IP: IRS official predicts Y2K snafus

[Vladimir Z. Nuri]

From: believer at telepath.com
Subject: IP: IRS official predicts Y2K snafus
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 12:20:40 -0500
To: believer at telepath.com

Source:  Government Executive Magazine
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0998/091798n1.htm

September 17, 1998

DAILY BRIEFING

IRS official predicts Y2K snafus

By Nancy Ferris
nferris at govexec.com

The new chief information officer at the IRS is predicting there
will be tax processing problems in the upcoming filing season
because of the agency's speeded-up program to fix year 2000
bugs in its computer systems.

CIO Paul J. Cosgrave, speaking today at a luncheon meeting
of the Association for Federal Information Resources
Management, said 98 percent of the IRS's software will be
fixed by early next year, when the 1998 filing season begins.
But, he added, "there will be some problems" because not all
of the fixes will be perfect.

Asked afterward how serious the problems would be,
Cosgrave said it was too early to tell. The agency is working
hard to minimize their effect, he added. The good news, he
said, is that when the century change actually occurs on Dec.
31, 1999, the IRS will have put its Y2K problems behind it.
"We're a year early," he said. The agency is spending close to
$1 billion on Y2K fixes.

Cosgrave, a well-known consultant, was brought in to help the
IRS straighten out its troubled systems modernization program
and build new systems to support the reorganized agency. He
said the IRS will exercise more central control over information
technology and try to standardize the systems environment.
"Today we have 17 e-mail systems in the IRS," he said by way
of example.

The reorganization announced by IRS Commissioner Charles
Rossotti will replace the service's current regional structure with
four new units serving specific groups of customers. That
change, combined with the systems modernization program,
will lead to new job responsibilities for many IRS employees,
Cosgrave said.

The agency will move some headquarters functions to field
offices and move some back office employees to customer
service jobs. But because it can't relocate many of the affected
workers, it plans to "use more remote assignment work,"
where employees in one location work for managers in
another, Cosgrave said.

The IRS also will dramatically increase its investment in
employee training, from $3.5 million this year to $11 million
two years from now.
-----------------------
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
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educational purposes only. For more information go to:
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