Ready or not

Building Operating Management, Nov 1998

An earlier report that questioned the U.S. Department of Education's readiness for the year 2000 was premature, according to department officials, but the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) is not so sure.

Speaking before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Marshall S. Smith, acting deputy secretary, told House members that he expects the department to be nearly finished with the necessary changes to mission critical systems by January 1999, allowing a year to test the systems.

FaiLure of any of the 14 critical systems could mean disruption in federal aid to schools, including student loans.

The General Accounting Office meanwhile issued a report that cast a shadow on Smith's optimism. "The Education Department is now accelerating its program, but with the slow start, it remains in a position of playing catch up," says Joel C. Willemssen, director of the GAO's Office of Information Resources Management in a report dated the same day as Smith's testimony. "Accordingly, the department has major challenges ahead but limited time remaining to adequately deal with them."

Smith also took issue with a Congressional subcommittee report issued earlier in the summer that graded the govemment's year 2000 readiness based on Office of Management and Budget deadlines. In the report, the Education Department received a grade of F. Smith said the subcommittee's grade didn't reflect the work the department has done recently.