Maybe this has something to do with it.
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- President Clinton's point man on the so-called year
2000 computer problem and the head of a computer services company testified
before a House hearing Wednesday and offered very different predictions of how
much programming costs will rise by next year.
The year 2000 problem, also called the millennium bug, refers to the
inability of many older computer systems to read dates beyond 1999. Because
many older computer systems treat years as two digit numbers, they can't
distinguish between centuries and will cause businesses, governments, banks
and
other organizations major problems in the year 2000. Without specialized
reprogramming, systems will think the year 2000 - or 00 - is 1900.
John Koskinen, chair of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion,
told a joint hearing by the two House committees studying the problem that
U.S.
government agencies are "making progress but the pace needs to increase."
Koskinen said he has begun a series of meetings with the heads of federal
agencies to emphasize the importance of the issues. Koskinen is also
responsible for overseeing that the government works smoothly with
private-sector firms and other countries to avoid a crisis. At the request of
lawmakers, President Clinton created the Council on Year 2000 Conversion and
Koskinen's position in an executive order last month.
According to a report released by the Office of Management and Budget last
month, only about 35% of federal agencies' mission-critical systems were
year-2000 compliant. There are currently over 3,500 systems that need repair
and 1,100 to be replaced.
Michael Higgins, president of Century Services Inc., a Maryland firm
handling year 2000 problems, the government will face increasing labor
costs as
the millenium nears. "I believe we are going to see an exodus of goverment
programming talent in the next few years," said Harden. "These employees will
see the rising salaries of the private sector and cross over."
"The only real way to lick this problem is to start a massive effort now,"
Higgins said. "You may have to pay four times as much as the current rate for
an hour's worth of coding next year."
But Koskinen said "we do not have an indication that there is going to be a
substantial increase in cost." He also estimated "20% of federal systems will
either be retired or replaced" and wont's have to be upgraded.
Gene Dodaro, assistant comptroller general for the General Accounting
Office, said the government is straining to fix the problem before the year
2000 arrives, but said many federal agencies probably will not meet the
deadline. That could mean trouble for anyone who receives government checks,
pays taxes, flies in an airplane, receives student loans or manages the
military, said Dodaro.
Costs already have jumped. In February 1997, the OMB estimated fixing the
problem would cost $2.3 billion. Its most recent estimate was $4.7 billion.
And
some firms say that estimate is far too low.
The hearing was held by the House Science subcommittee on technology and
the
Government Reform and Oversight subcommittee on government management,
information and technology.
Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.>>
FWIW
Judy H.
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