Year 2000 Computing Crisis:
Avoiding Major Disruptions Will Require Strong Leadership and Effective Partnerships
T-AIMD-98-267: Published: Aug 19, 1998. Publicly Released: Aug 19, 1998.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
(202) 512-6253
contact@gao.gov
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov
GAO discussed the year 2000 risks facing the nation, focusing on: (1) GAO's major concerns with the federal government's progress in correcting its systems; (2) state and local government year 2000 issues; and (3) critical year 2000 data exchange issues.
GAO noted that: (1) the public faces a high risk that critical services provided by the government and the private sector could be severely disrupted by the year 2000 computing crisis; (2) the year 2000 could cause problems for the many facilities used by the federal government that were built or renovated within the last 20 years and contain embedded computer systems to control, monitor, or assist in operations; (3) overall, the government's 24 major departments and agencies are making slow progress in fixing their systems; (4) in May 1997, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reported that about 21 percent of the mission-critical systems for these departments and agencies were year 2000 compliant; (5) in May 1998, these departments reported that 40 percent of the mission-critical systems were year 2000 compliant; (6) unless progress improves dramatically, a substantial number of mission-critical systems will not be compliant in time; (7) in addition to slow governmentwide progress in fixing systems, GAO's reviews of federal agency year 2000 programs have found uneven progress; (8) some agencies are significantly behind schedule and are at high risk that they will not fix their systems in time; (9) other agencies have made progress, although risks continue and a great deal of work remains; (10) governmentwide priorities in fixing systems have not yet been established; (11) these governmentwide priorities need to be based on such criteria as the potential for adverse health and safety effects, adverse financial effects on American citizens, detrimental effects on national security, and adverse economic consequences; (12) business continuity and contingency planning across the government has been inadequate; (13) in their May 1998 quarterly reports to OMB, only four agencies reported that they had drafted contingency plans for their core business processes; (14) OMB's assessment of the status of federal year 2000 progress is predominantly based on agency reports that have not been consistently reviewed or verified; (15) GAO found cases in which agencies' systems compliance status as reported to OMB had been inaccurate; (16) end-to-end testing responsibilities have not yet been defined; (17) state and local governments also face a major risk of year 2000-induced failures to the many vital services that they provide; (18) recent surveys of state year 2000 efforts have indicated that much remains to be completed; and (19) at the time of GAO's review, much work remained to ensure that federal and state data exchanges will be year 2000 compliant.
Dec 23, 2020
-
Information Technology:
DOD Software Development Approaches and Cybersecurity Practices May Impact Cost and ScheduleGAO-21-182: Published: Dec 23, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 23, 2020.
Dec 15, 2020
-
Information Technology:
Federal Agencies Need to Take Urgent Action to Manage Supply Chain RisksGAO-21-171: Published: Dec 15, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 15, 2020.
Oct 13, 2020
-
USAJOBS Website:
OPM Has Taken Actions to Assess and Enhance the User ExperienceGAO-21-31: Published: Oct 13, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 13, 2020.
Oct 7, 2020
-
Information Technology:
IRS Needs to Address Operational Challenges and Opportunities to Improve ManagementGAO-21-178T: Published: Oct 7, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 7, 2020.
Sep 30, 2020
-
Information Technology:
Selected Federal Agencies Need to Take Additional Actions to Reduce Contract DuplicationGAO-20-567: Published: Sep 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 30, 2020.
Sep 29, 2020
-
Science & Tech Spotlight:
Agile Software DevelopmentGAO-20-713SP: Published: Sep 29, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 29, 2020.
Sep 28, 2020
-
Agile Assessment Guide:
Best Practices for Agile Adoption and ImplementationGAO-20-590G: Published: Sep 28, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 28, 2020.
Sep 14, 2020
-
Internet of Things:
Information on Use by Federal AgenciesGAO-20-577: Published: Aug 13, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 14, 2020.
Sep 9, 2020
-
Medicaid Information Technology:
Effective CMS Oversight and States' Sharing of Claims Processing and Information Retrieval Systems Can Reduce CostsGAO-20-179: Published: Sep 9, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 9, 2020.
Sep 8, 2020
-
Information Technology:
Key Attributes of Essential Federal Mission-Critical AcquisitionsGAO-20-249SP: Published: Sep 8, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 8, 2020.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here