Background

The decennial census is conducted against a backdrop of immutable  deadlines. The census’s elaborate chain of interrelated pre- and post- Census Day activities is predicated upon those dates. To meet these  mandated reporting requirements, census activities must occur at specific  times and in the proper sequence. The Secretary of Commerce is legally  required to (1) conduct the census on April 1 of the decennial year, (2)  report the state population counts to the President for purposes of  congressional apportionment by December 31 of the decennial year, and  (3) send population tabulations to the states for purposes of redistricting  no later than 1 year after the April 1 census date.
For the decennial census, the vast majority of housing units will receive  paper, mailback census questionnaires delivered by mail or by census field  workers before April 1, 2010. This requires a complete and accurate  address list. The inventory of housing units is obtained from several  sources including files from the U.S. Postal Service, partnerships  established with local entities, and the Bureau’s address canvassing— where temporary field workers verify and identify the addresses of an  estimated 130 million housing units over the course of about 6 weeks in  2009. When housing units do not respond to questionnaires by a certain  deadline, temporary field workers will follow up and collect census data  through personal interviews during the nonresponse follow-up operation,  which accounts for the largest single component of the field data  collection workload and budget. The Bureau estimates that nonresponse  follow-up will include an estimated 39 million housing units over the  course of 12 weeks in 2010. The Bureau also relies on special procedures  to handle areas or living quarters that are not suitable for mailing or  delivering census questionnaires, such as very remote areas in Alaska and  prisons.
To gather census data, the Bureau opens temporary offices across the  country for approximately 2 years, and all field staff employed in these  offices are considered temporary, with jobs lasting as long as the entire 2- year period or as short as a few weeks, depending on the specific  operation for which they are employed. For example, one could work on  address canvassing, an early operation, and then be rehired again to work  on the nonresponse follow-up operation later on in the decennial. To  conduct its decennial activities, the Bureau recruits, hires, and trains  temporary field workers based out of local census offices nationwide.  During Census 2000, the Bureau hired about half a million temporary  workers at peak, which temporarily made it one of the nation’s largest  employers, surpassed by only a handful of big organizations, such as Wal- Mart and the U.S. Postal Service. For the 2010 Census, the Bureau expects  to hire almost 75,000 temporary field workers—at a cost of over $350  million—during address canvassing in 2009 and almost 525,000 temporary  field workers—at a cost of over $2 billion—for nonresponse follow-up in  2010. (See fig. 1.)

	Implementing Diversity Management Practices Can Help Benefit the Bureau’s Current Workforce and Recruitment for the Decennial Census

High-performance organizations are inclusive, drawing on the strengths of  employees at all levels and of all backgrounds. For the decennial census,  having a diverse workforce is particularly important. For example, in its  strategic plan, the Bureau notes that as the nation becomes more diverse,  the Bureau’s staff must reflect the increasing diversity of the American  population if they are to do their job well. In a related point, Bureau  officials emphasize the need to recruit temporary field workers locally,  because such staff are best able to relate to local residents and overcome  any reluctance to participate in the census. In fact, the census, in many  respects, is a local endeavor because the key ingredients of a successful  population count, such as a complete and accurate address list and timely  and accurate field data collection, are carried out by the locally recruited  temporary field staff—working in and around their respective  neighborhoods—collecting data through various operations.
A high-performance organization relies on a dynamic workforce with the  requisite talents, multidisciplinary knowledge, and up-to-date skills to  ensure it can accomplish its goals and missions. As we have previously  reported, such an organization fosters a work environment in which  people are enabled and motivated to contribute to continuous learning and  improvement as well as to accomplishing missions and goals. Such  organizations promote accountability and fairness. Importantly, they take  advantage of a workforce that is inclusive and utilizes the strengths and  talents of employees at all levels and backgrounds. This work environment  is consistent with the principles of “diversity management”—a process  intended to create and maintain a positive work environment where  individual similarities and differences are valued, so that all can reach  their potential and maximize their contributions to the organization. As  shown in table 1, in our previous work on diversity management, we  identified 9 diversity management practices.
Perhaps the most important practice for diversity management is top  leadership commitment, because leaders and managers must commit the  time and necessary resources for the success of an organization’s diversity  initiatives. Although all of these practices are important, today we discuss  two of them as they relate to the Bureau: (1) succession planning—an  ongoing, strategic process for identifying and developing a diverse pool of  talent for an organizations’ potential future leaders—and (2) recruitment  for the Bureau’s temporary field work—the process of attracting qualified,  diverse applicants for employment which is important for maintaining high  performance.

		Succession Planning for Senior Managers

As we have testified earlier, the federal government is facing new and  more complex challenges in the 21st century because of long-term fiscal  constraints, changing demographics, and other factors. The federal Senior  Executive Service (SES), which generally represents the most experienced  and senior segment of the federal workforce, is critical to providing the  strategic leadership needed to effectively meet these challenges.  Governmentwide, SES retirement eligibility is much higher than the  workforce in general, and a significant number of SES retirements could  result in a loss of leadership continuity, institutional knowledge, and  expertise among the SES corps.
We have previously reported that the Bureau needs to strategically manage  its human capital to meet future requirements. For example, three senior  census executives left the Bureau after the 2000 Census; in the years  ahead, other key employees will become eligible for retirement. According  to the Bureau’s strategic plan, about 45 percent of the Bureau's current  permanent employees will be eligible for regular or early retirement by  2010.  Thus, human capital is a key planning area for ensuring that the  Bureau has the skill mix necessary to meet its future staffing requirements.
Racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in the federal government’s senior  ranks can be a key organizational component for executing agency  missions, ensuring accountability to the American people in the  administration and operation of federal programs, and achieving results.  Based on previous work identifying diversity in the federal SES corps, we  compared diversity at the Bureau’s senior levels with that of the  Department of Commerce and the executive branch governmentwide.
Also, because the vast majority of SES personnel is drawn from an  agency’s pool of GS-14s and GS-15s, we also compared the diversity of the  Bureau’s SES developmental pool with that of the Department of  Commerce and other executive branch agencies governmentwide. (See  table 2.)
Overall, we found that the Bureau’s leadership ranks are about as diverse  as the leadership ranks for the federal government as a whole, with higher  minority representation and lower representation of women. Diversity in  the federal government’s senior leadership and developmental pools are  important to developing and maintaining a high-quality and inclusive  workforce. Succession planning also is tied to the federal government’s  opportunity to change the diversity of the SES corps through new  appointments.

		Recruiting for Temporary Decennial Workforce

The success of the 2010 Census depends, in part, upon the Bureau’s ability  to recruit, hire, and train a very large temporary workforce that works for  a very short period. Over the next several years the Bureau plans to recruit  3.8 million applicants and hire nearly 600,000 temporary field staff from  that applicant pool for two key operations: address canvassing and  nonresponse follow-up.  For the 2010 Census the Bureau plans to use a  recruiting and hiring approach like the one it used in 2000.
For the 2000 Census, the Bureau used an aggressive recruitment strategy  in partnership with state, local, and tribal governments, community  groups, and other organizations to help recruit employees and obtained  exemptions from the majority of state governments so that individuals  receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Medicaid, and selected  other types of public assistance would not have their benefits reduced  when earning census income, thus making census jobs more attractive.  Further, the Bureau used a recruitment advertising campaign, totaling over  $2.3 million, which variously emphasized the ability to earn good pay,  work flexible hours, learn new skills, and do something important for  one’s community. Moreover, the advertisements were in a variety of  languages to attract different ethnic groups, and were also targeted to  different races, senior citizens, retirees, and people seeking part-time  employment. The Bureau also advertised using traditional outlets such as  newspaper classified sections, as well as more novel media including  Internet banners and messages on utility and credit card bills.
Through its local census offices, the Bureau plans to recruit, hire, and  deploy a diverse workforce that looks like and can relate to the people  being counted. Local census offices will open for the 2010 Census in  October 2008. The Bureau has developed a Planning Database that local  and regional offices use to prepare recruiting plans. The Bureau expects  those offices to use the database to identify areas where field staff are  more difficult to recruit and other areas where certain skills—such as  foreign language abilities—are needed. The Bureau will update the  Planning Database for every census tract in the United States for the 2010  Census, using many variables from Census 2000. These variables include:  Census 2000 mail return rates; household size; median household income;  percentage of persons living in poverty; number of single person  households; highest level of education achieved; percentage of  linguistically isolated households (i.e., where no person 14 or over speaks  English at least “very well”); and percentage of persons on public  assistance.
One of the Bureau’s approaches to recruiting and hiring is ensuring that it  recruits and hires a sufficient number of field staff.  For the 2000 Census  the Bureau recruited 5 times the number of persons that it hired, and hired  twice the number of persons that it expects to need. We recommended  that the Bureau consider a more targeted approach. For example, the  Bureau could analyze the factors, such as education and work status, for  employees more likely to be successful at census work and less likely to  leave during an operation. The Bureau questioned the need for taking  action, noting that its priority is to reach out as broadly as possible to the  diverse communities in the country, because in order to have hundreds of  thousands of temporary workers, it must attract several million applicants.  We agree that the Bureau’s recruiting approach should be designed to  ensure it selects a sufficient number of persons to complete the census;  however, we do not believe the Bureau has identified the factors most  likely to predict applicants’ success and that are incorporated in selection  tools and procedures. Our recommendation calls for a fact-based  approach to developing selection tools so that the Bureau could target  recruitment to applicants who are not only more likely to perform well but  also to continue throughout an operation. Recruiting such applicants  could help reduce operational costs as well as recruiting and hiring  expenditures by decreasing the need to recruit and hire additional  workers. Likewise, such an approach can be undertaken while continuing  to attract a diverse workforce.

	Collaborative Partnership Efforts with Diverse Communities Can Benefit the Decennial Census

Collaboration can be broadly defined as any joint activity that is intended  to produce more public value than could be produced when the  organization acts alone. We have previously reported on several best  practices that can enhance and sustain collaborative efforts. These include  (1) establishing mutually reinforcing or joint strategies and (2) identifying  and addressing needs by leveraging resources. For example, critical  decennial tasks, such as building public awareness of the census,  motivating people to respond, and locating pockets of hard-to-count  population groups, are accomplished in large part by partnerships  between the Bureau and local governments and community groups. To  leverage visibility, the Bureau also used partnerships with national  organizations such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education  Fund, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,  the National Congress of American Indians, and the American Association  of Retired Persons.
In a recent field hearing, held by this subcommittee in San Antonio, Texas  on July 9, 2007, leaders of several national organizations called on the  Bureau to continue its efforts to ameliorate factors such as apathy, fear,  and distrust of government through continued partnerships for the 2010  Census. Leaders noted that within historically hard-to-enumerate  communities these issues are best addressed by trusted individuals,  institutions, and organizations. Consequently, these organizations’ leaders  believe that the significance and positive impact of partner and  stakeholder networks to a community mobilization effort is critical to a  region’s success and to the overall success of the census. The Bureau also  has met periodically with advisory committees representing minority  populations to help ensure a complete and accurate census.
To take a more complete and accurate count of the nation’s population in  Census 2000, the Bureau partnered with other federal agencies, as well as  with state, local and tribal governments; religious, community, and social  service organizations; and private businesses. In previous work we found  that to coordinate local partners’ efforts, the Bureau encouraged  government entities to form Complete Count Committees, which were to  be made up of representatives from various local groups. According to  the Bureau, about 140,000 organizations participated in its partnership  program, assisting in such critical activities as reviewing and updating the  Bureau’s address list; encouraging people—especially hard-to-count  populations—to participate in the census; and recruiting temporary census  workers. The program stemmed from the Bureau’s recognition that a  successful head count required the local knowledge, experience, and  expertise that these organizations provide. While we concluded that it is  quite likely that the key census-taking activities, such as recruiting  temporary census workers and encouraging people to complete their  questionnaires would have been less successful had it not been for the  Bureau’s aggressive partnership efforts, we also recommended that the  Bureau take steps to make the partnership program more accountable and  performance-oriented. The Bureau expects the program will play a key  role in the 2010 Census. However, the Bureau’s fiscal year 2008 budget  request does not include funds for the regional partnership program. In  contrast the Bureau received $5.7 million for the regional partnership  program in 1998.
One of the means by which the Bureau plans for increasing response rates  is an advertising and outreach campaign to promote the census. In Census  2000, the Bureau first used a paid advertising campaign to create and  produce an advertising campaign to inform and motivate the public to  complete and return the census form by using a variety of media to stress  the message that participating in the census benefits one’s community. For  Census 2000, the Bureau spent about $167 million on the paid advertising  campaign and a substantial portion of the advertising was directed at  minority groups. For the 2010 Census, the Bureau is currently in the  process of considering proposals for a similar effort. In its Request for  Proposals, the Bureau required that the contractor establish goals for  subcontracting with firms that are, for example, small disadvantaged  businesses, women-owned, veteran-owned, or are Historically  Underutilized Business Zone companies. The Bureau also included in the  solicitation a requirement that the contractor have expertise and  experience in marketing to historically undercounted populations, such as  African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, American Indian and Alaska  Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. The Bureau expects to  award this communication campaign contract in September 2007.
For the 2010 Census, the Bureau will continue a program first  implemented for Census 2000 in which it partners with local, state, and  tribal governments. The program, the Local Update of Census Addresses  (LUCA) allows participants to contribute to complete enumeration of their  jurisdictions by reviewing, commenting on, and providing updated  information on the list of addresses and maps that the Bureau will use to  deliver questionnaires within those communities. The Bureau has taken  steps to improve LUCA for 2010. For example, to reduce participant  workload and burden, the Bureau will provide a longer period for  reviewing and updating LUCA materials—from 90 to 120 days. However,  we recently testified before this subcommittee that the Bureau could do  more to mitigate possible difficulties that participants may have with the  new LUCA software and training and to help participants convert Bureau- provided address files into their own software format.

	Efforts to Contract with Small Business

For the 2010 Census, the Bureau is making the most extensive use of  contractors in its history, turning to the private sector to supply a number  of different mission-critical functions and technologies. In awarding and  administering its contracts related to the 2010 Census, the Bureau will  need to be mindful of its obligations to promote contracting opportunities  for various categories of contractors, such as small businesses, women- owned businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, and others. In this  regard, the Small Business Act contains an annual governmentwide goal  for small business participation of not less than 23 percent of the total  value of all prime contract awards. To achieve this governmentwide goal,  the Small Business Administration negotiates annual small business  contracting goals with each federal executive agency. For the Department  of Commerce, the contracting goals are summarized in table 3.
In terms of subcontracting, any business that receives a contract directly  from a federal executive agency for more than $100,000 must agree to give  small businesses the “maximum practicable opportunity to participate in  the contract consistent with its efficient performance.” Additionally, for  contracts that are generally anticipated to have a $550,000 threshold and  have subcontracting possibilities, the prime contractor is required to have  an established subcontracting plan, which promotes and supports small  business development. For example, the solicitation for the advertising  and outreach campaign requires that the contractor establish and adhere  to a subcontracting plan that provides maximum practicable opportunity  for small business participation in performing the contract. Contractors  that do not meet subcontracting goals may face damages if the agency’s  contracting officer determines that a contractor did not make a good-faith  effort to comply with the subcontracting plan.
Mr. Chairman, as we have recently testified, the Bureau faces challenges to  successfully implementing the 2010 Census including those of a  demographic and socioeconomic nature due to the nation’s increasing  diversity in language, ethnicity, households, and housing types, as well as a  reluctance in the population to participate in the census. In fact, the  Bureau recognizes that hiring a diverse workforce—especially a  temporary field workforce—that is like the people that are being  enumerated is one way of eliciting the cooperation of those being counted.  The involvement of such a workforce in the key nonresponse follow-up  activity can help to increase productivity and contain enumeration costs.  Our review of data pertaining to the racial, ethnic, and gender composition  of the Bureau’s upper-level management as well as the grades of those  most likely to rise to that level of management shows that, the Bureau’s  leadership ranks are generally as diverse as the federal government as a  whole. Moreover, the Bureau’s strategy of recruiting temporary field staff  locally is an important way of promoting a diverse field workforce that is  like those being enumerated. In addition, the Bureau’s outreach and  partnership programs can be an important way of eliciting the  participation of communities that are often said to be undercounted or  may be reluctant to participate in the decennial census. As in 2000, for  2010 the Bureau intends to use an integrated communications strategy,  including advertising, that is carried out by contractors and  subcontractors that have the expertise and experiences in marketing to  historically undercounted populations. It will be important for the Bureau  to build on its efforts to ensure an accurate and cost-effective census by  maximizing the potential offered by a diverse workforce and by ensuring  that its contractors perform as promised. We stand ready to assist this  subcommittee in its oversight efforts.
This concludes my remarks. I will be glad to answer any questions that  you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Turner, or other subcommittee Members may  have.

	Contact and Acknowledgements

For further information regarding this statement, please contact Mathew  Scirè, Director, Strategic Issues on (202) 512-6806 or at sciremj@gao.gov.   Individuals making key contributions to this statement included Betty  Clark, Elizabeth Fan, Carlos Hazera, Belva Martin, Lisa Pearson, Rebecca  Shea, Cheri Truett, Kiki Theodoropoulos, and William Woods.

Related GAO Products

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Human Capital: Diversity in the Federal SES and the Senior Levels of  the U.S. Postal Service. GAO-07-838T. Washington, D.C.: May 10, 2007.  2010 Census: Census Bureau Should Refine Recruiting and Hiring  Efforts and Enhance Training of Temporary Field Staff. GAO-07-361.  Washington, D.C.: April 27, 2007.  2010 Census: Design Shows Progress, but Managing Technology  Acquisitions, Temporary Field Staff, and Gulf Region Enumeration  Require Attention. GAO-07-779T. Washington, D.C.: April 24, 2007.  2010 Census: Redesigned Approach Holds Promise, but Census Bureau  Needs to Annually Develop and Provide a Comprehensive Project Plan to  Monitor Costs. GAO-06-1009T. Washington, D.C.: July 27, 2006.  2010 Census: Census Bureau Needs to Take Prompt Actions to Resolve  Long-standing and Emerging Address and Mapping Challenges. GAO-06- 272. Washington, D.C.: June 15, 2006.  2010 Census: Costs and Risks Must be Closely Monitored and Evaluated  with Mitigation Plans in Place. GAO-06-822T. Washington, D.C.: June 6,  2006.  2010 Census: Census Bureau Generally Follows Selected Leading  Acquisition Planning Practices, but Continued Management Attention  Is Needed to Help Ensure Success. GAO-06-277. Washington, D.C.: May 18,  2006.
Census Bureau: Important Activities for Improving Management of Key  2010 Decennial Acquisitions Remain to be Done. GAO-06-444T.  Washington, D.C.: March 1, 2006.  2010 Census: Planning and Testing Activities Are Making Progress.  GAO-06-465T. Washington, D.C.: March 1, 2006.
Results Oriented-Government: Practices That Can Help Enhance and  Sustain Collaboration among Federal Agencies. GAO-06-15.  Washington,  D.C.: October 21, 2005.
Information Technology Management: Census Bureau Has Implemented  Many Key Practices, but Additional Actions Are Needed. GAO-05-661.  Washington, D.C.: June 16, 2005.
Diversity Management: Expert-Identified Leading Practices and Agency  Examples. GAO-05-90. Washington, D.C.: January 14, 2005.  2010 Census: Basic Design Has Potential, but Remaining Challenges  Need Prompt Resolution. GAO-05-9. Washington, D.C.: January 12, 2005.
Data Quality: Census Bureau Needs to Accelerate Efforts to Develop and  Implement Data Quality Review Standards. GAO-05-86. Washington,  D.C.: November 17, 2004.
Census 2000: Design Choices Contributed to Inaccuracy of Coverage  Evaluation Estimates. GAO-05-71. Washington, D.C.: November 12, 2004.
American Community Survey: Key Unresolved Issues. GAO-05-82.  Washington, D.C.: October 8, 2004.  2010 Census: Counting Americans Overseas as Part of the Decennial  Census Would Not Be Cost-Effective. GAO-04-898. Washington, D.C.:  August 19, 2004.  2010 Census: Overseas Enumeration Test Raises Need for Clear Policy  Direction. GAO-04-470. Washington, D.C.: May 21, 2004.  2010 Census: Cost and Design Issues Need to Be Addressed Soon. GAO- 04-37. Washington, D.C.: January 15, 2004.
Decennial Census: Lessons Learned for Locating and Counting Migrant  and Seasonal Farm Workers. GAO-03-605. Washington, D.C.: July 3, 2003.
Decennial Census: Methods for Collecting and Reporting Hispanic  Subgroup Data Need Refinement. GAO-03-228. Washington, D.C.: January  17, 2003.
Decennial Census: Methods for Collecting and Reporting Data on the  Homeless and Others without Conventional Housing Need Refinement.  GAO-03-227. Washington, D.C.: January 17, 2003.  2000 Census: Lessons Learned for Planning a More Cost-Effective 2010  Census. GAO-03-40. Washington, D.C.: October 31, 2002.
The American Community Survey: Accuracy and Timeliness Issues.  GAO-02-956R. Washington, D.C.: September 30, 2002.  2000 Census: Review of Partnership Program Highlights Best Practices  for Future Operations. GAO-01-579. Washington, D.C.: August 20, 2001.  2000 Census: Answers to Hearing Questions on the Status of Key  Operations. GGD-00-109R, Washington, D.C.: May 31, 2000.
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Summary:
Why GAO Did This Study

For the 2010 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) faces the daunting challenge of cost-effectively counting a population that is growing steadily larger, more diverse, increasingly difficult to find, and more reluctant to participate in the decennial census. Managing its human capital, maintaining community partnerships, and developing advertising strategies to increase response rates for the decennial census are several ways that the Bureau can complete the 2010 Census accurately and within budget. This testimony, based primarily on past GAO work, provides information on (1) diversity in the Bureau's workforce, (2) plans for partnering with others in an effort to build public awareness of the census; and (3) certain requirements for ensuring contracting opportunities for small businesses.

What GAO Found

Diversity in senior leadership is important for effective government operations. GAO found that the racial, ethnic, and gender makeup of the Bureau's senior management and staff in grades most likely to rise to senior management is generally in line with that of the federal government as a whole. The success of the 2010 Census depends, in part, upon the Bureau's ability to recruit, hire, and train a temporary workforce reaching almost 600,000. In 2000, the Bureau used an aggressive recruitment strategy, including advertising in various languages to attract different ethnic groups and races, as well as senior citizens, retirees, and others seeking part-time employment. The Bureau intends to use a similar recruitment strategy for the 2010 Census. For 2010, the Bureau also intends to involve community and other groups to encourage participation in the census, particularly among certain populations, such as persons with limited English proficiency and minorities. Further, the Bureau plans to hire a contractor to develop an advertising campaign to reach undercounted populations. In its contract solicitation, the Bureau has included a requirement that the contractor establish goals for subcontracting with, amongst other groups, women-owned and small disadvantaged businesses, and a requirement that the contractor have experience in marketing to historically undercounted populations such as African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, American Indian and Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. This contract is expected to be awarded in September 2007. For the Bureau to leverage the benefit of its diversity and outreach efforts, it will be important for it to follow through on its intentions to recruit a diverse workforce, and utilize the experience of a diverse pool of partners, including community groups, state and local governments, and the private sector.