A new report from the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Commerce highlighted several concerns at the Census Bureau of interest to stakeholders.
The first was population data quality. “Since the results of these efforts are used in making political, economic, and social policy decisions, the bureau’s data must be accurate. However, the bureau continues to face lower response rates, which can reduce the quality of its data. The bureau is coping with the lower response rates through various methods, such as using proxy data or administrative records to gather data on nonresponsive households. It must, however, still find ways to carry out its operations and maintain data quality for the many products used by its stakeholders.”
The IG also reported on “an audit of the bureau’s demographic programs directorate, which carries out reimbursable surveys on behalf of other U.S. government agencies… to determine whether quality metrics were met and quality assurance processes were carried out as intended. Our audit assessed three major surveys. The IG found that data collection targets were not met, with declining response rates affecting each one, and that quality assurance processes were not always followed.”
The Census Bureau responded that, “it would evaluate strategies to increase response rates, work to ensure reinterviews are completed on time, improve timeliness and documentation of falsification investigations, and evaluate the impact of falsified cases on survey estimates. While the bureau’s action plan addresses our 15 recommendations, 10 remain open.”
The IG noted that the Bureau has failed to complete studies that could have informed “research and testing for the 2030 census… in time to formally inform the 2030 research and testing agenda and that the bureau did not prioritize the investigation of a potentially significant innovation.”
However, the Census Bureau “responded that it would work to publicly release studies by their target dates, establish a centralized repository and document a process for storing lessons learned and recommendations to ensure decision makers have access to this information in the future, and prioritize studies that benefit research and testing.”
Among the concerns in managing spending at Commerce were “Managing and monitoring contractor performance at the Census Bureau,” with a particular focus on the 2020 advertising contract.
Finally, in concerns about the modernization of information technology systems and operations, the IG highlighted the Bureau’s development of “A new business ecosystem to consolidate” census operations. a suite of systems that together will handle all collection, processing, and dissemination of data for censuses and surveys, including the 2030 decennial census. The bureau must complete this complex modernization in time for the 2030 census’s “dress rehearsal” in April 2028. However, in an earlier enterprise-wide IT initiative called the Census Enterprise Data Collection and Processing program, the bureau did not develop reliable cost and schedule estimates, increasing the project’s risk of cost overruns, delays, and unmet performance goals.”
(Hat tip to Hansi Lo Wang for flagging the report.)
- Top Management and Performance Challenges Facing the Department of Commerce in FY 2025. October 16, 2024 (Report OIG-25-001)
