*EPF510 02/25/00
Koskinen Expects Leap Year to Cause Few Y2K Problems
(Discusses challenges posed by February 29 date) (590)
By Kristina Goodwin
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- John Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, says it is unlikely that the leap year's additional day, February 29, will cause major Y2K problems.

Koskinen, speaking at a news conference on February 24, discussed the challenges to information systems posed by the leap year date and the council's plans for monitoring and reporting on the status of those systems during the rollover period.

A leap year is a year that contains an extra day -- February 29 -- and occurs every fourth year. A fact sheet released by Koskinen, entitled "The Leap Year Rollover," lists three "rules" for determining a leap year: years divisible by four are leap years; years divisible by one hundred are normal years; and years divisible by four hundred are leap years.

While most people are familiar with the first two rules, the third is sometimes overlooked. "Computer programmers not aware of the third rule may have coded the year 2000 as a normal year, in which February has 28 days, when writing programs," Koskinen said.

He said, however, that the leap year rollover is less significant than the year 2000 rollover that occurred on January 1 because it is unlikely that imbedded computer chips, which are associated with hardware, will be affected by the leap year rollover. Also, organizations have already discovered most leap year rollover problems while testing for Y2K over the last several years.

"There will be few problems because many companies and organizations have tested for February 29 and have fixed the problems," Koskinen said. He added, however, that some computer software that was programmed using just the first rule -- years divisible by four are leap years -- may still experience problems.

Koskinen said that financial institutions and the U.S. Government are well prepared. Most problems will be minor and effect software development and processing, he anticipates. Minimal glitches are expected. Billing and interest payments by financial institutions could be affected since computers may not recognize the date February 29.

Koskinen also emphasized that the leap year rollover is different from the year 2000 rollover because it will be happening during the week when businesses and stock markets are open, and any irregularities will be recognized immediately

"During Y2K we had 170 countries involved; during leap year we will have contact with 12 countries (Australia, Bulgaria, Chile, Gambia, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and New Zealand) around the globe every eight hours," Koskinen said.

He added that there will be 75 to 100 people monitoring the leap year rollover, which is only about 50 to 60 percent of the Y2K staff. Both federal agencies and states will report on a regular basis.

"Things go wrong everyday," Koskinen added, so it is important to remember that a problem on February 29 does not necessarily mean it is related to the leap year rollover.

Koskinen is scheduled to hold two more briefings, on February 29 and March 1. Currently, major problems are not anticipated and at the end of March the President's Council on Y2K Conversion is due to cease functioning. "I am sure we will meet our goal of ending in March," Koskinen said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: usinfo.state.gov)
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