Wonder if these dreadlines will slip or stick?

Diane

Federal Computer Week

APRIL 13, 1999 . . . 18:35 EDT

OMB outlines fed/state Y2K requirements

http://www.fcw.com/pubs/fcw/1999/0412/web-omb-04-13-99.html

BY ORLANDO De BRUCE (orlando_debruce@fcw.com)

A top administrator at the Office of Management and Budget today told a House subcommittee that federal agencies have new deadlines to meet to fix the Year 2000 computer problem.

Deidre Lee, acting deputy director at OMB, said that by April 15 agencies must submit to OMB a schedule of how the agencies will help states that use computers to run federal programs develop Year 2000 contingency plans. Lee testified before a joint hearing of the Government Management, Information and Technology Subcommittee and the Technology Subcommittee.

By May 15, Lee said federal agencies with mission-critical systems that are not compliant will have to submit monthly progress reports to OMB that include a timetable for completing the work.

Federal agencies are expected to submit business continuity and contingency plans by June 15, Lee said.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), April 17, 1999

Answers

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has a new web-site look still in process ...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/ OMB/

OMB SITE MAP

http:// www.whitehouse.gov/OMB/sitemap.html

Testimony of OMB Officials (very slow in putting up the current news)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/OMB/legislative/testimony/ index.html

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), April 17, 1999.

Diane:

CSB article refered to in the "from csy2k" post has an interesting passage (pulled from context and quoted and masticated pretty well on the thread). Could you see if any of teh sources you have cann shed any light on WHY the awareness will be heightened in June? Chuck

Source passage is on Pg 16

-- chuck, a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), April 17, 1999.

I assume youre talking about this thread, Chuck?

Good Post from csy2k re Effects of Govt Happyface

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 000j1E

Off the top, I recall, this is the goal for Koskinen to start Y2K educating the public. Also on the emergency manager listservs the attitude appears to be that alerting people too soon causes them to ignore the warnings, too late ... well, we know what that can cause.

I suspect June also has something to do with the government agencies feeling confident that their contingency plans are ready and in place, the National Guard communication tests will have been conducted, and that its all the latest compliance deadline (for more good news).

Might be worth checking on FEMA, though.

Hummm ...

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), April 18, 1999.

Thanks. If this is when Ko-skin-us (er -em) has "scheduled" a virtual "full court press" on awareness, (and the three day supply), I guess I can understand.







NOT!! Chuck

-- chuck, a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), April 18, 1999.

Chuck,

Read the meeting minutes under ...

PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL ON Y2K Meeting Minutes March 11, 1999

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 000jjl

And catch that reference to ...

... He invited comments from Council members about how best to promote information sharing about Y2K readiness at the local level. < b>The campaign is planned for the summer. ...

Often, the shadows of details, are in the puzzle pieces.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), April 19, 1999.

Aarrggggghhhh!

The campaign is planned for the summer. ...

Also, in June is the next United Nations Year 2000 meeting as a follow-up to last Decembers one. The topic is Contingency Planning.

United Nations Development Update #26

http://www.un.org/plweb-cgi/idoc.pl?33+unix+_free_user_+ www.un.org..80+un+un+webnews+webnews++Year%26ADJ&2000&and&computer

Virtual organization" to coordinate international action against Millennium computer bug Y2K at UN again in June

An "international Y2K cooperation centre" is being established as a follow-up to the December 1998 meeting at the United Nations of more than a hundred national coordinators concerned with the Year 2000 computer bug, Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Ahmad Kamal announced at a February news conference.

He also said that another global Y2K meeting would be held at the United Nations, most likely 16-18 June. Objective assessments of the preparedness of countries and industrial sectors would be made in an open session, he said, as well as a determination of where international assistance should be directed.

Ambassador Kamal chairs the Informatics Working Group of the UN Economic and Social Council, which sponsored the first international meeting of Y2K coordinators (see Development Update #26). That meeting was closed to the press, to facilitate frank discussions among countries and international agencies concerned with the problem.

The new Y2K centre will function as a clearinghouse of information and best practices and as a coordinating agent for international support, including hoped-for participation of computer experts on loan from top corporations.

It is structured as a "virtual organization", based on e-mail contacts between the network that emerged from the 11 December meeting at the UN, the Ambassador said. In this manner, "we can deliver line functions without getting bogged down in support functions".

The centre is also notable for having been created in record time for an international body (it was put together in little more than two months), and for its probable life of about a year.

So far, the centre has received funding on the order of $1 million, World Bank infodev director Carlos Braga said at the press briefing. infodev operates a $30 million fund, with contributions primarily from the United Kingdom and the United States, that assists developing countries with their Y2K computer dating system conversion problems. Funding for the new international coordination centre was earmarked in the US contribution to the World Bank.

The steering committee is comprised of Y2K coordinators from 11 countries: Bulgaria, Chile, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Since the 11 December UN meeting, the number of countries with a Y2K plan and a national coordinator has gone up, Ambassador Kamal said at the briefing. A "final estimate" on how prepared the world is will be made at the United Nations in June, six months before computers with only two digits to mark the year will have to cope with the change from "99" to "00", and possible systemic breakdowns that could disrupt finance, commerce and vital public services.

*Sigh*

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), April 19, 1999.

Thanks, Diane!!

Can't do a MIDI whistle, so consider the sound track here to consist of a long, slow, low whistle, while I pause to TRY to pull the hackles down. . . . . . unsuccessfully.

The Soi Dissant International Y2K Community Inteligentsia are CLEARLY "wishin', and Hopin' and prayin' ( insert rim shot here)" that there will be good news to report by then. I commend them on their confidence, but am afraid we'll end up commending them to their respective Makers.

I see two diametriclly opposed possibilities here (which means there is a third option I can't see), and I don't like either option, primarily because the PTB are not above either one.

Option 1:

All of the contingency plans have been table-topped, and or otherwise tested and refined, so we will be treated to a very accurate, serious, not good picture of the world's Y2K situation, which is driven so that the panic happens in June-July. This is not entirely a bad thing, nor is it a good thing. Max casualties from this would be in the 100-300K range (Omega Arrow estimate protocol). the down side for us is that those of us who have prepared, might find Pariah status uncomfortable. (Don't wanna go back to livin on the road, but, I did it once, I can do it again)

Option 2:

we will be treated to a spin fest that should make everyone dizzy, and succesfully hide the problems from the general public. "EVERYBODY IS GOING TO BE OK ." Ad nauseum. Max Casualties here are completely unknown to US. If they are estimated to the PTB, I would expect that it depended on their actual assesment of where we were going to land. The downside is the difference between an engineer slapping the throttle to "off" and throwing the brake "On" a quarter mile from the cement truck stuck on the tracks and running full tilt into the same truck. Both trains derail, but I would MUCH rather be on the first one. You don't slow down much, but the derailment will be somewhat under control.

The screams of "Please save us from ourselves" will be deafening, in the first option, but we'll probably save a LOT more that way. And, I can take being a pariah, just don't want to be cooped up and pariah. chuck

-- chuck, a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), April 19, 1999.

I suspect it will be Door #2, Chuck.

Continue the spin ... in the BEST interests of the world economy. (People's lives are of secondary importance. That's what contingency plans are for).

However, Option #3 could be the beginnings of 3-day to one week "mild prep" recommendations, escalating to two weeks for ONLY a community or corporate center, etc.

Remember, they don't think the supply chains can handle the shift in economic buying patterns, so they won't want to upset the apple cart.

*Another Sigh*

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), April 19, 1999.

How did that phrase go?

"All quiet on the Western Front" Men were fighting and dieing, but nothing in the public's eye.

And - nothing today, nothing yesterday or Saturday. No news, no new companies even testing (apparently - we know they are, just no press releases even equal to GM's last week). No progress from the government - they magically got to 98% compliant on March 31 - had a very quiet press release that almost apolgized for interupting people to tell them "We are compliant." - then ......nothing.

What's up? At (about) 200 days left - we need two Fortunate 500 companies a day completing remediation. No states are ready yet - not even a "county emergency test" like what was so prominiantly publicized in Fairfax last year.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), April 19, 1999.

If Gartner thinks we're going to start seeing things show up in June, (see http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch- msg.tcl?msg_id=000jyX which I willl link later), perhaps this is what the folks were talking about. I would certainly HOPE we were going to start to escalate the 3 day wonder scenario up to a couple weeks, at least.

What we need is for "We're verified compliant" to become a Ho Hum not even newsworthy proclamation. This jes ain't happnin!

BTW Robert, "All Quiet on the Western Front": referred to the "Grand Army of the Potomac", where it truly was ALL QUIET. they were jes "drillin an chillin" as some of our more tanned brethren would say. Yeah, people were fighting and dying, but they were Brits, and French. No real people, Americans, except for those damn fool ex-pats in that one brigade (I think it was). You know, Hemingway and his foolish followers, those other writers. we were much too busy with H. Ford and his cars, ......

Chuck

WHOOPS DA

LINK

-- chuck, a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), April 20, 1999.

Chuck,

The other thing to think about is perhaps the government types wanted to get their preparation ducks in a row BEFORE they encouraged the general propulation.

May be wishful thinking.

*Sigh*

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), April 20, 1999.