United States General Accounting Office

GAO Testimony

Before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations,

Committee on Education and the Workforce, House of

Representatives

For Release on Delivery

Expected at

10 a.m.

Thursday,

September 17, 1998

YEAR 2000 COMPUTING

CRISIS

Progress Made at

Department of Labor, But

Key Systems at Risk

Statement of Joel C. Willemssen

Director, Civil Agencies Information Systems

Accounting and Information Management Division

GAO/T-AIMD-98-303

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:

We appreciate the opportunity to share with you today the significant

information technology challenges that the upcoming century change

poses to the Department of Labor, in general, and to several of its agencies

in particular. The Year 2000 computing crisis has rightly received much

attention in recent months; virtually every organization, public and private,

that uses computers is at risk.1

 The upcoming change of century is a

sweeping and urgent challenge; for this reason, we have designated the

Year 2000 computing problem a high-risk area for the federal government,2

 and have published guidance to help organizations successfully address

the issue.3

 To date, we have issued over 60 reports and testimony

statements detailing specific findings and recommendations related to the

Year 2000 readiness of a wide range of federal agencies.4

In addition to reporting on the status of Labor’s 61 mission-critical

systems, I will, as requested, (1) focus on specific Year 2000 issues facing

two elements of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration and

(2) discuss the Year 2000 efforts of the Office of Workers’ Compensation

Programs (OWCP)5

 and of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Finally, I will

provide observations on the Year 2000 readiness of the Pension Benefit

Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). In each case, I will highlight the status of

these organizations’ efforts and the specific risks associated with their key

systems.

In brief, the Department of Labor and its agencies have made progress, but

are still at risk in several areas. These areas include making benefits

payments to laid-off workers, collecting labor statistics, and ensuring

1

For the past several decades, computer systems have typically used two digits to represent the year,

such as “98” for 1998, in order to conserve electronic data storage and reduce operating costs. In this

format, however, 2000 is indistinguishable from 1900 because both are represented as “00.” As a result,

if not modified, systems or applications that use dates or perform date- or time-sensitive calculations

may generate incorrect results beyond 1999.

2

High-Risk Series: Information Management and Technology (GAO/HR-97-9, February 1997).

3

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: An Assessment Guide (GAO/AIMD-10.1.14, September 1997), which

addresses the key tasks needed to complete each phase of a Year 2000 program (awareness,

assessment, renovation, validation, and implementation); Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Business

Continuity and Contingency Planning (GAO/AIMD-10.1.19, August 1998), which describes the tasks

needed to ensure the continuity of agency operations; and Year 2000 Computing Crisis: A Testing

Guide (GAO/AIMD-10.1.21, Exposure Draft, June 1998), which discusses the need to plan and conduct

Year 2000 tests in a structured and disciplined fashion.

4

A listing of our publications is included as an attachment to this statement.

5

A component of Labor’s Employment Standards Administration.

Page 1 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
accurate accounting for pension benefits. Several of the systems

supporting these business areas are at risk; some could fail as early as

January 1999—less than 4 months away—because they involve

calculations a year into the future. Accordingly, it is critical that

appropriate contingency plans be developed to ensure business continuity

in the event of systems failures.

Background The Department of Labor’s mission is to promote the welfare of job

seekers, wage earners, and retirees of the United States by improving their

working conditions, enhancing opportunities for profitable employment,

and protecting their retirement investments. Established as a department

in 1913, Labor is responsible for the administration and enforcement of

over 180 federal statutes covering nearly 10 million employers and over

100 million workers. Labor administers and enforces a variety of federal

laws guaranteeing workers’ rights to a workplace free from safety and

health hazards; a minimum hourly wage and overtime pay; family and

medical leave; freedom from employment discrimination; unemployment

insurance; and other income support, such as workers’ compensation

benefits. Labor also protects workers’ pension rights; provides job training

programs; helps workers find jobs; works to strengthen free collective

bargaining; and keeps track of changes in employment, prices, and other

national economic measures.

For fiscal year 1998, Labor had an estimated budget of $34.6 billion and is

authorized 16,700 staff. About three quarters of Labor’s budget is

composed of mandatory spending on income maintenance programs. The

department’s diverse functions are carried out by different offices in a

decentralized structure: 24 component units, with over 1,000 field offices,

to support its various functional responsibilities.

Labor’s five major areas of statutory responsibility include employment

and training, employment health and safety, pension and welfare benefits,

employment standards, and labor statistics. It has six major program

agencies to carry out these responsibilities: the Employment and Training

Administration, the Employment Standards Administration, the Bureau of

Labor Statistics, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the

Mine Safety and Health Administration, and the Pension and Welfare

Benefits Administration. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is a

government corporation that administers the guaranteed retirement

pension system.

Page 2 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
Labor’s program activities fall into two major categories: enhancing

workers’ skills through job training and ensuring worker protection. In

addition, it develops economic statistics, such as the consumer price

index, used by business, labor, and government in forming fiscal and

monetary policy and in making cost-of-living adjustments. Labor also

provides temporary income support for laid-off workers seeking jobs and

serves to assist workers in finding new jobs under federal-state

partnerships.

Labor’s Risks Require

Strong Management

Approach

To perform its mission, Labor makes extensive use of complex

information technology to support programmatic requirements,

departmentwide communications, administrative functions, and office

automation. It has identified 61 mission-critical systems for which it must

ensure Year 2000 compliance. Without these systems, Labor has

determined, it cannot effectively carry out numerous mission-critical

functions, including (1) providing income security to millions of workers

through a variety of benefits programs, (2) administering nationwide

employment and training programs and services, (3) generating vital

statistics on the U.S. economy, such as unemployment rates and the

consumer price index, and (4) providing vital information to the public on

a variety of employment issues, such as the security of pension plans,

occupational injuries and illnesses, and employment rights.

If Labor’s systems are not Year 2000 compliant on or before January 1,

2000, the potential impact could be significant. For example, according to

Labor officials, billions of dollars in benefits payments to Americans, such

as unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation, would be at

significant risk of disruption, and accurate labor statistics on the economy

used by both public and private organizations may not be produced.

Further, the ability to manage the billions of dollars in assets for pension

benefit guarantees for over 40 million workers could be hampered.

The Year 2000 program is likely the largest and most complex project

management and systems conversion activity ever to be undertaken by

many federal agencies. It requires the disciplined, coordinated application

of scarce resources to an agencywide system conversion that must be

completed by a fixed date, and an understanding of the wide range of

dependencies among information systems. To succeed, Labor must

manage the Year 2000 program as a large systems development activity.

Page 3 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
An organization can mitigate its risk of Year 2000 complications through a

structured approach and rigorous program management. One generally

accepted approach, outlined in our Year 2000 Computing Crisis: An

Assessment Guide (GAO/AIMD-10.1.14), includes five phases:

• awareness — defining the problem and gaining executive-level support;

• assessment — inventorying and analyzing systems, and prioritizing their

conversion or replacement;

• renovation — converting, replacing, or eliminating selected systems;

• validation — ensuring that all converted or replaced systems and

interfaces will work in an operational environment; and

• implementation — deploying Year 2000-compliant systems and

components, and implementing contingency plans, if necessary.

Year 2000 Compliance

Is Now a

Departmental Priority

Labor recognized several years ago that the upcoming change of century

posed significant challenges to the agency, and in May 1996 reported to

Congress that it had initiated Year 2000 activities. By late 1996, Labor’s

Year 2000 activities had increased, and it reported to the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) that it completed the Year 2000 awareness

phase in December 1996. During this time period, the Chief Information

Officer (CIO) designated a Labor project manager for the Year 2000 effort,

and together the CIO and the project manager held a series of briefings with

executive staff, administrative officers, and information technology

managers to ensure that Labor’s executive and senior management levels

were fully aware of the importance of the Year 2000 issue.

In May 1997, Labor reported to OMB that its CIO had directed that each

Labor component agency designate a Year 2000 project manager. The CIO

and departmental Year 2000 manager instituted two levels of monthly

meetings, one with Year 2000 project managers and one with the

department’s information technology managers, to track progress and

share information on Year 2000 project activities.

To keep senior management informed on an ongoing basis, Year 2000

status reports were provided to the Capital Planning Investment Board,

chaired by the CIO and including the heads of major Labor program

agencies and the department’s Chief Financial Officer. In August 1997, the

department reported to OMB that it had completed the Year 2000

assessment phase using a three-tiered structure to evaluate and rank its

systems to prioritize its Year 2000 compliance efforts. For example, it

assigned the highest priority to the mission-critical systems that would

Page 4 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
have a direct impact on the public; enforcement activities; or financial

systems, such as its benefits payment systems.

In a memorandum dated December 31, 1997, the Secretary of Labor made

Year 2000 compliance a top departmental priority, and directed steps to

accelerate progress in reaching the department’s target goals. The Deputy

Secretary has also made the agency’s Year 2000 progress a priority item in

monthly meetings with each agency head. In February of this year, Labor

established a monthly exception reporting system, requiring its component

agencies to report any deviations from their Year 2000 plans. Labor uses

this report as an early warning of potential issues needing attention.

In August, Labor reported to OMB that 24 of its 61 mission-critical systems

were compliant; table 1 shows the reported Year 2000 status of Labor’s

mission-critical systems as of August 1998.

Table 1: Reported Year 2000 Readiness Status of Labor’s Mission-Critical Systems as of August 1998

Agency

Number of

systems

Under

repair

To be

replaced

Reported

compliant

8/98

Percentage

compliant

8/98

Reported

compliant

5/98

Percentage

compliant

5/98

UIS 1 1 0 0 0 0 0

ES 0 0 0 0 na na na

BLS 23 4 8 11 48 10 44

OWCP 4 2 1 1 25 0 0

Other 33 15 6 12 36 11 33

Total 61 22 15 24 39 21 34

PBGCa 13 2 1 10 77 7 54

aPBGC’s mission-critical systems are not included in Labor’s totals.

Source: Department of Labor.

Risks Facing Labor

Components Affect

Many Critical

Workforce Issues

The public relies on the Department of Labor and its components for

assistance when unemployed, for protection and compensation in the

workplace, for statistics on which many of the nation’s critical economic

indicators are based, and for ensuring the security of private pension

plans. The department, its agencies, and the states, in turn, rely on

automated systems to ensure that the expected operations are carried out.

In each of these areas, the Year 2000 compliance status of all systems

cannot yet be ensured. Several of the systems are at risk of failure,

Page 5 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
including some state systems that could fail as early as January 1999

because they involve calculations a year into the future.

Federal/State Systems for

Unemployed Workers at

Risk of Early Failure

Labor’s programs to help unemployed workers and assist them in locating

employment are carried out by two Employment Training Administration

(ETA) organizations: the Unemployment Insurance Service (UIS) and the

Employment Service (ES). Enacted over 60 years ago as part of the Social

Security Act of 1935 as a federal-state partnership, the Unemployment

Insurance Program has been a major source of temporary income support

for laid-off workers seeking work. The Employment Services Program,

which was established by the Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933, as amended, has

assisted workers in finding new jobs. State Employment Security Agencies

(SESA) operate the programs in accordance with their own state priorities

and unemployment compensation laws; therefore, each state has

substantial control over provided services, eligibility requirements, and

benefits levels. SESAs provide three distinct benefits: unemployment

insurance, employment services, and state administration of the Job

Training Partnership Act.

The department and the states share responsibility for administration of

the Unemployment Insurance Program. Labor’s UIS is responsible for

establishing broad guidelines (including some eligibility conditions),

general oversight, and administrative funding. SESAs pay unemployment

compensation benefits from the Unemployment Trust Fund to eligible

workers and collect state unemployment taxes from employers.

Today, 97 percent of all wage earners are covered by this program.

Unemployment insurance will pay an estimated $24 billion to

approximately 8 million workers in compensation benefits and allowances

from the Unemployment Trust Fund in fiscal year 1999. During this same

period, SESA staff will handle over 6 million employer tax accounts,

20 million initial unemployment claims, almost 137 million “weeks

claimed,” and 1 million appeals. In fiscal year 1998, SESAs collected

$22 billion in state unemployment insurance taxes.

Because each of the 53 SESAs (one for each state and the District of

Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands) has its own system, Labor’s

UIS reported only one mission-critical system to OMB—the UIS itself, which

collects information from numerous state sources to measure and monitor

state unemployment insurance performance and workload and budgeting

Page 6 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
activities. According to Labor reports, the expected implementation date

for this system is February 1999.

According to Labor’s contingency planning guidance issued to SESAs, if

SESA benefits systems were to become inoperable, benefits payments could

be jeopardized; if its tax system failed, tax collections could suffer.

Successful operation of the benefits and tax functions depend heavily on

complex information systems, a wide range of internal and external

products and services, and the uninterrupted operation of the major

information technology infrastructure.

Many SESA systems are already at risk of date problems due to Year-2000

related failures occurring as early as January 1999. The SESAs’

unemployment insurance benefits systems are vulnerable to this because

of benefit year date calculations used in determining claimant eligibility.

These projected date calculations are relied upon throughout state

benefits systems, and can cause systems failures as early as January 1999,

if not corrected. For example, if a claim is filed January 4, 1999, it will have

a benefit year ending date of January 3, 2000. If states’ benefits system

have not been repaired, Labor expects these systems to fail as early as

January 1999—3 and a half months from today—because they would not

properly recognize dates beyond 2000. Because of this date vulnerability,

Labor has strongly encouraged SESAs to address this problem first, and has

provided each with at least $1 millon to address the Year 2000 problem in

its particular state.

Some SESA Systems at

High Risk

UIS monitors the SESAs’ Year 2000 progress through status reports issued on

a quarterly basis. UIS places states in one of four categories: (1) high

alert—SESAs at highest risk of failure and “that appear almost certain to fail

by January 4, 1999,” (2) at risk—those that are significantly behind in their

renovation efforts, (3) yellow caution—SESAs that “are on the border” of

not making sufficient progress toward achieving compliance, and

(4) green—those making adequate progress or already having compliant

systems in place. Figure 1 provides UIS’ assessment of the 53 SESAs as of

July 31, 1998.

Page 7 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
Figure 1: SESAs’ Year 2000 Readiness Risk as of July 31, 1998

High alert

At risk

Caution

Adequate 

progress

Virgin Is.

(At risk) 

District of Columbia

(High alert)

Puerto Rico

(High alert)

Source: Department of Labor. We did not independently verify this information.

As shown, UIS has placed Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia in the

high alert category. According to UIS, these SESAs need to immediately

focus their resources on developing contingency solutions to replace their

existing systems.

UIS also placed five SESAs in the at risk category: Arkansas, Delaware,

Montana, New Mexico, and the Virgin Islands. Labor issued a policy

directive effective yesterday, September 16, requiring that the at risk SESAs

develop and submit business continuity and contingency plans for their

Page 8 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
benefits systems to the department’s regional offices by October 1 of this

year—and requiring the rest of the SESAs to submit plans by November 20,

1998.

Employment Service

Reports No

Mission-Critical Systems

Labor’s U.S. Employment Service (ES) was created by the Wagner-Peyser

Act of 1933, amended in 1982 to give more authority to state governors. It

provides general direction, funding, and oversight; Labor estimates that its

fiscal year 1999 budget request of $797 million will result in the placement

of over 3 million individuals in jobs through employment services. Under

this act, grants are allocated to each state to plan and administer a labor

exchange program to best respond to the needs of the state’s employers

and workers. ES also assists states with programs of test development,

occupational analysis, and maintenance of the Dictionary of Occupational

Titles.

SESAs operate almost 2,000 local employment service (job service) offices.

Each year these offices assist millions of job seekers and employers and,

in some areas, provide job training and related services. The public

employment service is available to everyone authorized to work in the

United States. In addition, it helps to implement provisions of the

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and provides specialized

assistance to veterans; persons with disabilities; and other groups, such as

youths 16 to 22 and the economically disadvantaged. Most of the service’s

appropriations come from the trust funds collected under the Federal

Unemployment Tax Act, with a small portion (3 percent) coming from

general revenues. Federal regulations require that the states maintain

statewide labor exchanges with certain minimum capabilities, including

assisting job seekers in finding employment, assisting employers in filling

jobs, and meeting the work test for unemployment insurance claimants,

among others.

ES reports that it has no mission-critical systems. According to ES officials,

the organization’s primary information system would be considered

America’s Job Bank (AJB). Together with the 2,000 state-operated public

employment offices, ES operates AJB, a computerized network linking state

employment service offices to provide job seekers with job opportunities.

AJB contains approximately 800,000 job listings and costs about

$1.6 million to operate annually. ES officials also said that AJB provides

rapid, national exposure for job openings and an easily accessible pool of

candidates for employers. In addition to appearing on the Internet, the job

openings and resumes found in AJB are available on computer systems in

Page 9 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
public libraries, colleges and universities, high schools, shopping malls,

transition offices on military bases worldwide, and other places of public

interest. There is no charge to either employers who list their job

vacancies or to job seekers who utilize AJB to locate employment.

According to the Director of Employment Services, AJB, operated by the

State of New York through an agreement with Labor, has not been

formally assessed for Year 2000 compliance. However, according to the ES

director, the impact of AJB’s failure would be minimal because it is a

compilation of all state job banks’ listings. The ES director said that if the

system did not operate, states could still access their respective banks and

perhaps contact other states through the Internet to obtain their listings.

Workers’ Compensation

Programs Addressing Year

2000 Challenges

One of Labor’s units charged with ensuring worker protection is the Office

of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP), which administers three

major workers’ compensation acts: the Federal Employees’ Compensation

Act, the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, and the Black

Lung Benefits Act. The programs reported in fiscal year 1997 that these

compensation programs processed about 207,000 claims and provided

approximately $3 billion in compensation funds for wage replacement

benefits, medical treatment, and vocational and other benefits to eligible

workers. OWCP administers these three compensation acts through three

separate program divisions.

We recently reported on OWCP’s efforts to address the Year 2000 computing

challenges facing its three workers’ compensation programs and the four

supporting mission-critical systems.6

 In assessing these systems, OWCP

determined that each was in need of repair to make it Year 2000 compliant.

Of the four, the one most at risk was the replacement system for the Black

Lung Program, known as the Automated Support Package (ASP). The

current ASP is the program’s case management system; if this mainframe

system were to fail, it could disrupt the payment of benefits to sufferers of

pneumoconiosis (Black Lung disease, caused by habitual inhalation of

coal dust), as well as to their beneficiaries and medical providers.

Until recently, as part of its Year 2000 strategy, the existing system was

scheduled to be retired and replaced by a new client-server7

 system in

November 1999—dangerously close to the year 2000. However, after

6

Labor’s Workers’ Compensation Programs and Y2K (GAO/AIMD-98-207R, July 29, 1998).

7

In a client-server environment, individual workstations (the client) and shared processors (the server)

cooperate over a network to complete tasks.

Page 10 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
discussing this situation with OWCP and department officials, the agency

has revised its strategy and will now also renovate its existing ASP system

in the event the replacement system is not implemented in time. The

renovation work is now underway, and is scheduled to meet the OMB

deadlines.

BLS Systems Critical to

Current, Accurate

Economic Statistics

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the principal fact-finding agency in

the federal government in the broad field of economics. BLS is a national

statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates

essential statistical data to the American public, the Congress, other

federal agencies, state and local governments, business, and labor. For

example, BLS produces the consumer price index (CPI), the principal source

of information concerning trends in consumer prices and inflation in the

United States and one of the nation’s most important economic indicators.

BLS also produces other principal economic indicators, such as current

employment statistics, which are produced monthly and include data on

employment, hours, and earnings, in detail by industry and geographic

area, providing a reliable measure of economic activity. These estimates

serve as components of the index of leading economic indicators. BLS has

eight regional offices throughout the country, each specializing in the

economies of the regions in which they are located.

BLS has 23 of Labor’s 61 mission-critical systems. According to BLS officials,

11 of the 23 are Year 2000 compliant, 8 are being replaced, and 4 are being

repaired. Should these systems fail, according to BLS’ systems impact

statements, such failures could result in the inability to accurately

calculate statistical data. For example, if the CPI system failed it could have

an impact on other federal programs as it is used as the basis to adjust

payments to Social Security recipients and federal and military retirees

and for a number of entitlement programs, such as food stamps and school

lunches. Further, again according to BLS’ systems impact statements, a

reliable measure of economic activity would not be available, affecting the

ability of government decisionmakers to formulate fiscal and economic

policy.

The CPI system, which is being repaired, is not scheduled to meet the

September 1998 renovation target or the December 1998 validation target

set by OMB. BLS’ plans call for renovation to be completed by January 1999,

validation by February 1999, and implementation by March 1999.

Page 11 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
BLS is relying on eight replacement systems to be implemented between

October 1998 and March 1999. While these systems vary in size and

complexity, system replacement is often a high risk because federal

agencies have a long history of difficulty in delivering planned systems on

time.8

 Further, the Year 2000 schedule for these eight is tight. Completion

target dates for testing and implementation are all within a few months of

each other.

Pension Benefit

Guarantees Require

Reliability of PBGC

Systems

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is a federal government

corporation established by title IV of the Employee Retirement Income

Security Act (ERISA) of 1974. PBGC administers programs of mandatory

insurance to prevent loss of pension benefits under covered private,

defined-benefit pension plans if single-employer plans terminate or if

multi-employer plans are unable to pay benefits.

PBGC protects the retirement incomes of about 42 million American

workers—one in every three—in over 45,000 defined-benefit pension

plans. PBGC is financed through premiums collected from companies that

sponsor insured pension plans; investment returns on PBGC assets; and

recoveries from employers responsible for underfunded, terminated plans.

PBGC is responsible for annual premium revenues of over $1 billion, assets

of $16 billion, annual benefits payments of more than $820 million, and

benefits obligation to more than 465,000 workers and retirees in more than

2,500 pension plans.

PBGC has 13 mission-critical systems, 12 of which have been replaced in the

last 4 years. The corporation is on schedule to complete validation and

implementation of these replacement systems by February 1999.

The Financial Accounting and Reporting System (FARS), the one system

that has yet to be replaced, is not due to be implemented until June 1999.

This system is critical to the tracking of billions of dollars related to PBGC’s

annual financial transactions. Because of this late implementation date,

PBGC is now beginning to look at other options in the event FARS is not

ready in time.

8

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: USDA Faces Tremendous Challenges in Ensuring That Vital Public

Services Are Not Disrupted (GAO/T-AIMD-98-167, May 14, 1998).

Page 12 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
Labor Intends to

Develop Plans to

Respond to Potential

Failures

Given the challenges Labor faces in making sure that all of its

mission-critical systems are adequately tested and in addressing the

complexities of the large number of federal-state partnerships, it will be

difficult for the department to enter the new century without some

problems. Therefore, it is critical that Labor initiate the development of

realistic contingency plans to ensure continuity of core business processes

in the event of Year 2000-induced failures.

Business continuity and contingency plans should be formulated to

respond to two types of failure: those that can be predicted (e.g., systems

renovations that are already far behind schedule), and those that are

unforeseen (e.g., systems that fail despite having been certified Year 2000

compliant, or those that cannot be corrected by January 1, 2000, despite

appearing to be on schedule today). Moreover, contingency plans that

focus only on agency systems are inadequate. Federal agencies depend on

data provided by their business partners as well as on services provided by

the public infrastructure. Thus, one weak link anywhere in the chain of

critical dependencies can cause major disruption. Given these

interdependencies, 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.

Our guide to ensuring business continuity and contingency planning,

issued last month, provides further detail.9

 It describes four phases

supported by agency Year 2000 program management: initiation, business

impact analysis, contingency planning, and testing. Each phase represents

a major Year 2000 business continuity planning project activity or

segment.

According to Labor officials, the department is committed to developing

business continuity and contingency plans for each mission-critical

business process and supporting systems. The department has now

drafted such plans for key benefits processes and supporting systems.

Plans for other business areas and supporting systems are expected later

this year.

This concludes my statement, and I would be pleased to answer any

questions that you or other Members of the Subcommittee may have at

this time.

9

GAO/AIMD-10.1.19, August 1998.

Page 13 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
Attachment 

GAO Reports and Testimony Addressing the

Year 2000 Crisis

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Severity of Problem Calls for Strong

Leadership and Effective Partnerships (GAO/T-AIMD-98-278, September 3,

1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Strong Leadership and Effective Partnerships

Needed to Reduce Likelihood of Adverse Impact (GAO/T-AIMD-98-277,

September 2, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Strong Leadership and Effective Partnerships

Needed to Mitigate Risks (GAO/T-AIMD-98-276, September 1, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: State Department Needs To Make

Fundamental Improvements To Its Year 2000 Program (GAO/AIMD-98-162,

August 28, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing: EFT 99 Is Not Expected to Affect Year 2000

Remediation Efforts (GAO/AIMD-98-272R, August 28, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Avoiding Major Disruptions Will Require

Strong Leadership and Effective Partnerships (GAO/T-AIMD-98-267, August 19,

1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Strong Leadership and Partnerships Needed

to Address Risk of Major Disruptions (GAO/T-AIMD-98-266, August 17, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Strong Leadership and Partnerships Needed

to Mitigate Risk of Major Disruptions (GAO/T-AIMD-98-262, August 13, 1998).

FAA Systems: Serious Challenges Remain in Resolving Year 2000 and

Computer Security Problems (GAO/T-AIMD-98-251, August 6, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Business Continuity and Contingency

Planning (GAO/AIMD-10.1.19, August 1998).

Internal Revenue Service: Impact of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act

on Year 2000 Efforts (GAO/GGD-98-158R, August 4, 1998).

Social Security Administration: Subcommittee Questions Concerning

Information Technology Challenges Facing the Commissioner

(GAO/AIMD-98-235R, July 10, 1998).

Page 14 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
Attachment 

GAO Reports and Testimony Addressing the

Year 2000 Crisis

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Actions Needed on Electronic Data

Exchanges (GAO/AIMD-98-124, July 1, 1998).

Defense Computers: Year 2000 Computer Problems Put Navy Operations

at Risk (GAO/AIMD-98-150, June 30, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: A Testing Guide (GAO/AIMD-10.1.21, Exposure

Draft, June 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Testing and Other Challenges Confronting

Federal Agencies (GAO/T-AIMD-98-218, June 22, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Telecommunications Readiness Critical, Yet

Overall Status Largely Unknown (GAO/T-AIMD-98-212, June 16, 1998).

GAO Views on Year 2000 Testing Metrics (GAO/AIMD-98-217R, June 16, 1998).

IRS’ Year 2000 Efforts: Business Continuity Planning Needed for Potential

Year 2000 System Failures (GAO/GGD-98-138, June 15, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Actions Must Be Taken Now to Address Slow

Pace of Federal Progress (GAO/T-AIMD-98-205, June 10, 1998).

Defense Computers: Army Needs to Greatly Strengthen Its Year 2000

Program (GAO/AIMD-98-53, May 29, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: USDA Faces Tremendous Challenges in

Ensuring That Vital Public Services Are Not Disrupted (GAO/T-AIMD-98-167,

May 14, 1998).

Securities Pricing: Actions Needed for Conversion to Decimals

(GAO/T-GGD-98-121, May 8, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Continuing Risks of Disruption to Social

Security, Medicare, and Treasury Programs (GAO/T-AIMD-98-161, May 7, 1998).

IRS’ Year 2000 Efforts: Status and Risks (GAO/T-GGD-98-123, May 7, 1998).

Air Traffic Control: FAA Plans to Replace Its Host Computer System

Because Future Availability Cannot Be Assured (GAO/AIMD-98-138R, May 1,

1998).

Page 15 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
Attachment 

GAO Reports and Testimony Addressing the

Year 2000 Crisis

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Potential for Widespread Disruption Calls for

Strong Leadership and Partnerships (GAO/AIMD-98-85, April 30, 1998).

Defense Computers: Year 2000 Computer Problems Threaten DOD

Operations (GAO/AIMD-98-72, April 30, 1998).

Department of the Interior: Year 2000 Computing Crisis Presents Risk of

Disruption to Key Operations (GAO/T-AIMD-98-149, April 22, 1998).

Tax Administration: IRS’ Fiscal Year 1999 Budget Request and Fiscal Year

1998 Filing Season (GAO/T-GGD/AIMD-98-114, March 31, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Strong Leadership Needed to Avoid

Disruption of Essential Services (GAO/T-AIMD-98-117, March 24, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Federal Regulatory Efforts to Ensure

Financial Institution Systems Are Year 2000 Compliant (GAO/T-AIMD-98-116,

March 24, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Office of Thrift Supervision’s Efforts to

Ensure Thrift Systems Are Year 2000 Compliant (GAO/T-AIMD-98-102,

March 18, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Strong Leadership and Effective

Public/Private Cooperation Needed to Avoid Major Disruptions

(GAO/T-AIMD-98-101, March 18, 1998).

Post-Hearing Questions on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s

Year 2000 (Y2K) Preparedness (AIMD-98-108R, March 18, 1998).

SEC Year 2000 Report: Future Reports Could Provide More Detailed

Information (GAO/GGD/AIMD-98-51, March 6, 1998).

Year 2000 Readiness: NRC’s Proposed Approach Regarding Nuclear

Powerplants (GAO/AIMD-98-90R, March 6, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s

Efforts to Ensure Bank Systems Are Year 2000 Compliant (GAO/T-AIMD-98-73,

February 10, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: FAA Must Act Quickly to Prevent Systems

Failures (GAO/T-AIMD-98-63, February 4, 1998).

Page 16 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
Attachment 

GAO Reports and Testimony Addressing the

Year 2000 Crisis

FAA Computer Systems: Limited Progress on Year 2000 Issue Increases

Risk Dramatically (GAO/AIMD-98-45, January 30, 1998).

Defense Computers: Air Force Needs to Strengthen Year 2000 Oversight

(GAO/AIMD-98-35, January 16, 1998).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Actions Needed to Address Credit Union

Systems’ Year 2000 Problem (GAO/AIMD-98-48, January 7, 1998).

Veterans Health Administration Facility Systems: Some Progress Made In

Ensuring Year 2000 Compliance, But Challenges Remain (GAO/AIMD-98-31R,

November 7, 1997).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: National Credit Union Administration’s

Efforts to Ensure Credit Union Systems Are Year 2000 Compliant

(GAO/T-AIMD-98-20, October 22, 1997).

Social Security Administration: Significant Progress Made in Year 2000

Effort, But Key Risks Remain (GAO/AIMD-98-6, October 22, 1997).

Defense Computers: Technical Support Is Key to Naval Supply Year 2000

Success (GAO/AIMD-98-7R, October 21, 1997).

Defense Computers: LSSC Needs to Confront Significant Year 2000 Issues

(GAO/AIMD-97-149, September 26, 1997).

Veterans Affairs Computer Systems: Action Underway Yet Much Work

Remains To Resolve Year 2000 Crisis (GAO/T-AIMD-97-174, September 25,

1997).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Success Depends Upon Strong Management

and Structured Approach (GAO/T-AIMD-97-173, September 25, 1997).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: An Assessment Guide (GAO/AIMD-10.1.14,

September 1997).

Defense Computers: SSG Needs to Sustain Year 2000 Progress

(GAO/AIMD-97-120R, August 19, 1997).

Defense Computers: Improvements to DOD Systems Inventory Needed for

Year 2000 Effort (GAO/AIMD-97-112, August 13, 1997).

Page 17 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
Attachment 

GAO Reports and Testimony Addressing the

Year 2000 Crisis

Defense Computers: Issues Confronting DLA in Addressing Year 2000

Problems (GAO/AIMD-97-106, August 12, 1997).

Defense Computers: DFAS Faces Challenges in Solving the Year 2000

Problem (GAO/AIMD-97-117, August 11, 1997).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Time Is Running Out for Federal Agencies to

Prepare for the New Millennium (GAO/T-AIMD-97-129, July 10, 1997).

Veterans Benefits Computer Systems: Uninterrupted Delivery of Benefits

Depends on Timely Correction of Year-2000 Problems (GAO/T-AIMD-97-114,

June 26, 1997).

Veterans Benefits Computer Systems: Risks of VBA’s Year-2000 Efforts

(GAO/AIMD-97-79, May 30, 1997).

Medicare Transaction System: Success Depends Upon Correcting Critical

Managerial and Technical Weaknesses (GAO/AIMD-97-78, May 16, 1997).

Medicare Transaction System: Serious Managerial and Technical

Weaknesses Threaten Modernization (GAO/T-AIMD-97-91, May 16, 1997).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Risk of Serious Disruption to Essential

Government Functions Calls for Agency Action Now (GAO/T-AIMD-97-52,

February 27, 1997).

Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Strong Leadership Today Needed To Prevent

Future Disruption of Government Services (GAO/T-AIMD-97-51, February 24,

1997).

High-Risk Series: Information Management and Technology (GAO/HR-97-9,

February 1997).

(511254) Page 18 GAO/T-AIMD-98-303
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