Census Bureau 

2010 Census:

 Cooperation Between Partnership 

Staff and Local Census Office 

Managers Challenged 

by Communication and 

Coordination Problems 

Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

April 8, 2011 

FOR PUBLIC RELEASE 

Office of Audit and Evaluation 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Office of Inspector General
April 8, 20 I I

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Office of Inspector General

Washington. D.C. 20230

MEMORANDUM FOR:

FROM:

SUBJECT:

Robert M. Groves

Director, U.S. Census Bureau

Ron Prevost \.,.; t\\i"'- \-e~ Assistant Inspector General for Economic

and Statistical Program Assessment

Report No. OIG-II-023-J, 2010 Census: Cooperalion Belween

Parlnership Sla}!and Local Census Office Managers Challenged

by Communicalion and Coordinalion Problems

This memorandum transmits the final report on the Census Partnership Program. The report

examines the relationship between local Census office managers and Partnership staff, including

the new Recovery Act-funded Pminership Assistants.

We briefed your staff regarding our findings and recommendations on February 17,2011, and

provided you with a draft report on February 28. In short, we found that Partnership staff and

operations managers experienced systemic communication and coordination problems. In

addition, we found that the views of operations managers toward the Partnership program were

influenced by the guidance the managers received, with managers reporting effective guidance

tending to report more favorable views of the Partnership program. For subsequent decetmials,

we recommend that the bureau (I) align Partnership activities and objectives with LCO

schedules to remedy current systemic shortcomings and (2) ensure joint Partnership-LCO

manager training as paIi ofthe decennial process. With respect to the Partnership Assistants, we

found that the Assistants added value to the decennial but also presented challenges. Should the

bureau retain the Assistant position in the 2020 Census, we recommend that it (I) refine the

recruitment and hiring process (especially through more job-specific examination) and training

of Assistants, as well as (2) provide Assistants adequate electronic resources to do their job.

Your March 23 response to our draft report generally agreed with our recommendations. We

have summarized the response in our report and included it in its entirety in an appendix. The

report will be posted on OIG's website pursuant to section 8L of the Inspector General Act of

1978, as amended.

cc: Brian Monaghan, Division Chief, Field Division

Theodore A. Johnson, Chief Financial Officer

Marilia A. Matos, Associate Director for Field Operations

Arnold Jackson, Associate Director for Decennial Census

Timothy P. Olson, Assistant Division Chief, Partnership and Data Services
Adrienne C. Oneta, Acting Division Chief, Decennial Management Division

Pamela H. White, Branch Chief, External Liaison Branch

Adam Miller, Audit Liaison

Attachment
Census Bureau

2010 Census: Cooperation Between Partnership Staff 

and Local Census Offi ce Managers Challenged by Communication and Coordination Problems (OIG–11-023–I)

Report In Brief eport In Brief

U.S. Department of Commerce Offi ce of Inspector General

April 8, 2011

Why We Did This Review

Background

What We Found

The Census Bureau—with 680 

Partnership and Data Services 

Program (Partnership Program) 

staff positions established for community outreach supporting the 

2010 decennial census—received 

$1.0 billion in 2009 Recovery Act 

funds for “Periodic Censuses and 

Programs” and set aside $126 million for the Partnership Program. 

Approximately 3,000 Partnership 

employees worked in FY 2009 and 

3,800 in FY 2010 (out of more than 

165,000 and 782,000 total decennial employees, respectively). The 

Partnership program spent about 

$300 million in FY 2009–2010, out 

of more than $8 billion total spent 

on the decennial in those years.

This report examines, among other 

things, the relationship between 

Partnership staff promoting the 

2010 decennial and the local Census offi ce (LCO) managers hired to 

implement it. 

First conducted in 1790, decennial censuses have fulfi lled a vital 

constitutional mandate. The 2010 

Census enumerated more than 300 

million people. The results provide 

important data that will guide 

Congressional apportionment and 

redistricting, as well as the distribution of more than $400 billion of 

government funding annually.

For the 2010 decennial, Census integrated 44 separate operations (totaling 

some 9,400 program- and project-level activities). Temporary bureau management staff ran 494 local offi ces 

and managed over 600,000 temporary 

workers. Additionally, Census hired 

Partnership Specialists who primarily 

recruited local partners and provided 

support for decennial operations. The 

bureau spent approximately half of its 

$126 million Recovery Act Partnership Program funding to establish a 

new position, Partnership Assistant, 

to provide additional support to the 

program.

The Partnership Program primarily assisted decennial operations by interfacing with hard-to-count 

groups, populations who have historically been undercounted or traditionally have not responded 

well to the decennial census questionnaire (e.g., ethnic or minority populations, renters, or low-income people). To accomplish its goal, the Program collaborated with partners (including local and 

tribal governments, community and religious organizations, schools, businesses, and the media) in 

communities within a Census regional offi ce area. Partners pledged their commitment to share the 

Census message and mobilized their constituents in support of the decennial count. According to 

the bureau, there were approximately 257,000 regional Census partners.

To connect these community partners with Census required Partnership to collaborate with 

LCOs. However, we found that Partnership operated independent of LCO production timelines—and the two groups experienced systemic communication and coordination problems:

• The relationship between Partnership staff and LCO managers suffered from misunderstanding and miscommunication.

• LCO managers lacking good guidance about Partnership tended to hold unfavorable views 

of the program.

We also examined the new, Recovery Act-funded Partnership Assistant position, fi nding that it 

added value to the program but also presented challenges:

• The Partnership Assistants were not subject to thorough screening and were varied in their 

workplace skills.

• Greater access to equipment and systems, as well as improved training and technical support, would help Partnership Assistants improve performance.

What We Recommended

For subsequent decennial censuses, we recommend that the Census Bureau:

• Specify how to align Partnership activities and objectives with LCO schedules to remedy 

current systemic shortcomings 

• Ensure joint Partnership–LCO manager training as part of the decennial process

Should the bureau retain the Partnership Assistant position in the 2020 Census, we recommend 

that it:

• Refi ne the recruitment and hiring process (especially through more job-specifi c examination) and training of Partnership Assistants

• Provide Partnership Assistants adequate electronic resources to do their job, a key to effi cient and effective Partnership programming
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

Contents 

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 

Findings and Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 3 

I. The Partnership Program and LCO Managers Experienced Systemic Communication and 

Coordination Problems ................................................................................................................ 3 

A. The Relationship Between Partnership Staff and LCO Managers Suffered from 

Misunderstanding and Miscommunication ............................................................................. 3 

B. LCO Managers Lacking Good Guidance About Partnership Tended to Hold 

Unfavorable Views of the Program ......................................................................................... 5 

II. Partnership Assistants Added Value to Partnership but Presented Challenges ................... 6 

A. Regional Directors and Partnership Staff Generally Reported Favorable Views of 

Partnership Assistants .............................................................................................................. 6 

B. The Partnership Assistants Were Not Subject to Thorough Screening and Were Varied 

in Their Workplace Skills ........................................................................................................ 7 

C. Greater Access to Equipment and Systems, as Well as Improved Training and 

Technical Support, Would Help Partnership Assistants Improve Performance ...................... 7 

Summary of Agency and OIG Comments ...................................................................................... 9 

Appendix A: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology...................................................................... 10 

Appendix B: Simplified Census Bureau Chain of Command: LCO Management and Partnership 

and Data Services Program ........................................................................................................... 11 

Appendix C: Agency Response .................................................................................................... 12 
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

1 

Introduction

The Census Bureau—which already maintained 680 Partnership 

and Data Services Program (Partnership Program) staff 

positions—received, in 2009, $1.0 billion from the 2009 

Recovery Act for “Periodic Censuses and Programs” and set 

aside $126 million for the Partnership Program. The Partnership 

Program aimed “to get people (especially hard-to-count 

population groups) to fill out the 2010 questionnaire and send it 

back.”1

 “Hard-to-count” refers to groups or populations who 

have historically been undercounted or traditionally have not

responded well to the decennial census questionnaire (e.g., 

ethnic or minority populations, renters, or low-income people). 

To accomplish its goal, the Program collaborated with partners 

including state, local, and tribal governments; community-based 

organizations; faith-based groups; schools; media outlets; 

businesses; and other grassroots entities in communities within a 

Census regional office area. Partners pledged their commitment 

to share the Census message and mobilized their constituents in 

support of the decennial count. According to the bureau, there 

were approximately 257,000 regional Census partners. 

Approximately 3,000 Census employees worked in the 

Partnership Program in FY 2009 and 3,800 in FY 2010 (out of 

more than 165,000 and 782,000 total decennial employees, 

respectively). The Partnership Program spent about $300 million 

in FY 2009 and 2010, out of more than $8 billion total spent on 

the decennial in those years. 

In addition, Census hired Partnership Specialists (“Specialists”) 

who primarily recruited local partners and provided support for 

decennial Census operations. Also, the bureau spent 

approximately half of its $126 million Recovery Act Partnership 

Program funding to establish a new position, Partnership 

Assistant (“Assistant”), to provide additional support to the 

program. 

This report examines the relationship between two categories of 

Census employees: (1) Partnership staff (Specialists and 

Assistants) hired to promote the decennial and (2) the local 

Census office (LCO) managers hired to implement it. We found 

that the two groups experienced systemic communication and 

coordination problems. The report also examines the new 

                                                           

1 2010 Census, Partnership and Data Services, Building Partnerships: Program Components, Partnership 

Specialist, Participant Guide and Reference Manual, U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics 

Administration, U.S. Census Bureau, December 2008, 1-1. 

2010: The Partnership and Data

Services Program creates

partnerships with national

governmental and

nongovernmental organizations;

state, local, and tribal

governments; and

community groups.

2000: The Census Partnership

Program reaches out to

governments, organizations,

media, and businesses, as well

as the general public.

1990: The Census Community

Awareness and Products

Program  targets minority

groups on a local level.

1980: The Community Services

Program expands on the

outreach program.

1970: The Community Educators

Program seeks to increase

communication between local

and national organizations and

the Census Bureau.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau 

Census Outreach: 1970–2010
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

2 

Assistant position, finding that it 

added value to the program but also 

presented challenges. (See Appendix 

B for a simplified chain of 

command.) 

As part of our evaluation, we sent 

opinion surveys to Partnership staff2

and LCO managers.3

 Further, we 

interviewed Census Regional 

Directors, gaining the benefit of their 

experience and institutional 

perspective, and to whom both 

Partnership staff and LCO managers 

were accountable. Appendix A 

includes the full scope of our work. 

Census—which often does not 

provide Partnership staff work space 

in LCOs, leaving them to work out of 

home or in the community—has not 

fully integrated Partnership into LCO timelines. As a result, communication and coordination 

problems with LCOs hampered crucial Partnership efforts. In principle, the Partnership Program 

supports LCOs by, among other things, obtaining commitments for use of sites for a wide range of 

decennial activity (see diagram for delineated responsibilities). In general, we found Partnership 

employees under the impression that LCO managers had used these sites. However, LCO managers 

reported the opposite: often they were unable to use sites they were counting on. From LCO 

managers’ perspective, this resulted in time lost to additional, unplanned work during high-pressured 

decennial operations.

Additionally, we found that the Assistants added value to the Program but presented challenges. 

Although the Partnership staff reported generally positive views of the Assistants, they also reported 

that, as a group, Assistants varied in their workplace skills and should have been subject to a more 

selective hiring process. Partnership staff tended to report that the limited resources afforded the 

Assistants made management difficult—and greater access to those resources, to accomplish their 

jobs, could have improved Assistants’ performance. 

In our December 2009 2010 Census: Quarterly Report to Congress, we expressed our concerns about 

Specialists’ preparedness to supervise Assistants—and began to monitor the Partnership Program and 

Census’s accountability of these employees’ performance. Because surveys provide self-reported 

information, we contacted both LCO managers and Partnership staff to obtain well-rounded views on 

Partnership effectiveness. The results point the way toward future challenges—evaluations tackling 

hard-to-quantify issues. For instance: what success did the 2010 Partnership Program achieve? How 

did it fall short? And where should Census outreach go in 2020 and beyond?

                                                           

2

 At the time of our survey, there were 834 Partnership Specialists, 90 Senior Partnership Specialists, and 13 

Partnership Coordinators, according to bureau payroll records. We refer to these employees collectively as 

“Partnership staff.” 

3

 We surveyed LCO Managers (LCOMs), Assistant Managers for Quality Assurance (AMQAs), and Area Managers 

(AMs). Each of the 494 LCOs has an LCOM and an AMQA. In addition, at the time of the survey, there were 79 

AMs. We refer to these employees collectively as “LCO managers.” 

LCO managers

- Supervise 600,000+ 

 enumerators in field

- Run 494 local offices

- Recruit, test, train

 employees

- Execute address listing

 and enumeration

 operations

- Work under tight deadlines

Partnership staff

- Promote the decennial

 census

- Work with hard-to-count,

 special populations

- Identify, collaborate

 with partner organizations

- Sometimes interact 

 with media

- Work independent of LCO

JOINT RESPONSIBILITIES

- Develop, maintain effective

 public relations

- Distribute marketing products

- Identify, locate hard-to-

 count populations

- Identify sites for decennial activities

LCO Management and the Partnership Program:

Distinct Roles, Joint Responsibilities

Source: OIG 
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

3 

Findings and Recommendations

I. The Partnership Program and LCO Managers Experienced Systemic Communication 

and Coordination Problems 

A. The Relationship Between Partnership Staff and LCO Managers Suffered from 

Misunderstanding and Miscommunication 

Partnership staff and operations managers held opposing views of what Partnership staff 

accomplished for critical decennial operations. LCO managers relied on Partnership staff to 

identify locations for Questionnaire Assistance Centers (QACs) and Be Counted sites.4 When 

asked whether LCOs actually 

used Questionnaire Assistance 

Center locations identified by the 

Partnership staff, about 70 

percent of the Partnership staff 

said “yes.” However, about 60 

percent of LCO managers said 

“no” to the corresponding 

question. Their answers were 

virtually identical when asked 

about Be Counted sites. This 

pattern repeated itself, even more 

strongly, in the differing views of 

Partnership and LCO managers 

with respect to the identification 

and use of locations for the Service-Based Enumeration (which included mobile food vans and 

unsheltered outdoor locations5

) and Group Quarters Enumeration operations.6 (In figure 1, note 

the large discrepancy between the views of “LCO managers” and “Partnership.”) 

These decennial operations required extensive coordination, preparation, and local knowledge. 

However, one LCO manager noted misunderstandings between these two groups about 

responsibilities. A manager from a different region observed that sometimes Operations 

managers and Partnership staff received conflicting information, possibly as a result of the 

decennial’s organizational structure. 

                                                           

4

 Questionnaire Assistance Centers (QACs) were staffed sites established to assist people with completing their 

questionnaires or who needed language assistance. Be Counted sites (often co-located with QACs) provided blank 

questionnaires to people who believed they were not included in the decennial.

5

 Service-Based Enumeration counted people who are experiencing homelessness. Mobile food vans were among 

the places where people experiencing homelessness receive services. Unsheltered outdoor locations the bureau 

targeted included parks, alleys, and bridges. 6

 The Group Quarters population consisted of all persons residing in the United States who do not live in housing 

units such as single-family houses, apartments, and mobile homes, but rather in group situations such as college 

dormitories, nursing homes, military barracks, prisons, juvenile institutions, migrant worker dormitories, convents, 

and group homes. 

Figure 1. Partnership and LCO Managers: Conflicting Views

Source: OIG 
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

4 

The bureau’s written guidance for Partnership staff and LCO managers presented 

conflicting messages on Partnership staff job responsibilities. The bureau’s written guidance 

for LCO managers emphasized the Partnership’s cooperating role, while its Partnership guidance 

tended to understate the Partnership’s working relationship with the LCO managers. This model 

for the Partnership–LCO relationship conveyed mixed messages—and no formalized methods 

for holding Partnership to LCO schedules—resulting, in part, in Partnership contributions far less 

productive and timely than many LCOMs had hoped. 

LCO guidance. The bureau’s manual for Assistant Managers for Quality Assurance (AMQAs), a 

key LCO position, called Specialists “vital” to outreach success and stressed that AMQAs and 

“Partnership Specialists must . . . establish and maintain a team environment” to establish 

Questionnaire Assistance Centers and Be Counted sites. 

Unlike the AMQA manual, the LCO manager manual did not put them in such a position of 

reliance. In fact, the manual referred to previous misunderstandings of the Partnership’s role in 

LCOs by telling managers that Specialists are “not assistant managers [but] almost like 

consultants or your public relations barometers.” Further, the LCO manager training agenda 

devoted only 30 minutes (out of three days) to the Partnership program, emphasizing working 

and coordinating with Specialists. However, neither manager’s manual specified how LCO 

managers were to align Partnership contributions with LCO schedules. Interestingly, there were 

no significant differences in LCO manager and AMQA survey responses. Both groups expressed 

similar levels of dissatisfaction with Partnership staff. 

Partnership guidance. The Partnership staff training manual did not emphasize cooperation to 

the extent that the LCO managers’ manuals did: “[O]n a secondary level, the Partnership 

Specialists will work with the Local Census Office to support operations. During the course of a 

Specialist’s job, tie-ins to the operations will inevitably arise.” Further, only one chapter out of 

13 in the training manual outlined the Specialist role in operations. Questionnaire Assistance 

Centers and Be Counted appeared among 10 operations briefly described. Nothing in Partnership 

guidance specified how LCO managers would hold Specialists accountable to LCO production 

schedules.

The bureau’s Specialist position description was consistent with LCO managers’ guidance, 

saying that the position’s major duties included LCO support through "[working] effectively and 

efficiently with the operational staff in providing support to census field operations. . . . This will 

require integration with operational staff in . . . the Local Census Offices as well as the Regional 

Census Centers.” 

In other words, we see from the written guidance that while some at the bureau appear to have 

embraced a cooperative and supportive Partnership–LCO manager relationship, that message 

became fragmented and diluted, requiring specific management intervention to repair. 

The challenges of the Partnership–LCO manager relationship were well-known among 

Regional Directors. One Regional Director saw the problem as a decennial constant: “You 

cannot eliminate friction between the Partnership and [LCOs].” Partnership is concerned with 

building relationships and working with people; LCOs are focused on production, meeting 

deadlines, and reaching quotas, this Regional Director noted. 
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

5 

Another Regional Director offered a different perspective: “They both need to understand their 

roles. [LCO managers] need to understand that the Partnership must focus on hard to count, that 

they’re not special assistants to the 

LCOM.” This Regional Director 

observed that the most frustrated LCO 

managers had little or no assistance 

from Partnership staff, often because a 

particular office lacked sufficient hardto-count population to warrant 

significant Partnership assistance. This 

same Regional Director noted the need 

to “manage expectations” among 

Partnership and LCO managers. 

B. LCO Managers Lacking Good 

Guidance About Partnership Tended 

to Hold Unfavorable Views of the 

Program 

Partnership staff and LCO managers expressed dramatically different views of the Partnership 

Program. Partnership staff overwhelmingly reported favorable views of their own program, with 

94 percent responding “Very 

Effective” or “Effective” to 

that survey question. On the 

other hand, only 36 percent of 

LCO managers reported the 

same view, with a virtually 

equal number saying the 

Program was “Very 

Ineffective” or “Ineffective.” 

However, the views of the LCO 

managers were influenced by 

guidance they may have 

received about Partnership. 

Among those reporting 

receiving at least “Effective” 

guidance about working with 

Partnership staff, nearly 70 

percent reported a favorable view of the program.7

 (Note, in figure 2, the contrasting views of 

well-informed LCO managers [top] compared to less-informed managers [bottom].)

In addition, there were pronounced regional differences in attitudes among LCO managers. As 

seen in figure 3, half or more of the managers responding in the Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, 

and Dallas regions reported favorable views of Partnership, with Chicago in particular showing 

                                                           

7

 However, only 23 percent of LCO managers who answered the question, or 192 respondents, reported receiving 

“Very Effective” or “Effective” guidance—these are the managers of whom 70 percent favorably viewed the 

Partnership Program. Seventeen percent said they received no guidance at all. 

Figure 2. How Effective Was the Partnership Program?

Source: OIG 

Source: OIG

Figure 3. Asked of LCO Managers: How Effective 

(By Region) Was the Partnership Program?
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

6 

64 percent favorable. Meanwhile, in the New York, Philadelphia, and Kansas City regions, more 

than half of respondents reported negative views. 

We found no survey data that explained these regional differences. In particular, we found no 

relationship between the views of LCO managers and the proportion of hard-to-count 

populations in a region, or other factors that could account for a variety of challenges. Improving 

the Partnership–LCO manager relationship will result in a more efficient and, perhaps, more 

accurate Census—unencumbered by outreach inefficiencies, mismatched goals and expectations, 

or significant resentment and frustration.

Recommendations

For subsequent decennial censuses, we recommend that the Census Bureau: 

1. Specify how to align Partnership activities and objectives with LCO schedules to remedy 

current systemic shortcomings. Other adjustments to Partnership–LCO manager 

misalignment may include clarifying both the separate and shared responsibilities of 

Partnership staff and LCO managers. Along with common timelines, this helps each party 

better manage their relative skills and expectations. 

2. Ensure joint Partnership–LCO manager training as part of the decennial process. 

Adequate joint training would communicate and align complementary and differing roles, 

responsibilities, and expectations. 

II. Partnership Assistants Added Value to Partnership but Presented Challenges 

Census hired Assistants to raise public awareness of the 2010 Census by staffing or attending 

activities at local events, festivals, fairs and meetings; helping Specialists conduct outreach with 

communities traditionally hard to count; preparing presentations and promotional materials and 

distributing materials to partners and the public. Assistants were also to collaborate with 

Specialists to identify testing and training space; maintain files; schedule appointments and make 

follow-up phone calls on behalf of Specialists; and provide linguistic support. Census’s hasty 

addition of Assistants to the Partnership Program (in response to unanticipated Recovery Act 

funds) may account for some of the workforce inconsistencies we found.

A. Regional Directors and Partnership Staff Generally Reported Favorable Views of 

Partnership Assistants 

Overall, 87 percent of Partnership staff and 41 percent of LCO managers said that Assistants 

were “Very Effective” or “Effective.” However, among LCO managers reporting good 

communication with Assistants, 81 percent concluded that they were either “Very Effective” or 

“Effective.”8

 

Regional Directors felt positively about the Assistants. One Regional Director characterized the 

Assistants as a “huge advantage to us,” saying that in that region Assistants were especially 

helpful with languages and recruiting. Another Regional Director noted that the quick assembly 

of the Assistant program resulted in a varying regional styles of implementation. 

                                                           

8

 Forty-two percent, or 364, of Operations managers answering the question reported good communication with 

Partnership Assistants. 
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

7 

Partnership staff found the Assistants were effective at distributing materials, working with hardto-count populations, and managing partner relationships and commitments. One Specialist 

wrote that given the large geographic area he was assigned, the Partnership Assistants were 

especially helpful. 

These findings suggest that good communication with Assistants was associated with favorable 

views of their effectiveness—and that management intervention to improve communication 

between the Assistants and LCO managers would improve LCO managers’ views of them.

B. The Partnership Assistants Were Not Subject to Thorough Screening and Were Varied in 

Their Workplace Skills 

Only about a quarter of the surveyed Partnership staff had a 

favorable view of the recruiting and hiring system for Assistants, 

with many commenting that Partnership Assistants should have 

been subject to a more selective hiring process. Table 1 shows 

agreement between Partnership staff and Operations managers 

with respect to the strengths and needed skills Assistants 

possessed. 

C. Greater Access to Equipment and Systems, as Well as 

Improved Training and Technical Support, Would Help 

Partnership Assistants Improve Performance 

Assistants worked flexible schedules, often 22–36 hours per 

week from their homes and in the field. The bureau provided cell 

phones to Assistants but not laptop computers, Census email 

accounts and editing capability in the Integrated Partner Contact 

Database (IPCD).9

 The limited resources available to Assistants 

hindered communication among Assistants, other Partnership 

staff, and LCOs—and intensified the challenges of managing 

Assistants. When asked how Census could improve the Assistant 

role, a Specialist commented that Partnership Assistants should 

have had access to the IPCD. Data entry is time-consuming, this 

respondent noted, and bureau management’s expectation that 

Specialists could maintain the database, in addition to their other 

duties, was not realistic.

Enabling Assistants to complete more of their tasks (e.g., entering IPCD data themselves) would 

have been a much more efficient and valuable use of staff. Supervising these Assistants also 

posed difficulties. Slightly more than half of the supervising Specialists found the training and 

guidance they received on how to supervise the Assistants “Very Effective” or “Effective.” 

According to responses to one question, slightly less than 40 percent did not use the bureau’s 

assignment sheet system to track Assistant-related activities. Instead, they monitored and verified 

                                                           

9

 A Web-based contact management tool designed to capture external contacts, activities, and communications with 

partner organizations, the IPCD generates management reports by region. 

Table 1. Partnership Staff 

and LCO Managers Agree 

on Assistants’ Skills

Current

Skills

Needed

Skills

Identifying  

local  

resources

Using Census

forms and

procedures

Understand‐

ing the

importance  

of the Census

Recruiting

temporary field

employees from

hard‐to‐count

groups for

enumeration

Knowledge  

of the local  

community

Scheduling

Source: OIG 
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

8 

the Assistants’ work through face-to-face interactions, phone conversations, site visits, nonbureau email, and following up with Census partners. 

Recommendations

Assuming the retention of the Assistant position in the 2020 Census, we recommend that the 

bureau: 

1. Refine the recruitment and hiring process (especially through more job-specific 

examination) and training of Assistants. 

2. Provide Assistants adequate electronic resources to do their job, a key to efficient and 

effective Partnership programming. 
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

9 

Summary of Agency and OIG Comments

In its official response to our draft report, Census generally agreed with our recommendations to 

better align the Partnership Program’s activities and objectives with the Local Census Offices 

and to improve training and recruitment of the Partnership Assistants, should they be employed 

in the 2020 Census. 

Separately, Census expressed concern that our report was too narrow in scope—which, they 

assert, has the effect of overstating the impact of the survey findings that are the basis of the 

report. Census also states that the survey results do not provide a useful evaluation of the 

Partnership Program’s overall effectiveness. However, this report, one of many evaluative 

measures of the 2010 Census, did not set out to address the overall effectiveness of the 

Partnership Program; it was part of our oversight of the Department’s Recovery Act spending. 

Further, to enhance the efficiency of decennial census oversight, OIG worked with Census and 

the Government Accountability Office to ensure that we did not have overlapping missions and 

measurements. Census also asserts that the surveys only reveal expected variation among LCO 

managers concerning the work of Partnership Specialists. We maintain that the extent of the 

variation and the totality of the survey results support our characterization of the communication 

and coordination problems between the Partnership Program and LCOs as systemic. 

As the bureau prepares for the 2020 Census Partnership Program over the next decade, we look 

forward to monitoring and reviewing its plans. 

   
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

10 

Appendix A: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

This report comprises part of OIG’s comprehensive 2010 decennial review and oversight of the 

Commerce Department’s Recovery Act spending. Our objective was to evaluate the relationship 

between the Census Partnership and Data Services (Partnership) Program and local Census office 

(LCO) managers, as well as assess the role of Partnership Assistants. To accomplish this, we 

surveyed both Partnership staff and LCO managers in all 12 Census regions, having developed 

potential respondent lists after consulting Census headquarters staff. (We did not survey 

Partnership Assistants [Assistants], the majority of whom concluded work at the end of April 

2010. These Assistants had no bureau email addresses and there was no Assistant directory to 

assist the survey process.) To develop questions, we used Partnership training materials and job 

descriptions, consulted with Census staff, and referred to conventional employee satisfaction 

surveys. We also conducted follow-up interviews with a majority of the bureau’s 12 Regional 

Directors in order to benefit from their long-term, institutional perspective. 

We used email to contact potential respondents and the web-based Survey MonkeyTM tool to 

collect survey responses. Partnership staff had access to the survey May 10–17, 2010 (for many 

Partnership staff, the near-end of their Census bureau employment). There were 698 responses, a 

response rate of 74 percent. The LCO manager survey was available from June 16–30, 2010, 

during the last major decennial field operation. There were 906 responses, a response rate of 84 

percent. Finally, we used Microsoft Excel® to download survey responses and SAS® for 

analysis. 

We prepared this report under the authorities of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended; 

Departmental Organization Order 10-13, dated August 31, 2006, as amended; and in accordance 

with the Quality Standards for Inspections (revised January 2005) issued by the President’s 

Council on Integrity and Efficiency. 
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

11 

Appendix B: Simplified Census Bureau Chain of Command:

LCO Management and Partnership and Data Services Program

Census Bureau

Headquarters

12

Regional Directors

Assistant

Regional Census 

Managers

Area Managers

Local Census 

Office Managers

Partnership 

Coordinators

Senior 

Partnership 

Specialists

Partnership 

Specialists

Partnership 

Assistants

Source: U.S. Census Bureau 
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

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Appendix C: Agency Response
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

13 
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

14 
U.S. Department of Commerce Final Report OIG-11-023-I 

Office of Inspector General April 8, 2011 

15 

. 

(ARRA000-844)