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Ray Van Eng (07/29/97) The U.S. government which has a mandate to make all federal payments electronic by 1999 is beginning to implement electronic commerce services to enable the public, and various government agencies to purchase products and services over the Internet at government web sites. Starting in August this year, employees of Mellon Bank and the Financial Management Service of the U.S. Department of the Treasury will participate in a pilot that will allow them to use their Mastercards to access the Bureau of Public Debt web site and purchase U.S. Savings Bonds and to the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Services online storefront to buy government surplus equipment. All transactions will be handled via the secure electronic transaction (SET) protocol using digital certificates issued by GTE CyberTrust. Concentric Network will provide project participants with Internet access kits that has the IBM net.payment SET e-wallet software pre-packaged. Although SET was engineered by Visa, Mastercard and a group of technology partners, other credit card companies such as American Express, Diners Club, Novus and Air Travel Card have pledged support and will incorporate the standard into their card products. A spin-off from Visa and Mastercard, known as SetCo, will take over the development of future versions of SET that will likely be an integral part of smart card and debit card operations. SetCo will also be responsible for the marketing management of SET and perform compliant testing to qualify software firms, merchants, financial institutions and web sites in order for them to obtain the right to use a brand new SET logo which has recently been unveiled. As the federal government's controller and bookkeeper, the Financial Management Service issues more than 850 million non-defense related payments a year, collects more than $1 trillion of taxes including all income taxes, and is responsible for the collection of non-tax delinquent accounts. Other government agencies such as the U.S. Navy will also begin testing the e-commerce waters. A select group of Navy personnel will be allowed to purchase ship supplies electronically from the ServeMart web site. Using a government issued Visa card, Navy purchasing agents can query a database to find the right product, fill in an order form and complete the transaction in a secure manner via the Internet. The first phase of the project will become available in Pascagoula, MS naval base. After the pilot ends by the end of October '97, the Navy will decide whether to roll-out a full scale implementation. U.S. Navy News Photos USS "Ironside" Constitution commissioned on Oct. 21, 1797 set sail again in Massachusetts Bay on July 21, 1997 after a 40 month overhaul. Noted newsman Walter Cronkite at the helm of the world's oldest commissioned warship afloat on July 21, 1997.

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