Is Uncle Sam fudging the Year 2000 issue? Yes, charges the Information Technology Association of America IT trade organization, which calls the US Office of Management and Budget’s estimate of the cost of making all Federal computer systems Year 2000 compliant incredibly low at $2.3bn. Noting that non-Governmental experts have pitched the figure at $30bn, the body alleges the Office creates the impression that these projects can be done ‘on the cheap,’ with no additional funds, and that simply does not make sense.’ The Feds seem to have failed to take into account that single agencies, such as the Department of Defense, have 1 billion lines of code alone to worry about (or not?), according to the group, which has 11,000 membership across the industry. We do not want to see Congress and the American people misled about the costs involved with the year 2000… By underestimating the conversion costs, the Administration is not showing sufficient commitment to meeting the challenge.
