U.S. COMMERCE PLANS FOR COMPUTER REPLACEMENT

   The U.S. Commerce Department is eager to begin replacing its aging
computer system.
   Commerce has requested $2.04 million in the President’s 2000 budget. A new licensing system is expected to take about two years to build.
   "We’re putting together our comments now," said Ian Baird, deputy
assistant secretary of Commerce’s Export Administration, to a group of
shippers at a Joint Industry Group meeting. "But we can’t do anything until the money is appropriated."
   The Inspector General’s office recently proposed a "hub" computer to
maintain licenses between the Commerce, State and Defense departments.
   Meanwhile, the Export Administration continues to move forward with its new Internet system for filing export license applications, called the
Simplified Network Application Program, or SNAP.
   "The SNAP system works especially well for small to mid-sized
companies," Baird said. "We hope to soon add the ability to submit
supporting licensing documents through the system."