OMB refines Y2K reporting requirements

As the federal government heads into the final months of fixing systems for the Year 2000, the Office of Management and Budget has revised the requirements for the quarterly reports agencies file on their Year 2000 progress.

In a memorandum to heads of departments and agencies, OMB director Jacob Lew requests that agencies provide progress reports on individual mission-critical systems rather than simply reporting on their work in aggregate.

Lew also asks agencies to focus on testing completed Year 2000 work to ensure that federal programs will be uninterrupted and to prepare backup plans in case failures do occur.

In its ninth quarterly report, released in June, OMB stated that most agencies have completed Year 2000 work on more than 90 percent of the government's 6,190 critical computer systems.

"Over the past several years we have made great progress in addressing the Year 2000 problem,'' Lew said in the memo he signed Aug. 6 and posted online Aug. 9. "With less than six months left until January, however, we must assure that our preparations are as complete as possible.''

The revised quarterly reporting requirements include:

A report on the status of each remaining mission-critical system that is not yet complete.

A description of efforts to ensure that telecommunications and buildings owned or managed by an agency will be Year 2000-compliant. The report should also include a date by which agencies expect all telecommunications and buildings to be Year 2000-compliant.

A summary of progress in the August and November quarterly reports from the lead agencies for 43 high-impact programs.

A description in the August and November quarterly reports of the process to minimize changes to internal systems to avoid jeopardizing Year 2000 efforts.

A summary of how agencies will implement their business continuity and contingency plans.