GAO wraps IRS' Y2K contingency plans

In a report issued June 15, the General Accounting Office said the Internal Revenue Service, like other agencies, needs to develop better contingency plans to guard against the possible failure of its computer systems in 2000.

In a report issued June 15, the General Accounting Office said the Internal Revenue Service, like other agencies, needs to develop better contingency plans to guard against the possible failure of its computer systems in 2000.

GAO said even systems that have been upgraded on schedule might fail unexpectedly, but the agency's contingency plans are focused only on those systems that it will not have converted in time. GAO said the IRS should look into whether non-Year 2000-related disaster recovery plans apply to potential Year 2000-related failures in its most mission-critical systems.

In comments published along with the report, IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti said the agency already has a contingency plan for its submissions processing systems, which are being replaced, and the IRS is developing others for its data center mainframe consolidation project, telecommunications systems and other key Year 2000 initiatives.