Well, we successfully accomplished something similar for the US Military using Borland JBuilder. (I would have preferred VFP and WebConnect since we had used them successfully for many other webapps for the govt in the past, but given the specific net the new app was going on, it was not an option) JBuilder works with an Oracle backend and is not too bad to work with. It fell within the restrictions, so perhaps the EPA allows its use also? You can download the demo to see if it is feasible.

http://www.borland.com/jbuilder/index.html

Here is a Borland promo of what we used (only we used the previous version):

JBuilder™ 7 Enterprise

JBuilder 7 Enterprise makes EJB, ™ Web, XML, and database application development easier with two-way visual designers and rapid deployment to leading J2EE™ platform application servers, including BEA® WebLogic,® IBM® WebSphere, ® iPlanet, ™ Oracle9i, ® and the integrated Borland® Enterprise Server. Enhance developer productivity and take advantage of extreme programming with UML™ code visualization, refactoring, and unit testing. Develop and deploy applications on the Windows, ® Linux, ® Solaris,™ and Mac® OS platforms. Integrate with enterprise build processes using Apache™ Ant. Efficiently collaborate in teams with support for leading version control systems.

Update:

The organization I was with is still not allowed to consume web services (security) but just in case you can:

Web Services Kit for Java

The kit includes wizards to generate Java code from WSDL and to generate WSDL from Java code, a Web Services Explorer to publish and search for Web Services, and deployment support to expose Web Services using Tomcat and the Apache Axis implementation of the SOAP standard. The Borland Web Services Kit is fully integrated with the J2EE platform and is capable of automatically publishing Enterprise JavaBeans as Web Services. The Web Services Kit is available as a free preview release download which is compatible with JBuilder 7 Enterprise.

Tracy




>Yep - US EPA.
>
>>Sounds like you work for the govt. I ran into so many constraints during the 7 years I worked in IT for the govt. It was like trying to meet requirements with my hands tied behind my back... What I usually ended up doing was a LOT of research where contractors and organizations had gotten 'exceptions to policies' in order to meet both business requirements and security requirements. It took longer to get permission to do it the 'smart way' than it did to actually do it! Ah paperwork and red tape.....
>>
>>Tracy