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Year 2000 Computing Crisis: The District of Columbia Remains Behind Schedule

T-AIMD-99-84 Published: Feb 19, 1999. Publicly Released: Feb 19, 1999.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the challenges facing the District of Columbia in addressing the year 2000 problem, focusing on: (1) the District of Columbia's progress in fixing its information systems; and (2) the risks it now faces.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
District of Columbia The District's schedule for year 2000 compliance offers little opportunity for further compression, no margin for error, and little room for corrective action if test results show continued problems with mission-critical systems. To partially compensate, the District should place increased emphasis on: (1) completing business continuity and contingency plans as early as possible to allow time for testing and funding; and (2) ensuring that contingency plans and priorities are updated to reflect information that becomes available as the year 2000 project progresses, including new risk assessments based on the successes and failures encountered in the validation phase of the project.
Closed – Implemented
Recognizing the risk associated with its Y2K schedule, the District implemented a well-defined business continuity and contingency planning effort for its core business processes.
District of Columbia Efforts to address the year 2000 problem must have continued top-level attention, commitment, and input from key stakeholders (including the Mayor, department and agency heads, and the Control Board) who own the year 2000 process. These stakeholders must: (1) participate in making critical decisions throughout the remainder of the project; (2) continue to provide resources and support for the program; and (3) take action necessary to eliminate obstacles that could reduce the Year 2000 Program Office's chances of successfully executing its project plan.
Closed – Implemented
The District of Columbia has demonstrated top-level commitment to its year 2000 problem. Beginning in June 1999, the District began holding regular meetings of its top-level Year 2000 Executive Committee; meeting twice-a-month, this Committee includes the District's Mayor, Superintendent of Schools, Chief of Police, and Chief Technology Officer, as well as a representative from the city's Steering Committee on Government Operations. These meetings are to continue through the end of January, 2000. Additionally, the District has requested and received supplemental Year 2000 funding from the federal government totaling $68.1 million, requested an additional $68.9 million, and put an expedited contracting process in place to ensure that year 2000 procurements can proceed without delay.

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Topics

Contingency plansData integrityMission critical systemsInformation resources managementMunicipal governmentsSchedule slippagesSoftwareSoftware verification and validationStrategic information systems planningSystems conversionsY2K