ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook May 22, 1998 Volume 3, No. 20 Published by the Information Technology Association of America, Arlington, VA Bob Cohen, Editor bcohen@itaa.org Read in over 60 countries around the world ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook is sponsored in part by CACI International Inc., DMR Consulting Group Inc., and Y2Kplus Leach National Y2K Assessment Bill Rep. James A. Leach (R-IA), Chairman of the House Banking and Financial Services Committee, today announced the introduction of the "National Year 2000 Readiness Act." The bill calls on the President's Year 2000 Conversion Council to submit to Congress within 90 days a national assessment of the Year 2000 problem and a comprehensive strategy for ensuring that critical national infrastructures in banking and finance, energy, telecommunications, transportation, and vital human services affecting public health, safety, water supply, and environment, are ready for the tra nsition to the Year 2000. "It has become increasingly clear that the Year 2000 computer problem has enormous economic implications for the economy," Leach said. "…Even if every bank in the nation successfully repairs its own internal systems, our financial system is still critical ly dependent on functioning telecommunications and electrical power infrastructures to conduct business in January 2000. It is disquieting to hear from the FDIC that although many bankers are trying to assess the risks from such infrastructure providers, telephone and power companies have not responded to their correspondence nor addressed the issue on their Internet sites. "It is important to public confidence and the continuity of critical public and private services that a reliable assessment and a comprehensive strategy be put together immediately. This bill will ensure that," Leach said. In addition to the national assessment and strategy, the bill: * Requires that the strategy include a plan for ensuring the availability of an adequate supply of technical personnel in the private sector as well as in government, and make recommendations on any need to raise immigrant visa ceilings. * Requires the strategy to include, in consultation with the Federal Reserve and Treasury, the goals and strategies the United States will pursue to ensure that foreign banks, as well as international financial institutions, are ready for the Year 200 0 transition, and to engage multilateral institutions in providing funding or technical assistance to developing countries to address their Year 2000 problems. * Requires the Chairman of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion to submit quarterly reports to Congress on the progress being made under that strategy in all critical national infrastructures and in the development of contingency plans. * Provides that the Federal Acquisition Regulation may be revised to disqualify for an appropriate period of time a federal contractor who knowingly provides non-Y2K-compliant goods and services to federal agencies from receiving any other federal co ntract. However, any such restrictions may be waived if new goods and services are compliant. The legislation is cosponsored by Ranking Member John LaFalce (D-NY), subcommittee Chairmen Marge Roukema (R-NJ), Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Richard H. Baker (R-LA), Michael Castle (R-DE) and Rick Lazio (R-NY), and Financial Institutions subcommittee Ranking Member Bruce Vento (D-MN). The National Year 2000 Readiness Act will be available in the bills section of the Committee's website: www.house.gov/banking. House Ponders Y2K Guidelines The House Technology Subcommittee is reportedly considering legislation which would create a minimum set of Y2K performance guidelines. Expected to be introduced in the next two weeks, the bill would be intended to give industry guidance in performing Y2 K work. According to a Hill source, both vendors and customers cite a lack of standards and are asking for minimum thresholds describing how the job should be done. Bill language is yet to be drafted, and this source said that the proposed guidelines wou ld not be mandatory. Rather, they would be intended to help in industries where collaborative approaches on this issue are lacking. SEC Official Says "No Excuses" A Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official told a large group of securities dealers that his agency would have "zero tolerance" on Y2K related compliance issues. Howard Kramer, Senior Associate Director for Market Supervision, appeared at the NA SD Regulation Spring Securities Conference today in Washington, D.C. and said the SEC would accept "no excuses." Kramer said all market participants are expected to be ready on time, and his agency would use the Securities Industry Association's Y2K work plan and timetable to oversee progress. Kramer said the self regulatory organizations (SROs)--exchanges and the National Association of Securities Dealers--appear to be making satisfactory progress on their Year 2000 conversions. He said the SROs are surveyed quarterly and that he expects all to have their systems tested by December 1998. Broker/dealer readiness, he said, represents more of a mixed picture. "Where should they be?" he asked, "Beyond awareness." He said broker/dealers should be fairly far along in their system renovations. H e encouraged broker/dealers to test with SROs and to participate in SIA's streetwide testing. Kramer also said the SEC would be taking a dim view of firms which do not respond to the NASD survey Year 2000 compliance survey or agree to test their systems with appropriate SROs. Do it, he indicated, or be ready for extra SEC scrutiny. Kramer said f irms which cannot or will not test with the SROs are sending up a "red flag" on their Y2K remediation programs. The SEC official also said his agency is compiling a qualitative and quantitative report on the adequacy of public company disclosures about their Y2K status. This report is due to be completed by mid-summer, he indicated. Kramer said that although the U.S. securities industry leads the world in Y2K preparedness, he reminded his audience that they operate in a global marketplace and the inability of international firms to process Year 2000 dates could present problems for s ecurities firms in this country. He called it "one of the stress points." In response to an audience question on the SEC's "zero tolerance" policy, Kramer appeared to back peddle a bit on where his agency will draw the line. "You can't specify in advance" what will be tolerated in terms of Y2K glitches, he suggested. "You can 't react to every snafu and every unintended consequence." He noted, however, that the ability to perform critical functions, such as sending trades and confirms or accepting payments or credits is critical and an inability to do so would place the viabi lity of companies at risk anyway. The SEC official applauded the SIA Year 2000 program and said it is making his own agency's job that much easier. G8 Decides Y2K Requires Urgent Action The Group of Eight (G8) nations say that urgent action is necessary on the Year 2000 and will discuss the issue again at a meeting later this year in Moscow. The G8 is composed of leaders from the U.S., Britain, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Canada and Russia. "We agreed to take further urgent action and to share information among ourselves and with others, that will assist in preventing disruption in the near and longer term," said a communique issued by the group this week during a meeting in Birmingham, Engl and. "We shall work closely with business and organizations working in those sectors, who will bear much of the responsibility to address the problem," the communique added. The G8 reportedly returned to the Year 2000 issue for a second round of discuss ions. Senate to Hold Y2K Hearings on Grid, Small Business The Senate Special Year 2000 Technology Problem Committee will hold a hearing on computers and the power grid. The hearing will take place June 12, 9:30 am in room SD-116 of the Dirksen Building. Meanwhile, the Senate Small Business Committee will hold a hearing to assess the impact of Y2K on small businesses on June 2 at 10 am. Hearing room information is not available. Business to Business Viasoft, Inc., Phoenix, AZ, has signed a $500,000 licensing agreement with The Dow Chemical Company. Sterling Software, Inc.'s Information Management Division, Chicago, IL, has announced the availability of VISION:Webaccess and VISION:Dimensions, two new software tools. Peritus Software Services, Billerica, MA, has been awarded Y2K contracts totaling 30 million lines of code by Great American Insurance Company, Novartis and Sun Trust. Sponsor Advertising CACI International Inc. -- Restore 2000 CACI leverages 35 years of information technology experience and over 10 years of reengineering systems - solving the same problems Y2K poses - to offer a total solution to the Year 2000 challenge: Restore 2000SM. The Restore 2000 methodology applies a comprehensive three-phase process to your information systems: Assess, Plan, and Remediate. Furthermore, we give you the option of buying our methodology or our services - both backed by CACI experience and Y2K expe rts. The Restore 2000 methodology is ITAA*2000 certified. In addition, software development processes at CACI have been independently certified as being at Level 3 of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Capability Maturity Model. Achieving SEI Level 3 p rovides clients further assurance that CACI solutions successfully and effectively deliver Year 2000 compliance while allowing you to save money, reduce risk, and minimize systems disruption. With approximately 3700 employees worldwide and FY97 revenues in excess of $270 million, CACI provides a depth of experience and expertise you can rely on. We've performed Year 2000 conversions for many of America's biggest enterprises, including major he alth insurance providers, retail clothing manufactures, gas companies, airlines, and government agencies. Superior functionality backed by decades of experience - CACI's Restore 2000. Worldwide Headquarters 1100 North Glebe Rd. Arlington, VA 22201 http://www.caci.com e-mail:npeters@hq.caci.com DMR Consulting Group Inc. DMR Consulting Group Inc.(formerly DMR TRECOM), an Amdahl company, is a global consulting organization of nearly 8,000 employees providing a comprehensive range of information technology services. Our Year 2000 Practice comprises a comprehensive offering of consulting, assessment, remediation, testing, and implementation services utilizing a formal methodology (APM/2000), best-in-class software tools, and six global conversion centers. We have mul ti-disciplinary experience in most mainframe, mid-range, and client-server/desktop environments. APM/2000 includes: · Program Management · Enterprise-Wide Assessment · Impact Analysis · Conversion Delivery · Testing and Implementation Year 2000 Risk Management Consulting Services include: Program Review, Stakeholder Readiness Assessment, Risk Management and Vendor Compliance Research. Contact: Stephen Frycki Managing Director, Year 2000 Services - US Phone: 201-200-3923 Fax: 201-200-9046 Email: fryckis@dmr.com Websites: http://www.dmr.com Y2Kplus Y2Kplus provides a portfolio of "best of class" software products and outsourcing services that address Year 2000 issues. These offerings are available both to IT Solution Providers and IT organizations. Y2Kplus has offerings that address the following needs: Our offerings include: * Year 2000 risk assessment * Mainframe inventory verification & code remediation (COBOL, Natural, Assembler & PL/1) * Midrange COBOL remediation (DEC, HP, UNISYS, Wang, DG, NCR, Bull & Tandem) * AS/400 remediation (RPG & COBOL) * Networked PC Year 2000 Analysis tools Applications: Access, Excel, Foxpro, Lotus 1-2-3 Languages: Basic, Visual Basic, C, C++, dBase, Clipper, Paradox PC Hardware, BIOS & Operating Systems * Testing: Tools: Data Commander for future date testing, TCS (Test Control System), Services: Test management & execution, Facilitated Test Planning, Test strategy. For more information, please send email to info@y2kplus.com, visit our web site at www.y2kplus.com or call Dave Ehlke at 781-863-8111. Calendar http://www.itaa.org/y2kcal.htm ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook is published every Friday to help all organizations deal more effectively with the Year 2000 software conversion. If you would like to receive this free publication, please sign up on the web at https://www.itaa.org/transact/2kout looksub.htm. Copyright ITAA 1998. All rights reserved. The Information Technology Association of America, 1616 N. Fort Myer Drive, Suite 1300, Arlington, VA 22209. Internet: http:\\www.itaa.org