USDA gets by Y2K, money problems with stopgap measure

[Guest guest]

Now let me think: Who's going to suffer quicker because they can't get their

ag

subsidy due to a bureaucratic log-jam -- a large dairy farmer or a small dairy

farmer?

 

Anyone looking to buy some cows cheap because the farmer can't meet his

mortgage

payments? USDA at your service.

 

ys

hkdd

 

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GovExec.com

 

December 7, 1999

 

DAILY BRIEFING

 

USDA gets by Y2K, money problems with stopgap measure

 

By Joshua Dean jdean (AT) govexec (DOT) com

 

A Year 2000-related problem in word processing software used by agencies within

the Agriculture Department will prevent workers from saving files after Dec.

31,

1999. And to make matters worse, funding shortfalls will leave thousands of

workers sharing laptop computers to do their word processing until new

computers

can be bought.

 

The glitch in Word for Unix, a word processing application introduced in the

mid-Eighties by Santa Cruz Operation Inc., was discovered earlier this year and

will affect workers at hundreds of USDA offices nationwide.

 

"We found that SCO Word will not let users store a file after Dec. 31, 1999

because the date function that stamps files doesn't work," said Scott Snover,

project manager for USDA's Common Computing Environment initiative.

 

"We requested supplemental funding to purchase enough workstations for most of

the people using SCO Word," said Snover. "But the funding provided from the

Office of Management and Budget was just enough to make sure there was a new

workstation in every office—not for every person."

 

That means employees at offices of the Natural Resources Conservation Service,

the Farm Service Agency and Rural Development will have to share new computers

with Y2K compliant word processing software until funding for more new machines

becomes available.

 

In response to USDA's supplemental funding request, OMB allocated enough money

for 500 laptops with docking stations and monitors. "It's not a perfect

solution," said Snover. "But most everyone will have access to a new machine

for

at least part of the day. It's a stopgap measure. Of course it would be better

if everyone had a new workstation, but the funding wasn't there to do that."

 

Workers at county offices for the USDA agencies typically support farmers by

providing services including loan financing and payment, biological and

engineering support and disaster relief payments. Limited access to a word

processing application will not leave hundreds of workers sitting around doing

nothing, but it will leave them competing for time on computers with

Y2K-compliant word processing software.

 

The slow move toward Y2K-compliant word processing software is the most recent

step in upgrading the technology at the field offices of the Natural Resources

Conservation Service, the Farm Service Agency and Rural Development. In the

past, farmers sometimes had to travel to as many as three separate county

offices for services from these agencies.

 

Now, the three agencies are engaged in USDA's Service Center Initiative, which

aims to create "one-stop shopping" for farmers. As part of this initiative, the

Common Computing Environment was created to enable the three agencies to share

data as they become co-located. The agencies are buying new hardware and

software to replace three separate outdated computing environments, which

prevented data sharing.

 

Snover has scraped by year to year because his project is not an officially

funded program. The 29,000 computers and 7,000 printers he purchased in 1998

and

1999 were procured only after the three agencies agreed on making funds

available. "Each year our funding is whatever the agencies want to bring to the

table since we don't have separate funding for the project," said Snover. "It's

taken time to reach agreement between the agencies on where we need to go. But

the thing is, we have to go somewhere."

 

The agencies have to purchase an additional 9,000 desktop systems before all

workers have their own up-to-date workstations.

 

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