If there is anything that the furry one detests, it is handling a lot of paper. Electrons the furry one can deal with. Molecules, he can't. So the cyberrodent seems like a natural when agency brass wanted to detail someone to look into electronic payments and transactions. Every agency head knows the government could save billions by handling benefits statements, invoices and payments electronically.
Trouble is, the technology seems to be passing government by.
When the Rat ventured out to the wild Midwest, he found himself on a plane with Health Care Financing Administration types busy trying to figure out the ANSI X12 transaction set for electronic data interchange. The whiskered one, listening from a row over, joined in. Standard EDI is a technology dinosaur. It sounded a lot like the Rat's own public-sector dilemma. Then the wire-biter's Canadian contacts told him about electronic billing projects run by big power companies in the Great Northland.