USPS Technology Officer Tells House Panel Y2K Challenge
Being
Met
Testifying before a joint House subcommittee yesterday,
United States Postal Service chief
technology officer Norman E. Lorentz said that the Postal
Service was taking every precaution to
minimize potential disruption from the Year 2000 computer
problem.
"This is one of the most important public policy issues we
are facing this year," said Lorentz in front
of the subcommittee, which was chaired by Reps. Stephen
Horn (R-CA), John McHugh (D-NY), and
Constance Morella (R-MD). "The Postmaster General and senior
Postal Service management are
giving this subject significant attention with weekly
meetings on the status of the Postal Service's
Year 2000 program."
More than 400 postal employees and 1,300 contract technical
support people are implementing
and managing many of the technical elements of the program.
The Postal Service has identified 152 mission critical
systems necessary to its core mission of
delivering the mail, according to a statement.
As of Jan. 31, 127 have been fully remediated and all but
three are scheduled for implementation
by the end of June. The Postal Service's goal is to have its
mission critical systems tested and
verified as Y2K compliant by September 1999.