Agencies get high marks for Y2K progress

The House of Representatives' Y2K watchdog gave 11 federal agencies A's for progress on the year 2000 computer problem, but cautioned that the federal government has a lot of work to do to make sure important programs don't malfunction at the beginning of next year.

Rep. Steve Horn, R-Calif., chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology, gave the executive branch a C+ overall on his seventh quarterly Y2K report card. Three agencies-the Departments of State and Transportation and the Agency for International Development-received F's.

"This is the first quarter that I've had a little joy that agencies are actually listening," Horn said. "Many agencies have made truly remarkable progress in bringing their mission-critical computer systems into year 2000 compliance."

Five of the federal government's 24 largest agencies report that 100 percent of their computer systems are ready for Y2K: the Social Security Administration, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, The National Science Foundation, the Small Business Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. Another six report that they will complete Y2K work by the Clinton administration's March 1999 deadline.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Agency for International Development has not fixed any of its seven mission-critical systems.

"Their problem is just stupidity," Horn said. "AID is the only agency that seems to be still going backwards."

Horn also had some choice words for the State Department, saying that the department "remains mired in the Jeffersonian era of quills and scrolls and flickering candlelight."

Horn's Grades for Agencies' Year 2000 Efforts
Feb. 22, 1999