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PA e-Comm News July 3

What organization prints the most amount of money on a daily basis? (Answer later)

SHORT WEEK – SHORT REPORT
HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

According to a recent report from Taylor Nelson Sofres, the proportion of Internet users buying products and services online has failed to grow in the last year. Although Internet usage globally rose 3% (to 34%) from early 2001 to early 2002, the proportion of users making an online purchase this past month remained at 15%, the same as in 2001. TNS believes that the fears about online payment security is a major factor preventing growth. According to the study, 30% of Internet users who have not shopped online said they were reluctant to provide credit card information; 28% felt that it was more secure to buy products and services offline. The Asia Pacific market has seen an overall rise in online shopping, mainly led by a boom in South Korea where 31% of Internet users have shopped online. Books and CDs are still the most popular items bought online.

Some companies that have mastered the art of selling online are now reaping the rewards by selling their site-building expertise and customer-relations savvy to other online firms, thereby increasing their profits. Amazon leads the way. eBay follows closely by selling auction-related services to other firms. GSI Commerce, which started out as an online sporting goods retailer called Global Sports, is a smaller, yet successful operator in this market as an outsourcer of site development, direct-response marketing and other services to retailers. Morningstar recently reported favorably on efforts by GSI and eBags (a Denver online retailer of luggage, backpacks and handbags).

Amazon is reportedly exploring relationships with clothing retailers in anticipation of launching an online clothing store featuring Nordstrom and Gap (Banana Republic and Old Navy). This is expected before the holiday shopping season. Research indicates that apparel sales account for about 10% of online sales. So, combine that figure with Amazon's 33.8 million active customers worldwide and the opportunity appears very lucrative. Such an alliance would follow on Amazon’s partnering with Toys "R" Us, Circuit City, Borders and Target. So, we might ask: Is there anything Amazon will not sell? "Anything they think will be profitable they will probably sell at some point," said an analyst.

Faced with ever more complex security risks, online consumers are benefiting from improvements in firewalls that are bringing corporate-style security and scanning to home PCs. The biggest challenge may be convincing everyone that they are at risk and conveying the proper use of a firewall that will not be turned off because it is deemed a nuisance. BlackICE, Sygate, ZoneAlarm and Tiny are companies specializing in personal firewalls, which erect barriers to hackers by flagging or blocking access attempts. Most of these products come in free or inexpensive basic editions, as well as premium professional versions. Maybe the greatest advance in personal firewalls is the addition of intrusion detection, which brings to personal computers the ability to log and identify attacks. There still is a misconception that only broadband cable or DSL Internet subscribers need firewalls and that dial-up users are generally safe. Recently, a security analyst commented that while dialup users' lower online time and lower speed might mean they are at somewhat less risk than broadband users, hackers do still scan for these slower connections and worms travel through e-mail and Web sites, making speed an irrelevant factor.

ANSWER: The makers of Monopoly, who actually print more money than the US Treasury.

TECHNOLOGY PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES

The following is a listing of recently published technology procurement opportunities with various governmental entities. We hope our readers take the opportunity to investigate these postings and increase their business:

USAF - Air Combat Command
1st CONS
D -- D-Information Technology services, including telecommunications services Pre-performance Conference 01 http://www.eps.gov/spg/USAF/ACC/1CONS/F44600-02-R-0004/listing.html

GSA - Federal Technology Service (FTS)
Acquisition Services Division (6TS-A)
70 -- GENERAL PURPOSE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EQUIPMENT
Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/GSA/FTS/ASD6TSA/6TSA-02-JMT-0174/listing.html

DOC - National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Acquisition and Logistics Division D -- Acquisition of Design, Procurement and Installation of Wireless Data Network to Support a Digital Video Management System Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/DOC/NIST/AcAsD/SB1341-02-Q-0596/listing.html

FDIC - Headquarter
Acquisition and Corporate Services Branch
D -- Technical Security Administration Services
Solicitation 01, Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/FDIC/HQ/ACSB/02-00181-P-GY/listing.html


SEC - Office of Administrative and Personnel Management
Procurement and Contracts Branch
D -- Information Technology Services
Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/SEC/OAPM/PCB/Reference-Number-3000-02-6725/listing.html

DISA - Acquisition Directorate
DITCO-Scott
D--INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES, INCLUDING COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/DISA/D4AD/DITCO/VARIOUS-01-Jul-2002/listing.html

USDA - Rural Development
Property & Supply Management Division
D -- HARDWARE/SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE ON INTEGRATED VOICE RESPONSE UNIT Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/USDA/RD/FO/Reference-Number-PSMD-SYNT/listing.html

USA - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Army Engineer District, Huntsville
D--Provide professional Information Technology (IT) support services to perform systems analysis, design, programming, and operations and maintenance for the DD Form 1391 (DD1391) System of the Programming Administration and Execution (PAX) System. Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/USA/COE/DACA87/DACA87-02-Q-0101/listing.html

LOC - Contracts Services
Contracts Section
U -- Web Based Training Course
Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/LOC/CS/CS1/RFQ02-C22/listing.html

Source: www.eps.gov. For direct assistance, contact your local Procurement Technical Assistance Center at www.PaPTACs.com

NEWS & NOTES is a service of the PA e-Commerce Association. Please forward this e-mail to anyone else who might be interested in the content or in learning more about the Association. Remember to visit our website @ www.paecomm.org. or give us a call at 800-497-0809.

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