A management consultant has criticised a Bermudian partnership aimed at helping small businesses deal with the millennium bug.

In a letter sent to The Royal Gazette Martin Tickle, a Business Continuity Management Consultant, criticised the group called Business Track 2000, for what he called "unbridled optimism'' about the problems faced by small businesses on the Island with the Y2K problem.

He claimed that experts were "so gushing about the preparations for Y2K that one would be tempted to think that January 2000 will pass off without a hitch.'' But Mr. Tickle warned that many small businesses had not responded to a questionnaire sent out and suggested that many would not be prepared for the possible technological meltdown.

The programme was made by a partnership of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, Ernst and Young, Bermuda Employers Council and Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation. The hour long show went out last week and highlighted the problems to be faced by small businesses by the millennium bug and the new National Pension Scheme.

The data used to illustrate the preparedness of Bermudian businesses was collated by the Chamber of Commerce, and it was this material that Mr. Tickle objected to.

He said: "The survey quoted in the programme reported that 97 per cent of respondees were confident about their own preparations for Y2K. But only 15 percent of those polls even responded!'' But Chamber of Commerce executive vice president Sharon Jacobs and member of Business Track 2000 said she did not take offence at the criticisms of the programme.

"The intent of the show was to bring awareness forward and look at the variety of problems that may arise,'' said Ms. Jacobs. "We certainly appreciate what Mr. Tickle writes. Many of the points he makes would be the kinds of things that businesses should be asking their suppliers in the run up to Y2K.

"What we wanted to do was to highlight awareness with only under 100 days to go to the new millennium and help people see if they are prepared. If they are, then good, and if not then they can look ahead and look at manual processes they can put in place.'' Ms. Jacobs suggested that some manual procedures that could be put in place would be things such as simply making sure there are facilities for manual receipts and printing out hard copies of files.

"The main thing is that businesses keep on going, even if there are a few glitches.''