The Federal Aviation Administration faces major hurdles in correcting its systems adequately before the looming year 2000 deadline, a General Accounting Office official testified Thursday before the House Science Technology Subcommittee, calling the FAA's projected dates for completing its overhaul ambitious and overly optimistic.
"FAA has made progress in managing its year 2000 problem," said Joel Willemssen, director of the civil agencies information systems. "However, with less than 17 months to go, FAA must still correct, test and implement many of its mission-critical systems."
The OMB had set the end of March 1999 as the projected deadline to renovate and certify its systems completely. The FAA now says it will need an extra three months and will meet the goal by the end of June 1999. "We are actually in pretty good shape," said an FAA spokesman.
However, the chairman of the Senate's Year 2000 Committee expressed grave doubts despite the agency's reassurances.
"I wish I could say I'm confident in the claims of the FAA," said Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah. "But given GAO's scathing reports, the FAA's assertions that it has made such tremendous progress are very questionable."
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