Fix For U.S. Government Computers Jumps $1 Billion
WASHINGTON - The number of government computer systems that
need to be fixed or replaced before the year 2000 has jumped while
the estimated cost has soared by $1 billion, the Clinton
administration said.
Some agencies have not finished assessing the problems they face
with the ''millennium bug,'' a glitch in computers that means only the
last two digits of the year are recognized, so the year 2000 might be
read as 1900.
If left uncorrected, such programs could generate errors, denying
benefit checks to millions of Americans, or cause vital systems
including air traffic control to crash.
Administration officials said Monday they were taking immediate
steps to prod agencies to deal with the problem.
Sally Katzen, head of the administration's year 2000 preparedness
program, said the most serious problems as of last month were the
departments of Agriculture, Education, and Transportation and the
Agency for International Development.
For fiscal 1999, the four will have to spend all information technology
funds on the year 2000 problem unless they can demonstrate money
is needed for other critical projects.
Another 12 agencies could face spending all money on solving the
problem if they do not show progress in reports due Nov. 15, Katzen
said.
''We are sending a signal that is highly likely to get their attention,''
said Katzen, administrator of the Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs in the White House's Office of Management and
Budget.
Katzen also repeated a vow made in a speech by President Clinton
last month -- ''we are committed to making sure that these systems
are fixed.''
The government will need to spend $3.8 billion fixing the problems,
the report said, up from $2.8 billion estimated in a previous report.
Katzen said the cost would probably rise further but added, ''It's not
going to shoot off the wall.''
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers charged the administration was failing to
devote sufficient attention and resources to correcting the problem.
''The year 2000 problem is a crucial problem that needs attention at
the highest level of the executive branch,'' said Rep. Stephen Horn,
chairman of the House subcommittee on government management,
information and technology. ''If this problem does not have that
attention, then all too many of our fellow citizens will be adversely
affected.''
Horn, a former college professor, issued grades to the 24 executive
branch agencies and departments, with almost half of them receiving
failing marks of ''D'' or ''F''.
The Agency for International Development (AID) received an ''F''
from Horn after getting an ''A'' last year. The decline illustrated some
of the difficulties encountered by both government and
private-sector efforts to update computers.
Last year, AID officials told Horn they were installing a new
computer system that was ready for the 21st century. But in August,
agency officials revealed that the new system had unexpected flaws,
including reading the year 2000 correctly.
Horn gave an ''A'' to just one agency, the Social Security
Administration, which started preparing for the Year 2000 problem in
the late 1980s.
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Copyright, Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved
Reut09:58 09-17-97
(17 Sep 1997 09:57 EDT) |
