**DECENNIAL RESPONSE INTEGRATION SYSTEM (DRIS)**

**[Background]{.underline}**

The U.S. Census Bureau is the primary source of basic statistics about
the population and economy of the nation and is best known for the
decennial census of housing and population. We will conduct the next
decennial census in the year 2010. Between March and August 2010, we
must provide assistance to respondents and capture their response data
via telephone, paper and electronic census forms to allow sufficient
time for post-capture processing, review, and tabulation. By December
31, 2010, the Census Bureau must deliver state level population counts
and the calculations for reapportioning the United States House of
Representatives to the President. By March 31, 2011, the Census Bureau
must deliver more detailed counts to the states for the purpose of
redistricting as specified by Public Law 94-171.

To help accomplish the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau will require the
Decennial Response Integration System (DRIS) Contractor to design,
build, test, deploy, implement, operate, maintain, secure and then
dispose of the systems, infrastructure, staffing, procedures and
facilities needed to: 1) provide assistance to the public through the
telephone and Internet; and 2) receive, capture, and standardize census
data provided by respondents via the telephone, paper questionnaires and
the Internet. We anticipate that the DRIS Contractor will have to
receive and normalize census data from approximately Y million
responses. Of this number, X may come from hand-held devices (HHDs) used
in field enumeration operations. While the DRIS Contractor must
interface with and normalize data from the HHDs used for field
operations, the scope of the DRIS contract does not include providing
the systems or staffing used for field enumeration operations.

In accordance with FAR Part 15, the Census Bureau intends to award a
hybrid contract, with provisions for task orders and options to a single
Contractor whose proposal meets the requirements of the DRIS
solicitation and who provides the best value to the Government.

The DRIS contract will have a 6-year performance period divided into
three phases. While the specific requirements and performance periods
for Phases II and III will be jointly determined during Phase I of the
contract, a description of each Phase is discussed below:

-   Phase I will begin on the date of contract award and will continue
    through December 31, 2008. Phase I will include partnering with the
    Census Bureau during the requirements analysis and design phase to
    develop detailed documentation of the proposed technical solution.
    Phase I will cover all program management, technical and operational
    functions for the design, development, testing, deployment,
    implementation and support of the DRIS components needed for a 2008
    Census Dress Rehearsal. We expect the DRIS implementation in support
    of the Dress Rehearsal to be at the Census Bureau's facility in
    Jeffersonville, IN and in Contractor provided facilities. Phase I
    work will also include the Contractor's identification of all
    physical sites for the DRIS 2010 operations;

-   Phase II will overlap Phase I and will begin in August 1, 2008 and
    end in January 2011. Phase II will address site acquisition, and as
    necessary, build-out and fit-up of the data centers for the paper,
    telephone and Internet operations in 2010. Phase II will also
    address national deployment of the DRIS components, full-scale
    production operations for the 2010 Census, archive preparation, data
    evaluations, and the close out of the DRIS 2010 operations
    facilities; and.

-   Phase III will overlap Phase II and will begin in July 2010 and
    continue through contract closeout. Phase III will address post-2010
    Census DRIS operations and archiving. Phase III details will be
    determined during Phases I and II.

###### Scope 

The goal of the DRIS contract is to obtain an innovative solution to
providing respondent assistance and data capture for the 2010 Census.
The DRIS contract will provide for all phases of the DRIS lifecycle,
including system analysis, design, development, integration and testing;
deploying, implementing, and supporting a nationwide production program
for the 2010 Census; and post-2010 operations support, if needed. This
will require the Contractor to keep current on issues related to
securing confidential data received via paper, telephone and the
Internet, including best practices and emerging technologies, and to
utilize this information in the solution.

The DRIS solution will:

Enable the Public to

1.  Obtain assistance with 2010 Census questions;

2.  Request an English, Be Counted or foreign language questionnaire or
    a language guide via the telephone or Internet;

3.  Respond to the 2008 Dress Rehearsal and the 2010 Census via paper,
    telephone, and the Internet; and

4.  Enable tribal, state, and local governments to provide updates to
    the Census Bureau's address list and identify areas with address
    list deficiencies.

Enable the Contractor to

1.  Manage and Control contract operations;

2.  Interface with the Government during the development of forms
    design, printing and post-DRIS processing specifications, although
    these services---forms design, printing and post-DRIS data
    processing (such as tabulations)---are not in scope;

3.  Securely collect responses from all self-response modes (paper,
    Internet and telephone data capture);

4.  Provide assistance to respondents via Internet and telephone;

5.  Standardize and integrate respondent data from all response modes
    into a control file, including those outside the scope of DRIS, such
    as the data collected by enumerators through HHDs and/or paper
    questionnaires;

6.  Store and transmit data, including census short-form data, customer
    satisfaction data, and metadata, including near real-time status and
    quality information to Census Bureau processing and reporting in a
    mutually agreed upon format;

7.  Generate response and control data, to support other non-DRIS Census
    operations. For example, at specific cut off points, we will need a
    list of IDs with no check-in data to support Census non-response
    follow-up field operations;

8.  Accept and geocode respondent forms using appropriate means
    including telephone calls to housing units to obtain the necessary
    information to geocode the Individual Census Response (ICR);

9.  Identify, process, and direct data from HHDs to the appropriate
    systems; and

10. Capture the necessary production data by operation so the Census
    Bureau shall be able to independently determine the productivity and
    progress of the individual operation.

Enable the Census Bureau to

1.  Understand the status and quality of all operations and systems
    implemented under the DRIS contract;

2.  Conduct evaluations on census data during and after the 2010 Census
    and after the DRIS contract;

3.  Archive census data, as necessary, to meet the requirements of the
    National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

4.  Meet required deadlines;

5.  Tabulate and disseminate Census data;

6.  Independently analyze the quality of input documents provided to the
    Census Bureau and their subsequent processing and data conversion;

7.  Independently analyze the progress and productivity of the DRIS
    operations; and

8.  Understand the links between the DRIS Architecture and the 2010
    Census Architecture.

Census operations require several intricate functions that the scope of
this contract excludes. The capabilities and/or services excluded from
the scope of the DRIS contract are as follows:

-   The Census Bureau will provide staffing and management for the 2008
    Dress Rehearsal paper data capture operations. However, we expect
    the Contractor to develop, deploy and support the DRIS components
    associated with paper data capture at the Census Bureau's
    Jeffersonville, IN facility;

-   This contract excludes staffing and the acquisition of HHDs and
    related infrastructure and the development of applications necessary
    to use these devices to conduct field enumeration operations;

-   This contract excludes the development of programs or systems
    required to disseminate census results and tabulated data
    accomplished through the Census Bureau's American Fact-Finder;

-   This contract excludes the design or printing of questionnaires for
    all questionnaire mailings necessary to complete the census. (Note:
    The scope of this contract does include the printing of test
    materials to support DRIS testing objectives.); and

-   The quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) sample and
    analysis and design will be determined by the Census Bureau.

# [Goals and Objectives for Workflow and Control]{.underline}

Goals for the DRIS Workflow and Control functionality include:

1.  Base all processing on metadata and requirements/specifications
    provided by the Census Bureau;

2.  Provide a single point of data exchange between DRIS and the Census
    Bureau systems;

3.  Control all automated processes and the workflow of respondent data
    and metadata within DRIS at all stages;

4.  Control access to data as required by Census Bureau confidentiality
    and security requirements;

5.  Provide a management information system that supports: 1) near
    real-time tracking and reporting on data collection and capture
    status for all living quarters across all data collection modes; 2)
    near real-time tracking and reporting on access to Internet and
    telephone assistance applications; 3) status and capacity of all
    hardware components of DRIS; and 4) access controls based on user
    types;

6.  Provide the capability to set and change the priority of response
    capture and the ability to start, redirect or terminate a workflow
    or process; and

7.  Provide standardization operations necessary to normalize data from
    all response modes for exchange with the Census Bureau's systems.

# [Goals & Objectives]{.underline} 

The Census Bureau has the following goals for collecting respondents'
data from paper:

1.  Automate effectively by performing a simultaneous operation of
    high-speed check-in, envelope opening, prioritizing/sorting for mail
    returns prior to document preparation and scanning. The Government
    believes a high-speed check-in and sorting operation in front of the
    scanning operations may result in an earlier identification of
    housing units requiring a personal visit to obtain a completed
    questionnaire, thereby facilitating a more effective and efficient
    conduct of this field activity. In Census 2000, envelopes were
    opened at this stage but the contents were manually extracted; and
    envelopes that could not be read were rejected and checked-in via
    manual exception processing;

2.  Automate effectively by designing a data capture system based on
    electronic imaging of forms and automating all appropriate systems
    that comprise this technology;

3.  Increase the input tolerances based on 2000 Census data capture
    results for the printed questionnaires;

4.  Increase the tolerances based on 2000 Census data capture to allow
    for inputs printed from multiple sources with an expected
    variability;

5.  Increase the input tolerances based on 2000 Census data capture
    results to allow greater latitude in designing respondent-friendly
    forms. Therefore, similar to Census 2000 data capture, the Census
    Bureau does not intend to add preprinted registration points on the
    form; rather, the Contractor will need to perform registration using
    existing form features. The Government believes this may reduce form
    design constraints due to technology requirements;

6.  Use new technologies available since Census 2000, such as replacing
    optical color dropout with digital color dropout. The Government
    believes that optical dropout could add additional form design
    constraints in the use of color choices and result in forms marked
    in a color-marking instrument similar to the background color that
    would have to be processed manually as exceptions;

7.  Improve automation further and meet/exceed the optical character
    recognition (OCR) results experienced in Census 2000. The Government
    believes this may further reduce the amount of fields keyed from
    image;

8.  Improve automation further and meet/exceed the optical mark
    recognition (OMR) accuracy (specifically optical answer recognition)
    experienced in Census 2000;

9.  Minimize or eliminate key from paper operations;

10. Perform, to the greatest extent possible, real time automated
    quality assurance processes, focusing on the root causes of errors,
    and evaluating data at the form field level so that errors will be
    detected and corrected during capture operations. These automated
    quality assurance processes are essential to ensure quality data;

11. Identify, understand and resolve the unique problems of a Decennial
    Census data capture system, and design solutions to address
    anticipated problems and exceptions to mainstream processing;

12. Continually strive to improve data quality throughout development
    and production that can be verified by consistent and thorough
    testing and monitoring; and

13. Account for 100 percent of Census 2010 forms from receipt through
    disposition or destruction of the data and paper questionnaire.

## [Goals & Objectives for the Internet System/Services]{.underline}

## The scope of the DRIS contract includes the design, development, testing and implementation of an Internet site that will perform two primary functions for the 2010 Census. These primary functions involve providing assistance to the public and conducting enumeration by providing the public with the opportunity to complete their census questionnaire. The assistance function involves providing the type of information and support that will increase the public's participation in the census, thereby improving the quality of the results and reducing our costs. The enumeration function involves offering an Internet system as an alternative option to the paper questionnaire for the public to provide their census data to the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau requires an Internet system that provides a user-friendly and secure method for the public to provide their census information, while also supporting the collection of quality data. 

## The Internet system will provide assistance and conduct enumeration for residents of the United States and Puerto Rico (also referred to as stateside enumeration). The Internet system will have sufficient capacity to handle projected Internet site hits, without significant reduction in response time, and including the capability to scale up as necessary to address unexpected fluctuations and spikes as predefined with the Census Bureau. 

## 

The Census Bureau recommends adapting the Internet system for use by
call center agents who also will conduct assistance and enumeration
activities resulting in efficiencies gained. We believe this strategy
not only represents a more cost-effective approach to providing the
system required for call center agents, but also facilitates the
consistency of information and maintenance, providing for consistent
data storage, and other ongoing functions.

# [Goals and Objectives for the Telephone Operations]{.underline} {#goals-and-objectives-for-the-telephone-operations .unnumbered}

The scope of the DRIS contract includes the design, development, testing
and implementation of infrastructure and associated support systems and
staffing necessary to conduct both inbound and outbound telephone
operations.

[Inbound:]{.underline}

The inbound telephone operation will perform two primary functions for
the 2010 Census. These primary functions involve providing assistance to
the public and conducting enumeration. The assistance function involves
providing the type of information and support that will increase the
public's participation in the census, thereby improving the quality of
the results and reducing our costs. The enumeration function involves
allowing the public to complete their questionnaire by telephone as an
alternative to using the paper questionnaire or the Internet. The
telephone system, applications, and call center agents will conduct
inbound operations in English and Spanish, with the possibility of
adding other languages after contract award.

The Census Bureau requires the inbound telephone operation to include an
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, while providing the caller with
the ability to opt out of the IVR to reach a call center agent. The
Census Bureau intends to optimize the use of IVR to provide high quality
service to the public, while minimizing the need for call center agent
intervention. The status of speech recognition technology for Census
2000 limited our use of the IVR to handling very simple functions, such
as requests for questionnaires and providing responses to
frequently-asked questions. With the improvement in speech recognition
technology, the Census Bureau believes that it can increase the
functions performed by the IVR, thereby increasing the percentage of
calls that the system can resolve without the intervention of a call
center agent.

## 

The Census Bureau believes that adapting the Internet system for use by
call center agents to conduct assistance and enumeration activities
provides some significant benefits. The Census Bureau believes that this
strategy not only represents a more cost-effective approach to providing
the system required for call center agents, but also facilitates
consistency of information and maintenance, providing for consistent
data storage, and other ongoing functions.

[Outbound:]{.underline}

The outbound telephone operation will allow call center agents to obtain
missing respondent information or to collect information to geocode
addresses on non-ID'd forms. The primary function involves making
outbound calls to designated households for purposes such as obtaining
missing information or resolving discrepancies with the data provided on
their original census questionnaire. The Census Bureau believes that
adapting the inbound instrument for use on the outbound telephone
follow-up operation(s) provides a number of benefits, including cost
efficiency. The objective of the outbound operation involves maximizing
our success rate in obtaining a completed interview from the eligible
respondents within a minimum number of contacts. The Census Bureau
conducts this type of follow-up operation for purposes of ensuring the
completeness and quality of the final census results. The outbound
telephone operation shall also be used to geocode addresses on non-ID'd
forms.

## [Goals and Objectives]{.underline} {#goals-and-objectives .unnumbered}

In addition to obtaining the systems needed to assist, collect and
process response data, the Government's other objective is to obtain
support services to conduct these operations for the Dress Rehearsal and
Census 2010. That is, the DRIS will acquire, build out (as necessary),
operate, manage and close out facilities that will house and support the
operations to assist, collect and process data from ( x ) households,
group quarters and vacant units in ( y ) working days for the 2010
Census.

Specifically, the Contractor will be required to:

1.  Identify, acquire, prepare (as necessary), and maintain facilities
    to complete assistance, collection and processing operations in the
    prescribed time frames. For the 2010 Census, the Government plans to
    have three DRIS facilities for the paper and Internet operations.
    The Contractor will provide two of these paper and Internet
    facilities while the Government will provide a third one at its
    National Processing Center (NPC) in Jeffersonville, IN. Given that
    the decennial census is a large-scale, one-time, short-duration
    operation, the Government believes it will be advantageous to
    optimize the use of existing telecommunications facilities and
    infrastructure, assuming that the Government's security requirements
    can be met;

2.  Recruit, hire, train and manage (as necessary) a large workforce to
    support the DRIS operations, both under normal conditions and in the
    case of unexpected events;

3.  Develop and implement operational, management, and support
    procedures and plans necessary to conduct DRIS operations;

4.  Ensure proper contracted facility closeout when DRIS operations are
    completed; and

5.  Provide facility build out, equipment, supplies and selected
    services (e.g. training) to the NPC DRIS facility.