ML20211A170
| ML20211A170 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 08/13/1999 |
| From: | Dicus G, The Chairman NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | Bennett R, Dodd C, Lew J, Joseph Turner HOUSE OF REP., OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT & BUDGET, SENATE |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20211A165 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9908230211 | |
| Download: ML20211A170 (9) | |
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f % UNITED STATEG fp 2*g NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
, WASHINGTON. D.C. 20555-0001
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August 13, 1999 CHARMAN The Honorable Richard F. Bennett, Chairman Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Enclosed is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) August 1999 quarterly report on the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem as submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
As previously stated in the February 1999 Y2K quarterly status report, the NRC completed its Y2K Program on February 5,1999. This status is restated in relevant sections of the enclosed report, which is the first to be submitted under OMB quarterly Y2K status reporting guidance as revised for this period.
In this report, the NRC staff has presented additional information about our Business Continu;ty and Contingency Plan (BCCP), as well as coordination of the Continuity of Operations Plans being prepared in response to Presidential Decision Directive 67, " Enduring Constitutional Government and Continuity of Govemment Operations." The staff has also included revised cost information reflecting a $2.5 million reduction in NRC's Y2K Program expenditures. This reduction was mainly due to end-user decisions to retire 55 systems that were initially scheduled for repair. Completion of repairs for all of our systems within a relatively short period was another contributing factor. Although the staff estimates that NRC saved $2.6 million, OMB guidance for this report requires that $100,000 be added to the Fiscal Year 2000 costs to represent the cost associated with BCCP implementation activities. These activities consist of staff hours that will be expended regardless of how Y2K affects the agency, primarily in increased staffing levels in NRC's emergency operations facilities, if you would like a more in-depth review of NRC's Y2K Program, the NRC's Chief Information Officer and the NRC Y2K Program Manager will be pleased to meet with members of your staff at your convenience.
Sincerely, o b G Wa Joy Dieus
Enclosure:
As stated 9908230211 990813 F PDR COMMS NRCC CORRESPONDENCE PDR t
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.p' , NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20656-0001
.....g August 13, 1999 CHAIRMAN The Honorable Jim Turner Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology Committee on Government Reform United States House of Representatives Washington, D.C.- 20515-6143
Dear Congressman Turner:
Enclosed is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) August 1999 quarterly report on the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem as submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
As previously stated in the February 1999 Y2K quarterly status report, the NRC completed its Y2K Program on February 5,1999. This status is restated in relevant sections of the enclosed report, which is the first to be submitted under OMB quarterly Y2K status reporting guidance as revised for this period.
In this report, the NRC staff has presented additionalinformation about our Business Continuity and Contingency Plan (BCCP), as well as coordination of the Continuity of Operations Plans being prepared in response to Presidential Decision Directive 67, " Enduring Constitutional Government and Continuity of Government Operations." The staff has also included revised cost information reflecting a $2.5 million reduction in NRC's Y2K Program expenditures. This reduction was mainly due to end-user decisions to retire 55 systems that were initially scheduled for repair. Completion of repairs for all of our systems within a relati'/ely short period was another contributing factor. Although the staff estimates that NRC saved $2.6 million, OMB guidance for this report requires that $100,000 be added to the Fiscal Year 2000 costs to represent the cost associated with BCCP implementation activities. These activities consist of staff hours that will be expended regardless of how Y2K affects the agency, primarily in increased staffing levels in NRC's emergency operations facilities.
If you would like a more in-depth review of NRC's Y2K Program, ths NRC's Chief Information Officer and the NRC Y2K Program Manager will be pleased to meet with members of your staff at your convenience. 1 Sincerely,
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eta Joy Dieus
Enclosure:
As stated
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4, UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION i
, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20666-0001 S
/ August 13, 1999 CHAMMAN
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The Honorable Christopher J. Dodd Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Dodd:
Enclosed is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) August 1999 quarterly report on the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem as submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
As previously stated in the February 1999 Y2K quarterly status report, the NRC completed its Y2K Program on February 5,1999. This status is restated in relevant sections of the enclosed report, which is the first to be submitted under OMB quarterly Y2K status reporting guidance as revised for this period.
In this report, the NRC staff has presented additionalinformation about our Busir.ess Continuity and Contingency Plan (BCCP), as well as coordination of the Continuity of Operations Plans being prepared in response to Presidential Decision Directive 67," Enduring Constitutional Government and Continuity of Government Operations." The staff has also included revised cost information reflecting a $2.5 million reduction in NRC's Y2K Program expenditures. This reduction was mainly due to end-user decisions to retire 55 systems that were initially scheduled for repair. Completion of repairs for all of our systems within a relatively short period was another contributing factor. Although the staff estimates that NRC saved $2.6 million, OMB guidance for this report requires that $100,000 be added to the Fiscal Year 2000 costs to represent the cost associated with BCCP implementation activities. These activities consist of staff hours that will be expended regardless of how Y2K affects the agency, primarily in increased staffing levels in NRC's emergency operations facilities.
If you would like a more in-depth review of NRC's Y2K Program, the NRC's Chief Information Officer and the NRC Y2K Program Manager will be pleased to meet with members of your staff at your convenience.
Sincerely, h 4 ta a U V
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dela Joy Dicus
Enclosure:
As stated
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 2006H001 August 13, 1999
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CHAMMAN The Honorable Jacob J. Lew Director, Office of Management and Budget Washington, D.C. 20503
Dear Mr. Lew:
Enclosed is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) August 1999 quarterly report on the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem as submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
- As previously stated in the February 1999 Y2K quarterly status report, the NRC completed its Y2K Proqram on February 5,1999. This status is restated in relevant sections of the enclosed report, which is the first to be submitted under OMB quarterly Y2K status reporting guidance as revised for this period.
In this report, the NRC staff has presented additional information about our Business Continuity and Contingency Plan (BCCP), as well as coordination of the Continuity of Operations Plans being prepared in response to Presidential Decision Directive 67," Enduring Constitutional Government and Continuity of Government Operations." The staff has also included revised cost information reflecting a $2.5 mil 6on reduction in NRC's Y2K Program expenditures. This reduction was mainly due to end-user decisions to retire 55 systems that were tnitially scheduled for repair. Completion of repairs for all of our systems within a relatively short period was another contributing factor. Although the staff estimates that NRC saved $2.6 million, OMB guidance for this report requires that $100,000 be added to the Fiscal Year 2000 costs to represent the cost associated with BCCP implementation activities. These activities consist of staff hours that will be expended regardless of how Y2K affects the agency, primarily in increased staffing levels in NRC's emergency operations facilities.
If you would like a more in-depth review of NRC's Y2K Program, the NRC's Chief Information l I
Officer and the NRC Y2K Program Manager will be pleased to meet with members of your staff at your convenience.
Sincerely, leta Joy Dicus
Enclosure:
As stated l
i 6 Status of the Nuclear Reaulatory Commission's Year 2000 Efforts Quarterly Report for Auaust 1919
- 1. Mission Critical Systems.
Total Number of Number Number To Number To Number To Mission-Critical Systems Compliant Be Replaced Be Repaired Be Retired 7 7 0 0 0
- 11. Other Proaress A. Non-Mission-Critical Systems All NRC business-essential and non-critical systems have been renovated, validated, and implemented in our production environment as of February 5,1999.
B. Data Exchanges After assessing all areas of the agency that have the potential of exchanging data with other Federal, State, and local governments, as well as with international and commercial entities, we identified three systems with which we exchange data. Two of these systems exchange data with one source, and one system exchanges data with six sources.
Discussions with NRC data exchange partners reveal that two exchanges are already Year 2000 (Y2K) compliant and five exchanges do not require NRC to make any changes. The final data exchange is contained in one of NRC's mission-critical systems. This system has been renovated, validated, and implemented. All of our work in this area has been completed.
C. Telecommunications Systems NRC sent letters to its various telecommunications equipment vendors nationwide in order to determine their progress in addressing the Y2K problem as it relates to their products. All of the vendors have responded, been contacted by telephone, or had their intemet site accessed to determine the status of their progress.
We have performed the work necessary to ensure that 100 percent of our l telecommunications infrastructure is compliant or is not affected by Y2K issues.
We have also contacted our telecommunications service providers to ascertain that they have plans to achieve Y2K compliance. All of our service providers have responded that they are Y2K compliant.
D. Buildings and Related Systems We assessed all agency building systems and determined that four building system categories could be affected by Y2K issues: environmental, fire protection, security access control and alarms, and elevator.
ENCLOSURE
We contacted the vendors for these systems, and received written responses from them. As of February 5,1999, we have determined that continued safe operation of 1,ystems in these four categories will not be affected by the Y2K date rollover.
E. Embedded Chip Systems We have identified and analyzed all known embedded chip systems at the NRC and have replaced all non-compliant embedded chip hardware as necessary to address the Y2K problem.
F. Any AdditionalInformation No other information is offered.
Ill. Eederally Supported. State-Run Proarams.
In February 1998, NRC sent information to the Agreement States (AS) to increase their awareness of the Y2K problem. Information was sent on the nature and scope of potential problems for materials licensees and the actions NRC was taking to encourage NRC materials licensees to examine their computer systems and software. NRC recomm' ended that the AS encourage their licensees to conduct similar examinations.
NRC also asked the AS to share information with NRC on any Y2K problems identified by AS licensees that could affect NRC, other AS, or their licensees.
To help facilitate AS efforts to address potential Y2K problems, NRC established a link to NRC Y2K information at the Office of State Programs Web site. NRC also informed the AS about the availability of the NRC's list server that e-mails the latest Y2K information to each subscriber.
During the past 18 months, the Chair of the Management Review Board has also questioned AS managers about their State's Y2K activities. The AS managers have indicated that Y2K issues in their programs are being addressed as a part of statewide efforts. At this time, NRC is not aware of any Y2K issues affecting materials licensees identified by AS.
IV. Hlah Impact Proarams NRC has no programs in this category.
V. Chanae Manaaement and Verification Efforts.
Although NRC has always practiced change management on an informal basis, we formalized our change management process in 1996 with the issuance of NRC's Systems Development and Life Cycle Management (SDLCM) methodology.
Recognizing that any proposed change, if not properly managed, has the potential to cause system failures, NRC's SDLCM provides for a 10-step change control process that, among other tasks, provides for change research. problem analysis, and impact analysis. Complete documentation resulting from this change control process is
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- l reviewed and approved by a configuration control board before any work is begun. We believe that this formal process will prevent any adverse effect on previously implemented Y2K repairs.
Systems repaired by Y2K program contractors were independently verified and validated by a three-level approach. The first level, unit testing, was performed by contract personnel who actually repaired the system code. The second and third levels were performed by personnel who were not involved with system repairs. The second level of testing was performed by contractor personnel assigned to a permanent quality assurance group, using an established test plan. Third-level testing was performed by l the NRC personnel who use the system, also using an established test plan. We consider the systems validated only after we receive written approval from all three testing levels. We retain all annotated test plans in our Y2K files, along with all written approvals.
l Systems repaired by NRC program offices (and their contractors) underwent a comparable validation process. We reported these systems as validated only when the Senior Executive Service director of the responsible office certified validation in writing.
All repaired and replaced systems have been successfully operating in our production environment since February 5,1999. I VI. Reaulatory Review A review of proposed regulatory requirements is performed by NRC's Committee to Review Generic Requirements (CRGR). CRGR has been instructed to consider the impact of proposed requirements on Y2K efforts of licensees.
Vll. Business Continuity and Continaency Plans.
Computer systems supporting NRC's regional offices are centrally supported at NRC's Headquarters and are covered in NRC's Business Continuity and Contingency Plan (BCCP) prepared and submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on June 18,1999. The emergency response aspects of this plan were tested most recently on July 14,1999, when NRC conducted a Y2K training and tabletop exercise with State, county, Federal, and utility partners.
This training and tabletop exercise was intended to test the plans developed by the various partners for this unique situation to ensure that the plans are coordinated and consistent. The generic lessons learned from this tabletop exercise will be posted on our Y2K Web site so that they may be shared with other States, utilities, and local governments. The NRC also hopes to use this and future exercises as an opportunity to identify any omissions or weaknesses in its own Y2K contingency plan and implementing procedures. Additional NRC Y2K exercises are planned for the September--October 1999 time frame.
Presidential Decision Directive 67 (PDD 67), issued October 21,1998, relates to enduring constitutional government, continuity of operations (COOP) planning, and continuity of government (COG) operations. In response to this directive, the NRC
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formed a task force consisting of representatives from throughout the agency to develop agency plans for centinuity of operations. To date, the tesk force has defined priority groups of functions, representative potential disrupt;ons of normal operations, and a principal alternate location that will provide the basis for the draft NRC COOP. An initial version of the plan is scheduled for the Commission's review in early October 1999, and finalimplementation of the COOP is to take place by October 21,1999. With the Commission's consent, the plan will provide an initial capability for continuity of minimal essential NRC functions and for f estoration of normai business functions, as required in PDD 67.
The NRC COOP identifies agency emergency response as the primary function necessary to ensure adequate protection of the public health and safety, the common defense and security, and the environment in the use of nuclear materials in the United States. The plan further identifies those requirements necessary to support the primary function, such as emergency communications, establishing chain of command, and delegation of authority. NRC has coordinated and continues to coordinate the various contingency planr, such as NRC's Contingency Plan for the Year 20001ssue in the Nuclear Industry, at working-group levels. For example, Y2K planning concerns a specific threat at a predictable time, so details of the Y2K plan and the COOP differ, but the agency's responses will be consistent.
Vill. Other Manaaement Information.
1 A. Costs (in millions) l Fiscal Year 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Total !
I Current Cost 0.0* 2.4 4.0 1.9 0.1 8.4 l I
- Item is $45,000.
B. Costs not covered in base or emergency funds.
All costs were covered in original agency base estimates. l l
C. Explain dramatic changes in cost.
The final cost of NRC's Y2K program was $2.5 million less than original budget estimates. This difference was mainly due to end-user decisions to retire 55 systems that were initially scheduled for repair. Another contributing factor was that we finished the repair of all of our systems within a relatively short period. This accomplishment allowed our contractors to take advantage of efficiencies resulting !
from a stable work force that was able to become familiar with the general nature of l our systems and to build on what they had learned with each system repair. We estimate that we saved $2.6 million, however, guidance for this report requires that we add $100,000 to Fiscal Year 2000 to represent the cost associated with BCCP implementation activities. These activities consist of staff hours that will be expended regardless of how Y2K affects the agency, primarily in increased staffing levels in our emergency operations facilities.
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D. Key Personnel.
No concems exist about the availability of key personnel.
E. Other Problems No problems affec:ing progress exist.
If you have any questions about this report, please contact Arnold E. (Moe) Levin at 301-415-7458, or by e-mail at AEL10NRC. gov.
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