The departments of Education and Transportation and the Agency for International Development have not completed even the first step in preparing their computer systems for the year 2000, according to congressional and White House officials who issued separate reports Monday condemning their lack of progress.
The Office of Management and Budget is taking the position that these three agencies, plus the Department of Agriculture, should refrain from buying new computer systems until they tackle their year 2000 deficiencies. Another 12 agencies could face similar sanctions if they do not accelerate their year 2000 work, sources said.
The chairman of the House Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology, meanwhile, renewed his call for more high-level attention to year 2000 problems. "We have been working with these executive agencies for almost two years now," said the chairman, Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., "and I do not see the sense of urgency that should exist in the executive branch."
Horn issued a "report card" with Fs for Education, DOT and AID because they have not yet assessed the extent of their year 2000 problems nor completed any software renovation. He gave D or D- grades to eight other agencies, including the Treasury, Agriculture, Justice, Energy and Commerce departments. Only the Social Security Administration got an A, and it was an A-.
Horn refused to criticize individuals, including OMB Director Franklin D. Raines, for the lack of progress. But he said OMB does not devote enough time and attention to management problems, such as the year 2000. He called on President Clinton to name a year 2000 coordinator in OMB and to play a more visible role in prodding agencies to act.
Rep. Tom Davis, D-Va., joined Horn's press conference to predict that "there will be a mad dash at the end to try to fix" the problems. The haste will lead to more errors and higher costs, Davis said.
Congress and the White House have agreed that no new money should be appropriated for year 2000 repairs. Horn stuck with this stance this week, calling on agencies to use surplus fiscal 1997 funds in the next two weeks to finance contracts for year 2000 work.
The year 2000 problem stems from the long-time practice of programming computers with two-digit years, such as "92." When these computers encounter years that begin with 20 instead of 19, they may make calculation errors. It will cost the federal government more than $3.5 billion to review all its software for date problems, update the erroneous code and ensure the updated systems will operate correctly.
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