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Eye On The Border
With President George W. Bush sending National Guardsmen to assist Border Patrol, more eyes are looking at funding for Bush's $1.3 billion Secure Border Initiative.
Congressional committees say they want to see a strategic plan for the Secure Border Initiative before approving the funding. Rep. Harold Rogers asked, "How do you know that items such as $100 million in technology and $51 million in desert tactical infrastructure are needed? When presented with questions like this, we apply a simple formula: "No plan equals no money." "
Rogers also said the government has spent millions on "elaborate border technology that, eventually, has proven to be ineffective and wasteful," such as the Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System and America Shield Initiative. He refers to the SBI as just another three-letter acronym for failure.
Tapping Existing Contracts for Future Emergencies
The Office of Federal Procurement Policy is heading up the development of a database for emergency response contracting. The Homeland Security Department and the General Services Administration are collecting information on existing contracts that agencies could buy products and services through in emergency situations.
The need for the database is part of the lessons learned from the government's problems with hurricanes Katrina and Rita last summer. One government official complained that employees initiated new contracts because they didn't know what was already in place. The agencies are also developing an online list of federal experts who can respond during emergency situations. Maintaining current government contacts becomes even more critical for channel partners and manufacturers, as trust and reliability continue to weigh purchasing decisions.
The Mail Must Go Through
The U.S. government is a major user of teleconferencing technology for business and planning meetings, and as you would imagine, for emergency communications. The U.S. Postal Service in Washington DC and other regional locations across the country utilize Forum Communication's systems to support their conference calls.
Because of the versatility and durability of the Consortium Conference Server, post office officials were able to utilize teleconferencing around the clock during the hurricanes and floods that struck the southeast last year. Their conference system allowed this critical agency to provide support for the remote mail processing stations, postal employees and customers. For technical details on the new 2006 Consortium II, or click on Consortium II.
