USDA Successfully Enters the Year 2000; Expects Normal Operations on Monday
                                                               
                                                               
                                            Release No. 0002.00

                               ICC/JPIC Contact: (202) 535-3063

USDA SUCCESSFULLY ENTERS THE YEAR 2000; EXPECTS NORMAL OPERATIONS ON MONDAY

     WASHINGTON, Jan. 2, 2000 - USDA's Chief Information Officer Anne Reed
reported today that USDA has successfully transitioned into the Year 2000.
However, for all systems and the programs that depend on them, the final test
will come as business operations resume on Monday and clients begin to access
services and benefits for the first time in the year 2000. 

     At the end of the first weekend in the New Year, forty percent of USDA's
343 mission critical systems declared a full and successful transition into
the Year 2000. The remaining systems won't be able to be tested until business
operations begin on Monday. For example, the federal government funds food
stamp and child nutrition programs, but each state administers
its own programs. USDA can verify that the systems are operational, but the
states will need to experience normal business processing in order to complete
validation.

     "Seventy-one percent of the department's highest priority systems  
which impact health and safety, financial systems, or economic stability - are
up and running without incident," said Reed. "Validation of the remaining
systems will continue as agencies resume normal business operations, serving
their clientele." 

     USDA's Agricultural Marketing Services' (AMS) Market News Information
System (MNIS) provides timely, unbiased market information to buyers and
sellers of fruits, vegetables and other agricultural commodities. The MNIS has
been fully tested and is expected to operate normally Monday. AMS' tracking of
commodity shipments will resume Monday. USDA has received no reports of
disruptions to the nation's port activities.

     The Animal & Plant Health Inspection Services' Export Certification
Program maintains computerized summaries of foreign countries' phytosanitary
import requirements for agricultural products which are used by federal and
state export certification officials to issue phytosanitary export
certificates. The ECS is operational and anticipates normal operations when
business resumes on Monday.

     The Food and Nutrition Services' internal Food Stamp Program systems are
operational. A complete program status will be available early in the week as
states and territories report. Guam elected to use its contingency,
paper-based stamps for its food stamp program and no interruptions to benefits
are anticipated. 

     No disruptions to the Food Safety Inspection Services' ability to ensure
safe meat, poultry, and egg products have been reported. FSIS has eight
mission critical systems; initial testing has been completed on the four
highest priority systems and testing on the remaining four will be completed
in the coming week.

     FSIS's Performance Based Inspection System uses inspection results to
determine future meat processing plant inspections.  As of today, the FSIS's
computers are tested and operational, allowing inspections to continue.  

     Fire and Aviation Management plays a vital role in the management of
wildland fires and other natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes.
This system successfully transitioned to Year 2000 and is now operational,
with one minor glitch involving weather data transmissions to the National
Weather Service. Those transmissions are being accomplished manually until the
system can be repaired tonight.

     Rural Development provides services to rural residents through computer
systems that provide accounting and servicing for housing loans to
individuals, loans that provide multi-unit housing, as well as water and
waste, community facility and business loans. The systems also support loan
making and servicing for Rural Telephone and Electric programs. The systems
supporting these programs successfully became operational on January 2, 2000.

     Chief Financial Officer Sally Thompson said, "Employees can expect their
paychecks to arrive as they normally would. "The National Finance Center
systems support 2.5 million retirement accounts for the Thrift Savings Board
and the payroll operations for over 100 Federal agencies and 450,000
employees. 

     "All systems at the Center were shut down for the rollover and were
successfully restarted on Saturday," Thompson said. Normal business operations
were resumed and customers were encouraged to access services as data
interface validation continues, with the first payroll scheduled for
processing on Thursday, January 6, 2000.

     "The Department's successful transition to the New Year is the result of
a tremendous amount of work throughout USDA and in partnership with the
private sector," said Reed. "We will continue to monitor USDA systems as
business operations resume and we complete validation of data interfaces for
service delivery. 

     "We've advised USDA employees and customers that we will be open for
business as usual on Monday, January 3, 2000," Reed said.

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