[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 97 (Thursday, July 10, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7222-S7223]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

                                TOO SLOW

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, the headline on the front page of 
the Business Section in today's Washington Post reads ``Government Said 
To Move Too Slowly on Year 2000 Computer Problem.'' Mr. President, 
slowly at best.
  The Federal Government has been outright dilatory in addressing this 
problem. There are three stages in the process: assessment, renovation, 
and implementation--the third stage takes the longest. According to the 
OMB report released today, of the 4,500 mission critical computer 
systems in the

[[Page S7223]]

Federal Government, 6 percent have been implemented, 17 percent have 
been renovated, and only 65 percent of the systems have even been 
assessed. A spokesman for the GIGA firm of Cambridge MA, that 
specializes in this issue, said: ``They're not on a time schedule that 
looks like it's going to be doable.'' I need not remind my colleagues 
that the clock is ticking.
  Be assured that in the year 2000, we will be blamed if we have not 
addressed the problem. And rightly so. Cosponsored by six other 
Senators, my bill, S. 22, will create a commission to see that the 
problem is fixed and increase the lagging private sector awareness of 
this crisis.
  I ask that the text of the Washington Post article be printed in the 
Record.
  The article follows:

    Government Said To Move Too Slowly on Year 2000 Computer Problem

                       (By Rajiv Chandrasekaran)

       The federal government could face a partial computer crash 
     in the year 2000 because it is moving too slowly to fix its 
     machines so they will understand dates that don't begin with 
     ``19,'' according to a growing number of technology 
     specialists.
       Of the nearly 4,500 ``mission-critical'' computer systems 
     the government needs to repair--which include those that 
     handle defense, air traffic control and income tax 
     functions--only 6 percent have been fixed, according to an 
     Office of Management and Budget report that will be released 
     at a House subcommittee hearing today.
       About 35 percent of those computers needing repairs have 
     not even undergone a systems analysis, the first and simplest 
     step in the renovation process, the report said.
       ``They're not on a time schedule that looks like it's going 
     to be doable,'' said Ann K. Coffou, a research director at 
     Giga Information Group, a Cambridge, Mass., industry research 
     firm that specializes in so-called year 2000 issues. 
     ``They're suffering from `analysis paralysis.' There's too 
     much work to be done . . . and at this point in the game, 
     it's very, very distressing.''
       Most large computer systems use a two-digit dating system 
     that assumes 1 and 9 are the first two digits of the year. 
     Without specialized reprogramming, the systems will think the 
     year 2000--or 00--is 1900, a glitch that is expected to make 
     most of them go haywire unless the problem is fixed.
       For the government, the year 2000 problem could result in 
     computers that come to a sudden halt and others that generate 
     erroneous data, such as wrong Medicare checks or tax bills, 
     computer experts say. In a worst-case scenario, computers 
     that control military defense systems or sensitive 
     communications between federal agencies could be rendered 
     inoperable, some specialists warn.
       Thomas D. Oleson, a year 2000 computer analyst at 
     International Data Corp., a consulting firm in Framingham, 
     Mass., characterized the government's situation as ``way 
     behind the eight ball.'' Fixing the government's computers on 
     time, he said, ``is nearing the point of impossibility.''
       Oleson and other industry analysts expect the federal 
     computer systems that handle the government's most critical 
     functions to be fixed before the Dec. 31, 1999, deadline. 
     But many other systems, including some that perform 
     significant tasks for federal employees and ordinary 
     people, could still be in the electronic repair shop in 
     2000, they warn.
       ``It's become increasingly clear that agencies are not 
     going to be able to correct everything before the year 
     2000,'' said Joel C. Willemssen, the director of information 
     resources management at the General Accounting Office, the 
     watchdog arm of Congress. ``We're going to have to start 
     making priorities among all the systems we view as 
     critical.''
       The specialists said it is too early to identify specific 
     systems that might not be reprogrammed in time, but they said 
     those would become clearer later this year as agencies begin 
     focusing their efforts.
       In its report, which was produced at the behest of a 
     congressional committee, the OMB maintains that the progress 
     of federal agencies is generally on schedule and that the 
     agencies ``have made a good start in addressing the year 2000 
     problem.''
       Of the 7,649 computer systems in the executive branch other 
     than the Social Security Administration, 21 percent--or 
     1,598--already comply with year 2000 requirements. An 
     additional 9 percent will be fully replaced and 8 percent 
     will be scrapped, the report said.
       At Social Security, long hailed as the federal agency that 
     has been most attentive to year 2000 problems, 71 percent of 
     its systems don't need to be fixed. Of those that do need 
     repairing, half have been fixed, the report said.
       The report estimates the cost of renovating computers 
     throughout the government at $2.8 billion, a $500 million 
     increase from an estimate released by the OMB in February. 
     OMB officials said yesterday that figure is expected to cross 
     the $3 billion mark and could eventually grow to as much as 
     $5 billion.
       ``There's still a lot of work to be done, but I think we're 
     on track,'' said Sally Katzen, OMB's director of information 
     and regulatory affairs, who has been spearheading the 
     government's year 2000 efforts.
       The report identifies the Agriculture, Education, Justice 
     and Transportation departments as those that have about half 
     their systems or more left to analyze. No department, 
     except for Interior and Veterans Affairs, has more than 25 
     percent of its systems renovated.
       At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which 
     has 206 computer systems, 115 need to be repaired. Although 
     the department is halfway through analyzing those 115 
     systems, it has only renovated 2 percent of them, the report 
     said.
       At the Defense Department, which has almost 4,000 systems, 
     by far the most of any government agency, more than 2,700 of 
     them need to be fixed. The agency is only 23 percent done 
     with renovating the systems, and only 8 percent of them 
     actually have been tested and are considered fully fixed, 
     according to the document.
       The government's progress is expected to come under fire 
     from members of the House Science Committee and the 
     Government Reform and Oversight Committee, which are holding 
     a joint hearing into the matter today, congressional aides 
     said. In addition to questioning the pace of repair work, 
     committee leaders will criticize several agencies' schedules 
     for repairs, which call for finishing work in November and 
     December 1999.
       ``They haven't left themselves with a margin for error in 
     case something goes wrong,'' said Rep. Constance A. Morella 
     (R-Md.), chairwoman of the Science Committee's technology 
     subcommittee.
       Committee members also will probe whether any government 
     agencies are now buying software that is not year 2000 
     compliant, aides said.

             STATE OF REPAIR--STATUS OF MISSION-CRITICAL SYSTEMS BEING REPAIRED AT SELECTED AGENCIES            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  Number  Assessment  Renovation  Implementation
                             Agency                                 of      percent     percent       percent   
                                                                 systems   complete    complete      complete   
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agriculture....................................................      469         41           0              0  
Commerce.......................................................      162         75           7              5  
Defense........................................................    2,752         64          23              8  
Education......................................................        7         30           0              0  
HUD............................................................      115         50           2              2  
Justice........................................................      118         52           2              0  
DOT............................................................      132         50          10              0  
NASA...........................................................      211         75           2              1  
    All federal agencies.......................................    4,493         65          17              6  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Office of Management and Budget.                                                                



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