United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Accounting and Information Management Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1998-01-16 monographic deposited born digital 32 p. GA 1.13:AIMD-98-35 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-35 P0b002ee18039f3d3 f:ai98035 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-35 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-35 AIMD-98-35 Systems conversions Computer software verification and validation Strategic information systems planning Embedded computer systems Cost analysis Information resources management Systems compatibility DOD Year 2000 Management Plan Air Force Year 2000 Program Letter Report AIMD

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Air Force's program for solving its year 2000 computer systems problem, focusing on the: (1) status of the Air Force's efforts to oversee its Year 2000 program; and (2) appropriateness of the Air Force's strategy and actions for ensuring that the problem will be successfully addressed.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) as with other military services, the Air Force is taking a decentralized approach to year 2000 correction--that is, it is relying heavily on its components to identify and correct year 2000 problems affecting their own systems; (2) however, in providing oversight for this effort, the Air Force must ensure that all of its systems have been accounted for and that component actions are successful; (3) it must also be well-positioned to make the resource tradeoff decisions that are inevitable in any year 2000 effort and to address conflicts between component approaches toward identifying and correcting interfaces; (4) further, it must be able to provide additional resources, such as testing facilities, that may be necessary to correct and validate systems; (5) the Air Force has taken a number of positive actions toward fulfilling its year 2000 oversight responsibilities; (6) for example, it is taking inventory of its systems and prioritizing them for conversion or replacement, and it has issued extensive guidance on dealing with the year 2000 problem; (7) it has also established a year 2000 working group comprised of focal points from the components which aims to eliminate duplicative efforts, share resources, and track component progress; (8) at the same time, the Air Force has not yet adequately addressed several critical issues that would ensure that it is well-positioned to deal with the later, and more difficult, phases of year 2000 correction; (9) GAO's review revealed that some components are failing to plan for the testing phase of their year 2000 effort and develop contingency plans; (10) GAO also found that some components are taking conflicting approaches toward determining the actual impact or the program status of their system interfaces; (11) if components and the Air Force do not promptly address and take consistent action on these issues, they may well negate any success they may have in making systems within their control year 2000 compliant; and (12) while the Air Force has enlisted the services of the Air Force Audit Agency to help address some of these concerns, this work needs to be backed by comprehensive and continued Air Force oversight in order to ensure that it can address unforeseen problems and delays in the next, more difficult phases. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-35/html/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-35.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-35/pdf/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-35.pdf GAO/AIMD-98-35 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-35 Letter Report GAO/AIMD-98-35; Defense Computers: Air Force Needs to Strengthen Year 2000 Oversight; Systems conversions Computer software verification and validation Strategic information systems planning Embedded computer systems Cost analysis Information resources management Systems compatibility DOD Year 2000 Management Plan Air Force Year 2000 Program Title 31 Section 720 31 U.S.C. 720