Summary

Metric use among the United States government, private sector, and public is only inching along, despite the fact that Congress sanctioned the use of the metric system in this country as far back as 1866. Most federal agencies have made great strides in establishing guidelines and issuing reports on metric conversion but still face hurdles in putting their plans into practice. For instance, under the procurement system, most products are nonmetric and the government's total market share is too small to stimulate private industry conversion. These difficulties have prompted the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Pentagon to request waivers from metric requirements in cases affecting entire ships and satellites. Mixed progress has been made toward metric conversion in the areas of federal grants and other business activities. GAO notes that the federal government alone cannot achieve the goal of metric conversions. A broader national dialogue between the government, the private sector, and the public is needed to discuss the next steps in the metric conversion process.

GAO found that: (1) most federal agencies have issued guidelines and prepared transition plans and progress reports for their metric conversion activities since 1990; (2) some agencies have made little progress towards metric conversion, particularly the Department of Education, which is the lead agency for metric educational information; (3) most agencies face serious metric implementation problems because of the predominance of nonmetric products, their inability to influence the private sector to convert to the metric system, and their difficulty in defining terms; (4) the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have requested waivers from metric requirements, but they are continuing to encourage metrification of subsystems as an alternative to waiving metric requirements; (5) only research grants presently require the use of the metric system, but federal regulations may be revised to require other grant activities to use the metric system; (6) agencies' other business-related activities have made progress toward metrication; (7) agencies cite private sector and public resistance to metric conversion as the reason for their slow progress; and (8) the federal government must have the support of the private sector and the public for successful conversion to the metric system.