The latest report card came out today - overall grade still is 'D'. All agencies that were failing last time are still failing, including Energy.

Report Card

-- Robert Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), November 23, 1998

Answers

I see that Def. Sec. Cohen was right...DoD *is* the poster boy for failed remediation...they're the only agency to go DOWNHILL in past 3 months (D to D-)...

-- a (a@a.a), November 23, 1998.

It sounds like what I've been hearing for awhile. The biggest problems will be in the military, Medicaire, and the I.R.S.

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), November 23, 1998.

Here are the actions needed for government agencies: Put all Govt Dept IT heads on the chopping block if they fail to meet the y2k deadline. Put ALL govt IT resources on y2k until its finished. Formulate contingency plans focusing on the continuance of Government Agencies. activity without computer system support.

-- Richard Dale (rdale@figroup.co.uk), November 24, 1998.

Time for manual backup systems and plans.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 24, 1998.

IRS grade?

-- fly . (.@...), November 24, 1998.

CNN Interactive http://cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/9811/23/wt.07.html World Today

Watchdog Group Hands Out Report Card on Government's Preparation for Y2K Problem Aired November 23, 1998 - 8:46 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JIM MORET, CNN ANCHOR: We, the taxpayers, are spending more than $7 billion on efforts to keep the year 2000 bug from crashing the government's computer systems. And now, with just over 13 months to go, a watchdog gives the overall government effort a D, with some departments faring even worse.

CNN's Rick Lockridge on who's in trouble. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: How you been doing? Have you been feeling alright?

RICK LOCKRIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oh, he's fine, but Medicare officials and a lot of other government types might feel distinctly unwell after seeing a congressional report card on the year 2000 computer problem.

REP. STEPHEN HORN (R-CA), TECHNOLOGY SUBCMTE CHAIRMAN: All of them cannot continue to act as if the problem is going to solve itself.

LOCKRIDGE: Horn's technology subcommittee assigned letter grades to some 24 government agencies, based on the agencies' own progress reports. Horn says the fact that there are still so many Cs, Ds, and Fs means the problem is more a lack of leadership, than a lack of computer skills.

HORN: It is a management problem, not simply a technical problem.

LOCKRIDGE: Only three government agencies earn As on Horn's card: The Small Business Administration, the Social Security Administration, and the National Science Foundation. Among the laggards: Education, Transportation, Defense. Failing: Justice, Energy, Health and Human Services, the agency that runs Medicare.

Horn says some agencies, like the FAA, show signs of improvement, but still have a lot of work to do before the public will feel confident about Y2K day.

HORN: I told Mrs. Garvey, the administrator, a very able person, that I'd be glad to ride on a plane on January 1st, provided she's on it, also.

LOCKRIDGE: Some other agencies, such as the Department of Energy, draw Horn's scorn.

After all, who wants an F-student managing nuclear materials?

LOCKRIDGE: The one agency many Americans probably wish would succumb to the bug is the IRS, but the agency is among a passing, if unimpressive group, getting Cs and Ds.

(on camera): Only a couple of semesters left to bring those Cs and Ds, for as Congressman Horn, the stern schoolmaster, likes to say: the final exam will be pass/fail.

Rick Lockridge, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE) TO PURCHASE A VIDEOTAPE OF THIS PIECE, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 24, 1998.

Hardly a ripple about this in the media. I'm continually amazed that Y2K is hiding in plain sight. You would think that comments like "if HCFA does not accelerate it's efforts dramatically, failure of Medicare's systems is inevitable" would freak folks out. Where is America's biggest lobby, the AARP? Truth is stranger than fiction for sure. Unbelievable. Too bad Y2K can't be explained in a sound bite.

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), November 24, 1998.