Year 2000 Computing Challenge

The Treasury Department's Financial Management Service (FMS) has established effective Year 2000 test management controls for its six most mission-critical systems. Together, these controls provide the infrastructure needed for planning, executing, and reporting Year 2000 test activities, including systems acceptance and end-to-end testing. In line with GAO's Year 2000 test guide, FMS hired an independent contractor to certify that testing was complete and thorough. FMS has also established effective management controls in performing its portion of selected Year 2000 end-to-end tests. As of October 1, 1999, FMS reported that it had implemented two of the four systems that did not meet the March 31 deadline set by the Office of Management and Budget for implementation. For the remaining two, FMS reported that it has (1) renovated and tested both, (2) implemented both at two of five sites, and (3) plans to complete implementation in early November 1999. Also, FMS has prepared and plans to test contingency plans for these late systems as well as its other mission-critical systems.

GAO noted that: (1) FMS has established effective year 2000 test management controls for its six most mission-critical systems; (2) for instance, FMS developed test guidance, defined compliance criteria, and defined test roles and responsibilities; (3) together, these and other controls, provided the infrastructure needed for planning, executing and reporting year 2000 test activities, including system acceptance and end-to-end testing; (4) in line with GAO's year 2000 test guide, which is widely accepted and used in government and private industry, FMS also engaged an independent verification and validation (IV&V) contractor to ensure that testing was complete and thorough; (5) GAO reviewed this contractor's work and found that: (a) its scope was consistent with GAO's year 2000 test guide; and (b) the contractor identified no material problems with system acceptance testing of five of FMS' six most critical systems; (6) GAO also found that although the IV&V contractor did not review the sixth system, FMS took steps to gain reasonable assurance that year 2000 testing for this system was effectively managed; (7) further, FMS has established effective management controls in performing its portion of selected year 2000 end-to-end tests; (8) specifically, FMS satisfied the end-to-end testing key processes defined in GAO's guidance for three critical test events; (9) these events focused on three of FMS' most important core business functions--social security payments, Supplemental Security Income payments, and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax refund payments; (10) the tests included FMS processing payment files from Social Security Administration and IRS, printing checks, and transmitting electronic payment files to Federal Reserve Banks; (11) as of October 1, 1999, FMS reported that it had implemented two of the four systems that did not meet the March 31, 1999, OMB-imposed deadline for implementation; (12) for the remaining two, FMS reported that it has: (a) renovated and tested both; (b) implemented both at two of five sites; and (c) plans to complete their implementation by the end of October 1999; and (13) in addition, FMS has prepared and plans to test system contingency plans for these late systems as well as its other mission-critical systems.