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Slovak Republic
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Monitoring and Evaluation Program |
| 1.1 |
Control and Auditing
(Central Public Administration and Governmental Agencies) |
All Ministries and Central Governmental Offices/Agencies submitted Y2K problem solution status reports to the end of May 1999. Based on these reports a comprehensive document has been elaborated by Infostat and after its approval by the Council of the SR Government for Informatics presented to the Government on June 30th.
The document contains also a plan of following activities:
all Ministries and Central Governmental Offices/Agencies will inform the Government on their most critical issues the solution of which is not realisable without further financial resources, to July 31st,
a countrywide co-ordination of contingency plans in electricity, gas and oil supplies and telecommunication services will be finished to September 20th,
intergovernmental negotiations with Russia on provision of gas and oil supplies in the first days (weeks) of the year 2000 will be prepared to September 30th,
contingency plans in emergency services (police, fire, emergency medical service and civil defence) will be elaborated to October 31st,
all Ministries and Central Governmental Offices/Agencies will inform the Council of the SR Government for Informatics Chairman on the up-to-date situation in the Y2K problem solution in their domain, to September 30th,
the Council of the SR Government for Informatics will, through its Y2K Working Group, continuously monitor and co-ordinate the activities of Ministries and Central Governmental Offices/Agencies in solving the Y2K problem, especially the remediation/replacement and testing of critical systems and the elaboration and implementation of contingency plans
| 1.2 |
Monitoring and Surveying
(Local Public Administration and Other Sectors) |
Professional business associations, namely the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Employers Associations of the Slovak Republic and the National Agency for the Development of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises were approached by the Chairman of the Y2K Working Group to submit information on their plans of activities in solving the Y2K problem in business organizations.
The same is valid for the Association of cities and villages of Slovakia as to the situation in the local public administration.
1.3 Reporting to Government
As mentioned under point 1.1, a comprehensive report has been submitted to the Government on June 30th. The main statements are as follows:
all 25 surveyed ministries and central offices have completed the awareness and inventory phases, the National Bank of Slovakia has finished the renovation of its information systems, 8 ministries and central offices are in the phase of testing and 4 of them are working on their contingency plans,
the analysis of the situation in the national infrastructure has been completed,
steps were taken to speed up the necessary activities in the private business and in international relations.
The measures accepted by the Government are specified under point 1.1. Except these the Government will take legal provisions, which will make possible to shorten the usual procurement processes for information technology.
According the latest estimates the total costs of Y2K problem solution in the national infrastructures exceeds 2 billion Slovak Crowns (SKK), i. e. approx. 50 million USD. This does not include the private business sector.
Because of non-availability of such an amount of financial resources until the end of the year 1999, stating of priorities and preparation of contingency plans is to be finished until end of September 1999 at latest.
A further comprehensive report on the state of preparedness of the Slovak Republic for transition into year 2000 will be submitted to the Government by October 31st.
Contents
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As has been already mentioned the total costs of Y2K problem solution in the national infrastructures are expected to exceed 2 billion Slovak Crowns (SKK), i. e. approx. 50 million USD. This does not include the private business sector. The main items are the following ones:
Taking into consideration the unbalanced national budget and the overall scarcity of financial resources submitted the Government to the World Bank a Proposal for Implementation Grant, which would cover a part of remediation cost in health care and electric plants, specifically
2.2 Laws and Regulations The Minister of Construction and Public Works is requested to publish by July 31st a regulation allowing in case of Y2K problem solution a shorter procurement process anticipated by the respective law for emergency situations or in time pressure. All ministries and other central governmental offices are requested to submit by July 31st to the Government requirements on the allocation of specified amounts from its financial reserves for the coverage of justified expenses on the solution of Y2K problems connected with the prevention of possible damages on life or health of population. 2.3 Legal Issues Within the next few days the Ministry of Justice will be approached by the Y2K Working Group of the Council of the SR Government for Informatics to provide guidelines to prevent legal problems resulting from possible litigation, from the use of Y2K compliance clauses in contracts and from damages resulting from interruption or failure of public utilities. 2.4 International Relations The representatives of the Y2K national taskforce of the Slovak Republic are in contact with respective representatives of the neighbouring countries, i. e. Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Ukraine as well as with major supplier countries, i. e. Russia (oil, gas) and Germany (technology). A joint seminar of these countries to discuss specific common areas of concern is planned to take place in one of the above mentioned countries during September 1999. Until the end of September 1999 it is also envisaged to accomplish intergovernmental negotiations with Russia on provision of gas and oil supplies in the first days (weeks) of the year 2000. Necessary steps were taken to ensure supplies of medical drugs and rail technology from the Czech Republic and contracts concerning replacement of a part of telecommunication systems were agreed with Germany.
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In order to ensure a co-ordinated management and monitoring of the Y2K problem on the national level the Government of the Slovak Republic has appointed the President of the Council of the Slovak Republic Government for Informatics (CGI) and Minister of Transport, Post and Telecommunication to take the responsibility for all nation-wide activities connected with the Y2K problem and to create a Y2K Working Group with the President of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic as chairman. Infostat, the Institute of Informatics and Statistics, has become the executive body of the Working Group. 3.1.1 Documentation Infostat in co-operation with HiSys Co. elaborated and published a methodological handbook „Preparation to information systems transition into the year 2000“. The handbook was distributed to all ministries, other central governmental offices and to all regional and district offices of the state administration. It is also available to private business on a commercial base. A further handbook on contingency planning has been prepared by Infostat during June/July and will be submitted for approval to the Y2K Working Group on its next session on August 6th. Then it will be generally available on the Y2K web site. A Slovak-English publication describing the status and programme of activities in solving the Y2K problem in the Slovak Republic will be completed until the end of July 1999 and subsequently distributed to foreign embassies and business representations in Slovakia, to international organizations and other interested organizations. A proposal of a national standard on date representation based on ISO 8601 is being submitted to the Slovak Institute for Technical Standardisation for approval and inclusion into the system of national standards. 3.1.2 Web Site The web site of the Y2K Working Group, Council of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Informatics has been established in the frame of the Infostat web site. The address of the web site is ˝www.infostat.sk/y2k˝. The problem of the Y2K is discussed also on the web sites of some ministries (e.g. Ministry of Health, Ministry of Economy, some others are prepared) as well as on the web sites of the National Bank of Slovakia and some commercial organizations. A web site ˝Forum2000˝ has been established by an initiative group including also some IT suppliers (IBM, Microsoft etc.) providing selected articles, giving advice and responding questions. 3.1.3 Conferences Several conferences devoted to the Y2K problem took place, one of them organized in co-operation of the British Embassy and the SOSR, A regional seminar of Middle European countries (see also point 2.4) discussing contingency planning in specific areas of common concern is planned to take place in September 1999. Following a 1-day national seminar devoted to the same problem area will be organized by Infostat. 3.1.4 Dissemination of information The Y2K Working Group will regularly disseminate reports on the status of the Y2K problem solution in Slovakia, especially in the national infrastructure. For this purpose the official Y2K web site as well as daily newspapers and trade journals will be utilized. The Y2K Working Group will also co-operate with information dissemination activities of ministries and professional associations. 3.2 Competence Centre The Y2K Working Group is using Infostat as Y2K competence centre. In this role Infostat will:
3.3 Educational Program Taking into consideration the time shortage the Y2K Working Group will prepare in one of its next sessions an educational program oriented mainly to:
Bratislava, July 21 1999
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