Y2K

is director of the Department

of Information Systems and Telecommunications for

Montgomery County, Md.

Debra Clark Jones

is director of North Carolina's

Statewide Year 2000 Program

Management Office.

Steve E. Kolodney

is director of the Department of

Information Services in the state

of Washington

John A. Koskinen

is an assistant to President Clinton

and chair of the President's Council

on Year 2000 Conversion.

James G. Natoli

is director of State Operations

and chair of the Governor's Office

for Technology in New York.

Wendy W. Rayner

is chief information

officer of New Jersey.

Tom Ridge

is governor of Pennsylvania

Question One:

How is Y2K conversion affecting ongoing technology projects and new systems development in your jurisdication?

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Donald V. Evans

Executive leadership is having to make tough choices. Y2K conversion is causing decision-makers to consider halting the implementation of requirements generated by federal devolution and is delaying requirements generated by ever-growing citizen demands.

Debra Clark Jones

State agencies have been requested to prioritize year-2000 fixes over new development work to meet the year-2000 deadline. In many instances, resources have been pulled from ongoing technology projects and new systems development throughout the state of North Carolina to complete year-2000 remediation.

Steve E. Kolodney

State agencies were instructed by the Office of Financial Management to direct all available resources to resolving year-2000 issues before embarking on other non-critical or mandated systems projects. Significant new development has been suspended in many agencies while Y2K issues are resolved.

John A. Koskinen

Federal agencies are devoting significant resources to Y2K -- their top management priority. The Y2K problem is unique because the ultimate deadline, January 1, 2000, cannot be delayed. As such, agencies have had to make tough choices about how to best allocate resources to ensure that year-2000 remediation is completed on time. For many agencies, these choices have included delaying technology projects.

James G. Natoli

In July 1997, Governor Pataki issued an executive memorandum that identified year-2000 compliance as New York State's "number-one technology priority." The memo invokes a moratorium on new technology initiatives other than those mandated by statewide directives or law, until an agency can demonstrate year-2000 compliance. Agencies have been directed to suspend [technology initiatives] not considered essential.

Wendy W. Rayner

Y2K remediation is the number-one priority for New Jersey State Government. In February, I asked all Cabinet officers to observe a moratorium on all new and ongoing systems-development projects until all agency Y2K issues are addressed.

Tom Ridge

We have been able to manage our year-2000 conversions without allowing them to sidetrack our other leading IT efforts. Over the last three years, in addition to meeting all our year-2000 goals, we've also dramatically boosted the use of educational technology in schools through our Link-to-Learn initiative [and] initiated a pioneering project to outsource 18 state agencies' data centers.

Question Two:

Experts have warned for years that Y2K conversion should be completed by December so that system testing can occur during 1999. If government agencies aren't ready, what options still exist?

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Donald V. Evans

Don't reinvent the wheel. Use proven methods/approaches/tools specifically tailored for government (e.g., Year2000 Best Practices Manual from ). In conjunction with your Y2K assessment, projects should be closely monitored to determine if implementation will occur on time. For those projects deemed to be late, implement contingency plans and supply-chain analysis for alternative services delivery.