Federal Y2K efforts slowing down, Horn says

The turn of the century is creeping up, but federal agencies' progress on the year 2000 computer problem is slowing down, a congressional overseer said Tuesday.

Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology, gave the executive branch an F on his quarterly Y2K report card, down from a D- on his last report.

"Underlying this dismal grade is a disturbing slow-down in the government's rate of progress," Horn said. "Less than a year before the March 1999 deadline for Y2K repairs, a reduction in productivity is deeply troubling."

Each quarter, agencies report to OMB and Horn's committee on their progress toward solving the Y2K problem, which could result in anything from minor annoyances to severe meltdowns in computer systems around the world.

According to Horn's report card, 13 of the 24 agencies he tracks will have a lower percentage of systems fixed by the March 1999 deadline than they previously reported. For example, in the previous quarter's report card, ending Feb. 15, Horn estimated that 100 percent of systems at the Department of Veterans Affairs would be ready for the year 2000 by March 1999. But in the new assessment, he estimates that only 64 percent of VA's systems will be fixed by then.

Horn also lowered estimates for the National Science Foundation, the Office of Personnel Management, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Agriculture Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, each of which had previously indicated all of their systems would be fixed by March 1999.

Horn raised his compliance estimates for seven agencies, including the General Services Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, both of which report that 100 percent of their systems will be fixed by OMB's deadline.

Horn grades each agency's progress every quarter. In addition to assessing whether agencies will meet the March 1999 deadline, he also grades them on whether they have developed contingency plans for unfixed systems, pushed contractors and other organizations with whom they exchange data to become year 2000 compliant, examined their telecommunications systems, and addressed embedded systems. Embedded systems include all the microchips that help automate electronic devices, which can be found in millions of products people use every day. Experts estimate that two to three percent of microchips may be date-sensitive.

The President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, headed by former OMB deputy director John Koskinen, also monitors agency progress.

"As a general matter, we think the agencies continue to make progress on Y2K," a council spokesman said. "But we are concerned that the rate of progress is not fast enough."

Horn said the Social Security Administration is the model for the rest of government. Already, 92 percent of SSA's mission-critical systems are year 2000-compliant. The agency has also developed a contingency plan if things do go wrong, and has communicated with states and other organizations with whom SSA exchanges data.

Nevertheless, Social Security checks may still not go out in the first weeks of 2000, Horn said. That's because Treasury's Financial Management Service, which actually sends out the checks, is behind the curve on year 2000 conversion.

Horn said a recent communications satellite malfunction, which shut down service to 90 percent of pagers in the U.S., should serve as a "timely reminder" of what may happen in the year 2000 if the government doesn't get its computers fixed.

Horn's Grades for Agencies' Year 2000 Efforts - June 2, 1998