tor for esquire magazine thomas barnett looks at the challenges and opportunities facing the united states in great powers american and the world after bush non fiction books and authors all weekend on book tv for the entire schedule go on line to book tv dot org announcer the acting director of the census bureau today said the government anticipates spending more than fourteen dollars billion dollars on the two thousand and ten census those comments came during this oversight subcommittee hearing the chairman is william lacy clay of missouri it's about an hour and a half of the oversight and government reform committee will come to order good morning and welcome to today's hearing we will receive a progress report from the bureau on its preparations for the two thousand and ten census we will also examine recommendations made by gao for improvements needed to address the bureau's operational challenges and discuss gao's most recent followed by opening statements not to exceed three minutes by any other member who seeks recognition we will also recognize each side after the opening statements for ten stage of preparation for next year's decennial census this will be the bureau's largest and most expensive census operation costing taxpayers over fourteen dollars billion the bureau must use all of these resources to ensure an accurate fair and complete count on april one two thousand and ten as chairman my mission is to help the bureau to conduct the most d were poor many were minorities and the majority were from urban areas and that is just not good enough my standard is very simple everyone counts and every person must be counted the undercount is extremely damaging to states and local communities it deprives them of proper political representation federal formula dollars and vital information for every person the bureau misses their local community will lose thousands of dollars of federal funding for ten years and given the economic emergency we all face no city or state can afford to miss anyone the bureau has less than one month to complete preparations for address canvassing this essential operation will ensure the accuracy of its master address list automation and it will play a critical role in the success of the two thousand and ten census for the first time addresses will be collected and verified using handheld computers today we will focus on the bureau's progress toward strengthening its integrated it systems and how they can reduce any risks that would jeopardize enumeration i want to thank all of our witnesses for appearing here today and i look forward to their testimony we will also be joined today by our chairman on the all the things that you said in your opening statement i concur and i do have this hope that we can work in a bipartisan basis to ensure that all americans are counted i have the same concerns as chairman clay about the facing the census bureau and identify ways to facilitate a full and accurate count in two thousand and ten today almost a year later we have the opportunity to ask the bureau exactly where they are in their preparations for the decennial census where it should be and how with congress's help it can get there the decennial census is a huge undertaking the largest peacetime mobilization this country has ever seen the data that are collected affect how government and businesses allocate the resources from the state level all the way down to the small towns and communities in my district in chairman clay's district and all across america therefore it is important that the bureau be as open and honest as possible  about their preparation for a full count in two thousand and ten and any associated problems that they might incur i think i speak for both myself and the chairman when i say this subcommittee will not point fingers if problems exist they always will with such a massive undertaking and we will certainly work with you to change existing plans and we will work with you early and often to make that happen this includes letting us know about any funding needs that may come up along the way  congress has demonstrated its intent to ensure the census bureau has every resource it needs to conduct a full and accurate count with a sufficiently funded census bureau we can ensure a fair and thorough two thousand and ten census that counts everyone and leaves no justification for using reported today yesterday in a meeting with the senate commerce committee leaders commerce secretary designee gary locke expressed his desire for a census bureau free of political pressure from the white house i am encouraged by his comments and hope that president obama accepts the governor's wishes  and restores control of the census bureau to the department of commerce following that the next census director who the president has yet to appoint and name must also state his opinion on a non partisan and accurate census based on new reports governor locke did express his intention to employ statistical sampling as a accuracy check i am certain that during the governor's confirmation hearings he will clarify what exactly that means and what it must not mean that sampling will be used in any way to manipulate the census data for partisan gain chairman clay and i share this goal to ensure that every american every individual in this country regardless of any race or socioeconomic status or any locational issues or challenges or any other characteristic is not counted we want to make sure every american is counted all ideas brought before this subcommittee to help us achieve this goal will be given thoro issa this is a very very important subject and of course the census is a top priority for the committee and i will be following it very very closely and will be willing to work with you to make certain that we are getting a fair and accurate count there is no question that the census is a sensitive issue from a political point of view because it has a direct impact on how seats are apportioned among the states for this body and the house of representatives but my goal is for the committee to carry out its oversight work in a responsible non partisan manner i hope we can keep our focus on the management practices and making certain that they have enough staff to do the job that needs to be done and let's not get caught up in the political stuff that really does not help us to be able to come up with an accurate count of course i look forward to working with you chairman clay mister mchenry and of course the members of the committee as well as the ranking member in the full committee to make certain that this time we get it right i do believe that we can get it right but it is going to require all of us not as automated as we would like in this coming census but we have tools we didn't have in one thousand seven hundred and ninety we don't have to go up river and check and see who heard that there was a trapper somewhere beyond the last station that anyone knew existed so in many ways we will have a more accurate count than we did at our founding it is a given though that we will not have a perfect count but since estimates beg after the account it is critical that we have an actual count from which so many estimates are made of other materials that is the goal of this committee i can see that it is the goal of this committee on a bipartisan bas and the chairman of the full committee as well talked about the importance of an accurate count and of the census in general i think he did so for a reason that many people today at this hearing may not yet understand and that is that we have the shortest constitution in the world and yet it includes the requirement to count every ten years every person in the united states not every citizen not every voter every person  for that reason it is something that has been non partisan since our founding and i am sure will remain so today i look forward to hearing from our witnesses how we may strive to be more efficient if possible but more effective than ever before in that endeavor because i am sure that the man or woman up the river in one thousand seven hundred and ninety didn't get counted for reasons of difficulty in getting to that count and i am sure there will be people like  chairman and thank you very much for calling this hearing this morning as has already been stated by the members it is critically important that we get the count right when it comes to the census i happen to represent mister chairman the city of cincinnati in my congressional district and the city of cincinnati led the charge in challenging the count in the last census because we had so many people especially in low income and minority communities in cincinnati that were not counted obviously this is an issue that is near and dear to our mayor mark mallory who has led the charge on behalf of the mayors of cities across the country to make sure that we are in fact ensuring an accurate count of all people as has been mentioned by mister issa so i fully support the efforts of the committee and i would like to invite you mister chairman and the committee if you are considering field hearings on the topic to come on out to southwest ohio and cincinnati i am sure our mayor would greet us with open arms and we certainly want to make sure in cincinnati that we have a fair count so i thank you and i look thank you i simply want to echo the sentiments of the chairman and of the ranking member the idea and the notion that we have a fair and accurate count i also just want to express and i hope it can be carried back to the men and women who will  be the foot soldiers if you will who will be out there participating in this census i hope they understand the important duty they take on but also the thanks from their government it is going to be tough difficult work over a long period of time but there is a great deal of appreciation for the men and women who will serve and spend their time effort and talents in order to execute this census in a fair manner just please know that this committee this body of the u s congress appreciates their service to all those who for being here on this important issue well it must be the year before the decennial since the census is so much in the news as yogi berra used to say it's deja vu all over again this is just like it was in one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine we have press conferences press releases charges countercharges accusations so the census must be next year today we have a hearing to see how the census is doing in getting ready for two thousand and ten but this hearing is where the similarities to two thousand end the controversies of the two thousand census were over the attempts by the scientists at the census bureau to use methods to improve a more accurate count these were ideological differences over how to accomplish that goal today we have a cens us that has real operational problems a census that is facing many last minute operational changes that have not gone through field testing to the extent that operational issues were field tested in two thousand we are not anywhere near the level of attention and testing that took place in two thousand let's just look at one area the fingerprinting operation this was added just last summer by the bush administration hundreds of thousands of applicants that census will want to hire will have to be fingerprinted the images run through the justice department's computers and then the results returned to the field offices next year none of this operation has been field tested anywhere close to the type of testing that was done prior to two thousand for similar operations what if it fails or slows the hiring process this would really hurt the operations of the census or let us look at the proposed second mailing of census forms here you have an operation that was looked at in two thousand and rejected in two thousand that has been added to two thousand and ten without a clear explanation as to how the problems that led to its rejection in two thousand would be dealt with or how the management systems that handle payroll and enumerators work since we have had to revert to a paper census after going to a handheld seemed unworkable after spending millions of dollars none of them have been given testing anywhere close to what was done in two thousand hopefully we will hear good news today but i suspect that we will not hear enough that will convince us that there is not real operational problems in the census bureau mister chairman as we look at the two thousand and ten census in the coming months i hope that you and the committee will also take the time to start looking at two thousand and twenty something i know that the government accountability office is already doing  as to how we can avoid this type of situation in the future as you know i along with chairman dent and charlie gonzalez and many others have put forth bipartisan legislation to make the census bureau an independent agency to allow it to work over the next ten year cycle of the census without interference without changing guidelines without having its budget diminished and changed and moved around affirmative each of you will have five minutes to make an opening statement your complete written testimony will be included in the hearing record the yellow light will indicate it is time to sum up the red light will indicate your time has i can report we are well on our way toward a successful enumeration a complete and accurate address list is the cornerstone of a successful census throughout the decade we regularly updated the address list we used in census two thousand in two thousand and seven we invited tribal state and local governments to review our address list for accuracy and completeness as part of the local update of census address programs luca eleven thousand five hundred government entities registered for luca and over eight thousand one hundred provided updates that accounted for an additional eight million addresses that we have address list address canvassing the first major operation in the two thousand and ten census starts on march th and runs through july seventeen two thousand and nine during address canvassing one hundred and forty thousand census bureau employees will walk almost every street in america checking and updating one hundred and forty five million addresses then in late september we will validate the listings for group quarters which include dormitories group homes prisons and the like this is the first time that group quarters are part of address canvassing and their inclusion will improve the accuracy and the coverage of the final count in december two thousand and eight we conducted the address canvassing operational field test the test provided an opportunity for our field staff to test the key functionality of the handheld computers in an environment that approximates a real census headquarters staff and all of our twelve regional directors participated in th government accountability office and the commerce department's inspector general staff observed the test the positive results demonstrated the significant improvement that we have made since dress rehearsal and reinforced our confidence in the operation's production readiness in april two thousand and eight the secretary announced the decision not to use handhelds to collect data during the nonresponse followup operation late last spring we completed the high level plan for enumerators to use paper forms to collect information from non respondents just as we have done in previous censuses in october two thousand and eight we re scoped the field data collection automation contract responsibilities the census bureau took over responsibility for a number of operations including the help desk and the operational control system which is the nerve center for our four hundred and ninety four local census offices that will be responsible for two thousand and ten data collection operations we made these re scoping decisions to reduce the overall risk to the census we have done these operations before and we are confident in our ability to do them again at the end of january two thousand and nine we completed the schedule for development testing and deployment of the two thousand and ten operational control system that will support two thousand and ten data collection activities including nonresponse followup we are making good progress on system development and testing is scheduled to begin april twenty two thousand and nine we will also continue to closely monitor the development and testing of the paper based operations themselves we agree with gao for the need of a comprehensive testing program we believe over the past eleven months we have established a very robust testing program that is responsive to the recent gao testing recommendations gao made nine recommendations outlining twenty eight steps that should be taken to strengthen our testing program we have already implemented sixteen of the steps they specified and eight others  implemented of the remaining four steps two of the steps take place later in the cycle and we will implement them at the appropriate time and an additional step we are going to seek  clarification from gao about their intent on those we are also taking steps to address gao's concerns related to cost estimates we appreciate gao's recommendations and we recently provided them with an action plan and we certainly are committed to implementing those steps outlined in that plan in closing i believe that our current plan has significantly reduced the risk to the tw and we are prepared to meet the challenges that lie ahead members of the subcommittee the census bureau is on track for a successful census and i am happy to take your questions mister clay thank you for your testimony m you may proceed for five minutes chairman clay chairman towns ranking members mchenry and issa and members of the subcommittee thank you for the opportunity to be here today to provide a progress report on the two thousand and ten census i am here with dave powner a director  information technology team as requested in our remarks today i will provide a broad overview of the status of key census taking operations and dave will focus on the finding and recommendations contained in our report on it testing which we are releasing today this morning's hearing is particularly timely exactly one year ago today gao designated the two thousand and ten census a high risk area for three reasons first there were weaknesses in the census bureau acquisition and contract management function second there were problems with the performance of handheld computers used to collect data and third the ultimate cost of the census is uncertain although it is currently estimated at more than fourteen  at the same time just over one year from now it will be census day little time remains to address the challenges that have emerged thus far and make final preparations for the numerous operations that will take place throughout two thousand and ten the poster board  my right which is a timeline of key census taking activities shows some of the work that lies ahead and the need to stay on schedule in order to keep the census on track because of legally mandated deadlines the bureau can't call a timeout or press a reset button in short today's hearing is a convenient weigh station on the road to census day a time to look back on the census bureau's efforts over the past year to address the operational challenges that have emerged thus far as well as to look ahead to what the bureau needs to do in the coming months to he a successful headcount importantly the bureau has made commendable progress over the past year in rolling out key components of the census and has strengthened certain risk management efforts still the census remains high risk because the dress rehearsal of all census operations that was planned for two thousand and eight was curtailed as a result critical activities including some that will be used for the first time in a census were not tested in concert with one another or under census like conditions because a complete and accurate address list is the foundation of a successful census the bureau has a number of operations aimed at including every residence in the country and works with the u s postal service agencies at all levels of government as well as a number of non governmental entities send thousands of workers to walk every street in the country to update the census address list and maps in an operation called address canvassing census workers will use handheld computers to collect data as you know when the devices were tested they experienced performance problems such as freeze ups and unreliable transmissions the bureau took steps to fix these issues and the results of a small scale test held last december are encouraging nonetheless more information is needed to determine the bureau's overall readiness for address canvassing as the field test was not an end to end systems test did not validate training help desk support and other requirements and did not include urban areas uncertainties also surround the bureau's ability to implement operations that will be used for the first time in a decennial census including a targeted second mailing to reduce the nonresponse followup workload and the need to fingerprint temporary census workers the bureau's readiness for these activities is uncertain because they have not been tested under census like conditions another challenge facing the bureau is reducing the undercount as with past numerations the bureau is putting forth tremendous effort to reach groups that are often missed by the census such as minorities renters and people with limited english proficiency for example the bureau plans to provide language assistance guides in fifty nine languages an increase from forty nine languages in two thousand the bureau also plans to deploy a comprehensive communications campaign consisting of among other efforts paid advertising and the hiring of as many as six hundred and eighty partnership staff who will be tasked with reaching out to local governments community groups and other organizations in an effort to secure a more complete count although the effects of the bureau's communication efforts are difficult to measure the bureau reported some positive results from its two thousand census marketing efforts with respect to raising awareness of the census still a longstanding challenge for the bureau is converting that awareness of the census into an actual response in summary just thirteen months remain until census day at a time when major testing should be complete and there should be confidence in the functionality of key operations the bureau instead finds itself managing late design changes and developing testing plans the bureau mister chairman your oversight of the bureau's acquisition of it systems was critical last year in particular the field data collection system is no longer spiraling out of control and that contract is five hundred dollars million less than the initial estimates provided at your hearings last summer your oversight is needed once again in the technology area to ensure that between now and census day these systems are rigorously tested today we are releasing our latest report completed a request which highlights that significant testing remains six major systems need to complete systems testing and much integration testing needs to occur plans for conducting this testing are not completely in place in order to ensure effective test execution the bureau needs comprehensive metrics to monitor test completion and effective executive level oversight to keep the pressure on and to manage risks our report contains ten detailed recommendations that the bureau has agreed to address for example integration testing includes testing of the interfaces or the handshake between systems our work found that not only were there not complete plans or schedules for integration testing of these interfaces but there was not even a master list or inventory of interfaces not having such basic information at this stage is unacceptable and our recommendations call for the bureau to develop a master list of prioritize the interfaces based on criticality and need date and to use this to develop all needed integration plans to the bureau's credit we are seeing more plans and better metrics but there is still much work ahead in both areas i like to stress the need to prioritize it is likely the bureau will not have enough time to test everything and testing the most important aspects of certain systems interfaces and operations is critical given the limited time manages three federally funded research and development centers ffrdcs one for the department of defense one for the federal aviation administration and one for the internal revenue service governed by part thirty five point zero one seven of the federal acquisition regulations ffrdcs operate in the public interest with objectivity independence freedom from conflict of interest and full disclosure of their affairs to the respective government sponsors it continues to be our privilege to serve with the talented engineers and other professionals who support the census bureau in its efforts to prepare and conduct the two thousand and ten decennial census we are pleased to report since mitre's last appearance before this committee in july that the bureau has demonstrated continued improvements in managing and overseeing preparations for the two thousand and ten decennial census these improvements include an increase in processes and tools to monitor program progress and to identify potential risks we are also pleased to report that many significant issues with the field data collection automation control have been resolved approximately a year ago we expressed concerns about the cost schedule and performance risks for the fdca program to the census bureau a risk reduction task force established by the secretary of commerce and the director of the census bureau recommended a re balancing of work from the contractor to the government the goal was to enable the contractor to focus on the software system necessary to perform the address canvassing operation based on our observations it appears th rebalancing has achieved its intended effect and the risks to the address canvassing operation are substantially reduced although the rebalancing was essential much of the progress is due to positive steps by the census bureau fdca program management office and the contractor's development team both organizations should be commended for establishing an effective working relationship and overcoming the large challenges they faced in the past year although we are cautiously optimistic about the address canvassing operation risks remain within it and other operations for the two thousand and ten decennial census these risks are natural for such large programs census bureau personnel update and monitor these risks on a regular basis and constant attention will be required until the decennial is completed we remain committed to helping the census bureau prepare for a successful two thousand and ten decennial census thank you for inviting us to this it sounds like the bureau has come a long way since our last meeting i commend you and your staff a lot of the work was inspired by gao findings so i want to also commend census it was gao that first brought to this committee's attention the problems with fdca they recommended consistent oversight to which this subcommittee has been committed i also want to commend doctor himes for the important role mitre has played in helping the bureau to resolve problems let's go straight to testing gao made ten recommendations to ensure that testing activities for key systems are completed what action is the bureau taking or planning to address gao's recommendations plan the census and to shift from the handheld use in the nonresponse followup to a paper base we did a thorough review at that point of our testing  program we did an inventory of the testing and we found some data gaps and then we addressed those by adding additional tests we also later last year appointed a testing officer with responsibility over all testing for the decennial census and we have made testing metrics a key part of every operational review so we look at the census we have about fifty one key operations that we are doing and those are things like nonresponse followup we have twenty five systems that those operations interact with and we have two hundred and forty four interfaces between systems so late last year we also appointed an integration manager who has responsibility to make sure all of the activities that we took out of the fdca contract now will fit together and will be integrated we clearly face some challenges given the de scoping of the census so we took over about eleven key paper operations and i think we are being responsive to mister powner's comment of trying to prioritize so we are implementing what we would call a thread test and those are key activities within a process for example our first focus is on nonresponse followup and group quarters evaluation testing on those activities and the operational control system will begin on april t current status of testing activities for the two thousand and ten census mister mesenbourg at this point we do have a comprehensive inventory of all of the testing that we need to do given the time constraints that we are under there will be some operations that we have performed in the past that we will not test as thoroughly as we will some of the new activities mister clay where is the bureau on the control system that will control eleven paper based operations in the census we integrated that into the master activities schedule so that is done and we do have a detail plan at this point and schedule for what we are calling release zero release zero will focus on the nonresponse followup and the group quarters enumeration then we will follow with a release one which will take on a mock environment that will send workload to be identified for nonresponse followup and we will be able to test that in the operational control system that will control  thank you mister chairman i just have one very brief question for mister mesenbourg mister mesenbourg i am particularly concerned about the number of houses that are currently in foreclosure across the country and the transience we are seeing  in our population you know the movements of population that we are seeing especially in the inner cities that are traditionally difficult to count you know we are seeing folks move around at record levels and i am concerned as to whether or not the census bureau is taking the necessary steps to account for that movement and how you are coping with that it is a growing problem there is no doubt about that the address canvassing operation that we will start at march th will visit every address whether occupied or vacant so the into the nonresponse followup operation we will send an enumerator to that address to see if anyone is there if they are there we will collect the data we will go back six times to make sure that we can reach a person if it is unoccupied of course we will miss them we have taken some steps to address this issue so we have added two questions to the ten question two thousand and ten census form that gets at coverage problems one of those questions relates to do you have a relative living with you that you may not have listed on the report form that will kick off an action to put that into a followup activity that will try to identify why that person wasn't listed so that will be one our advertising and our partnership program will be is to get out into the local community and to convince them through trusted voices in the community that if you are doubling up or if you are living in a non traditional  living arrangement that it is important that you be counted and that you are listed on the report f two thousand the focus of the two thousand and ten coverage measurement program is to provide better information about the components of error so we will be providing dat outlined just as a survey to check the accuracy ok now in terms of a fair and accurate census what is your definition of a fair and accurate census mister mesenbourg well we see job one as to count everyone and we see an expanded advertising and partnership program as a key part of doing that we also have done a number of additional things from an operational perspective that we hope will improve the count this will be the first time we are using a short form only census so ten questions ten minutes to fill it out we also will be using a home we will be using a second mailing a targeted second mailing doing a blanket mailing to traditionally low response low mail response areas and then sending a replacement form out to another group to the non respondents and we hope and expect that a much more robust clear getting people to participate is the biggest challenge so missing people is in my mind a more significant challenge than addressing the have done both things we have added two coverage questions to the two thousand and ten census one is to help us get at undercount where someone incorrectly or mistakenly left a person off the report form that should have been on the report form and we have added another question to help address the overcount where someone may have included let's say for example a college student that should have been counted at the dorm where they spend most of their time so there are two questions there and answers to those questions will generate a telephone call as part of our coverage followup operations to try to gather are focused upon and ensure that we actually get them counted which takes a lot of effort a lot of resources and we want to be of assistance to that with you and the stakeholders in this with that i would like to job but this comes pretty close when it says that there are no new recommendations now is that because you didn't go in and look at everything again or are you just going on a past report either one of you mister goldenkoff i think what you are referring to is  as was already mentioned or starting in april the bureau will go out and actually walk every street in the country to verify on the ground housing units occupied housing units and it is a difficult task because it is not always clear what meets the eye there could be several families living in there so you really have to go within six inches of a house sometimes to see double doorbells two names on  mailbox that could indicate that there might be somebody living in the basement or in the shed in the back so it is a very challenging task mister westmoreland i understand but the reality of it is i guess the last address check is going to be the most accurate and  to me at least the census bureau from information and testimony i heard today from mister mesenbourg is that they have asked local cities and counties and others to do that and they are trying to make sure that the information that they have before they do the mailing is also the most recent and most up to date and the most correct information would you agree with that mister goldenkoff that is correct you need to do it as close as possible to census day but at the same time allow for the  the representatives from gao to respond to the earlier question on whether or not the operational testing on payroll personnel changes etc were up to the systems of two thousand are they at the same cost more money but that is one of the issues that in some cases there is no backup or there is no contingency it has to be done and done right misess maloney i would like to followup with a question on the budget you really can't move forward without a  the decennial applicant payroll system is up and running this is the key tool that we use to process applicants and then to pay them so at this point in time we have  over a million applicants in that system we are actually only going to hire about one hundred and forty thousand people for address canvassing but the demand for jobs has been so huge that we had over a million applicants and right now we have about ten thousand people that are getting paid through this system and in another couple weeks that will jump up by about one hundred and forty thousand misess maloney how much money were you focus of this is to do as good a job as we can improving the count and the bill language directed us to focus that money on enhanced and improved advertising and partnership activities and that certainly is our intention we also hope to invest additional moneys in our coverage followup operation adding about another million to the workload and then the remainder of the funds would be there to support key two thousand and ten activities but in the short term in terms of two thousand and nine the expenditures will be primarily focused on expanded media buys and advertising and our partnership program misess maloney and with the remaining money to make other choices what is your basis for making these choices do you have  analysis of what needs to be done or other areas that you need help and support to make a more accurate census mister mesenbourg our criteria have been to focus on those activities that will contribute  presidentially appointed senate confirmed director to be permanent director of the census bureau but my job is to keep that train moving down the track so when we do get a census bureau director we are in a better place thousand and ten census are used for appointment redistricting at all levels of government and the allocation of federal funds all of this is correct right mister mesenbourg that is true mister chaffetz so in your opinion is it better to conduct a census that is free from political influence or do you think technical merit of the issues we have not made decisions based on any kind of political pressure that has been my experience over thirty six years mister chaffetz the census series of quality control operations that we have in place that check the operations so for example when we start address canvas well i will give you a better example right now system the ocs is the brains of the whole system of the field operations when will end to end testing for the ocs be in pla what you have now but i think it is very important as was stated that you come back and retest the key here though is there is a lot of these examples in place we have six major systems we heard two hundred and forty four interfaces forty four operations ok so when you start looking at all that getting it all done and testing it in an integrated fashion end to end as you are asking mister chairman see we don't see all the prioritization and the plans in place so going forward what is very important is that we see the appropriate plans but then we have key metrics so we know exactly what is done how well it is done and then what remains ahead to complete and the ocs is just one example of many challenges that they face going forward between running out and two the lack of testing of key operations so as was already stated here today the bureau needs to prioritize what it can do what it can't do figure out where within all those different operations and activities that haven't been tested where the bureau is most vulnerable and second make sure everything stays on track a third area is perhaps more marketing and promotion because the non response or the response rate rather is key to success mister clay you know address canvassing is set to begin nationwide within a few weeks the bureau never was able to carry out an end to end test of the new handheld devices with all the procedures in the field how prepared is the bureau to conduct address canvassing and how can the b confident that everything will work as the bureau hopes without having tested it all mister goldenkoff well i think that you know the bureau does not know what it doesn't know because again the lack of testing they had the operational field test in that obviously the country does not all look like fayetteville nc you have urban areas you have more rural areas so the question is how will those handhelds perform for example in an area with lots of accuracy and quality of the census accuracy and cost rather that is really what it comes down to key operations they will get done they need to get done it is just a question of how much will things cost and how good will the results be that clearly it is important to test new things but if you have old things that are critical and you change software and hardware associated with that that needs to be tested and that was really the focus of our report it is really based on a qc activity related to that so we will actually go take a sample of the enumerations and we will have a different person go back and attempt to collect that same data and that provides us a clear signal in terms of the quality if there are issues related to a specific interview we call that operation a re interview operation to identify problems if we identify a problem then we will zero in on that enumerator and then do one hundred percent check of all of their work but every operation we do we are going to have a qc step built into it to check the quality of areas or the no response that is correct right you will do a second mailing mister mesenbourg second mailing a blanket second mailing to areas that have a traditional very low mail response we will do a blanket mailing and then we will have another group that sort of intermediary possibly under fifty percent then we will mail the non respondents the household that hadn't returned a form will get a form there mister westmoreland ok so you feel comfortable that you are going to hit these forms then we will do a matching operation every form will have a unique twenty two digit identifier on that if we can't match that generates a whole host of goldenkoff do you believe because of all the stuff that we have been hearing in the news about we need a director we don't have a director whatever you and mister powner do you believe that the bureau has the right talent in house to concern is that here it is getting with ten yards to go until the goal line census day there is no permanent quarterback in place and the other issue to consider as well not only who is calling the shots who being held accountable by congress to the american taxpayers this is also the time when the bureau starts planning for the next census the two thousand and twenty census so you need somebody in place who will take on who will be responsible and happened last summer with the fdca problems fortunately we have organizations like mitre they hired some external folks to come in and help at executive levels there are folks that are trying to  good job there right now but going forward we need more it talent internal to the bureau mister chaffetz like previous decennials the bureau is using paper and pencil for nonresponse followup but unlike previous years we have be targeted second mailing of the census form to the hard to count areas and likely a better applicant pool from which to hire these enumerators shouldn't all these factors lead to a more accurate cens is running out there is just no time for missteps there is no slack in the schedule so to the extent that challenges or glitches emerge and those things are inevitable something comes up in testing there is not a whole lot of time left to figure track but that is not a reporting relationship but in terms of holding the bureau accountable it is a very powerful tool to have white house involvement the thing is that the white house it has to be that right balance between focusing on management and operational issues versus the science of the census you don't want the white house or any political influence on the science of   those that gao has put together the time to test and verify where the systems are working particularly from a system view so we think that  are tools in place that gives census better insights into the status of their systems than they have had in the past and the people that are working on them have substantial westmoreland thank you mister chairman i appreciate that i didn't have any other questions but when mister goldenkoff passed on the article one if the constitution question i felt like we might want to discuss that a little bit further  the allocation of federal money and i am very pleased with the testimony that we have heard today because i think that everybody on that panel wants to have an accurate count house wants to have it reported to or to the commerce secretary there is or is not a director i feel very confident from just the information i have heard from the census bureau and the acting director there much going on right now is everybody wants to make sure that every person is counted so i appreciate all of you coming i want to thank the chairman for having this hearing because i think he census bureau's perspective and i am sure these are questions you would like to answer any and all information attained from the census forms cannot be used for any other person including tax or law enforcement census bureau and not shared with any other government agency department or any other individual mister mesenbourg well that information will be on the report form that everybody receives but probably more importantly it is going to be a key focus of our advertising message and our partnership program so it is one thing for the census bureau to tell people it is confidential in the hard to reach segments of the population our partnership program is aimed to get a trusted voice in that community to tell people that live in that community and our partnership specialist will be hired from the community that they are working in that you can trust the census bureau that they will hold your data confidential mister mchenry finally if you and your staff could prepare a followup for this this is too long of a question and our time is short i would like to know the census bureau's full plan to minimize the undercounts and overcounts i know you already have plans in place but if we could receive that i think that would be important for committee members to hear the full breadth and depth of our plan so we can  it is critical that the bureau work with gao mitre and use every resource available to get this right six major systems still need to be tested the life