The Census Bureau has begun collection activities for the 2010 census – the estimate for which has risen to $15 billion, but overall its readiness for a successful headcount remains mixed, GAO told the House Census subcommittee recently.
It said that performance problems continue to dog a workflow management system essential for field operations and a processing system that will be used for payroll for 600,000 temporary workers.
According to GAO-10-567T, both systems have not yet demonstrated the ability to function reliably under full operational loads, and the limited amount of time that remains to address their shortcomings creates a substantial challenge for the Bureau.
The difficulties facing these two automated systems represent the most significant risk, jeopardizing the cost and quality of the enumeration, GAO said.
However, it said the rollout of other key enumeration activities is generally on track, and the Bureau has taken action to address some previously identified problems, for example, by reducing the number of temporary workers with unreadable fingerprint cards and by taking an extra set of finger prints.
Further, the Bureau’s 2010 Census communications campaign is also more robust than the one used in the 2000 Census, which should help with response rates and lower the cost of follow up, GAO noted.
