With 16 months to the turn of the century, half of the federal government's 7,343 mission-critical computer systems are year 2000 compliant, the Office of Management and Budget reported last week.
In its sixth quarterly report on Y2K progress, OMB said nine agencies-the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the General Services Administration, NASA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the National Science Foundation, the Small Business Administration, and the Social Security Administration-have completed Y2K fixes on 74 percent of their systems. The Clinton Administration's deadline for agencies to have all of their systems repaired is March 1999.
"The performance of these agencies is an indication of what can be accomplished when organizations make concerted efforts to address the Y2K problem," said G. Edward DeSeve, acting deputy director for management at OMB.
Other agencies, including the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services and Transportation, are facing increasing pressure from Vice President Al Gore to step up their Y2K efforts.
This week, Rep. Steve Horn, R-Calif., chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee on Government Information, Management and Technology, will release his quarterly report cards on agencies' Y2K progress. Last quarter, Horn gave the executive branch an "F" for its efforts.
OMB also reported that the federal government's estimate of the cost of Y2K repairs rose from $5 billion in its previous quarterly report to $5.4 billion this quarter. That estimate is expected to continue to rise.
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