March 26, 1999
M-99-12
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
| FROM: |
Jacob J. Lew
Director |
| | |
| SUBJECT: |
Assuring the Year 2000 Readiness of High Impact Federal Programs |
During the past year the Federal government overall has made
substantial progress in addressing the year 2000 problem in Federal systems.
While many agencies have made outstanding progress on both internal systems
and on their work with their program partners, other agencies must redouble
their efforts to ensure that their mission critical systems will be ready and
that their programs with a high impact on the public will function. We have
consistently worked with you through the budget process and in other ways to
ensure that your partner's systems are also Y2K compliant, however, we also
need to be able to demonstrate the overall readiness of systems -- and the
programs they support -- to the public.
This is a critical facet of our work. While the public generally understands
that we have made progress in addressing the year 2000 problem based on our
internal measure of systems made compliant, their bottom-line concern is
that the programs they rely on will function properly. Many Federal programs
rely on partners such as other Federal agencies, State, tribal, and local
governments, contractors, banks, and others. We must take an even stronger
leadership role and work with our partners to assure they have addressed any
year 2000 problems that could effect Federal programs, jointly test that the
Federal program will work, and together publicly demonstrate that it will.
In the attachment, we have identified a number of high impact Federal programs and we have assigned a lead agency for each program. For each program where your agency is the lead, please identify to OMB the partners integral to program delivery; take a leadership role in convening those partners; assure yourselves that each partner has an adequate Y2K plan, and if not, help each partner without one; and develop a plan to ensure that the program will operate effectively. Such a plan might include testing data exchanges across partners, developing complementary business continuity and contingency plans, sharing key information on readiness with other partners and the public, and taking other steps that you and your partner feel are necessary to ensure that your agency's programs will work.
We realize that you have been budgeting for the effective operation
of these high impact systems for some time, including Y2K compliance, and
have been providing much necessary assistance to your partners to ensure
that they are fixing their Y2K problems. Nothing in this memorandum or the
process it sets in motion is intended to indicate to any agency or any
partner in a high impact program, that there is new money available in lieu
of the funds they already have to administer programs effectively – which, by definition, includes making their systems Y2K compliant.
For each program for which your agency is listed in the attachment as
the lead agency, I ask that you provide OMB with a schedule and milestones
for the key activities in the plan, a monthly report of progress against that
schedule, and a planned date for an event or events to inform the public that
the program is year 2000 ready. It would be most helpful if public events
could be held prior to September 30, 1999.
Please provide a copy of the schedules for those programs for which
you are the lead agency to OMB by April 15, 1999. Please also provide the
first monthly status report detailing progress against that schedule by
May 15, and by the 15th of each month thereafter until the work is complete.
Schedules and reports can be sent to:
Office of Management and Budget
OIRA Docket Library
NEOB 10102
725 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20503
Reports may also be faxed to 202-395-5806. Ms. Pamela Beverly is available
to answer any questions regarding the process of submitting schedules or
reports at 202-395-6880.
Please note that this effort is not intended to give Federal agencies any
additional responsibilities, nor are Federal agencies expected to fund fixes
of systems other than their own. Rather, this effort should be one of
cooperation and partnership among interested parties, all of whom share a
mutual interest in ensuring that important Federal programs will function
smoothly through the year 2000.
Thank you for your continuing work on this essential effort. If we all
continue to work together, we can, as the President said, make this problem
the last headache of the 20th century, not the first crisis of the
21st.
Attachment
cc: Agency Chief Information Officers
Attachment
Federal Programs and Lead Agencies
|
Lead Agency |
Program |
|
Agriculture (USDA) |
Child Nutrition Programs |
|
USDA |
Food Safety Inspection |
|
USDA |
Food Stamps |
|
USDA |
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children |
|
Commerce (DOC) |
Patent and Trademark processing |
|
DOC |
Weather Service |
|
Defense (DOD) |
Military Hospitals |
|
DOD |
Military Retirement |
|
Education |
Student Aid |
|
Energy (DOE) |
Federal electric power generation and delivery |
|
Health and Human Services (HHS) |
Child Care |
|
HHS |
Child Support Enforcement |
|
HHS |
Child Welfare |
|
HHS |
Disease monitoring and the ability to issue warnings |
|
HHS |
Indian Health Services |
|
HHS |
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program |
|
HHS |
Medicaid |
|
HHS |
Medicare |
|
HHS |
Organ transplants |
|
HHS |
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families |
|
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) |
Housing loans (GNMA) |
|
HUD |
Section 8 Rental Assistance |
|
HUD |
Public Housing |
|
HUD |
FHA Mortgage Insurance |
|
HUD |
Community Development Block Grants |
|
Interior (DOI) |
Bureau of Indian Affairs programs |
|
Justice (DOJ) |
Federal Prisons |
|
DOJ |
Immigration |
|
Labor (DOL) |
Unemployment Insurance |
|
State |
Passport Applications and Processing |
|
Transportation (DOT) |
Air Traffic Control System |
|
DOT |
Maritime Search and Rescue |
|
Treasury |
Cross-border Inspection Services |
|
Veterans Affairs (VA) |
Veteran's Benefits |
|
VA |
Veteran's Health Care |
|
Federal Emergency Management Agency |
Disaster relief |
|
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) |
Federal Employee Health Benefits |
|
OPM |
Federal Employee Life Insurance |
|
OPM |
Federal Employee Retirement Benefits |
|
Railroad Retirement Board |
Retired Rail Worker Benefits |
|
Social Security Administration |
Social Security Benefits |
|
U.S. Postal Service |
Mail Service |
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