Year 2000 Computing Crisis:
Readiness Improving But Much Work Remains to Ensure Delivery of Critical Services
T-AIMD-99-149: Published: Apr 19, 1999. Publicly Released: Apr 19, 1999.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
(202) 512-6253
contact@gao.gov
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the year 2000 risks facing the nation, focusing on: (1) the federal government's progress and remaining challenges in correcting its systems; (2) state and local government year 2000 issues; and (3) an overview of the available information on the readiness of key public infrastructure and economic sectors.
GAO noted that: (1) the federal government's most recent reports show improvement in addressing the year 2000 problem; (2) while much work remains, the federal government has significantly increased the percentage of mission-critical systems that are reported to be year 2000 compliant; (3) while the federal government did not meet its goal of having all mission-critical systems compliant by March 1999, 92 percent of these systems were reported to have met this goal; (4) while this progress is notable, 11 agencies did not meet the Office of Management and Budget's deadline for all of their mission-critical systems; (5) additionally, not all systems have undergone an independent verification and validation process; (6) some agencies are significantly behind schedule and are at high risk that they will not fix their systems in time; (7) agencies must work early and continually with their data exchange partners to plan and execute effective end-to-end tests; (8) given the interdependencies of federal agencies, it is imperative that contingency plans be developed for all critical core business processes and supporting systems, regardless of whether these systems are owned by the agency; (9) in GAO's review of the 24 major departments and agencies February 1999 quarterly reports found that business continuity and contingency planning was generally well underway; (10) the government's future actions need to be focused on its high-priority programs and ensuring the continuity of these programs, including the continuity of federal programs that are administered by states; (11) accordingly, 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) state and local governments also face a major risk of year 2000-induced failures to the many vital services that they provide; (13) a recent survey of state year 2000 efforts indicated that much remains to be completed; (14) the year 2000 also poses a serious challenge to the public infrastructure, key economic sectors, and to other countries; (15) the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion subsequently established over 25 sector-based working groups and has been initiating outreach activities since it became operational last spring; and (16) these sector-based working groups will also be assessing their sectors.
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