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To: Charles A. King who wrote (220)	12/12/1997 10:06:00 AM
From: Charles A. King	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1316

12/11/1997 15:39 EST Clinton Orders Work on 2000 Problem By ROB WELLS Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than a dozen federal agencies will redirect hundreds of millions of their technology budget dollars to fix the year 2000 computer problem, a senior Clinton administration budget official said Thursday. ''We wanted to make clear the efforts should be focused on these projects first and foremost,'' said Sally Katzen, an Office of Management and Budget administrator overseeing the year 2000 issue. The money already has been appropriated by Congress, but the OMB can order certain funds directed to other purposes. Katzen declined to specify the agencies before the OMB releases a report next week detailing its latest quarterly review of the federal government's response to the year 2000 computer problem, known as the ''millennium crisis.'' Many old computer software programs that recognize dates in two digit formats -- ''97'' would represent 1997 -- will run awry after the stroke of midnight in the year 2000. That's because these old programs will be unable to distinguish the year 2000 from 1900. The federal government estimates it will spend at least $3.9 billion to avert widespread government computer crashes. ''We expect these numbers to continue to increase gradually,'' Katzen said. The new OMB review of 24 Cabinet agencies will say seven showed ''insufficient progress'' in fixing the year 2000 problem. That's an increase of three agencies on this troubled list since the last OMB report in September, she said. The new report also will show nine remained ''of concern'' and eight had the problem under control. The OMB's move to redirect the funds drew praise from Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., chairman of a House Government Reform and Oversight subcommittee who is closely following the issue. ''Reprogramming was the way to get on top of this,'' Horn told a press conference. Horn also advocates diverting non-technology funds, if necessary, to the computer overhaul. Horn unveiled his own analysis of agencies' progress to date. It indicates that at their current pace, 10 agencies will finish a year 2000 conversion of their most critical computer systems on time while 14 will be late. ''Unless agencies make much faster progress soon, the federal government runs a serious risk of a massive electronic breakdown on January 1, 2000,'' Horn said. Horn's analysis doesn't include the less critical computer systems the agencies use for internal management or other systems that will be affected by the year 2000 bug, such as embedded computer chips that control building security systems and elevators. ''That means there are thousands of others that need to be adjusted,'' he said. The worst offenders on Horn's list were the departments of Labor and Energy. At last quarter's pace, those agencies won't finish the year 2000 conversion job until 2019, Horn said. Telephone calls to Labor and Energy officials weren't immediately returned.