingly common in the coming months. A circle of trust is established when two or more organizations come together and share credentials. These organizations can then link to each other via a common authentication interface or single sign-on capability. On the vendor or constituent side, this eliminates the need for multiple passwords and re-keying identity information.
Account federation refers to the process of connecting or binding a users multiple Internet accounts within an affiliated group established among commercial or non-commercial organizations and governed by a legal agreement.
This legal issue is key. The Liberty Alliance provides a technology framework to deal with non-repudiationwhich is critical to insuring the security of financial and classified information transactions.
For example, Libertys account federation would support e-authentication, one of the Bush Administrations 24 e-government initiatives. This initiative is designed to verify (authenticate) the identity of citizens and vendors doing business with the government over the Internet and will enable the mutual trust needed to support widespread use of electronic interactions across multiple platforms. GSA, the managing partner for this initiative, is responsible for the development and implementation of infrastructure for common authentication services across the federal government. GSA participation in the Liberty Alliance is an important step toward the deployment of a common infrastructure.
The standard authentication mechanism developed by Liberty can be deployed in multiple ways to multiple communities. On the procurement side, Liberty Alliance supports:
-- Interaction with a vendor community in a standards-based way.
-- Just-in-time shipping and other back-end efficiencies.
-- Doing less with more while reducing paper and administrative overhead.
-- Improved security and reduced risk of fraud.
-- A way for different agencies and departments to interact with one another and manage intergovernmental authentication issues.
The Liberty Alliance represents the combined efforts of the public and private sector. Its support for open standards enables true interoperability and ensures that technology investments are safe from becoming obsolete.
Homeland security requires all citizens to aggressively explore new, creative methods for ensuring individual identification, information security, and proper information access, while maintaining a high degree of responsiveness, flexibility, and agility in the face of more sophisticated threats to our nation. The Liberty Alliance offers a way to deploy secure technologies and develop procurement business models for the future.
For more information on the organization, visit:
http://www.projectliberty.org TEAM MARKETING
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'DO NOT FAX' RULE IS DELAYED UNTIL 2005
Responding to angry reaction from corporations and their trade associations, the Federal Communications Commission delayed the start of its "do not fax" rule until January 1, 2005. The rule, which was to take effect next week, requires advance written permission before a commercial solicitation can be faxed to any recipient, including a company's current and former customers. The FCC said it ordered the delay to allow companies more time to gather permissions, as well as permit further study to determine if the rule should be revised. (See Federal Communications Commission press release)
Security for Intercity Bus Travel To Improve
Security for millions of Americans who travel long distance by bus will be improved with $20 million in federal funds provided by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), announced Administrator, Adm. James M. Loy today. The grants will provide for improvements to security systems and equipment for over-the-road buses.
The announcement includes approximately $20 million for 67 projects proposed by bus companies and others located in 25 states and the District of Columbia. Grant funding will be used to address a wide variety of security needs including driver protection, tracking and communications with over-the-road buses, passenger and baggage screening, security assessments and/or development of security plans, and training for transportation personnel to recognize and respond to criminal attacks and terrorist threats. Grants also will pay for physical security enhancements such as fencing, lighting, and surveillance equipment at locations where buses are parked and maintained.
MORE THAN 5.6 MILLION U.S. RESIDENTS HAVE SERVED FEDERAL TIME
More than 5.6 million adult U.S. residents were serving time or had previously served time in a state or federal prison as of the end of 2001, the Justice Departments Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. The extent of prison experience, as estimated for the first time, shows that 1 in 37 adults living in the U.S. on December 31, 2001 had been confined in prison at some time during his or her life. At the end of 2001, there were 1,319,000 adults in prison and an estimated 4,299,000 adults who were former prisoners.
Almost a third of former prisoners were still under correctional supervision, including 731,000 on parole, 437,000 on probation and 166,000 in local jails.
Between 1974 and 2001 the number of current or former inmates increased by 3.8 million men and women. This included an additional 1.1 million adults in prison (up from 216,000 inmates in 1974) and almost 2.7 million more former inmates (up from 1,603,000 former prisoners in 1974). Almost two-thirds of the increase in the number of those who had ever been incarcerated resulted from an increase in first incarceration rates. One-third of the increase was attributed to growth in the U.S. resident population and increases in life expectancy.
NEWS OF THE WEIRD: Bizarre but true stories about real people.
http://www.govpro.com/GPRONewsletter/Article/29219/ LINKS
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