Federal agencies making slow progress on year 2000 computer fixes can expect to have the Office of Management and Budget breathing down their necks for the next 18 months.
In its latest quarterly report on the federal government's progress toward preparing its computers for the century change, OMB announced that 15 major agencies will have to make monthly, instead of quarterly, reports to the White House on their Y2K progress.
"With 18 months left until the new millennium, all agencies are working hard to address the issue," G. Edward DeSeve, OMB's acting deputy director for management, said in a statement. "Many agencies are making good progress, but others continue to face significant challenges."
Those agencies--the departments of Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, and Transportation, along with the Agency for International Development--will have to reserve a chair at their monthly senior management meetings for John Koskinen, President Clinton's special assistant on year 2000 conversion.
The White House set March 1999 as the deadline for agencies to complete year 2000 computer fixes for their "mission-critical" computer systems. OMB has divided agencies into three groups for the purposes of monitoring their progress. Tier one includes those agencies listed above that are in the most danger of failing to meet the deadline. Tier two agencies are making progress, but OMB has concerns about them. Tier three agencies will most likely meet the deadline, OMB says.
In this quarter, 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--were placed in tier three. Tier two agencies include the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State and Treasury, along with the Office of Personnel Management.
OMB now reports that year 2000 fixes will cost the government $5 billion, up from a $4.7 billion estimate in February.
Agencies tell OMB that 40 percent of their mission-critical systems are now fixed and will work through the century change, up from 35 percent last quarter.
But much of the progress is due to the fact that agencies reclassified computer systems as non-mission-critical. In the last quarter's report, agencies said there were 7,850 mission-critical systems. This quarter, agencies dropped that number to 7,336. Two quarters ago, in November 1997, agencies reported having 8,589 mission-critical systems. Since then, agencies have decided 1,253 systems are not so important. During the same time period, they reported completing year 2000 fixes on 617 systems.
Agencies must only report to OMB on mission-critical systems.
This quarter's report included data from small and independent agencies for the first time. OMB said nine of those agencies will need to continue to provide updates on their progress: the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Housing Finance Board, the National Archives and Records Administration, the National Labor Relations Board, the Office of Administration in the Executive Office of the President, the Peace Corps, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
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