Y2K czar rolls up his sleeves

The federal government's Year 2000 czar made it clear Thursday that the White House will do whatever it takes to keep critical computer systems running at the century change.

Calling his new job "a significant challenge," John Koskinen, special assistant to the President, told a large audience of federal information technology contractors the administration will consider the following steps:

• Shifting federal employees and other resources, including contractors, from one agency to another to bail out a repair effort that is behind schedule.
• Asking agencies and Congress to postpone new policies and laws that require computer programming changes.
• Allocating extra money as needed to get systems fixed or replaced. Budgets are not a legitimate excuse for agencies' failure to fix their systems, he said, and the White House could find billions of dollars if necessary to assure systems keep working.
• Working with Congress to remove legal hindrances to year 2000 efforts. For example, some software suppliers reportedly are worried that they will be sued if they are candid about which of their products will work after Dec. 31, 1999, and which won't.
• Granting waivers of any rules that keep agencies from taking action.

"I think we can't afford to run business as usual," said the former management chief at the Office of Management and Budget. On the other hand, he said, few agencies are taking advantage of all the flexibilities available to them in already-enacted personnel and procurement reforms.

Koskinen called the international area "our biggest risk," in part because U.S. embassies and offices and American companies' foreign operations will be affected if there are serious breakdowns in other regions of the world. He also raised the specter of political instability if electricity, telephone, government and other public services come to a halt at the century mark in some areas. He said at least half the world's nations have yet to begin year 2000 repairs.

Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright will direct all U.S. embassies to work with their host governments to raise awareness and locate technical resources, he said, and the United Nations General Assembly will take up a resolution urging members to act. The international banking community also is drawing members' attention to the situation.

In the United States, things won't be so bad, he predicted. For one thing, most telephone systems probably will keep running. Here, smaller businesses seem farthest behind, he said. One reason is they tend to rely on outside suppliers for computer systems and other services, so they lack the in-house expertise to manage a readiness program.

Koskinen urged candor about Y2K readiness. If agencies can't discover the true status of their information systems or identify problem areas, more systems will fail to operate in 2000, he said. "We can't afford to play games as we move through the next 20 months," he said.

Koskinen agreed with an audience member who complained that agencies are being asked to report too often on their Y2K readiness. He said OMB, Congress and the General Accounting Office might agree on a common format for periodic reports they could share.