BULLETIN NO. 97-04                                  VOLUME I

                                    RETENTION: September 30, 1998

     

     TO: HEADS OF GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS, AGENCIES, AND OTHERS

     CONCERNED

     

     SUBJECT: YEAR 2000 DATE CONVERSION FORMAT

     

     1. PURPOSE

     

     This bulletin notifies Federal Program Agencies that Treasury's

     Financial Management Service (FMS) has adopted the NIST (National

     Institute of Standards and Technology) Standard, Federal

     Information Process Standards Publication 4-1, to exchange data to

     accommodate the

     Year 2000.

     

     2. PROCEDURAL CHANGE

     

     The calendar date representation that FMS will use to transmit and

     receive data is YYYYMMDD.

     

          The ordinal date representation that FMS will use to

     transmit and receive data is YYYYDDD.

     

          The fiscal date representation that FMS will use to transmit

     and receive data is YYYY.

     

          The time elements; year, month of year, day of month, and

     day of year may be represented and used independently or

     collectively as required. When used collectively, the high to low

     sequence must be maintained.

     

     EXAMPLE:  

               February 1, 2000 will be expressed as 20000201 in

               calendar date form (YYYYMMDD).

     

               February 1, 2000 will be expressed as 2000032 in

               ordinal date form (YYYYDDD).

     

               October 1, 1999 will be expressed as 2000 in fiscal

               date form (YYYY).

     

               February 2000 will be expressed as 200002 (YYYYMM) to

               maintain the high to low order sequence.

     

     3. EFFECTIVE DATE

     

     Effective immediately, to be applied upon the need to exchange

     data in Year 2000-compliant

     format.

     

     Date: April 29, 1997                    Russell D. Morris

                                             Commissioner