White House Y2K Crackdown

DAILY BRIEFING

White House Y2K Crackdown

Cabinet agencies that are behind schedule on their year 2000 computer systems repairs are being forced to reprogram large sums budgeted for information technology in 1998, Office of Management and Budget officials said.

OMB is forcing the tardy departments, numbering a dozen or more, to shift money from other IT projects to year 2000 repairs, an OMB spokesman said. OMB would not provide specifics about the affected agencies before release of its quarterly report on year 2000 progress, expected at mid-month.

"We wanted to make clear the efforts should be focused on these projects first and foremost," OMB's Sally Katzen told the Associated Press. Katzen, administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, heads up the year 2000 oversight effort.

Katzen said the quarterly report, which is compiled from agencies' reports, will show that seven of 24 departments made "insufficient progress" between August and November. For the previous quarter, OMB put only four agencies in the "insufficient progress" category. Nine agencies will be categorized as "of concern" in the new report, and eight will be called satisfactory.

The preview information from OMB came as Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., held a press conference to criticize the pace of progress on year 2000 repairs. Horn recommended reprogramming fiscal 1998 money to pay for stepped-up work in the agencies.