From the Financial Times, Dec. 31,97:
COMPUTER 'BOMB' COST ESTIMATED AT $5bn
by David Wighton, Political Correspondent
[Below are excerpts from this article--JM]:
Tackling the millennium computer "bomb" could cost the [UK] government 3 billion pounds ($5bn), three times the amount ministers have predicted, according to analysis by the opposition Liberal Democrat party.
The figures [are]compiled from information supplied by central government departments, local government and the National health Service...
Malcolm Bruce, the Liberal Democrats' Treasury spokesman, said the new estimates underlined his fear that the government was not taking the threat seriously enough. He said the problems...were already being felt within government departments.
Calling for a National Audit Office inquiry, he warned that the costs of reprogramming computers could put public sector budgets under acute pressure.
"I am convinced that the NHS, our armed forces and the local authorities are going to have a real problem on their hands come the year 2000," he said.
Given the government's lack of preparation...private sector experience suggests it would be prudent to factor in cost overruns of between 25 per cent and 100 per cent, according to Mr. Bruce. He pointed to the example of Unilever which recently trebled its estimate for tackling the millennium bomb to 300m pounds.
The [Health] department said the best estimate was that the cost of resolving the problem would be equivalent to annual expenditure on computer systems. For central government alone, that expenditure is 2.5bn pounds a year.
Central government is taking under consideration a proposal to have a Mister Mike Winn remedy the situation for $30.99 some weekend soon.
[OKAY, I ADMIT I ADDED THAT LAST PARAGRAPH --JM] |
