November 16th, 2009

Tickets.com services for Vancouver Winter 2010 Olympic Games crashes during first release of tickets

Posted by Doug Hanchard @ November 16, 2009 @ 3:56 AM

Categories: Canada, Commerce, Contracting, Web, Web services, Winter Olympic Games

Tags: Ticket, Tickets.com, Web Site Development, Web Technology, Internet, Doug Hanchard

Vancouver Olympic organizers must be getting nervous as the entire year has been plagued with challenges beyond its control. People looking to buy tickets for the Vancouver Winter 2010 Olympics wound up shutting down the system Saturday morning (14^th) after the system crashed with high volumes of ticket requests. Complicating the system’s capability, are the limits on how many tickets one person can buy online. The system is now back up and running smoothly later in the day.

November 17th - Correction: The shutdown was on November 7th, ONE WEEK PRIOR, delaying the official launch date and rescheduled to Nov 14th. During the relaunch, the site operated without any outages. In an telephone interview with Chaeli Walker, Marketing Manager for Tickets.com, states that the problem was not caused by Tickets.com but by a partner that creates the virtual waiting room portion of the ticket site web portal. Their official statement reads as follows;

“Tickets.com is very disappointed that the on-sale for the remaining tickets for the Vancouver Olympics was delayed a week due to technical issues.  These issues were not a result of a Tickets.com system failure but of a configuration error by an upstream partner who provides our Virtual Waiting Room services.” 

End Correction 

The Olympic Games have been controversial in Vancouver as many of the projects have gone over budget with many of the projects requiring government guarantees due to the credit crisis last year.  Two of the official suppliers went through bankruptcy (Nortel and General Motors) and the last thing the Vancouver Olympic Organizers (VANOC) needed was any more glitches - and then it happened.  According to a CBC report, some ticket buyers tried for up to 40 minutes - just to log onto the website just to register to get tickets - without success. Over 100,000 tickets were released for sale, including the hottest event, the Gold Medal hockey game.

Tickets.com was awarded the contract for the system in January 2008. It’s not known if Sun Microsystems, the official server system for the games, which is being acquired by Oracle, is the hardware supplier for the Ticket.com solution. Bell Canada supplies all internet and internal network connectivity for the website servers and VANOC operations.

March 9th, 2009

Feedback on federal contracting

Posted by Richard Koman @ March 9, 2009 @ 12:07 PM

Categories: Contracting, Government 2.0, Government technology

Tags: Information Technology, U.S. Congress, Financial Crisis, Government IT, Government, Vertical Industries, Enterprise Software, Software, Richard Koman

Writing over the weekend about Vivek Kundra, I said that if Obama planned to seriously make government more efficient, he would need to reform contracting:

[Without reform], government IT will never match the private sector’s and more importantly we will continue to waste taxpayer money at a time when we can least afford to do so. If reform succeeds it will benefit government and taxpayers for decades to come.

I received two interesting comments that pushed back on that sentiment.

As a former USAF acquisition person — currently teaching government contracting — my response is “good luck.” The Federal Acquisition Regulations are passed by Congress (not the Executive). They drive average acquisition lead times to almost two years in order to get through all the hoops. Unless Congress is willing to step to the plate and reduce some of the requirements for small business and other set-asides; to shorten the time for competitive responses; and lots more — we are not going to get anywhere. By the way, no-bid contracts are a thing of war as far as DOD is concerned. A no-bid contract is almost unheard of except in emergencies.

I don’t really have an opinion on whether Congress will be able to do this. I admit it seems unlikely but I would suggest that the ONLY way it could happen would be for the Administration to make the push and to push hard for Congress to reform the rules. I think this is an area that will fit under the “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste” umbrella. The financial crisis is obligating the government to spend huge amounts of money, Republicans are asking for fiscal discipline (which is of course the worst possible thing to do in a deep recession but Obama is promising line-by-line scrutiny to cut unnecessary costs). I have no doubt that billions can be saved by allowing the government to operate more freely, by contracting with less red tape and more accountability — that is, as any rational business would act.

Unfortunately, another commenter wrote, it’s not that simple.

I think it’s important to recognize that Government is (and should be) held to a different set of standards than private business. Government is required by regulation to deal equitably with all willing contractors. Private business, on the other hand, is under no obligation to offer equal opportunities to all interested offerors and can work within existing business relationships, even if the contract cost is greater. This probably accounts for business’s greater agility.

Well … in business, you are always trying to cut costs, to get vendors to compete with one another. But you also realize that the cost of a purchase is not just the amount on the bottom line, it’s also the cost of maintenance contracts, the associated internal costs, the training costs. Most importantly, it has to work and you have to calculate the lost productivity, the lost hours when something doesn’t work as advertised. You build relationships with trusted vendors and you don’t risk big projects on unproven vendors because they bid 10 percent cheaper.

The problem with government IT is that there is a tendency, even a need to build huge, mammoth systems that are so complex they are inherently primed for failure. Everyone knows the projects will fail but neither the vendor nor the government employees are able or interested in stopping them. What I think Kundra can offer is a completely transformed mindset away from giant projects and towards breaking IT into smaller bits that can talk seamlessly and securely with one another. I don’t know exactly what that looks like but I think that’s going to be how you get the right level of data- and knowledge-sharing.

Since the big vendors have failed so spectacularly, I think the door is wide-open for agencies to put real programmers on its payroll to create projects like the ones Kundra has created, doing it with open interfaces so that the open source community can create new applications, and letting small fast-moving developers into the bidding process.

Perhaps this is all blue sky and the realistic response is Good Luck. Or perhaps something hugely better is within our grasp. Government IT is not the problem. Bad IT (and in general terms, IT contractors) is the problem.

May 15th, 2008

Verizon wins Homeland Security contract

Posted by Richard Koman @ May 15, 2008 @ 12:43 PM

Categories: Contracting

Tags: Network, Verizon Communications Inc., Networking, Homeland Security, Network Technology, Telecommunications, Government, Richard Koman

Verizon picked up a huge contract from the Department of Homeland Security: a $670 million deal to provide IP and security services over 10 years, Reuters reports.

Verizon was the primary winner of the 10-year, $20 billion contract to provide a full range of telecommunications and related network services to the federal government.

Verizon said it will help the 22 agencies that are part of the department combine their separate networks onto a common IP network.

May 11th, 2008

U.S. sold 3,500 fake networking parts

Posted by Richard Koman @ May 11, 2008 @ 8:33 PM

Categories: Contracting, Security

Tags: U.S., Network, FBI, Investigation, Federal Government, Advertising & Promotion, Networking, Government, Marketing, Richard Koman

Contractors and subcontractors have ripped off the federal government for about $3.5 million in bogus networking parts, an FBI investigation has revealed. According to Reuters, Operation Cisco Raider revealed some 3,500 fake versions of Cisco equipment were sold to federal agencies.

The counterfeit parts moved from companies in China through distributors in the U.S., Britain, Canada, Germany and Holland. In one case a subcontractor sold fake parts to the Navy from a Chinese supplier.

The concern was that the Chinese parts could provide hackers with backdoor access to U.S. databases, but the investigation found the fake parts did not compromise security.

One odd twist: the investigation was somehow leaked to the website AboveTopSecret, which posted a copy of the FBI presentation to another agency.

April 6th, 2008

Feds lift ban on IBM

Posted by Richard Koman @ April 6, 2008 @ 8:51 PM

Categories: Contracting

Tags: Protest, Ban, IBM Corp., Government, Richard Koman

From the AP:

The government has lifted a week-old ban that prevented I.B.M. from getting new federal contracts in exchange for an agreement from the company to drop its protest of an $84 million Environmental Protection Agency contract it lost last year.

The ban stemmed from a reported ethical violation in connection with I.B.M.’s protest of the E.P.A. contract. Under a reciprocal agreement among federal agencies, when one issues a ban, the others follow it.

I.B.M. said it was continuing to cooperate with the E.P.A. and the federal prosecutors’ office that served grand jury subpoenas for documents and testimony.

August 31st, 2007

ITT wins bid to build next-gen air-traffic control system

Posted by Richard Koman @ August 31, 2007 @ 10:22 AM

Categories: Contracting

Tags: FAA, Lockheed Martin Corp., News, ZDNet Government

The Federal Aviation Administration may finally be on its way to a modern air-traffic control system with the award to ITT of a $1.8 billion contract, The Washington Post reported Friday.

The proposal, which the FAA picked over competing bids from Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, is for a system that runs on satellites, not radar, to guide aircraft. FAA officials say this is the way to go, because radar is inadequate to provide the accuracy and timeliness a rapidly expanding air network needs.

“This will allow us to run more aircraft safely and with more efficiency,” said Robert A. Sturgell, the FAA’s deputy administrator, during a press conference announcing the award.

$1.8 billion is just the tip of the iceberg. The system will cost at least $15 billion over the next 20 years. This award is for the first phase of the system, the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), which includes a network of ground stations needed to relay air traffic information to controllers and pilots.

Airplanes will receive signals from satellites that will give them their precise location in the sky and on airport tarmacs. Planes will then relay that information to ground stations, which will give it to controllers. Pilots will be able to view the locations of other planes on screens in their cockpits.

The news is further proof of the falling fortunes of Lockheed. The FAA fined Lockheed $3 million for the way it handled the takeover of FAA flight service stations. And its handling of the Coast Guard’s $24 billion Deepwater program was heavily criticized in Congress.

“Lockheed Martin was the dominant player, and it is very significant for them to lose,” said Philip Finnegan, an analyst with the Teal Group. “I am not sure of the specifics of what caused the decision to go down as it did. But Lockheed has had some performance problems. It seems that if aerospace companies win a lot of contracts very fast, they run into performance problems. Lockheed has had those. Deepwater was a black eye.”

June 22nd, 2007

Virtual fence glitches show anti-immigration measure is pre-alpha

Posted by Richard Koman @ June 22, 2007 @ 3:03 PM

Categories: Contracting, Homeland security, International

Tags: Sensor, Fence, ZDNet Government

Can Congress secure U.S. borders with a high-tech virtual fence? If the fate of the hotly debated anti-immigration reform bill rested solely on the success of Arizona’s high-tech virtual fence, supporters would be sorely disappointed. The high-tech experiment on a 28-mile stretch of Arizona’s border with Mexico is having technical difficulties, reports the Arizona Republic.

The virtual fence, a network of remote cameras and sensors around Sasabe, AZ, northwest of Nogales, is the Department of Homeland Security’s prototype for a 6,000-mile virtual fence along the Canadian and Mexican borders. But there have been problems and the launch has been postponed.

“It is our expectation that these glitches get fixed and fixed immediately. We are simply not going to provide a tool to our front-line people that’s not ready,” Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said.

The passage of the anti-immigration bill rests on whether the virtual fence is capable of guarding U.S. borders. Until the border is secured, key provisions dealing with visas and guest workers would not be enacted.

The Boeing Corp., which won the $20 million contract to install the fence, is slated to installed nine portable 98-foot towers, cameras, radar and ground sensors. The cameras and sensors are all networked in order to up-to-the-second pictures of all the activity in their areas. But there have been delays and inconstancies and software glitches.

“This is probably much more experimental than they’ve let on,” said Donald Kettl, the director of the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania, who has reported extensively and testified before Congress about the department’s track record. “As is often the case with Department of Homeland Security projects, it is a very hard problem, and they are trying cutting-edge technology.”

April 24th, 2007

EDS gets nod for digital ID cards

Posted by Richard Koman @ April 24, 2007 @ 9:52 PM

Categories: Contracting, Government technology

Tags: ZDNet Government

The General Services Administration has chosen Electronic Data Systems to supply new ID cards to the federal government and government contractors, The Washington Post reports.

The $66 million award is a 17-month contract, which also has three one-year options, based on pricing, technical capabilities and program management services, among other reasons, the GSA said.

The agency said it expects the new system to be operational by late summer. It would be rolled out in the Washington area.

BearingPoint, which had a similar project that was not extended, said it pulled out of the new competition because of "unacceptable" risk levels.

The contract called for a multimillion-dollar investment for supplying up to 420,000 cards, but the GSA had guaranteed payment for only 10,000 cards, Lunceford said. The agency also included a clause allowing it to terminate the contract for any reason at any time and did not require agencies to adhere to the contract, he said.

March 29th, 2007

Networx winners: AT&T, Verizon, Qwest

Posted by Richard Koman @ March 29, 2007 @ 1:20 PM

Categories: Contracting, Government technology

Tags: ZDNet Government

The General Services Administration at long last picked the winners for the massive 10-year, $48 billion Networx contract. And the winners are … AT&T, Qwest Communications and Verizon, The NY Times reports.

The contract covers voice, video and data services and technologies for as many as 135 agencies operating in 190 countries. Several major departments, including Homeland Security and Treasury, have already signed up.

The result is a huge blow to Sprint, which is being locked out of future government work after being a provider for 20 years. The winners aren't guranteed any work, just the right to compete against each other for the business.

While current G.S.A. officials would not say why Sprint lost out, Bob Woods, a former official at the agency who now works as a consultant, surmised that Sprint could not meet the low prices of its competitors. Mr. Woods estimated that Sprint could lose roughly $200 million to $250 million annually in existing government business.

The news was also a huge win for relatively small Qwest. Still, Qwest will have its work cut out for them, competing against Verizon and AT&T.

"The advanced technologies and services defined in the Networx program will serve as a platform to transform the government’s telecommunications infrastructure to a more seamless and secure environment,” the G.S.A.’s acquisitions commissioner, Jim Williams, said in a prepared statement.

March 27th, 2007

Heavy demand for IT among DC defense contractors

Posted by Richard Koman @ March 27, 2007 @ 11:08 AM

Categories: Contracting, Government technology

Tags: ZDNet Government

The government, federal contractors, even start-ups are hiring IT pros and those just graduating at an impressive rate, The Washington Post reports. If you have an comp sci degree and can pass clearance, you can pretty much write your own ticket these days.

A study by the Greater Washington Initiative shows that since 1999 Washington's information technology workforce has grown, on average, 8 percent a year — three times the national rate. Most of those jobs have been in computer programming and systems design. The bursting of the dot-com bubble put a crimp in growth, but industry experts say this region recovered and expanded because of the post-Sept. 11 government contracting boom. Today, the study says, 10 percent of the nation's IT workers — about 202,500 people — are in the metropolitan Washington area. That includes software engineers, network analysts and database administrators.

Since it takes so long to get clearances - as long as two years - people who already have their clearances through student internships or previous jobs have a clear advantage.

"Some companies say they don't have work for me," sadi Michael Gagnon, who is graduating from George Mason University with a 4.0 average in computer science. "But then they say, 'Wait a minute — do you have a clearance?' "

Gagnon says he will probably pass up several job offers in software development to pursue a graduate degree at MIT while working in a nonprofit research lab. Many of his peers are making similar decisions to leave the Washington area.

"I don't think people like me will stay here if they aren't offered as stimulating opportunities as there are elsewhere," he said. "It seems everyone here does consulting, and that's just not for me right now."

So defense contractors and DC-based national companies continue to struggle to fill their less-than-cutting-edge jobs.

Kathleen Smith of ClearedJobs.net, which helps firms find workers with security clearances, said: "Some people only want to work on the next hot thing. In this town, your cachet is dependent on which new, cutting-edge, exciting project you are working."