Each quarter, agencies report to OMB and Horn's committee on their progress toward solving the Y2K problem, which could result in anything from minor annoyances to severe meltdowns in computer systems around the world. For example, in the previous quarter's report card, ending Feb. 15, Horn estimated that 100 percent of systems at the Department of Veterans Affairs would be ready for the year 2000 by March 1999. But in the new assessment, he estimates that only 64 percent of VA's systems will be fixed by then. Horn also lowered estimates for the National Science Foundation, the Office of Personnel Management, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Agriculture Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, each of which had previously indicated all of their systems would be fixed by March 1999. Horn raised his compliance estimates for seven agencies, including the General Services Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, both of which report that 100 percent of their systems will be fixed by OMB's deadline.
Horn grades each agency's progress every quarter.
In addition to assessing whether agencies will meet the March 1999 deadline, he also grades them on whether they have developed contingency plans for unfixed systems, pushed contractors and other organizations with whom they exchange data to become year 2000 compliant, examined their telecommunications systems, and addressed embedded systems. Embedded systems include all the microchips that help automate electronic devices, which can be found in millions of products people use every day. Experts estimate that two to three percent of microchips may be date-sensitive. The President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, headed by former OMB deputy director John Koskinen, also monitors agency progress. But we are concerned that the rate of progress is not fast enough.