INFORMATION MEMORANDUM

TO: Head Start Grantees and Delegate Agencies

SUBJECT: Update on Year 2000 Planning

INFORMATION: Year 2000 is rapidly approaching. Concerns about the Year 2000 (Y2K) computer problem have been in the news and should be high on your management agenda. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has worked diligently to minimize the potential for Y2K disruptions and the impact to our programs should any disruptions occur. We have tested and corrected where necessary our own systems and prepared business continuity and contingency plans for each of our mission critical systems and processes. Now, we want to begin communicating with you about our plans for Day One, a term which we are using to describe the time period just prior to and after January 1, 2000. During Day One, ACF will be using a Day One Coordinated Response Center (CRC). The CRC will be in operation over the Day One period, including some hours over the holiday weekend. It will serve as the primary place at which ACF will collect information about the status of programs and determine any necessary response. The CRC's responsibilities will include:

1. Responding to situations affecting the health and safety of our clients, in cooperation with other governmental agencies;
2. Monitoring mission-critical systems during the date rollover;
3. Assessing our grantees' abilities to deliver services to ACF customers;
4. Coordinating the Federal response to State delivery systems; and
5. Determining the status of ACF internal operations, with attention to safety, security and functionality and providing support to national, state and local partners and customers.

Day One activities are designed for us to work together regarding unforeseen disruptions and the potential of localized system failures that may disrupt the delivery of ACF services. A working partnership is necessary for Day One activities to be a success in providing ACF support where necessary for a smooth Year 2000 transition. During Day One, we plan to ask you to report any significant failures that you experience, so that we can provide national information about the status of human services programs, detect patterns of failures that might help those who are restoring critical services, and determine if there are ways that we can support efforts to restore services to our clients quickly. By late November, more information will be provided regarding:

1. Your role and reporting responsibilities in the Day One activities;
2. ACF contact names and numbers for Day One activities and concerns.

We strongly recommend that you consider the potential impact Y2K may have on your organization's systems and processes and develop a contingency plan if you haven't already done so. Contingency planning should include the identification of potential problems, their impact on mission-critical systems, and policies and procedures that may minimize any potential disruption in program operations. Further, we encourage you to take other steps that would minimize the impact of any Y2K disruptions. We recommend that you make plans to have up-to-date hard copies and back-up electronic copies of your records, that you schedule your most experienced staff to work during the period around the date rollover, and that you ask businesses and partners on whom you rely (your bank, utility companies, etc.) about their Y2K compliance to determine whether they are vulnerable to failures that could affect your operations. To support your Y2K efforts, please feel free to discuss any concerns or problems you may have related to this issue with your normal contacts in the Regional Offices, the American Indian or Migrant Programs Branch, and the Department's Payment Management office. For technical assistance only, you may want to call the Human Services Sector Y2K Hotline at 1-888-HHS-Y2K. An associated Internet site is also available at http://y2k.acf.dhhs.gov.

/S/
Douglas Klafehn for

Helen H. Taylor
Associate Commissioner
Administration on Children, Youth and Families