The Census Bureau is counting on making greater use of information already in the hands of other agencies to hold down the costs of conducting the 2020 census, but questions remain regarding how successful that and other planned cost-saving steps will be, GAO has said.
One of the more expensive aspects of conducting the census, it said, is following up with residences that do not return questionnaires—in 2010 enumerators were sent to an address as many as six times. In some cases when they can’t make a direct contact, they ask the neighbors about the household instead, which raises questions about the information’s accuracy, GAO added in a report presented to a Senate hearing.
In response, the bureau is looking to glean household information from other federal agencies, such as from Social Security and Medicare records, as well as from state and local government and commercial sources, estimating the potential savings at $1.2 billion.
However, GAO said that issues still unresolved include whether such records will be accurate enough to meet the bureau’s needs, particularly on matters such as race and ethnicity; whether there are legal barriers that would prevent other agencies from turning over records to the bureau; and how the public will react to records from one agency potentially being shared with another.
Other areas where the census is assuming it will achieve savings that remain uncertain, GAO said, include revamping its address list to reduce the need to verify addresses through site visits, automating the management of enumerator work, and filling of household questionnaires online.
