http://www.ci.houston.tx.us/~fa_spd/bids/T12158/T12158.doc

This bid document from the City of Houston doesn't appear to be working as a Word .doc file, but the text will come up in your browser. If you back up to the directory (remove the T12158.doc in the URL) there are 3 .pdf documents as well. Here's a short synopsis:

Bid due date: March 19, 1999

SECTION II: DESCRIPTION OF WORK

GENERAL

The City of Houston is seeking assistance in certifying the Year 2000 (Y2K) readiness of various departmental facilities. City Department personnel have been diligently working for the past two years to ensure Y2K readiness of the departmental facilities and systems. Initially it was thought that such outside assistance would not be required. However, it is now deemed necessary for two primary reasons:

1. Vendors are supplying new and conflicting information, particularly in the area of embedded systems and process control. Vendors who previously led the City to believe that there were no Y2K issues with their equipment or software are now raising the possibility that there may be problems. We do not know whether this is a result of legal liability concerns on the part of the vendors or whether there are problems that the vendors have just discovered. The City seeks the expertise of an independent consultant to determine what risks, if any, the City faces.

2. The number of facilities that must be surveyed is beyond the capability of City personnel to handle in an expeditious manner. During the past two years, new systems and processes have been implemented and new facilities have been occupied. The City deems it to be prudent to seek outside assistance to quickly survey all critical facilities to ensure that current Y2K compliance information is available in a consistent format.

BACKGROUND

The City has been performing the Y2K Project since 1996, beginning with the departmental assessments of systems. The project has been coordinated and monitored by the Finance & Administration Department (F&A.)

The Y2K Subcommittee was formed in 1997, with membership from 15 City Departments, to address Y2K citywide. Many Departments are represented by more than one individual. The Director of Finance & Administration, Jorge CruzAedo, is responsible for directing the project and assigning the resources as required.

In November 1998, the Technology Steering Committee was formed, with the immediate objective of overseeing the completion of the Y2K project. Membership includes:

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Guess Houston isn't a World Class City, huh?

-- Jim Lovell (the@right.stuff), May 20, 1999

Answers

Awwwwww go on!!! You aren't really Jim Lovell!!!! :)

-- GeeGee (GeeGee@madtown.com), May 20, 1999.

( snip ) The City deems it to be prudent to seek outside assistance to quickly survey all critical facilities ( end snip )

Notice the word quickly? They charge extra for that........!

-- kevin (innxxs@yahoo.com), May 20, 1999.

I bugged the City of Houston for six months before they even put any Y2K information on their website. The city is run by a bunch of maroons.

-- Doug (douglasjohnson@prodigy.net), May 20, 1999.

Based on this, I'd say that Houston, for all its shortcomings (if any), is WAY ahead of Atlanta.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), May 20, 1999.

Tom,

You may be right. I just pulled this from the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Fulton County's top technology administrator resigned Wednesday just as the county is caught up in making sure its computers are Y2K compliant and in building a system to link criminal justice efforts.

John Rowan was appointed recently to serve as an interim deputy county manager after overseeing Fulton's Information Technology office.

Haven't a lot of folks predicted that programmers would start quitting hopelessly failed Y2K efforts this summer?

-- Doug (douglasjohnson@prodigy.net), May 20, 1999.