InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
May 10, 1999
Government:Government Gets Ready
The Feds say they're on track; state and local agencies are more difficult to gauge
By Bob Violino
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ost businesses are heavily dependent on government for a variety of services. The year 2000 problem has the potential to threaten the operations of virtually every federal, state, and local government agency. That makes the government's Y2K preparedness a major business issue, as well as a social one.Because of the sheer size of government IT operations, it's difficult to make a clear assessment of how government systems will perform on Jan. 1, 2000, and beyond. But public-sector Y2K project leaders are confident that critical systems will be fixed in time to prevent major problems.
"The federal government will be ready for the year 2000," said John Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, when the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its eighth quarterly year 2000 report to Congress at the end of March. Koskinen said he's confident all critical systems will be compliant before year's end.
However, the IT community seems to have a different opinion. In a survey of 240 technology managers, InformationWeek Research found that government systems ranked lowest in terms of confidence that there will be no Y2K-related disruptions of service; federal, state, and local all scored around 6 on a confidence scale of 10.
Koskinen's confidence, though, may be warranted. The OMB reported that 92% of the federal government's 6,123 critical systems were compliant. But the government had set a goal of getting 100% of critical systems compliant by March 31. The 92% reporting full compliance represent only 13 of the 24 departments and agencies surveyed. The 13 are the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, General Services Administration, National Science Foundation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Personnel Management, Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration, and departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, and Veterans Affairs.
Three federal agencies--the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Transportation--aren't making adequate progress, according to the OMB's report to Congress. Eight others--the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Justice, Labor, State, and Treasury--are making progress but are still a concern to the OMB, which will release its ninth quarterly report on agency progress next month.
The Federal Aviation Administration, part of the Department of Transportation, has come under intense scrutiny because of the issue of air traffic safety, and because it got off to a slow start. Raymond Long, director of the FAA's year 2000 project, says all systems at the agency will be compliant by June 30.
Long says the FAA has experienced only minor system problems related to Y2K, and none that have affected air traffic control or any other safety issues. "We've had no real problems, mostly just nuisance alarms or inconveniences--things like printers not working or data saved to tape being corrupted," he says. "We've got all those fixed." Long says the FAA has fixed and tested 88% of its 641 systems and is focusing on the remaining 12%. He's confident there will be no major problems.
The FAA recently held a test of the air traffic control system. Clocks on backup computers at several control centers in Colorado were set to just before midnight on Dec. 31 to test whether radar, navigation, and communications systems would perform normally when "midnight" arrived. Officials say they experienced no problems.
Many federal agencies are shifting their focus to contingency planning to ensure that no services are interrupted should any systems fail. To that end, they're working with state and local government entities as well as businesses.
Priorities For The Year
Contingency planning is one of four Y2K priorities the OMB has identified for federal agencies for the remainder of this year. Those priorities are: completion of work on the remaining critical systems and on other systems; testing with outside partners that are critical to operations and the provision of services; completion and testing of business continuity and contingency plans as insurance against disruptions to service; and continued "outreach" to nonfederal organizations in the public and private sectors to promote Y2K remediation and contingency planning.
Federal agencies exchange data with hundreds of outside partners to support many programs. The most important of those partnerships, according to the OMB, is with the states. Federal agencies and the states are using a database managed by the General Services Administration to coordinate Y2K activities.
As of the latest OMB quarterly report, federal agencies said that 65% of federal and state data exchanges were Y2K compliant. Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia are participating in the data exchange program; Illinois and Oklahoma haven't signed on yet. Federal agencies have been instructed to focus on several key social services operated by the states, including food stamps, unemployment insurance, temporary assistance for needy families, the Medical Assistance Program, and child nutrition programs.
Y2K readiness ranges widely among state governments. As of early last month, an average of 65% of states' critical systems were ready for 2000, according to a Web database kept by the National Association of State Information Resource Executives. Nearly all of the states are developing contingency plans, the association says.
Steve Kolodney, director of the IS department for the state of Washington and head of the association's Y2K committee, says most states are on schedule to complete their projects, and those that aren't are catching up. States are creating contingency plans, "not because they expect major disruptions but because it's a necessary part of getting ready," Kolodney says. While there will likely be some problems and inconveniences among the thousands of systems used to provide services, "there's no sense of impending doom or serious consequences," he says.
It's even more difficult to gauge the readiness of county and municipal government agencies because of their number. Based on research thus far, though, it appears much code revision and testing needs to be done.
A survey of 500 U.S. counties late last year by the National Association of Counties showed that only half of them had countywide plans to address Y2K issues. Only a little over a third had completed their systems assessments, while 23% hadn't completed any assessments.
While the number of county and municipal agencies is great, the number of systems each one represents isn't nearly as intimidating as it is at the state or federal level. Nearly half of the counties identify 10 or fewer applications that need to be revised or replaced, while only 6% identify more than 100 applications in need of revisions. About 10% report that they found no systems that needed repair or replacement.
A majority of the counties have no contingency plans in place. Only 28% of counties plan to conduct countywide testing, and of these, 29% aren't sure when testing will be conducted.
Those numbers don't tell the whole story, says Michael Shean, an IT specialist at the National Association of Counties. When the most recent survey of counties is completed, the numbers will be much improved, he says. Even at the county level, Y2K-related problems will be minor, says Shean.
"We're continuing to work with other government organizations and developing programs for citizen awareness," of contingency plans, he says. "The word is definitely getting out."
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