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Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Status of Efforts to Deal With Personnel Issues

AIMD/GGD-99-14 Published: Oct 22, 1998. Publicly Released: Oct 22, 1998.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed workforce issues associated with the year 2000 computing crisis, focusing on: (1) the nature and extent of year 2000 personnel issues being reported by federal agencies; and (2) what is being done by the government to address reported federal personnel shortages related to the year 2000 problem.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget Given the likelihood that critical government operations will cease if key systems are not made year 2000 compliant, the Director, OMB, as part of the agency's monitoring responsibilities for the government's year 2000 program, should determine if recent OPM initiatives have satisfactorily addressed agencies' reported personnel problems.
Closed – Implemented
OMB concurred with this recommendation and reported that it is working with the CIO Council and OPM to monitor the adequacy of agencies' ability to acquire and retain needed personnel. OMB also noted that agencies are reporting substantial Y2K progress, which is an indication that they have been able to adequately obtain staff.
Office of Management and Budget If these problems have not been addressed by existing OPM tools, the Director, OMB, should designate an OMB official who, together with OPM and the CIO Council, would proactively and quickly help individual agencies resolve their year 2000 workforce concerns.
Closed – Implemented
OMB concurred with this recommendation and reported that the agency had worked and would continue to work with OPM and the CIO Council to assure that personnel issues do not hinder federal Y2K efforts.
Office of Management and Budget The Director, OMB, should work with the CIO Council to expedite the portions of its ongoing study that are relevant to the year 2000 problem, with a goal of issuing its year 2000-related recommendations as soon as possible.
Closed – Implemented
OMB concurred with this recommendation and noted that OPM and the CIO Council had already completed a number of actions that were identified by agencies to help address Y2K personnel problems.

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Topics

Government Operations
Data integrityFederal employeesInformation resources managementInteragency relationsIT personnelPersonnel managementSoftwareStaff utilizationStrategic information systems planningSystems conversionsY2K