Year 2000 Computing Challenge

Critical public services provided by the government and private industry could be disrupted by the Year 2000 computing problem: from delayed financial transactions to grounded flights to power outages. GAO found that although much progress has been made to minimize these risks, more work remains at the national, federal, state, and local levels to avoid major service disruptions. Specifically, remediation must be completed, end-to-end testing done, and business continuity and contingency plans and Day One strategies developed and validated. Similar actions remain that must still be completed by the nation's key sectors, such as energy, transportation, and health care. Whether the United States successfully confronts the Year 2000 challenge will largely depend on the efforts of federal, state, and local governments as well as the private sector to work together to complete these actions.

GAO noted that: (1) while much improvement has been shown, additional work remains at the national, federal, state, and local levels to ensure that major service disruptions do not occur; (2) specifically, remediation must be completed, end-to-end testing performed, and business continuity and contingency plans and Day One strategies developed and validated; (3) similar actions remain to be completed by the nation's key sectors; (4) whether the United States successfully confronts the year 2000 challenge will largely depend on the success of federal, state, and local governments, as well as the private sector working together to complete these actions; and (5) accordingly, strong leadership and partnerships must be maintained to ensure that the needs of the public are met at the turn of the century.