Technology Insertion

[wtwolfe@hubcap.clemson.edu (Bill Wolfe)]

I have just returned from a plant trip to a large company which does
software contracting for the entire Government, and I learned some very
surprising things regarding the state of Government software technology.

It seems that while some Government agencies are very progressive with
respect to software technology (e.g., DoD, NASA), others are very naive
about the developments which have taken place over the last 20 years in
software technology.  One customer, in fact, was described as having only
recently discovered relational database technology, and still having no
understanding of object-oriented database systems. 

The company is very pro-Ada, and has encountered some problems in trying
to effect the insertion of Ada technology into some customer organizations;
in one current example, a customer insisted that FORTRAN be used because 
there was a large installed base of FORTRAN software, and the customer's 
software maintenance staff only knew FORTRAN.

So, a few questions for the Ada community:  What is the current AJPO 
involvement with non-DoD agencies?  Does AJPO simply provide assistance 
to the more progressive agencies such as NASA, or is there a Government-wide 
technology insertion program?  How, as a practical matter, can a contractor
go about overcoming the inertia which exists in some of the less progressive
Government agencies?  

Thanks in advance... 


Bill Wolfe, wtwolfe@hubcap.clemson.edu