United States Government Accountability Office

GAO Testimony 

Before the Subcommittee on Federalism 

and the Census, Committee on 

Government Reform, House of 

Representatives

CENSUS BUREAU 

Important Activities for 

Improving Management of 

Key 2010 Decennial 

Acquisitions Remain to be 

Done 

Statement of David A. Powner, Director 

Information Technology Management Issues 

For Release on Delivery

Expected at 10:00 a.m. EST 

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

 

GAO-06-444T 
What GAO Found

United States Government Accountability Office

Why GAO Did This Study

Highlights

Accountability Integrity Reliability

March 2006

CENSUS BUREAU

Important Activities for Improving 

Management of Key 2010 Decennial 

Acquisitions Remain to be Done 

Highlights of GAO-06-444T, testimony 

before the Committee on Government 

Reform, Subcommittee on Federalism and 

the Census 

The Census Bureau plans to 

increase its use of automation to

conduct the 2010 Decennial 

Census. Two key acquisitions are 

the Decennial Response Integration 

System (DRIS) and the Field Data 

Collection Automation program 

(FDCA). DRIS is expected to 

standardize and integrate data from 

census forms and other response 

modes. FDCA is expected to 

provide automation support for 

field data collection activities. Last 

year, you asked GAO to assess the 

status, plans, and management

capabilities of both of these 

projects. In January 2006, GAO

briefed the subcommittee staff on 

the results of that work. At your

request, this testimony summarizes

key findings from that briefing, 

including the status and 

management capabilities of each 

project. 

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that the Census

Director ensure that the bureau 

completes key activities needed to

effectively manage its acquisitions. 

In commenting on a draft of GAO’s 

briefing, bureau officials generally

agreed with the recommendations 

and noted that time and budget 

constraints had driven the bureau 

to proceed with its acquisitions 

before all of the recommended

activities had been completed.

Officials stated that they plan to

complete these activities as soon as 

possible. 

The Census Bureau has initiated efforts to acquire DRIS and FDCA, key 

systems it needs to perform the 2010 Decennial Census. It awarded a 

contract for DRIS in October 2005; the system is currently in a design and 

development phase. The bureau expects to award a contract for FDCA 

development in March 2006. While both projects’ life cycle cost estimates are

currently considered procurement sensitive, together they are expected to 

make up a large portion of the $1.8 billion program to develop, test, and 

implement decennial census systems. Both acquisitions involve ambitious 

schedules in order to be able to deliver the needed functionality to support a 

planned 2008 census dress rehearsal and the eventual 2010 census activities.

While both project offices have implemented initial acquisition management 

activities, neither has the full set of capabilities they need to effectively 

manage the acquisitions (see table below). Specifically, the DRIS project 

completed its solicitation activities and the FDCA project has completed 

most of its solicitation activities. However, activities in other management 

areas have been initiated but not completed. For example, the DRIS project 

office has established baseline requirements for the acquisition, but the 

bureau has not yet validated them or implemented a process for managing

the requirements. Also, while the FDCA project office has initiated efforts to 

oversee the contractor’s performance, such as requiring earned value 

management reporting (a project management tool that integrates cost, 

schedule, and scope of work to aid project planning and control) and hiring 

staff with contracting experience, it has not yet determined which 

performance measures it will use to track the contractor and its own internal 

project office performance. Until these and other basic contract

management activities are fully implemented, both projects face increased 

risks that the systems will experience cost overruns, schedule delays, and 

performance shortfalls. 

Status of Acquisition Management Activities for Key Decennial Systems 

www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-444T.

To view the full product, including the scope 

and methodology, click on the link above. 

For more information, contact David A. 

Powner at (202) 512-9286 or 

pownerd@gao.gov. 
Page 2 GAO-06-444T 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:

We appreciate the opportunity to participate in today’s hearing to discuss 

our work on key acquisitions supporting the 2010 Decennial Census. As 

you know, the Census Bureau is currently planning the decennial census—

the nation’s oldest and most comprehensive source of population and 

housing data. While apportionment—the proportional distribution of the 

number of members of the U.S. House of Representatives in each state on 

the basis of the population of each state—is the most widely known use of 

census data, the data are also used for congressional redistricting, 

managing federal agencies, and allocating federal funds. These data are 

disseminated to state and local governments, academia, and the private 

sector for use in understanding this country’s people and their social, 

demographic, and economic characteristics. The next decennial census is 

required to begin on April 1, 2010, and the Secretary of Commerce is 

required to report to the President the tabulation of total population by 

states within 9 months of that date.1

In June 2005, we reported on the Census Bureau’s progress in five 

information technology (IT) management areas—investment management, 

systems development/management, enterprise architecture management, 

information security, and human capital.2

 These IT management areas are 

important because they have substantial influence on the effectiveness of 

organizational operations and—if applied effectively—can reduce the risk 

of cost and schedule overruns, and performance shortfalls. We reported 

that, while the bureau had many practices in place, much remained to be 

done to fully implement effective IT management capabilities. We also 

made several recommendations to improve the bureau’s management. 

Given the weaknesses we noted in the five management areas and the 

importance of IT investments to the upcoming 2010 Decennial Census, you 

asked us to review two planned Census Bureau acquisitions: the Decennial 

Response Integration System (DRIS)—a system for integrating paper, 

Internet, and telephone responses; and the Field Data Collection 

Automation (FDCA) program—the systems, equipment, and infrastructure 

field staff will use to collect census data.

1

13 U.S.C. 141 (a) and (b).

2

GAO, Information Technology Management: Census Bureau Has Implemented Many Key 

Practices, but Additional Actions Are Needed, GAO-05-661 (Washington, D.C.: June 16, 

2005).
Page 3 GAO-06-444T 

In January, we presented a detailed briefing to the committee and 

subcommittee staffs, which is provided in appendix I. At your request, I will 

discuss key findings from that briefing, specifically covering each project’s 

status and management capabilities. An overview of the approach we used 

to perform this work—our objectives, scope, and methodology—is 

provided in appendix II.

Results in Brief The Census Bureau has initiated efforts to acquire DRIS and FDCA, key 

systems it needs to perform the 2010 Decennial Census. It awarded a 

contract for DRIS in October 2005; the system is currently in a design and 

development phase. The bureau expects to award a contract for FDCA 

development in March 2006. While both projects’ life cycle cost estimates 

are currently considered procurement sensitive, together they are expected 

to make up a large portion of the $1.8 billion program to develop, test, and 

implement decennial census systems. Both acquisitions involve ambitious 

schedules in order to be able to deliver the needed functionality to support 

a planned 2008 census dress rehearsal and the eventual 2010 census 

activities.

While both project offices have implemented initial acquisition 

management activities, neither has the full set of capabilities they need to 

effectively manage the acquisitions. Specifically, the DRIS project 

completed its solicitation activities and the FDCA project has completed 

most of its solicitation activities. However, activities in other management 

areas have been initiated but not completed. For example, the DRIS project 

office has established baseline requirements for the acquisition, but the 

bureau has not yet validated them or implemented a process for managing 

the requirements. Also, the project office identified project risks, but has 

not yet developed written mitigation plans or established milestones for 

completing key risk mitigation activities. Regarding FDCA, the project 

office has developed baseline functional requirements for the acquisition, 

but the bureau has not yet validated them. Also, while the FDCA project 

office has initiated efforts to oversee the prospective contractor’s 

performance, such as requiring earned value management3

 reporting and 

3

Earned value management is a project management tool that integrates the investment 

scope of work with schedule and cost elements for investment planning and control. This 

method compares the value of work accomplished during a given period with that of the 

work expected in the period. Differences in expectations are measured in both cost and 

schedule variances.
Page 4 GAO-06-444T 

hiring staff with contracting experience, it has not yet determined which 

performance measures it will use to track the contractor and its own 

internal project office performance. Additionally, the project office 

identified risks, but it has not yet implemented a risk management process. 

Specifically, it has not yet assigned responsibilities, developed detailed 

mitigation plans for managing the risks, or established milestones for 

completing key mitigation activities.

Until these and other basic management activities are fully implemented, 

both projects face increased risks that the systems will experience cost 

overruns, schedule delays, and performance shortfalls. We are making 

recommendations to the Director of the Census Bureau to ensure that both 

project offices complete key activities needed to effectively manage 

acquisitions, including activities associated with effective project planning, 

requirements management, risk management, and performance 

measurement. 

Background The Census Bureau’s mission is to serve as the leading source of quality 

data about the nation’s people and economy. While apportionment is the 

most widely known use of census data, the data are also used for 

congressional redistricting, managing federal agencies, allocating federal 

funds, and they are disseminated to state and local governments, academia, 

and the private sector. Data from a decennial census provide official, 

uniform information gathered over the decades on the country’s people and 

their social, demographic, and economic characteristics. They provide the 

baselines for countless other surveys and are used to develop sampling 

frames for a number of other federal data collections, such as the Current 

Population Survey, which is used to measure participation in the labor 

market and unemployment rates.4

The bureau’s decennial census organization, which is responsible for the 

decennial census program, is comprised of several divisions and offices. 

The Decennial Management Division is responsible for implementing the 

decennial census. The Decennial Systems and Contracts Management 

Office manages selected system contracts supporting the decennial census.

4

For more information see GAO, Decennial Census: Overview of Historical Census Issues, 

GAO/GGD-98-103 (Washington, D.C.: May 1, 1998).
Page 5 GAO-06-444T 

To support the 2010 Decennial Census, the bureau manages a $1.8 billion 

program called “2010 Testing, Evaluation, and Systems Design,” which calls 

for the acquisition and testing of systems and technologies. Two of the key 

acquisitions associated with this program are DRIS and FDCA. In addition, 

other key systems support the planned 2010 decennial census. Together, 

these and other systems are to support the collection, processing, and 

dissemination of census data. Figure 1 shows an overview of the key 

systems planned to support the 2010 Decennial Census.

Figure 1: Overview of Systems Supporting the 2010 Decennial Census

To effectively manage major IT programs, organizations should use sound 

acquisition and management processes to minimize risks and thereby 

maximize chances for success. Such processes include project and 

acquisition planning, solicitation, requirements development and 
Page 6 GAO-06-444T 

management, risk management, contract tracking and oversight/project 

monitoring and control, quality assurance, and executive oversight (see 

table 1 for a description of each process). Such processes have been 

identified and endorsed by leading organizations such as the Software 

Engineering Institute and the Chief Information Officer’s Council, and in 

our prior work analyzing best practices in industry and government. Our 

work has shown that such processes are significant factors in successful 

systems acquisitions and development programs, and they improve the 

likelihood of meeting cost and schedule estimates as well as performance.

Table 1: Selected Processes for Effectively Managing IT Programs

Process area Description

Project and acquisition 

planning

Effective project planning involves establishing and maintaining plans defining project scope and activities, 

including overall budget and schedule, key deliverables, and milestones for key deliverables. It also 

involves ensuring that the project team has the skills and knowledge needed to manage the project and 

obtaining stakeholder commitment to the project plan. Effective acquisition planning involves developing an 

acquisition strategy that includes objectives, projected costs and schedules, and risks. 

Solicitation This activity includes identifying the needs within a particular acquisition, developing and implementing a 

solicitation plan, preparing for the evaluation of responses, issuing a solicitation package, evaluating 

responses, conducting supporting negotiations, and making recommendations for award of the contract.

Requirements development 

and management

Requirements development involves eliciting, analyzing, and validating customer and stakeholder needs 

and expectations. Requirements management involves establishing an agreed-upon set of requirements, 

ensuring traceability between operational and product requirements, and managing any changes to the 

requirements in collaboration with stakeholders. 

Risk management An effective risk management process identifies potential problems before they occur, so that risk-handling 

activities may be planned and invoked as needed across the life of the product and project in order to 

mitigate adverse impacts on achieving objectives. Key activities include identifying and analyzing risks, 

assigning resources, developing risk mitigation plans and milestones for key mitigation deliverables, 

briefing senior-level managers on high-priority risks, and tracking risks to closure.

Contract tracking and 

oversight/project monitoring 

and control

These processes provide oversight of the contractor’s and the project office’s performance, in order to 

allow appropriate corrective actions if actual performance deviates significantly from the plan. Key activities 

in tracking both the contractor’s and the project office’s performance include the selection of performance 

measures, communicating status, taking corrective actions, and determining progress. 

Process and product quality 

assurance

This process area provides staff and management with objective insight into processes and associated 

work products. This includes the objective evaluation of project processes and products against approved 

descriptions and standards. Key activities include developing a quality assurance plan, assigning 

resources to quality assurance activities, and implementing quality assurance activities. Through quality 

assurance, the project team is able to identify and document noncompliance issues and provide 

appropriate feedback to project staff.
Page 7 GAO-06-444T 

Source: GAO summary of leading practices, including practices identified by the Software Engineering Institute, the Chief Informatiion 

Officer’s Council, and the Office and Management and Budget.

DRIS Project Under 

Way but Key 

Management Activities 

Remain To Be 

Implemented

DRIS is intended to receive, capture, and standardize census data provided 

by respondents via census forms, telephone agents, and the Internet. DRIS 

is also intended to standardize data collected via mobile computing devices 

and perform other functions, such as provide assistance to the public via 

telephone and the Internet.

On October 5, 2005, the bureau awarded a cost-plus-award-fee contract for 

DRIS to Lockheed Martin Corporation and its seven subcontractors to 

design, develop, and implement a system for standardizing and integrating 

the data from all of the response modes. The contract has a 6-year 

performance period, which includes designing and developing the system, 

conducting the census dress rehearsal in 2008, conducting 2010 census 

operations, and archiving data and disposing of equipment after the census 

is completed. After the contract was awarded, the project got off to a slow 

start because of a bid protest that has since been withdrawn. The DRIS 

project office is currently reassessing the project schedule due to delays 

associated with the bid protest. The project office plans to complete this 

assessment and perform an integrated baseline review by March 2006.5

The DRIS project office has initiated activities supporting key project 

management processes, but does not yet have the full set of acquisition 

management capabilities it needs to effectively manage the acquisition. 

Table 2 provides a summary of the status of the DRIS project in each of the 

process areas we evaluated.

Executive oversight and 

governance

Office of Management and Budget and GAO guidance call for agencies to establish IT investment 

management boards comprised of key executives to regularly track the progress of major systems 

acquisitions. These boards should have documented policies and procedures for management oversight of 

IT projects and systems, and should be able to adequately oversee the project’s progress toward cost and 

schedule milestones and their risks. The board should also employ early warning systems that enable it to 

take corrective actions at the first sign of cost, schedule, and performance slippages.

(Continued From Previous Page)

Process area Description

5

An integrated baseline review is a joint assessment by the contractor and the project team 

of the technical plans for a work segment as well as the adequacy of the budgets, resources, 

and schedules estimated to complete that work. This review results in a detailed plan for 

work activities, costs, and schedules that is used as the basis for tracking the earned value 

of the contractor’s deliverables.
Page 8 GAO-06-444T 

Table 2: Summary of the Status of DRIS Acquisition Management Capabilities

Source: GAO analysis of Census Bureau data.

The DRIS project office has made progress in building management 

capabilities, but more remains to be done in key areas. For example, the 

project office completed its solicitation activities and awarded the contract 

ahead of schedule. In the area of requirements development and 

management, the project office established basic functional requirements 

for the acquisition and the Decennial Management Division has developed 

a detailed change control process for managing requirements for all 2010 

Decennial Census systems, including DRIS. However, the division has not 

yet conducted a thorough validation of DRIS requirements, ensured 

traceability between DRIS and operational requirements, or approved the 

DRIS baseline requirements. Further, the division has not yet staffed the 

teams responsible for managing requirements or initiated any requirements 

management activities. 

Until the bureau obtains validation and approval of DRIS requirements, it 

faces increased risk that new and changing requirements could be 

identified throughout the system’s development. Changes identified late in 

the development cycle could be costly to implement and could increase the 

risk that the system will not be ready in time to support census activities. 

Further, until the bureau staffs and implements its planned requirements 

management process, it may not be able to effectively ensure that resulting 

products meet requirements.

In the area of risk management, the DRIS project office has developed a 

pre-award risk management plan that defines staff roles and 

responsibilities and includes procedures for identifying and tracking risks 

Capability Status 

Project and acquisition planning Initiated, but key activities remain to be completed, such as finalizing the 

project management plan and identifying key deliverables beyond 2008. 

Solicitation Key activities completed and contract awarded ahead of schedule. 

Requirements development and management Initiated, but key activities remain to be completed, such as validating 

requirements and implementing a requirements management process. 

Risk management Initiated, but key activities remain to be performed such as preparing 

mitigation plans and holding senior-level briefings. 

Contract tracking and oversight/project monitoring and 

control

Initiated, but project office performance measures have not yet been 

established. 

Process and product quality assurance Initiated, but a quality assurance process is not yet in place. 

Executive oversight/governance Initiated, but key governance activities remain to be completed. 
Page 9 GAO-06-444T 

and risk mitigation actions. Since awarding the contract, the team has 

updated the pre-award risks. However, the project team has not written 

mitigation steps or dates associated with the team’s plans for addressing 

high-impact risks, and the project team has not conducted senior-level 

briefings. Until the project team develops risk mitigation plans with 

milestones for key activities and regularly briefs senior-level managers on 

risks and risk mitigation plans, it faces increased probability that DRIS will 

not be delivered on schedule, within budget, or perform as expected. 

In the area of contract and project monitoring, the DRIS project team plans 

to provide contract tracking and oversight through reports including 

earned value management and monthly status reports. However, the 

project office has not yet selected detailed performance measures for 

tracking the contractor or its own internal progress (such as progress 

against planned milestones, number of risks opened and closed, number 

and frequency of changes to requirements, and frequency of quality 

assurance reviews). As a result, the project team is not able to ensure that it 

will be able to identify and document any noncompliance issues and take 

appropriate corrective actions.

One of the root causes of the project’s delay in completing key management 

activities is that the Census Bureau lacks the organizational policies for 

managing major acquisitions. As a result, the success of major acquisitions 

such as DRIS is highly dependent on the knowledge, skills, and 

qualifications of the project offices. Without a minimum set of required 

steps and processes, Census acquisitions are at increased risk of being run 

in an ad hoc and chaotic manner—potentially resulting in increased project 

costs, delayed schedules, and performance shortfalls. In commenting on a 

draft of our briefing, agency officials acknowledged that the bureau does 

not have an organizational acquisition management policy, but noted that, 

even if there were a policy, time and budget constraints have driven the 

bureau to proceed with its acquisitions before all of the recommended 

activities have been completed. Officials stated that they plan to complete 

these activities as soon as possible.
Page 10 GAO-06-444T 

FDCA Program Has 

Been Initiated but Key 

Management Activities 

Remain To Be 

Performed

The FDCA program is expected to provide automation support for field 

data collection operations for the 2010 Census. The program is expected to 

provide office automation for regional and local census offices; the 

telecommunications infrastructure for headquarters, regional, and local 

offices; and mobile computing devices for field workers. The bureau plans 

to have field-based enumerators use nearly 500,000 mobile computing 

devices to support decennial census field operations. Our companion 

testimony provides details on mobile computing devices and concerns 

about the reliability observed during testing.6

 Enumerators from local 

census offices will use these mobile computing devices to complete 

activities including address canvassing (visiting households to update 

address lists and collect global positioning coordinates to update maps) 

and conducting non-response follow-up (visiting households to obtain 

information from households that do not provide responses via mail, 

Internet, or phone). The bureau plans to award the FDCA contract, which 

is expected to be a cost-reimbursement contract with multiple incentives, 

on March 31, 2006. The contract is expected to have four phases—one 

planning and three execution phases. 

The FDCA project office has initiated many key processes to oversee and 

manage the contract, but has not yet implemented the full set of acquisition 

management capabilities it needs to fully manage the acquisition. Table 3 

provides a summary of the status of the FDCA project in each of the 

process areas we evaluated.

6

GAO, 2010 Census: Planning and Testing Activities Are Making Progress, GAO-06-465T

(Washington, D.C.: March 1, 2006).
Page 11 GAO-06-444T 

Table 3: Summary of the Status of FDCA Acquisition Management Capabilities

Source: GAO analysis of Census Bureau data.

The FDCA project office has made progress in building management 

capabilities, but more remains to be done in key areas. For example, the 

project office completed many key solicitation activities and plans to 

award a contract in March 2006. In the requirements development and 

management area, the project office and the Decennial Management 

Division developed FDCA-specific functional requirements with 

participation from stakeholders. The office has also drafted a requirements 

management plan. However, the division has not yet validated and 

approved a baseline set of operational requirements or ensured traceability 

between its operational requirements and the FDCA request for proposal. 

Until the bureau finalizes its operational requirements for the census and 

ensures that the FDCA request for proposal is consistent with the baseline 

requirements, the project will be at risk of having changes to the 

requirements, potentially affecting its ambitious development and 

implementation schedule.

In the risk management area, the project office has developed a draft risk 

management process and identified a number of high-level risks for the 

FDCA project. Also, to manage its schedule and technical risks, the project 

office has adopted an approach calling for pre-award prototype 

development. However, the FDCA project office has not yet revisited or 

analyzed the identified risks, begun prioritizing and tracking project risks, 

or documented risk mitigation plans. Until the team implements an 

Capability Status 

Project and acquisition planning Initiated, but key activities remain to be completed, such as identifying deliverables and milestones, 

and obtaining stakeholder buy-in on a project plan that includes the project’s estimated costs, 

budget, and schedules. 

Solicitation Key activities completed; bureau officials said that they are on schedule to award the contract in 

March 2006. 

Requirements development and 

management

Initiated, but key activities remain to be completed such as validating requirements. 

Risk management Initiated, but key activities remain to be performed such as assigning responsibilities for risks and 

preparing mitigation plans. 

Contract tracking and 

oversight/project monitoring and 

control

Initiated, but key performance measures have not yet been established; bureau officials said that 

they expect to define these metrics after contract award. 

Process and product quality 

assurance

Initiated; the quality assurance process is expected to be implemented after contract award. 

Executive oversight/governance Initiated, but key governance activities remain to be completed. 
Page 12 GAO-06-444T 

effective risk management process, it will lack a mechanism to address 

known and unknown problems.

Additionally, in the contract and project monitoring area, the project office 

has initiated efforts to oversee the contractor’s performance, such as 

requiring earned value management reporting and hiring staff with contract 

tracking and oversight experience. However, the project office has not yet 

selected detailed performance measures for tracking the contractor or its 

own internal progress (such as progress against planned milestones, 

number of risks opened and closed, number and frequency of changes to 

requirements, and frequency of quality assurance reviews). Without such 

practices in place, the project team is not able to ensure that it will be able 

to identify problems and take appropriate corrective actions in a timely 

manner. 

Conclusions While the DRIS and FDCA project offices have initiated important steps in 

establishing sound and capable project management, neither has 

completed all of the important activities needed to adequately manage the 

acquisitions. Incomplete management activities, including those for 

requirements management, risk management, and contract and project 

monitoring, increase the risk that these projects will encounter problems in 

meeting cost and schedule expectations. Given the immovable deadline for 

performing the 2010 Decennial Census, if unexpected problems or changes 

occur, it is more likely that the bureau will face cost overruns or be forced 

to accept a system with limited functionality. Since the DRIS contract was 

awarded in October 2005, and the FDCA contract is expected to be 

awarded in March, it is critical that the DRIS project office expeditiously 

put in place key elements of sound acquisition management capability. 

Bureau officials acknowledge the importance of implementing these 

acquisition management processes and state that they plan do to so as soon 

as possible.

Recommendations for 

Executive Action

To ensure that the bureau adequately manages the DRIS project, we 

recommend that the Director of the Census Bureau direct the project office 

to take the following six actions:

• Complete the DRIS project plan and obtain stakeholders’ commitment 

to the plan before initiating further development work.
Page 13 GAO-06-444T 

• Obtain validation, management, and customer approval of DRIS 

requirements.

• Staff teams and perform planned requirements management activities.

• Develop mitigation plans with milestones for key activities, and 

regularly brief senior managers on important risks.

• Establish performance measures and monitor results for contractor and 

project office activities.

• Implement a quality assurance process by establishing responsibilities 

for assuring product quality and defining how inspections, reviews, and 

walkthroughs will be used to measure quality.

Further, to ensure that the bureau improves its ability to manage this and 

other acquisitions, we recommend that the Director of the Census Bureau 

immediately establish and enforce a system acquisition management policy 

that incorporates best practices in system and software acquisition 

management (including those highlighted in our briefing).

To ensure that the bureau adequately manages the FDCA project, we 

recommend that the Director of the Census Bureau direct the project office 

to take the following four actions:

• Obtain stakeholder commitment to a project plan that includes 

estimated project costs and schedules, including deliverables and 

milestones.

• Obtain validation and approval of baseline requirements.

• Identify, prioritize, and assign responsibilities for risks, and develop and 

implement risk mitigation plans and actions.

• Develop internal and contractor performance measures and prepare to 

track project cost, schedule, and performance.

Agency Comments and 

Our Evaluation

In providing oral and e-mail comments on a draft of our briefing, Census 

Bureau officials—including the Associate Director for the Decennial 

Census and the Assistant Director for Decennial Information Technology 

and Geographic Systems—generally agreed with our recommendations and 
Page 14 GAO-06-444T 

stated that time constraints and budgets have driven the bureau to proceed 

with its acquisitions before all of the recommended activities have been 

completed. Officials stated that they plan to complete these activities as 

soon as possible.

Bureau officials also stated that they intend to rely on the DRIS and FDCA 

contractors to help refine requirements, project plans, and performance 

measures. However, our experience in reviewing major system acquisitions 

in recent years has shown that there are risks associated with relying too 

heavily on contractors to perform key management and oversight 

activities. For example, after a long history of significant cost increases and 

schedule delays on its Business System Modernization program, the 

Internal Revenue Service recently began transferring responsibility for key 

program management operations (including cost and schedule estimation 

and measurement, integration testing, and risk management) away from its 

contractor and back to the agency because of the contractor’s poor 

performance in these areas.7

 Clearly, it is important for the government to 

exercise strong leadership in managing requirements, plans, risks, and 

performance measures. Bureau officials also offered technical corrections, 

which we incorporated in the briefing and in this statement as appropriate.

This concludes my statement. I would be pleased to respond to any 

questions that you or other members of the Subcommittee may have at this 

time.

Contacts and 

Acknowledgements

If you have any questions regarding this testimony, please contact David 

Powner at (202) 512-9286 or by e-mail at pownerd@gao.gov. Individuals 

making contributions to this testimony include Neil Doherty, Amanda Gill, 

Nancy Glover, Colleen Phillips, and Cynthia Scott.

7

GAO, Internal Revenue Service: Assessment of Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Request and 

Interim Results of the 2005 Filing Season, GAO-05-416T (Washington, D.C.: April 7, 2005); 

and GAO, Business Systems Modernization: Internal Revenue Service’s Fiscal Year 2005 

Expenditure Plan, GAO-05-774 (Washington, D.C.: July 22, 2005).
Page 15 GAO-06-444T 

Appendix I: GAO Briefing to Committee 

and Subcommittee Staffs on January 30, 

2006

1

Census Bureau

Key Acquisitions Supporting the 

2010 Decennial Census Face Challenges

Briefing for the

Committee on Government Reform and its

Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census 

House of Representatives

January 30, 2006
Page 16 GAO-06-444T 

2

Briefing Outline

Introduction 3

Objectives 4

Scope and Methodology 5

Results in Brief 6

Background 8

Decennial Response Integration System

• Overview, Status, and Plans 15

• Acquisition Management Capabilities 20

• Conclusions 36

• Recommendations 37

Field Data Collection Automation program 

• Overview, Status, and Plans 38

• Acquisition Management Capabilities 43

• Conclusions and Recommendations 57

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 58
Page 17 GAO-06-444T 

3

Introduction

In June 2005, we reported on the Census Bureau’s progress in five information

technology (IT) management areas—investment management, systems 

development/management, enterprise architecture management, information security,

and human capital.1 We reported that, while the bureau had many practices in place, 

much remained to be done to fully implement effective IT management capabilities. We 

made several recommendations intended to improve these capabilities across the 

bureau.

Given the weaknesses we noted in the five IT management areas and the importance of

IT investments to the upcoming 2010 Decennial Census, the Chairman of the House 

Committee on Government Reform and the Chairman and Ranking Member of the 

Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census requested that we assess the bureau’s 

ability to manage important new acquisitions intended to support the decennial census.

1GAO, Information Technology Management: Census Bureau Has Implemented Many Key Practices, but 

Additional Actions Are Needed, GAO-05-661(Washington, D.C.: June 16, 2005).
Page 18 GAO-06-444T 

4

Objectives

As part of the Census Bureau’s plans to increase the use of automation and technology 

for the 2010 Decennial Census, the bureau will be undertaking several major acquisitions 

including the Decennial Response Integration System (DRIS)—a system for integrating 

paper, Internet, and telephone responses, and the Field Data Collection Automation

(FDCA) program—the systems and support equipment for field office data collection 

activities.

Our objectives for each of these acquisitions are to:

• provide an overview, status, and plans (including costs, schedule, and deliverables)

and

• determine if the bureau has capabilities in place to successfully manage and 

oversee the acquisitions.
Page 19 GAO-06-444T 

5

Scope and Methodology

To provide the project’s overview, status, and plans, we analyzed current project documents 

including plans, acquisition documents, and deliverables, and we interviewed project officials.

To determine if the bureau has capabilities in place to successfully manage and oversee the 

acquisitions, we identified sound IT systems acquisition and management processes from 

industry standards, including those developed by the Software Engineering Institute, and 

compared them to the Census Bureau’s practices for the selected acquisitions. We evaluated 

the following processes:

In each process area, we evaluated project documentation and interviewed project officials

to determine the status of the bureau’s efforts.

We conducted our review between July 2005 and January 2006 at Census Bureau 

headquarters in Suitland, Maryland, in accordance with generally accepted government 

auditing standards.

• project and acquisition planning

• solicitation

• requirements development and 

management

• risk management

• contract tracking and oversight/

project monitoring and control 

• process and product quality 

assurance

• executive oversight and governance
Page 20 GAO-06-444T 

6

Results in Brief

The Census Bureau has initiated efforts to acquire the major systems it needs to perform 

the 2010 Decennial Census, including the Decennial Response Integration System (DRIS),

and the Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) program. It awarded a contract for DRIS

in October 2005 and the system is currently in a design and development phase. The 

bureau expects to award a contract for FDCA development in March 2006. While both 

projects’ life cycle cost estimates are currently considered procurement sensitive, together

they are expected to make up a large portion of the $1.8 billion program to develop, test,

and implement decennial census systems. Both acquisitions involve ambitious schedules 

in order to be able to deliver the needed functionality to support a planned 2008 census 

dress rehearsal and the eventual 2010 census activities. 

While both projects have implemented initial project management activities, neither has the 

full set of acquisition management capabilities they need to fully manage the acquisitions. 

For example, the DRIS project office has a draft project plan that contains many of the

needed elements, but it has not yet completed the plan or obtained written stakeholder 

buy-in on it. It established baseline requirements for the acquisition, but the bureau has not

yet validated them or implemented a process for managing the requirements. Also, the 

project office identified risks, but has not yet implemented a risk management process.

Specifically, the project office has not yet developed written mitigation plans or established

milestones for completing key risk mitigation activities.
Page 21 GAO-06-444T 

7

Results in Brief

Regarding FDCA, its project office has initiated a project plan, but has not yet obtained 

written stakeholder buy-in on an overall plan that includes the project’s estimated costs,

budget, and schedules. It has identified requirements for the acquisition, but the bureau 

has not yet approved a validated set of requirements or ensured that the acquisition 

requirements are traceable to the broader set of operational requirements for the decennial 

census. Further, while the project office identified risks, it has not yet assigned 

responsibilities or developed detailed mitigation plans for managing the risks, or 

established milestones for completing key mitigation activities.

Until these and other basic management capabilities are fully implemented, both projects 

face increased risks that the systems will experience cost overruns, schedule delays, and 

performance shortfalls. We are making recommendations to both project offices and to the 

bureau to help improve acquisition management capabilities.

In commenting on a draft of this briefing, Census Bureau officials, including the Associate 

Director for the Decennial Census and the Assistant Director for Decennial Information

Technology and Geographic Systems, generally agreed with our recommendations and 

stated that time constraints and budgets have driven the bureau to proceed with its 

acquisitions before all of the recommended activities have been completed. Officials noted 

that they plan to complete these activities as soon as possible. They also offered technical 

corrections, which we have incorporated as appropriate.
Page 22 GAO-06-444T 

8

Background

Census Bureau Mission and Core Activities

The Census bureau’s mission is to serve as the leading source of quality data about the 

nation’s people and economy. The bureau’s core activities include:

• conducting decennial, economic, and government censuses,

• conducting demographic and economic surveys,

• managing international demographic and socioeconomic databases and providing 

technical advisory services to foreign governments, and

• performing other activities such as producing official population estimates and 

projections.

Public and private decision makers use census population and socioeconomic data for

various purposes. For example:

• decennial census data are used to determine congressional and state legislative 

districts and to distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds each year, 

• federal agencies use census data to evaluate the effectiveness of established 

programs, and 

• businesses use census data to target new services and products and to tailor existing 

ones to demographic changes. 
Page 23 GAO-06-444T 

9

Background

Census Bureau Organization

The bureau is a large and complex organization. A conceptual view of the agency 

includes three core organizations, two auxiliary organizations that provide guidance and 

operational support for the core organizations, and three support organizations that

provide administrative and technical support for the entire bureau. Each of these 

organizations is headed by an associate director, who reports to the deputy director of the 

Census Bureau.
Page 24 GAO-06-444T 

10

Background

The Bureau’s Decennial Census

The bureau’s Decennial Census organization is responsible for the decennial census 

program, the nation’s oldest and most comprehensive source of population and housing 

information.

Conducting a decennial census involves: 

• identifying and correcting addresses for all known living quarters in the United 

States,

• sending questionnaires to housing units,

• following up with non-respondents through personal interviews,

• trying to identify people with non-traditional living arrangements,

• managing a voluminous workforce responsible for follow-up activities,

• collecting census data from questionnaires, calls, and personal interviews,

• summarizing and tabulating census data, and

• disseminating census analytical results to the public.

The Decennial Census organization is comprised of divisions and offices, including the

Decennial Management Division (DMD), which is responsible for implementing the 

decennial census, and the Decennial Systems and Contracts Management Office, which 

manages selected system contracts supporting the decennial census.
Page 25 GAO-06-444T 

11

Background

Plans for the 2010 Decennial Systems

To support the 2010 Decennial Census, the bureau manages a $1.8 billion program called 

“2010 Testing, Evaluation, and Systems Design,” which calls for the acquisition and testing 

of systems and technologies. Two of the key acquisitions are the Decennial Response 

Integration System (DRIS) and the Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) program.

DRIS is expected to be a system for collecting data and integrating census responses that 

come in through multiple routes, including census forms, telephone agents, the Internet, 

and from mobile computing devices used by field staff. DRIS is expected to standardize the 

response data and to provide it to other bureau systems for analysis and processing.

The FDCA program is expected to provide mobile computing devices, office automation,

and an IT infrastructure to support collection of census data in local and regional offices.

Mobile computing devices will be used to update the bureau's address list, to perform

follow up at addresses for which no questionnaire was returned, and to perform activities to 

measure census coverage.
Page 26 GAO-06-444T 

12

Background

Plans for the 2010 Decennial Systems

In addition to DRIS and FDCA, other key systems support the planned 2010 decennial 

census. These include:

• master address file/topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing—

this is an existing system that contains the master list of addresses for the census

• headquarters data processing systems—these are existing systems used to process 

census data as well as a management information system

• data access and dissemination system II—this is a planned upgrade to an existing

system to disseminate 2010 census data to the public

Together, these systems are to support the collection, processing, and dissemination of

census data, as illustrated on the next page.
Page 27 GAO-06-444T 

13

Background

Plans for the 2010 Decennial Systems

Overview of systems supporting the 2010 Decennial Census 
Page 28 GAO-06-444T 

14

Background

Plans for the 2010 Decennial Systems

The bureau plans a series of tests in the years leading up to the decennial census. 

2004: The bureau tested critical field operations using systems under

conditions similar to those to be used during the decennial census. In 

particular, the agency studied the feasibility of using hand-held mobile 

computing devices equipped with Global Positioning System capability to 

conduct non-response follow-up operations. We recently reported on lessons 

learned during this test.2

2006: The bureau plans to test the methodology and functions of the integration of

systems needed to carry out the census, focusing on efforts to 

automate non-response follow-up activities and the initiatives to update the 

address list.

2008: The bureau plans to conduct a final operational test of the entire complement of

methodological, procedural, and systems innovations for the 2010 Decennial

Census. This test is known as the Dress Rehearsal.

2GAO, 2010 CENSUS: Basic Design Has Potential, but Remaining Challenges Need Prompt Resolution,

GAO-05-9 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 12, 2005).
Page 29 GAO-06-444T 

15

DRIS

Overview, Status, and Plans

During the prior decennial census, called Census 2000, responsibilities for designing and 

developing a system for capturing census data and related functions were shared by the 

bureau and several contractors. The bureau designed and developed a system for collecting 

data from the Internet, while one contractor developed a system for providing telephone 

assistance to the public, and another contractor developed a system for capturing data from

responses returned by mail and from the field operations targeting non-responders. Another

contractor provided the staffing and facilities for operating the data capture system while the 

census was underway. The bureau then integrated all of the data. Subsequently, the bureau 

found that this diversified approach resulted in data that was not standardized and added to 

the cost of processing census data.

For the 2010 Decennial Census, the bureau plans to have a single contractor design,

develop, and implement a system (DRIS) for standardizing and integrating the data from all of 

the response modes (paper, telephone, Internet, and from field operations).3 DRIS is intended 

to:

• receive, capture, and standardize census data provided by respondents via census 

forms, telephone agents, and the Internet,

• standardize data collected via mobile computing devices, 

• provide the data to the headquarters data processing system,

• provide assistance to the public via telephone and the Internet, and

• monitor the quality and status of data capture operations.

3While the DRIS contractor is expected to standardize and organize response data from the hand-held computers, the 

scope of the DRIS contract does not include providing the systems or staff used for field enumeration operations.
Page 30 GAO-06-444T 

16

DRIS

Overview, Status, and Plans

DRIS is expected to process an estimated 90 million mailed paper responses, 40 million 

field responses, 9 million telephone calls, and 9 million Internet visits.

According to the bureau, qualitative improvements expected from DRIS include:

• integrating paper, Internet, and telephone responses within a workflow control system 

that will provide more timely information than existed in previous censuses and reduce 

the number of cases of non-response follow-up,

• providing near real-time data that will support the planned second mailing to nonresponding addresses, and

• reducing redundant efforts for the Census Bureau and contractors that existed for

different contracts during Census 2000 by integrating key functions under one contract.

In particular, efforts in the areas of security, data integration, change control, and 

contractor administration are expected to be reduced.
Page 31 GAO-06-444T 

17

DRIS

Overview, Status, and Plans

The bureau began acquisition planning for DRIS in 2003. Between 2003 and September

2005, the bureau spent about $7.5 million on researching data capture technologies,

conducting web-based vendor briefings, obtaining comments from prospective vendors,

and developing DRIS planning documents, strategies, and analyses. During this time, the 

bureau also established the DRIS project office within the Decennial Systems and 

Contracts Management Office (DSCMO).

Further, between February and August 2005, the bureau completed solicitation activities as 

follows:

• In February 2005, the bureau issued a request for proposal (RFP) for DRIS. 

• From March 2005 through August 2005, the bureau solicitation team reviewed and 

evaluated proposals and obtained oral presentations from vendors.

• In August 2005, the solicitation team made a presentation to the Source Selection

Evaluation Board and recommended a vendor for contract award.
Page 32 GAO-06-444T 

18

DRIS

Overview, Status, and Plans

On October 5, 2005 the bureau awarded the contract for DRIS to Lockheed Martin

Corporation and its 7 subcontractors. The DRIS performance contract is a cost-plus-awardfee contract. The contract has a 6-year performance period divided into 3 primary phases 

as follows: 

Phase I: October 2005 through December 2008

Includes delivering detailed design documentation, developing and testing DRIS, 

conducting the 2008 dress rehearsal, and identifying data centers for the 2010 Census.

Phase II: August 2008 through the end of January 2011

Includes opening data center sites, completing operational testing, conducting 2010 

Census operations, and closing down the DRIS 2010 operations facilities once the census 

is complete.

Phase III: July 2010 through end of contract

Includes archiving DRIS data and images in accordance with National Archives and 

Records Administration guidelines and disposing of DRIS equipment once it is no longer 

needed.

Phases I and II of this contract are valued up to $553 million. The total life cycle cost of the

project is considered procurement sensitive pending the pricing of phase III.
Page 33 GAO-06-444T 

19

DRIS

Overview, Status, and Plans

Phase I of the contract involves the following key activities

The DRIS project team is currently reassessing these phase I dates due to delays 

associated with a bid protest that has since been withdrawn. It expects to identify new dates 

by March 2006. These new dates will likely result in the first modification to the contract.

Also, the team expects to work with the contractor during phase I to develop the milestones 

and deliverables for phases II and III. 

Activity Due Date

Perform integrated baseline review4 March 2006

Deliver DRIS acquisition planning documents February–October 2006

Certify DRIS as ready for use at all 2008 dress rehearsal 

facilities

December 2007

Deliver proposal for phase II—system operations and 

facilities

September 2008

Complete dress rehearsal and production activities December 2008

4An integrated baseline review is a joint assessment by the contractor and the project team of the technical plans for a work segment as well as

the adequacy of the budgets, resources, and schedules estimated to complete that work. This review results in a detailed plan for work activities,

costs, and schedules that is used as the basis for tracking the earned value of the contractor’s deliverables.
Page 34 GAO-06-444T 

20

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

To effectively manage major IT programs, organizations use sound acquisition and 

management processes to minimize risks and thereby maximize chances for success.

Such processes have been identified by leading organizations such as the Software 

Engineering Institute, the Chief Information Officer’s Council, and in our prior work 

analyzing best practices in industry and government. Key areas include: 

• project and acquisition planning

• solicitation

• requirements development and 

management

• risk management

• contract tracking and 

oversight/project monitoring and 

control

• process and product quality 

assurance

• executive oversight and governance

Our work has shown that such processes are significant factors in successful systems 

acquisitions and development programs and that they improve the likelihood of

meeting cost and schedule estimates as well as performance requirements.
Page 35 GAO-06-444T 

21

DRIS

Summary – Acquisition Management Capabilities

Summary of the status of DRIS acquisition management capabilities.

Capability Status

Project and acquisition

planning

Initiated, but key activities remain to be completed, such as finalizing the project

management plan and identifying key deliverables beyond 2008.

Solicitation Key activities completed and contract awarded ahead of schedule.

Requirements

development and 

management

Initiated, but key activities remain to be completed, such as validating requirements

and implementing a requirements management process. 

Risk management Initiated, but key activities remain to be performed such as preparing mitigation

plans and holding senior-level briefings.

Contract tracking and

oversight/project

monitoring and control

Initiated, but project office performance measures have not yet been established.

Process and product 

quality assurance

Initiated, but a quality assurance process is not yet in place.

Executive

oversight/governance

Initiated, but key governance activities remain to be completed.
Page 36 GAO-06-444T 

22

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Project and acquisition planning

Effective project planning involves establishing and maintaining plans defining project scope and 

activities, including overall budget and schedule, key deliverables, and milestones for key deliverables. It 

also involves ensuring that the project team has the skills and knowledge needed to manage the project 

and obtaining stakeholder commitment to the project plan. Effective acquisition planning involves 

developing an acquisition strategy that includes objectives, projected costs and schedules, and risks. 

The DRIS project team has

• defined the overall project scope, budget, and schedule,

• developed a draft project management plan that identifies key deliverables and 

milestones for these deliverables through the 2008 dress rehearsal,

• assigned an experienced and certified project manager and project team, and

• developed an acquisition strategy that outlines the acquisition objectives, scope, costs, 

schedules, and risks.

However, the project team has not yet finalized its project plan, identified key deliverables

beyond 2008, or obtained stakeholder commitment to the plan. The project team has not yet 

completed these activities in part because there is no Census Bureau policy requiring them to 

do so prior to contract award.

Until a project plan is completed and approved, the project lacks assurance that it is moving in 

the right direction. Without this assurance, it is more likely to encounter unanticipated changes 

in direction—which could affect system cost, schedule, and deliverables.
Page 37 GAO-06-444T 

23

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Solicitation

This activity includes identifying the needs within a particular acquisition, developing and implementing 

a solicitation plan, preparing for the evaluation of responses, issuing a solicitation package, evaluating 

responses, conducting supporting negotiations, and making recommendations for award of the 

contract.

The DRIS project team has: 

• identified the needs for the DRIS acquisition including telephone, Internet, and paper

data capture modes, 

• developed source selection procedures,

• developed the evaluation criteria for evaluating vendors’ proposals (including criteria for

the technical and program management approaches),

• conducted training on the evaluation process and on using an automated tool, and

• submitted a recommendation for contract award to the source selection officer in 

August 2005.

The contract was awarded in October 2005.
Page 38 GAO-06-444T 

24

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Requirements development and management

Requirements development involves eliciting, analyzing, and validating customer and stakeholder 

needs and expectations. Requirements management involves establishing an agreed-upon set of 

requirements, ensuring traceability between operational and product requirements, and managing any 

changes to the requirements in collaboration with stakeholders. 

To develop and manage DRIS requirements:

• DMD, the organization that oversees the project as well as the overall decennial 

census, developed draft operational requirements for the overall decennial census,

• the project team established basic functional requirements for the DRIS acquisition

based on the data capture activities used during Census 2000 and assumptions for

the 2010 Census data capture needs, 

• stakeholders reviewed the DRIS requirements and made suggestions for clarifying 

them, and

• DMD developed a detailed process for managing requirements for all 2010 decennial 

systems, including DRIS; these are to be executed by DMD implementation teams.
Page 39 GAO-06-444T 

25

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Requirements development and management (continued)

However, DMD has not yet conducted a thorough validation of DRIS requirements,

ensured traceability between DRIS and operational requirements, or approved the DRIS 

baseline requirements. Part of the reason that these activities have not been completed is 

that there is no Census Bureau policy requiring them to do so prior to contract award. 

Further, DMD has not yet staffed the teams responsible for managing requirements or

initiated any requirements management activities.

Until the project team obtains validation and approval of DRIS requirements and ensures 

these requirements are traceable to the operational requirements, it faces increased risk 

that new and changing requirements could be identified throughout the system’s 

development.5 Changes identified late in the development cycle could be costly to 

implement and could increase the risk that the system will not be ready in time to support 

census activities. 

Further, until the bureau staffs and implements its planned requirements change 

management process, it may not be able to effectively ensure that resulting products meet

requirements. As a result, DRIS may not provide the functionality needed or the bureau 

may experience cost increases and schedule delays.

5While there have not been any contract modifications to date, the project team expects to modify the contract 

to reflect the revised schedule.
Page 40 GAO-06-444T 

26

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Risk Management

An effective risk management process identifies potential problems before they occur, so that riskhandling activities may be planned and invoked as needed across the life of the product and project in 

order to mitigate adverse impacts on achieving objectives. Key activities include identifying and 

analyzing risks, assigning resources, developing risk mitigation plans and milestones for key mitigation 

deliverables, briefing senior-level managers on high priority risks, and tracking risks to closure. 

The DRIS project team has:

• developed a pre-award risk management plan that defines staff roles and responsibilities 

and includes procedures for identifying and tracking risks and risk mitigation actions, 

• identified pre-award risks including

• assigned responsibilities for managing the risks and discussed mitigating actions, and

• participated in monthly meetings to analyze and discuss the status of certain pre-award 

risks.

• insufficient project office or contracting 

office resources

• a bid protest

• inadequate funding

• failure to obtain agreement on quality 

control operations 

• failure to mitigate privacy risks 

• inadequate system sizing and related testing

• design not flexible enough to accommodate

changes in technology related to security

• failure to document and test external 

interfaces
Page 41 GAO-06-444T 

27

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Risk Management (continued)

Since contract award in October 2005, the project team has: 

• assigned a risk manager to provide oversight for the risk program,

• implemented a tool for tracking risks and actions taken, and

• reviewed risks and updated the risk database.

Also, the project team plans to:

• conduct monthly internal reviews of DRIS risks and refer high risks to higher-level 

officials for input and approval of actions,

• participate in the contractor’s risk reviews and monitor the contractor’s risk management

plans as part of the contract’s surveillance process, and 

• implement a process to assess risks based on the probability of occurrence and the 

impact on business drivers. 
Page 42 GAO-06-444T 

28

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Risk Management (continued)

However, in the months since the contract was awarded, the project team has not

developed written risk mitigation plans, identified milestones for key mitigation activities, 

or briefed senior management on its risks and risk mitigation plans. Specifically, there are 

no written mitigation steps or dates associated with the agencies’ plans for addressing 

high-impact risks, and senior-level briefings on these risks have not been held. Part of the 

reason that these activities have not been completed is that there is no organizational 

policy requiring completion of these activities.

Until the project team develops risk mitigation plans with milestones for key activities, and 

regularly briefs senior-level managers on risks and risk mitigation plans, it faces increased 

probability that DRIS will not be delivered on schedule, within budget, or perform as 

expected.
Page 43 GAO-06-444T 

29

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Contract tracking and oversight/project monitoring and control

These processes provide oversight of the contractor’s and the project office’s performance, in order to 

allow appropriate corrective actions if actual performance deviates significantly from the plan. Key 

activities in tracking both the contractor’s and the project office’s performance include the selection of 

performance measures, communicating status, taking corrective actions, and determining progress. 

The project team is responsible for ensuring that the contractor’s performance stays within 

cost and schedule thresholds for each phase of the DRIS contract. Therefore, the project 

team plans to provide contract tracking and oversight through:

• earned value management reports

• contractor performance reports

• program management reviews

• monthly status reports

During Phase 1, the project team plans to determine the detailed requirements for these 

activities.
Page 44 GAO-06-444T 

30

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Contract and Project Monitoring and Control (continued)

However, the project office has not yet selected detailed performance measures for

tracking the contractor or its own internal progress (such as progress against planned 

milestones, number of risks opened and closed, number and frequency of changes to 

requirements, and frequency of quality assurance reviews), in part because there is no 

Census policy requiring that these measures be implemented. Without such performance

measures, the team cannot perform the other key activities of communicating status, taking 

corrective actions, and determining progress.

As a result, the project office’s view into when performance deviates from plans or when 

key activities are showing troubling trends is limited. This can lead to unexpected cost 

increases, schedule delays, and performance shortfalls.
Page 45 GAO-06-444T 

31

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Process and Product Quality Assurance

This process area provides staff and management with objective insight into processes and associated 

work products. This includes the objective evaluation of project processes and products against 

approved descriptions and standards. Key activities include developing a quality assurance plan, 

assigning resources to quality assurance activities, and implementing quality assurance activities. 

Through quality assurance, the project team is able to identify and document noncompliance issues 

and provide appropriate feedback to project staff. 

The DRIS project team has identified several approaches that it plans to use to oversee the

quality of deliverables and services produced by the contractor. These include:

• requirements traceability and walkthroughs

• design walkthroughs

• peer reviews

• random inspections

• formal software quality assurance audits conducted by independent staff in the 

contractors’ company

The project team plans to assign technical monitors to monitor, assess, document, and 

report on the contractor’s performance. The team also expects the contractor to perform its 

own quality control methods to ensure that DRIS meets the government’s requirements. 

The contractor’s quality assurance plan is due in June 2006. 
Page 46 GAO-06-444T 

32

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Process and Product Quality Assurance (continued)

However, the project team has not yet established a quality assurance plan, assigned 

resources, or implemented a quality assurance process. Specifically, the team has not yet 

determined how they will use the planned inspections, reviews, and walkthroughs to

evaluate product quality. The delay in implementing this process is due in part to a lack of 

Census policy requiring these processes be in place prior to or soon after contract award.

As a result, the project team is not able to ensure that it will be able to identify and 

document any noncompliance issues and take appropriate corrective actions. 
Page 47 GAO-06-444T 

33

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Executive Oversight and Governance

Office of Management and Budget and GAO guidance call for agencies to establish IT investment 

management boards comprised of key executives to regularly track the progress of major systems 

acquisitions. These boards should have documented policies and procedures for management 

oversight of IT projects and systems, and should be able to adequately oversee the project’s progress 

toward cost and schedule milestones and their risks. The board should also employ early warning 

systems that enable it to take corrective actions at the first sign of cost, schedule, and performance

slippages.

The DRIS project received executive level oversight during early project planning: 

• the project was presented to key executives from the Department of Commerce IT 

Review Board and the Census Information Technology Governing Board (these boards 

include executive level managers from all bureau directorates, including the chief 

information officer and the chief financial officer),

• the project team established an acquisition review team consisting of key information

technology, acquisition, legal and program managers from the Census Bureau and the 

Department of Commerce to review and approve acquisition documents,

• the project manager participated in meetings with Commerce and Census Bureau 

executives, and

• the project team worked with senior acquisition officials to develop acquisition planning 

and solicitation documents.
Page 48 GAO-06-444T 

34

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Executive-level oversight for DRIS is to continue as follows:

• The DRIS project manager is reporting progress directly to the chief of the 

Decennial Systems and Contracts Management Office.

• The DRIS Program Office is reporting weekly on the status of the DRIS project to 

Decennial Management Division officials.

• The DRIS Program Office is expected to participate in quarterly reviews with the 

Commerce Information Technology Review Board, Census Bureau managers, and 

the Associate Director for Decennial Census Leadership Team.

• Commerce and Census executive-level IT governing boards expect to review the 

DRIS project as part of its annual preparation for meeting OMB requirements, under

the 2010 Testing, Evaluation, and System Design program.
Page 49 GAO-06-444T 

35

DRIS

Acquisition Management Capabilities

However, in June 2005, we reported that the Census Bureau’s executive oversight of IT 

projects was incomplete.6 Specifically, we noted that the bureau lacked 

• written procedures outlining the IT investment board’s operations and ensuring 

consistent investment management and decision making practices and

• written policies and procedures for monitoring the progress of its IT projects and 

systems.

As a result, we reported that the bureau lacks assurance that investment oversight and 

decision making is being performed in a consistent and repeatable manner, and that

consistent and appropriate actions will be taken when cost, schedule, and performance

expectations are not met. We recommended that the bureau develop and implement

these policies and procedures. The bureau agreed to implement these 

recommendations, and expects to do so by the end of July 2006.

Until these efforts are completed, the bureau cannot ensure that it is providing effective

and consistent oversight for the DRIS project.

6GAO-05-661.
Page 50 GAO-06-444T 

36

DRIS

Conclusions

While the DRIS project team has initiated important steps in establishing a sound and 

capable project management office, it has not yet completed important activities it needs to 

adequately manage this acquisition. Incomplete project plans, requirements, and risk

management activities increase the risks that this project will encounter problems in 

meeting cost and schedule expectations. Given that the contract was awarded in October

and is currently under way, it is critical that the DRIS project office expeditiously put in 

place key elements of a sound acquisition management capability.

One of the root causes of the project’s delay in completing key management activities is 

that the Census Bureau lacks organizational policies for managing major acquisitions. As a 

result, the success of major acquisitions such as DRIS and FDCA are extremely dependent 

on the knowledge, skills, and qualifications of the project teams. Without a minimum set of 

required steps and processes, Census acquisitions are at increased risk of being run in an 

ad hoc and chaotic manner—potentially resulting in increased project costs, delayed 

schedules, and performance shortfalls.
Page 51 GAO-06-444T 

37

DRIS

Recommendations

To ensure that the bureau adequately manages the DRIS project, we recommend that the 

project office take the following six actions: 

• complete the DRIS project plan and obtain stakeholders’ commitment to the plan 

before initiating further development work,

• obtain validation and management and customer approval of DRIS requirements,

• staff teams and perform planned requirements management activities,

• develop mitigation plans with milestones for key activities, and regularly brief senior

managers on important risks,

• establish performance measures and monitor results for contractor and project office

activities, and

• implement a quality assurance process by establishing responsibilities for assuring

product quality, and defining how inspections, reviews, and walkthroughs will be used 

to measure quality. 

Further, to ensure that the bureau improves its ability to manage this and other

acquisitions, we recommend that the Director of the Census Bureau immediately establish 

and enforce a system acquisition management policy that incorporates best practices in 

system and software acquisition management (including those highlighted in this briefing).
Page 52 GAO-06-444T 

38

FDCA

Overview, Status, and Plans

The Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) program is expected to provide automation 

support for field data collection operations for the 2010 Census. Specific requirements 

include:

• office automation for the twelve regional census centers, the Puerto Rico area 

office, and more than 450 local census offices,

• the telecommunications infrastructure for headquarters, regional, and local 

offices,

• mobile computing devices for field workers, 

• integration with other 2010 Census systems (e.g., DRIS and headquarters 

processing systems), and

• development, deployment, technical support, de-installation, and disposal 

services.

Automating field data collection activities is expected to help reduce overall 2010 Census 

costs as well as improve data quality and operational efficiency.
Page 53 GAO-06-444T 

39

FDCA

Overview, Status, and Plans

Mobile computing devices are a key technology component of FDCA. Census plans to 

have field-based enumerators use nearly 500,000 mobile computing devices to support the 

following decennial census functions:

• case management and automated payroll for enumerators,

• address canvassing (visiting households to update address lists and collect global 

positioning system coordinates to update maps),

• non-response follow-up (visiting households to obtain information from those that did 

not provide responses via mail, Internet, or phone),

• assignment updating to avoid unnecessary follow-up on late responses,

• data transmission, and

• conducting additional interviews at a sample of households in order to help measure

census undercounts or overcounts.
Page 54 GAO-06-444T 

40

FDCA

Overview, Status, and Plans

In fiscal year 2002, the bureau conducted market research on purchasing mobile 

computing devices and then purchased and tested these devices during the 2004 census 

test. After encountering technical problems and realizing that they lacked resources and 

expertise to manage the project in-house, bureau officials decided to use an integration 

contractor to help develop and manage the FDCA project.

The bureau has:

• established a FDCA project office in January 2005

• held an industry symposium in February 2005

• issued a draft RFP and a pre-solicitation notice in April 2005, requesting that vendors 

submit examples of previous experience with projects similar to FDCA and describe 

the challenges facing the FDCA project. (Based on these proposals, the bureau then 

invited five vendors to develop and test prototypes for address canvassing. Of the

five, three vendors chose to do so.)

• released the final RFP in June 2005, and

• conducted a technical exchange period from October to December 2005, during which 

the three vendors developed prototypes and the FDCA project team evaluated draft

proposals.
Page 55 GAO-06-444T 

41

FDCA

Overview, Status, and Plans

Project officials acknowledge that the FDCA schedule is ambitious. Key near-term

activities include:

Final proposals and prototypes due January 20, 2006

Final evaluation Feb. 6–Mar. 17, 2006

Source evaluation board review/decision March 20–30, 2006

Contract award March 31, 2006

Integrated baseline review March 31–May 31, 2006

Dress rehearsal offices open January 2007

(FDCA office automation ready)

Dress rehearsal address canvassing April-May 2007

(using FDCA mobile computing devices)
Page 56 GAO-06-444T 

42

FDCA

Overview, Status, and Plans

The FDCA contract is expected to be a cost-reimbursement contract with multiple 

incentives. Cost estimates for FDCA are considered procurement sensitive. 

The FDCA RFP calls for a baseline planning period and three execution periods as follows: 

• Baseline planning period: March 2006ˁMay 2006

• involves the project team and contractor reaching agreement on schedule, cost,

quality, scope, and technical performance measurement for the first contract

execution period.

• Execution period 1: June 2006ˁDecember 2008

• includes activities leading up to and during the 2008 dress rehearsal

• Execution period 2: January 2009ˁSeptember 2011

• includes activities leading up to and during the 2010 Census

• Execution period 3: August 2010ˁDecember 2011

• includes activities to wrap up operations after the completion of the 2010 Census
Page 57 GAO-06-444T 

43

FDCA

Summary – Acquisition Management Capabilities

Summary of the status of FDCA acquisition management capabilities.

Capability Status

Project and acquisition

planning

Initiated, but key activities remain to be completed, such as identifying deliverables 

and milestones, and obtaining stakeholder buy-in on a project plan that includes the

project’s estimated costs, budget, and schedules. 

Solicitation Key activities completed; the contract is expected to be awarded in March 2006. 

Requirements

development and 

management

Initiated, but key activities remain to be completed, such as validating requirements.

Risk management Initiated, but key activities remain to be performed such as assigning responsibilities 

for risks and preparing mitigation plans.

Contract tracking and

oversight/project

monitoring and control

Initiated, but key performance measures have yet not been established.

Process and product 

quality assurance

Initiated; the quality assurance process is expected to be implemented after contract

award.

Executive

oversight/governance

Initiated, but key governance activities remain to be completed.
Page 58 GAO-06-444T 

44

FDCA

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Project and acquisition planning

Effective project planning involves establishing and maintaining plans defining project scope and 

activities, including overall budget and schedule, key deliverables, and milestones for key deliverables. 

Project planning also involves ensuring that the project team has the skills and knowledge needed to 

manage the project and obtaining stakeholder commitment to the project plan. Effective acquisition 

planning involves developing an acquisition strategy that includes objectives, projected costs and 

schedules, and risks.

Regarding project and acquisition planning, the FDCA project office has:

• defined the overall project scope and obtained an independent government cost

estimate,

• developed a project management plan that documents objectives and high-level 

plans for managing the acquisition,

• established a project team with experience and certification in project management;

• involved stakeholders in planning, and

• developed a high-level acquisition strategy that includes objectives, projected costs, 

and schedules.
Page 59 GAO-06-444T 

45

FDCA

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Project and acquisition planning (continued)

However, the office has not yet:

• established an overall project schedule (including deliverables and milestones) for the 

project team and for the contractor for each contract execution period, or

• obtained stakeholder commitment to a comprehensive project management plan that

includes the project’s estimated costs, budget, and schedules.

Bureau officials expect the project’s costs and many management processes to be finalized 

shortly after the contract is awarded in early 2006, and they plan to work with the contractor

to complete a master product schedule and integrated baseline review during the initial 

baseline planning period. By that time, Decennial Management Division (DMD) officials

also plan to have the schedule for key dress rehearsal activities complete so that it can be 

considered during the integrated baseline review.

.
Page 60 GAO-06-444T 

46

FDCA

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Project and acquisition planning (continued)

In commenting on a draft of this briefing, bureau officials reiterated that they have an 

independent government cost estimate, an overall budget that they did not share with us

due to its sensitivity, and an overall schedule for census activities. Officials also noted that 

they do not believe they can finalize cost, budget, deliverables, and milestones until after

the contract is awarded because they are contracting for a solution—not a set of services 

or specific products.

While we acknowledge the various activities that the bureau has undertaken to begin 

planning the FDCA project and the fact that a project plan will continue to evolve as the 

program proceeds, the FDCA project management plan does not provide stakeholders and 

other reviewers a comprehensive overview of the project’s estimates of costs, schedules, 

and deliverables. Such a plan is often used to form a baseline for the program and to 

obtain buy in from stakeholders. 

Until the bureau completes key activities, including establishing budgets and schedules and 

documenting stakeholder commitment to its plans, it lacks assurance that reasonable plans 

for the project have been developed, and faces increased risk that the project may not

achieve expected cost, schedule, and technical performance goals.

.
Page 61 GAO-06-444T 

47

FDCA

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Solicitation

This activity includes identifying the needs within a particular acquisition, developing and implementing 

a solicitation plan, preparing for the evaluation of responses, issuing a solicitation package, evaluating 

responses, conducting supporting negotiations, and making recommendations for award of the 

contract.

The project office has

• identified needs for the FDCA acquisition,

• developed criteria for evaluating vendor proposals,

• generated the solicitation package,

• developed a source selection plan, and

• conducted training on the evaluation process.

In addition, the project office has begun evaluating proposals, has completed a 

technical exchange process, and plans to obtain recommendations from the Source 

Selection Board for the award of the contract in March 2006.
Page 62 GAO-06-444T 

48

FDCA

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Requirements Development and Management

Requirements development involves eliciting, analyzing, and validating customer and stakeholder 

needs and expectations. Requirements management involves establishing an agreed-upon set of 

requirements, ensuring traceability between operational and product requirements, and managing any 

changes to the requirements in collaboration with stakeholders. 

To develop and manage requirements,

• DMD developed draft operational requirements for the 2010 Decennial Census,

• the project office and DMD developed FDCA-specific functional requirements (listed in 

the RFP) with participation from stakeholders,

• the project office selected automated tools for tracking requirements in the RFP and 

proposed changes to those requirements,

• the project office drafted a requirements management plan, and

• DMD developed a detailed change control process for managing requirements for all 

2010 decennial systems, including FDCA. 

Further, DMD plans to staff the implementation planning teams responsible for managing 

changes to requirements, and initiate requirements management activities after the FDCA 

contract is awarded.
Page 63 GAO-06-444T 

49

FDCA

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Requirements development and management (continued)

However, DMD has not yet

• validated and approved a baseline set of operational requirements, or

• ensured traceability between its operational requirements and the FDCA RFP.

DMD officials attribute the delay in finalizing operational requirements primarily to the 

challenge of managing the magnitude and scope of the census and its unique 

environment. Until the bureau finalizes its operational requirements for the census and 

ensures that the FDCA RFP is consistent with the baseline requirements, the project will 

be at risk of later changes to the requirements, potentially affecting its ambitious 

development and implementation schedule. This is especially important given the 

acknowledged programmatic risk that there could be late changes in census scope.
Page 64 GAO-06-444T 

50

FDCA

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Risk Management

An effective risk management process identifies potential problems before they occur, so that riskhandling activities may be planned and invoked as needed across the life of the product and project in 

order to mitigate adverse impacts on achieving objectives. Key activities include identifying and 

analyzing risks, assigning resources, developing risk mitigation plans and milestones for key mitigation 

deliverables, briefing senior-level managers on high-priority risks, and tracking risks to closure. 

The project office has

• developed a draft risk management process and

• identified a number of high-level risks for the FDCA project, including:

To manage selected schedule and technical risks, the project office has

• adopted an approach calling for pre-award prototype development to address widely 

acknowledged schedule and technical risks, 

• incorporated an assessment of risk in its evaluation of vendor proposals, evaluated 

vendors’ approaches to risk management in their responses to scenarios provided by 

the FDCA project team, and 

• briefed senior management on these risks.

• an ambitious schedule

• late changes in project scope

• maturity of FDCA contract management

• system design faults

• GPS signal not available

• continuity of funding
Page 65 GAO-06-444T 

51

FDCA

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Risk management (continued)

However, the team has not yet implemented its risk management process. Specifically, the 

project team has not yet

• revisited or analyzed the identified risks,

• begun prioritizing and tracking project risks, 

• assigned resources to manage risks, or

• documented risk mitigation plans.

Bureau officials reiterated that they have managed FDCA risks throughout the pre-award

process and plan to continue to do so after the contract is awarded, though not in the more

formal manner outlined in our study of best practices. 

While we acknowledge that the program office continues to work to address key risks, ad 

hoc risk management activities are not a substitute for a more formal process where risks 

are routinely identified, prioritized, and mitigated. Until the project team implements an 

effective risk management process, it will lack a mechanism to address known and 

unknown problems. Without such a process, potential problems are more likely to become 

actual problems and have adverse effects on objectives—including FDCA cost, schedule, 

and performance.
Page 66 GAO-06-444T 

52

FDCA

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Contract Tracking and Oversight/Project Monitoring and Control

These processes provide oversight of the contractor’s and the project office’s performance, in order to 

allow appropriate corrective actions if actual performance deviates significantly from the plan. Key 

activities in tracking both the contractor’s and the project office’s performance include the selection of 

performance measures, communicating status, taking corrective actions, and determining progress. 

The project team has

• incorporated requirements in the RFP for earned value management and other

status reporting by the contractor,

• hired staff with contract surveillance experience,

• provided training on contract surveillance to selected project staff, and

• planned to oversee the contractor using checklists, reports, site visits, vendor deficit 

tracking, and risk assessment.

However, the project team has not yet

• developed detailed procedures and metrics for contract monitoring, or

• developed a full set of performance measures for internal project office performance, 

or begun tracking this performance.
Page 67 GAO-06-444T 

53

FDCA

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Contract tracking and oversight/project monitoring and control (continued)

Project officials acknowledged the need for additional planning for these processes and 

activities, but do not plan to fully implement many aspects of these processes until after 

contract award. In commenting on a draft of this briefing, bureau officials stated that there

would be little value in establishing metrics in advance of having a FDCA solution and that

they plan to work with the winning vendor to establish meaningful metrics. Officials also 

stated that they have already begun tracking internal office performance and noted that they 

have already submitted earned value management metrics for the program office to the 

Department of Commerce.

Given the importance of monitoring program office and contractor performance, best 

practices show that it is not too soon to begin identifying performance measures and 

developing a process for monitoring and managing both the program office and contractor’s

performance. Further, earned value management metrics are valuable, but do not comprise 

a comprehensive set of metrics for monitoring a program. The program office may identify

and track other performance measures, including metrics for changes in risks and 

requirements. Moving forward, it will be important for the project team to establish strong

project monitoring and control over internal performance as well as solid processes for

tracking and overseeing the FDCA contractor’s progress. Until it does so, the project faces 

increased risk of delays in identifying problems and taking appropriate corrective actions.
Page 68 GAO-06-444T 

54

FDCA

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Process and Product Quality Assurance

This process area provides staff and management with objective insight into processes and associated 

work products. This includes the objective evaluation of project processes and products against 

approved descriptions and standards. Key activities include developing a quality assurance plan, 

assigning resources to quality assurance activities, and implementing quality assurance activities. 

Through quality assurance, the project team is able to identify and document noncompliance issues 

and provide appropriate feedback to project staff.

The project team has

• drafted plans for quality assurance, contract surveillance, and award fee 

determination that call for inspections, random sampling, periodic surveillance, 

customer feedback, and monitoring

• provided selected staff with training on quality assurance and surveillance 

planning,

• begun planning to prepare staff for their roles in quality assurance, 

• assigned a quality assurance manager, and

• developed plans for a principal technical monitor and 12-15 technical monitors to 

evaluate contractor work products and processes.

The project team plans to implement these quality assurance practices after contract

award.
Page 69 GAO-06-444T 

55

FDCA

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Executive Oversight and Governance

The Office of Management and Budget and GAO guidance call for agencies to establish IT investment 

management boards comprised of key executives to regularly track the progress of major systems 

acquisitions. These boards should have documented policies and procedures for management 

oversight of IT projects and systems, and should be able to adequately oversee the project’s progress 

toward cost and schedule milestones and their risks. The board should also employ early warning 

systems that enable it to take corrective actions at the first sign of cost, schedule, and performance

slippages.

The FDCA project received executive-level oversight during early project planning.

• The project was presented to key executives from the Department of Commerce’s IT 

Review Board and the Census Information Technology Governing Board.

• The project manager participated in meetings with Commerce and Census Bureau 

executives.

• The project reported to a FDCA steering committee comprised of executives from key 

bureau directorates.

• The project team worked closely with senior acquisition officials to develop acquisition 

planning and solicitation documents.
Page 70 GAO-06-444T 

56

FDCA

Acquisition Management Capabilities

Executive-level oversight of FDCA is expected to continue:

• the FDCA Program Office is expected to report weekly on the status of the FDCA 

project to Decennial Management Division officials,

• the FDCA Program Office is expected to participate in quarterly reviews with the 

Commerce Information Technology Review Board and bureau managers, and

• Commerce and Census executive-level IT governing boards expect to review the 

FDCA project as part of its annual budgetary planning, under the 2010 Testing,

Evaluation, and System Design program.

As previously noted, we reported in June 2005 on weaknesses in the bureau’s 

executive oversight of IT projects. Specifically, we reported that, because the bureau 

did not have written procedures on how executive oversight was to be performed, it

had less assurance that investment oversight and decision making was performed in a 

consistent and reasonable manner. Without clear, documented, and consistent

governance procedures, the bureau cannot ensure that it is effectively and consistently 

overseeing these investments.
Page 71 GAO-06-444T 

57

FDCA

Conclusions and Recommendations

While the FDCA project team has initiated important steps in establishing a capable project 

management office, it has not yet completed important activities it needs to adequately 

manage this acquisition. For example, the bureau has not yet implemented needed 

processes for managing risks or measuring project performance. Without these processes

in place, the bureau remains at increased risk of not developing and delivering FDCA on 

time and within budget. The project may also be at risk of falling short of promised

functionality. Given the immovable deadline for performing the decennial census, the 

bureau faces greater risk of cost overruns or limited system functionality.

To ensure that the bureau adequately manages the FDCA project, we recommend that the 

FDCA program office take the following four actions:

• obtain stakeholder commitment to a project plan that includes estimated project costs 

and schedules, including deliverables and milestones,

• obtain validation and approval of baseline requirements,

• identify, prioritize, and assign responsibilities for risks, and develop and implement risk 

mitigation plans and actions, and

• develop internal and contractor performance measures and prepare to track project 

cost, schedule, and performance.
Page 72 GAO-06-444T 

58

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation

In providing oral and email comments on a draft of this briefing, Census Bureau officials,

including the Associate Director for the Decennial Census and the Assistant Director for

Decennial Information Technology and Geographic Systems, generally agreed with our

recommendations and stated that time constraints and budgets have driven the bureau to 

proceed with its acquisitions before all of the recommended activities have been 

completed. Officials stated that they plan to complete these activities as soon as possible. 

Bureau officials also stated that they intend to rely on the DRIS and FDCA contractors to 

help refine requirements, project plans, and performance measures. However, our

experience in reviewing major system acquisitions over the last several years has shown 

that it is important for the government to exercise strong leadership in managing 

requirements, plans, and measures.

Bureau officials also offered technical corrections which we have incorporated as 

appropriate.
Page 73 GAO-06-444T 

Appendix II: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

For both the Decennial Response Integration System and Field Data 

Collection Automation program acquisitions, our objectives were to (1) 

provide an overview, status, and plans (including costs, schedule, and 

deliverables) and (2) determine if the bureau has capabilities in place to 

successfully manage and oversee the acquisitions.

To provide each project’s overview, status, and plans, we analyzed current 

project documents, including plans, acquisition documents, and 

deliverables; we also interviewed project officials.

To determine if the bureau had capabilities in place to successfully manage 

and oversee the acquisitions, we identified sound IT systems acquisition 

and management processes from industry standards, including those 

developed by the Software Engineering Institute, and compared them to 

the Census Bureau’s practices for the selected acquisitions. We evaluated 

the following processes:

• project and acquisition planning;

• solicitation;

• requirements development and management;

• risk management;

• contract tracking and oversight/project monitoring and control;

• process and product quality assurance; and

• executive oversight and governance.

In each of the process areas listed above, we evaluated project 

documentation and interviewed project officials to determine the status of 

the bureau’s efforts. We obtained comments from bureau officials, 

including the Associate Director for the Decennial Census and the 

Assistant Director for Decennial Information Technology and Geographic 

Systems, on a draft of the briefing in attachment I. We conducted our 

review between July 2005 and January 2006 at Census Bureau headquarters 

in Suitland, Maryland, in accordance with generally accepted government 

auditing standards.

(310847)
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