2010 Census: Key Efforts to Include Hard-to-Count Populations Went Generally as Planned; Improvements Could Make the Efforts More Effective for Next Census
Published: 2010-12-14T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: To overcome the long-standing challenge of enumerating hard-to-count (HTC) groups such as minorities and renters, the U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau), used outreach programs, such as paid advertising, and partnered with thousands of organizations to enlist their support for the census. The Bureau also conducted Service-Based Enumeration (SBE), which was designed to count people who frequent soup kitchens or other service providers, and the Be Counted/Questionnaire Assistance Center (QAC) program, designed to count individuals who believed the census had missed them. As requested, GAO assessed how the design of these efforts compared to 2000 and the extent to which they were implemented as planned. GAO reviewed Bureau budget, planning, operational, and evaluation documents; observed enumeration efforts in 12 HTC areas; surveyed local census office managers; and interviewed Bureau officials.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: The Bureau better positioned itself to reach out to and enumerate HTC populations in 2010 in part by addressing a number of key challenges from 2000. The Bureau's outreach efforts were generally more robust compared to 2000. For example, compared to 2000, the Bureau used more reliable data to target advertising; focused a larger share of its advertising dollars on HTC groups, such as non-English-speaking audiences; and strengthened its monitoring abilities so that the Bureau was able to run additional advertising in locations where mail response rates were lagging. The Bureau also significantly expanded the partnership program by hiring about 2,800 partnership staff in 2010 compared to around 600 in 2000. As a result, staff were not spread as thin. The number of languages they spoke increased from 35 in 2000 to 145 for the 2010 Census. Despite these enhancements, the outreach efforts still faced challenges. For example, while most of the partnership staff GAO interviewed reported having mutually supportive relationships with local census offices, about half of the local census office managers surveyed were dissatisfied with the level of coordination, noting duplication of effort in some cases. Additionally, a tracking database that partnership staff were to use to help manage their efforts was not user-friendly nor was it kept current. The Bureau also improved the key enumeration programs aimed at HTC groups and the efforts were generally implemented as planned, but additional refinements could improve them for 2020. For example, the Bureau expanded SBE training by teaching staff how to enumerate all types of SBE facilities, which gave the Bureau more flexibility in scheduling enumerations, and advance visits helped enhance service providers' readiness for the enumeration. Nevertheless, while most local census office managers were satisfied with SBE staffing levels, pockets of dissatisfaction existed and observers noted what appeared to be a surplus of enumerators with little work to do in some locations. While overstaffing can lead to unnecessarily higher labor costs, understaffing can also be problematic because it can affect the accuracy of the overall count, and it will be important for the Bureau to review the results of SBE to staff SBE efficiently in 2020. For the Be Counted/QAC program, the Bureau addressed visibility and site selection challenges from 2000 by developing banners to prominently display site locations and hours of operation and updating site selection guidance. For 2010, the Bureau opened around 38,000 sites and completed the monthlong operation under budget. However, the Bureau experienced recurring challenges with ensuring that the sites were visible from street level and were in areas with potential for high levels of activity, and the overall effort was resource intensive relative to the average of 20 forms that were returned and checked in from each site. Moving forward, it will be important for the Bureau to explore ways to maximize the program's ability to increase the number of forms checked in for 2020.
section_title: What GAO Recommends
paragraphs: GAO recommends that the Bureau take steps to improve the effectiveness of its outreach and enumeration activities aimed at HTC groups, including developing a predictive model to better allocate paid advertising funds, improving coordination between partnership and local census staff, revisiting SBE staffing guidance, and ensuring Be Counted/QAC sites are more visible and optimally located. Commerce generally agreed with the overall findings and recommendations.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: A complete and accurate census is becoming an increasingly daunting  task, in part because the nation’s population is growing larger, more  diverse, and more reluctant to participate. When the census misses a  person who should have been included, it results in an undercount; an  overcount occurs when an individual is counted more than once. Such  errors are particularly problematic because of their differential impact on  various subgroups. Minorities, renters, and children, for example, are  more likely to be undercounted by the census while more affluent groups,  such as people with vacation homes, are more likely to be enumerated  more than once. As census data are used to apportion seats in Congress,  redraw congressional districts, and allocate billions of dollars in federal  assistance to states and local governments, improving coverage and  reducing the differential undercount are critical.
To help reduce the undercount for the 2010 Census, the U.S. Census  Bureau (Bureau) embarked on a number of outreach and enumeration  activities aimed at getting the hard-to-count (HTC) populations to  participate in the census. On the outreach side, the Bureau implemented a  communications campaign that included paid media and partnership  activities (among others) to target advertisements and engage government  and community organizations in support of the census. On the  enumeration side, the Bureau relied on such efforts as Service-Based  Enumeration (SBE) to enumerate individuals residing in less conventional  housing, such as shelters and tent encampments, and the Be  Counted/Questionnaire Assistance Centers (QAC) programs to count  people who believed they did not receive a census form.
One key to a successful census is a high mail participation rate, which  helps the Bureau obtain more accurate data and reduce costs. The mail  participation rate—which the Bureau defines as the percentage of forms  mailed back by households that received them—was 74 percent for 2010,  the same as in 2000. Considering the nation’s diversity and other  sociodemographic trends that adversely affect participation rates, this was  an important accomplishment.
Because of your interest in the Bureau’s efforts to boost census  participation and reduce the differential undercount, we reviewed the  design and implementation of key outreach and enumeration programs  aimed at HTC populations. In so doing, we paid particular attention to  assessing (1) how the design of these programs compared to 2000 and   (2) the extent to which the Bureau implemented these programs as  planned and where refinements might be needed should these efforts be  used in the 2020 Census.
This report is one of three we are releasing today. Of the other two, one  assesses the implementation of key field data collection operations, and  the other examines the implementation of operations aimed at reducing  census coverage errors. Both reports identify preliminary lessons learned,  as well as potential focus areas for improvement for the 2020 Census.
To assess how the Bureau’s efforts to reach out to and enumerate HTC  populations compared to 2000, we reviewed and analyzed budget,  planning, operational, and evaluative data and documents for the 2000 and  2010 paid media, partnership, SBE, and Be Counted/QAC activities. We  chose these activities because they constitute the majority of the budget  for outreach efforts or, according to the Bureau, were enumeration  activities that contributed to reducing the differential undercount in 2000.  For example, paid advertising accounted for approximately 39 percent  ($258,738,551) of the Bureau’s originally planned $660 million  communication campaign effort, and the partnership program accounted  for over 56 percent ($364,331,089) of the campaign. According to the  Bureau, the Be Counted/QAC program was an important part of the  Bureau’s efforts to enumerate people often missed by the census,  including people who had no usual residence on Census Day, such as  transients, migrants, or seasonal farm workers. In addition, we attended  presentations on the paid media program by the Bureau and its contractor,  DraftFCB, which assisted the Bureau with creating promotional  campaigns to research, develop, and target the paid advertising efforts. We  also reviewed Bureau, Department of Commerce Inspector General, and  our reports on the 2010 and 2000 censuses, and interviewed cognizant  Bureau officials at headquarters and local census offices.
To evaluate whether implementation proceeded as planned and identify  areas for improvement in 2020, we conducted 78 observations of  enumerators as they visited SBE facilities, including 22 targeted non- sheltered outdoor locations (TNSOL)—such as parks and under bridges  where people experiencing homelessness were sometimes counted. We  interviewed enumerators in 12 urban local census offices across the  country, such as those in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles, and  interviewed enumerators’ supervisors, known as crew leaders, in some of  the local census offices we visited. Further, we conducted observations of  51 Be Counted/QAC sites in 12 urban areas. For the SBE and Be  Counted/QAC observations, we selected offices located in HTC areas as  determined by data from the 2000 Census. While these sites were not  selected randomly, we considered factors such as ethnic and geographic  diversity in selecting them.
To gain greater insight on the partnership program, we interviewed 11  partnership staff who represented historically HTC populations and  different ethnic groups in the Bureau’s Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia,  and Los Angeles regions. We selected these regions based on, in part, the  allocation of partnership staff, but the sites were not randomly selected  and results cannot be generalized nationwide.
To obtain information on the local implementation of the Bureau’s  outreach and enumeration efforts, we surveyed the Bureau’s entire  population of 494 local census office managers (LCOM) using a series of  online questionnaires about their experience in managing local census  office activities and enumeration efforts. The surveys were conducted in  six waves from March through September 2010. Each survey had a  response rate of at least 70 percent and was thus sufficiently reliable for  providing evidence to support our findings, conclusions, and  recommendations.
We analyzed Bureau data on the distribution of Be Counted/QAC sites  among HTC census tracts and local census offices. We analyzed cost and  progress data for SBE and Be Counted/QACs and analyzed data on  partnership and Be Counted/QAC activities from the automated system the  Bureau used to track its partnership contacts, the Integrated Partnership  Contact Database. To further identify and assess the Bureau’s outreach  and enumeration efforts for HTC populations, we interviewed Bureau  officials to obtain additional details about paid media, partnerships, SBE,  and Be Counted/QAC.
This report is part of our larger review of lessons learned from the 2010  Census that can help inform the Bureau’s planning efforts for 2020. The  Bureau is also evaluating its efforts to reach out to and enumerate HTC  populations and plans to issue the results by December 2012.
We conducted this performance audit from January 2010 to December  2010 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing  standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to  obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for  our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe  that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings  and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
On December 8, 2010, the Secretary of Commerce provided written  comments on the draft report, which are reprinted in appendix I. The  Department of Commerce generally agreed with the overall findings and  recommendations of the report.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: To improve participation in the census among HTC groups as well as the  general population, the Bureau implemented a number of outreach and  enumeration activities from January 2008 through September 2010. In this  report, we focus on the following four efforts:    paid media,    partnerships,    SBE, and    Be Counted/QAC.
The four components of the outreach efforts, known collectively as the  Integrated Communications Campaign, were paid media, a partnership  program, public relations and an educational program called Census in  Schools. According to Bureau officials, the components were designed to  work together to unify census messages and communicate them to diverse  audiences via various outlets in order to improve mail response and  reduce the differential undercount. An appropriation in the American  Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) allowed the  Bureau to increase the communications campaign’s initial budget of   $410 million by an additional $220 million.
The Bureau’s regional census centers (RCC) were responsible for  administering the partnership program, with partnership coordinators and  team leaders at each RCC overseeing the work of the partnership  specialists and partnership assistants. Local census offices played a more  limited role in outreach efforts, and while the local census offices reported  to RCCs, they had a different reporting structure than the partnership  program.
SBE was meant to help ensure that people without conventional housing  were included in the count. From March 28 through March 30, 2010, the  Bureau attempted to enumerate those without conventional housing at  facilities where they received services or at outdoor locations, such as  parked cars, tent encampments, and on the street. The Bureau developed a  list of potential outdoor locations based on several sources, including 2000  Census data and input from community leaders.
The Bureau’s Be Counted program, which ran from March 19 to April 19,  2010, was designed to reach those who may not have received a census  questionnaire, including people who did not have a usual residence on  April 1, 2010, such as transients, migrants, and seasonal farm workers.  The program made questionnaires available at community centers,  libraries, places of worship, and other public locations throughout the  country. Individuals were to pick up the forms from these sites and mail  the completed questionnaires to the Bureau. Some of the sites also  included a staffed QAC to help people, especially those with limited  English proficiency, complete their questionnaires.
section_title: The Bureau’s Outreach and Promotion Efforts Were Generally More Robust Compared to Those in 2000 and Were Implemented as Planned, but They Could Be Further Improved
subsections: section_title: Paid Media Plans Built in Better Targeting
paragraphs: The Bureau refined its paid media efforts for 2010, in part to address  challenges from the 2000 Census. For example, in 2000, to target  advertising to certain population groups and areas, the Bureau used data  on measures of civic participation, such as voting in elections. However,  the Bureau noted that civic participation did not appear to be a primary  indicator of an individual’s willingness to participate in the census. To  better motivate participation among different population groups, for 2010  the Bureau used, among other data sources, actual participation data from  the 2000 Census, as well as market and attitudinal research that identified  five mindsets people have about the census. These mindsets ranged from  the “leading edge” (those who are highly likely to participate) to the  “cynical fifth” (those who are less likely to participate because they doubt  the census provides tangible benefits and are concerned that the census is  an invasion of privacy and that the information collected will be misused).  The Bureau used this information to tailor its paid media efforts.  Moreover, in 2000 the Bureau did not buy additional paid media in areas  with unexpectedly low participation rates. For 2010, the Bureau set aside  more than $7 million to rapidly target paid media in response to specific  events leading up to the census or to areas with unexpectedly low mail  participation rates.
Overall, the Bureau budgeted about $297.3 million on paid media in 2010,  about $57 million (24 percent) more than in 2000 in constant 2010 dollars.  The Bureau’s 2010 paid media budget reflected several increases. On a unit  cost basis, spending increased from an average of about $2.05 per housing  unit in 2000 to $2.25 per housing unit in 2010, in constant 2010 dollars.  Also, the Bureau increased the percentage of the budget for media  development costs from 33 percent in 2000 to 43 percent in 2010. Table 1  compares the paid media spending in 2000 to 2010.
According to the Bureau, the cost increased for paid media development  in part because of the extensive research done to target the media to  specific groups and areas and because advertising was created in 12 more  languages than in 2000. For example, to determine where paid media  efforts may have the greatest impact, the Bureau developed predictive  models based on 2000 census data and the evaluations of the partnership  and paid media efforts from 2000. The models were provided to its  contractor, DraftFCB, to aid in making paid media decisions. By better  targeting paid media buys by area and message, the Bureau expected to  more effectively reach those who have historically been the hardest to  count. However, according to the Bureau, two factors—the use of  evaluations from 2000 that did not isolate the impact of paid media from  other components of the Bureau’s outreach efforts, such as the  partnership program, and the age of the data used—may have limited the  model’s ability to predict where paid media efforts had the greatest  impact.
In a further effort to reach HTC groups, in 2010 the Bureau budgeted more  for paid media that targeted HTC groups, like non-English-speaking  audiences, than on the national audience, which was not the case in 2000,  as shown in table 2.
Additionally, the Bureau strengthened its outreach efforts in 2010 by  improving its monitoring and evaluation activities. For example,  throughout the census the Bureau monitored the public’s awareness and  attitudes toward the census via surveys and by tracking relevant blogs.  The Bureau used five sources of information, including national polls and  actual mail participation rates, to monitor metrics such as individuals’  understanding of the census, perceived benefits from participating in the  census, and barriers to participating in the census. As a result, the Bureau  used this information to identify markets and groups where additional  outreach was needed. Table 3 compares key aspects of the 2000 and 2010  paid media activities.
section_title: Paid Media Used Market Research to Better Target HTC Populations
paragraphs: The Bureau generally implemented its 2010 paid media campaign as  planned, targeting different segments of the HTC population. For example,  to reach younger audiences, which are typically hard to count, the Bureau  used new methods such as podcasts, YouTube videos, and social media  networks such as Facebook and Twitter in addition to traditional TV and  radio broadcasts. To reach people with limited English proficiency, the  Bureau ran banner advertisements on, for example, Chinese language Web  sites that linked directly to the Chinese language page of the Bureau’s own  Web site and targeted local radio advertisements to various ethnic  audiences. Moreover, to reach audiences through their media habits and  interests, the Bureau integrated census messages into regularly scheduled  television programming in an attempt to appeal to people in new and more  personal ways. For example, a Spanish-language soap opera made one of  its characters an enumerator.
The Bureau also took advantage of its improved monitoring capacity and  implemented a rapid response initiative to address markets with lagging  mail participation rates or unforeseen events that might have affected  response rates in certain markets. For example, as Census Day  approached, the Bureau continuously tracked the public’s attitudes toward  the census to help determine the impact of its outreach activities. The  Bureau found that while the percentage of people saying they would  definitely participate in the census increased from about 50 percent in  December 2009 to about 89 percent in March 2010, the data indicated that  specific populations would have lower participation rates. As a result, the  Bureau ran additional advertising targeted at the following groups, among  others:  18- to 24-year-olds whose attitudes on their intent to participate in the  census were not changing over time;    English-speaking Hispanics who appeared less likely than Spanish- speaking Hispanics to understand the benefits of census participation;  and    Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn, New York, because mail participation rates  were lagging in neighborhoods known to have significant Hasidic  populations.
Further, in late March, the Bureau identified 23 specific media markets  with mail participation rates significantly below the national average.  Following rapid response efforts in these areas, 13 of these markets  showed a significant increase in mail participation rates compared to the  national average.
The Bureau originally budgeted $7.4 million for its rapid response efforts,  but added approximately $28 million from a separate management reserve  fund as data analysis showed a need for media intervention, for a total of  about $35 million. Of this $35 million, about $31.8 million was allocated to  new media purchases and about $3 million went to media production and  other costs. Of the $31.8 million, the Bureau budgeted about $17.3 million  (54 percent) of the rapid response paid media funding for the general  population and $14.5 million (45 percent) for specific ethnic and language  audiences.
The Bureau plans to assess the impact of the communications campaign  on respondent attitudes and behaviors. For example, to determine how  much it should invest in the paid media campaign, the Bureau held an  experiment in 2010 where it flooded certain markets with more paid  advertising than was used in other, similar markets. When the evaluation  of this research is completed as scheduled in 2012, it could help the  Bureau better determine whether greater levels of advertising would be  cost-effective in terms of increasing the mail response rate of various  races and ethnic groups. Moving forward, it will be important for the  Bureau to use these evaluation results not only for planning 2020 Census- taking activities, but, as was the case for 2010, also for aiding in the  development of a predictive model that could help the Bureau determine  which media outlets provide the best return on investment in terms of  raising awareness of the census and encouraging participation for specific  demographic groups. The model could combine data from the 2000 and  2010 enumerations and inform allocation decisions for paid media.
section_title: Partnership Efforts Were More Comprehensive Than in the 2000 Census
paragraphs: In designing the 2010 partnership program, the Bureau took a number of  steps aimed at expanding its reach and addressing challenges from the  2000 Census. For example, in 2000, the Bureau hired about 600 partnership  staff in the field who were responsible for mobilizing local support for the  census by working with local organizations to promote census  participation. However, we reported in 2001 that partnership specialists’  heavy workload may have limited the level of support they were able to  provide individual local census offices. To help improve its ability to  mobilize local support for 2010, the Bureau created a new position, the  partnership assistant, and hired about 2,800 partnership staff, about five  times the number of partnership staff hired in 2000. Thus, the Bureau  increased the ratio of partnership staff per county and staff were not  spread as thin.
Additionally, for 2000, the Bureau developed a database to track, plan, and  analyze partnership efforts. We reported that the database was not user- friendly, which led to inefficiencies and duplication of effort. For 2010,  the Bureau revamped the partnership database to make it more user- friendly and to improve management’s ability to use the information to  monitor the progress of partnership activities. For example, while the 2000  database was mainly a catalog of census partner organizations, the 2010  database was designed to enable the Bureau to more actively manage the  program in part by generating reports on value-added goods and services  that partners provided, such as free training space. Table 4 compares key  aspects of the 2000 and 2010 partnership activities.
section_title: The Partnership Program Was Significantly Expanded, but Coordination and Monitoring Issues from 2000 Persisted
paragraphs: Aided by the Recovery Act funding that allowed the Bureau to increase its  presence in local communities, the Bureau’s outreach efforts resulted in  recruiting over 100,000 more partners and increasing by over 100 the  number of languages spoken by partnership staff. The Bureau estimated  that it would spend about $280 million on partnership program costs from  fiscal years 2007 through 2011, including $120 million from the Recovery  Act—an increase of 54 percent from 2000. To expand partnership  activities in HTC areas, the Bureau used its allocation of Recovery Act- funded partnership staff in regions with large HTC populations. As a  result, while in 2000 the average ratio was one partnership staff member  for every five counties, in 2010 the average ratio was almost one  partnership staff member for every county.
Partnership specialists conducted outreach activities that addressed the  concerns of HTC communities in their areas. For example, one  partnership specialist in the Atlanta region organized a conference of  leaders in the Vietnamese community to ease their concerns about the  confidentiality of census data. Another partnership specialist in the Los  Angeles region leveraged the credibility of several large national Iranian  and Arab organizations to help convince local community leaders that the  census was mandated by law and that their constituents should complete  and return census forms. Further, an LCOM in the Dallas region told us  that partnership specialists worked to get a letter from the Mayor that  helped enumerators gain access to local gated communities and apartment  complexes.
subsections: section_title: Coordination Issues Persisted Despite Additional Bureau Guidance
paragraphs: During the 2000 Census, LCOMs we surveyed said that the reporting  structure for partnership specialists may have led to communication and  coordination hurdles between the partnership staff and local census office  staff. As a result, we recommended that the Bureau explore ways to  increase the coordination and communication between the partnership  specialists and the LCOMs. To address coordination and communication  challenges in 2010, the Bureau developed additional guidance for  partnership specialists and LCOMs, revised partnership training materials,  and held meetings between regional operations staff and partnership staff  to discuss ways to enhance communications. For example, the Bureau  revised the LCOMs’ handbook to explain that partnership specialists and  local census office staff have a responsibility to work together to ensure  that they do not duplicate each others’ efforts. In addition, the partnership  training manual specifically stated that partnership specialists should  participate in local census office management meetings, provide  management teams with their schedules of planned meetings and activities  in advance, and update LCOMs on their completed activities.
Moreover, most of the partnership staff we interviewed reported working  closely or having mutually supportive relationships with local census  office staff. For example, partnership staff in the Atlanta and Charlotte  regions said that they attended training with local census office staff, and  one partnership specialist told us that training gave them a better  understanding of the roles and responsibilities of local census offices.
However, LCOMs we surveyed provided a more mixed view of the  coordination and communication between the partnership program and  local census offices. On the one hand, 39 percent of 395 LCOMs  responding to our March survey said they were generally or very satisfied  with partnership staff’s assistance with local challenges. In addition,  some managers provided positive comments in the open ended section of  the survey about partnership staff’s assistance. For example, one LCOM  commented that partnership staff assisted with local census office  recruiting activities, such as setting up and providing materials for  promotional events. In another example, a manager from the Boston  region said that the local census office staff and the partnership specialist  worked as one team and contributed to the success of the census. These  results varied regionally, with more satisfaction in the Bureau’s Boston,  Los Angeles, and Dallas regions than in the Philadelphia and New York  regions.
On the other hand, the results of our survey of LCOMs also highlight areas  for improvement. In March, 50 percent of 393 LCOMs responding said they  were generally or very dissatisfied with coordination between local census  offices and partnership staff and a similar level of dissatisfaction was  found in a follow-up survey we conducted in May after the nonresponse  follow-up operation started. Among the responses of those LCOMs who  elaborated on their satisfaction with coordination between local census  offices and partnership staff, a key theme was a lack of cooperation or  interaction between the partnership and local census office staffs. A  manager from the Chicago region said that though the partnership  specialist was good, the organizational structure and upper management  did not allow for proper interaction. The manager said that at first,  communication between the local census office staff and the partnership  specialist was prohibited by the partnership specialist team leader, which  impeded the local census office’s ability to make valuable community  connections.
One reason for the coordination challenges between local census offices  and partnership staff could be their different reporting structures. As  shown in figure 1, LCOMs and partnership specialists report to different  officials, and the official who oversees both positions is two levels above  the LCOM and three levels above the partnership specialist.
According to Bureau officials, this reporting structure was established to  allow partnership specialists to coordinate their efforts with other  partnership specialists in the same geographical areas and share common  problems and solutions. Further, some partnership specialists were  responsible for reaching out to specific ethnic groups in areas covered by  different local census offices, making it logistically difficult for the  specialists to report to one local census office.
But among the LCOMs who elaborated on their responses to our survey, a  key theme was dissatisfaction with this reporting structure. For example,  one manager reported that the partnership program and local census  office operations are too disconnected, adding that at times both  partnership staff and local census office staff were doing the same tasks.  The manager said that the partnership program was an essential part of a  successful census, but only when performed in conjunction with local  census office operations. Another manager said that the partnership  program needs a direct link to the local census office and suggested that a  position such as an assistant manager for partnership be added to the local  census office staff. Such a position, the manager explained, would solidify  the communication between the partnership program and the local census  office.
Regardless of the management structure, what is clear is that more  positive experiences seemed to result when LCOMs and partnership  specialists dovetailed their efforts. Better communication between  partnership specialists and LCOMs may have enhanced the Bureau’s  capacity to reduce duplicative efforts, close any gaps in outreach to  community organizations with significant HTC populations, and leverage  opportunities to achieve a more complete and accurate count.
section_title: Despite Revamping, the Partnership Database Remained Problematic
paragraphs: The partnership tracking database could also benefit from refinements.  Despite improvements, partnership staff raised concerns about its user- friendliness similar to those reported in 2000. In 2010, all the partnership  specialists we interviewed reported that data entry was time consuming,  and 8 of the 11 partnership staff we interviewed reported that they needed  help with data entry in order to keep the database current. The Bureau  expected to use the partnership database to more accurately monitor and  improve partnership efforts nationally; thus the difficulty partnership staff  found in updating the system is noteworthy.
Initially, no partnership assistants were authorized to access the database  because the Bureau wanted to ensure that data were entered into the  system consistently. The Bureau was also concerned about the additional  costs associated with purchasing licenses for the large number of  partnership assistants. However, in response to regional partnership staff’s  concerns over the partnership specialists’ struggles to update the database  in a timely manner, the Bureau procured approximately 400 licenses for  select partnership assistants in August 2009. But in interviews with  partnership specialists from March through May 2010, they told us that  they continued to experience difficulty meeting the data entry  requirements.
Further, Bureau managers could not be sure if information in the  partnership database was up-to-date. Bureau officials told us that they  expected partnership specialists to immediately log any contact they had  with a partner into the database. However, our analysis of reports from the  database showed, on average, that about 35 percent of users did not  update the database on a weekly basis from March 4 through April 22,  2010. According to Bureau headquarters officials responsible for managing  the partnership program, because the partnership data were not always  current, they took the extra step of organizing weekly telephone calls  between headquarters and regional partnership staff in order to gain the  most up-to-date information on partnership activities. More current  information during a crucial time period around Census Day, April 1, could  have better positioned the Bureau to quickly identify and address problem  areas. Further, Bureau managers would likely have had better data for  redeploying partnership resources to low responding areas with  significant HTC populations during different census operations.
section_title: Aligning the Delivery of Promotional Materials with the Hiring of Partnership Staff Could Foster More Effective Relationships with Partner Organizations
paragraphs: Although the Bureau developed English and foreign language promotional  materials—both in hard copy and for the Bureau’s Web page—for  partnership specialists and assistants to use when recruiting partner  organizations, the materials were not available when partnership  specialists were first hired. Eight of the 11 partnership specialists and  assistants we interviewed reported that because promotional materials  were not available when needed, it was more difficult for them to build  relationships with potential partners. Specifically, the Bureau began hiring  partnership specialists in January 2008. However, delivery of the  promotional materials did not start until April 2009, more than a year after  partnership specialists first came on board. Although this still left a year  until Census Day, by not having promotional materials on hand when  partnership staff first began their work, the Bureau may have missed  opportunities to develop and strengthen relationships with organizations  that had the ability to influence census participation among HTC groups.
Further, three of the eight partnership staff who worked with non-English- speaking communities said it was difficult to obtain in-language materials  when needed. For example, one partnership employee in the Los Angeles  region reported being unable to engage Korean churches until after  January 2010 when the needed in-language materials first became  available (according to Bureau officials, in-language materials took longer  to develop than English language materials because of the need to ensure  accurate translations).
Bureau officials acknowledged that the schedule for hiring partnership  staff and the delivery of promotional materials were not well aligned. In  the interim, the Bureau provided partnership staff with talking points to  help them reach out to organizations in the early phase of the program.
Moving forward, it will be important for the Bureau to take a fresh look at  recurring problems in the partnership program, as well as reconsider time  frames for the availability of promotional materials. Through improving  communication and coordination between partnership and local census  office staff, developing a user-friendly database to more effectively  monitor the program’s progress, and ensuring that promotional materials  are available for distribution when partnership specialists are first hired,  the Bureau would better position itself to promote the census to HTC  populations.
section_title: The Bureau Enhanced Enumeration Programs Aimed at HTC Groups; Additional Refinements Could Improve Them for 2020
subsections: section_title: Aspects of 2010 SBE Were Refined to Address Implementation Issues from 2000 and Better Enumerate HTC Groups
paragraphs: To improve its ability to count individuals without conventional housing,  the Bureau made a number of improvements to SBE, many of which were  designed to address challenges experienced in 2000. For example, in 2000,  SBE enumerators were not trained to enumerate all types of SBE facilities,  which limited the times when enumeration could occur. In response to  service providers’ requests for more flexibility on scheduling enumeration  during the 3-day operation, the Bureau trained census workers to  enumerate all types of SBE facilities. This change made training more  consistent nationwide and enabled the Bureau to better accommodate  last-minute schedule changes.
Further, in some cases in 2000, the supply of census forms and training  materials provided to the local offices was not adequate. In 2010, the  Bureau reduced the number of form types used for enumerating  individuals at SBE facilities from four to a single multipurpose form.  According to Bureau officials, this change allowed them to provide an  adequate number of forms to local census offices and also helped increase  efficiency.
The Bureau took several steps that helped it identify a larger number of  SBE facilities in 2010 than in 2000, thereby positioning the Bureau to  conduct a more complete count. The actual number of SBE facilities the  Bureau enumerated in 2000 was 14,817, whereas for 2010 the Bureau had  plans to enumerate 64,626 sites—four times more than previously  enumerated. The steps included working more closely with local and  national partner organizations and assigning partnership assistants a role  in identifying service-providing facilities. The Bureau also developed  better guidance for partnership assistants to identify TNSOLs, relying in  part on input from partner organizations, such as church groups and  service providers that were familiar with outdoor areas where people  often spent the night. Further, the Bureau used public mailings and  technology, such as the Internet, to find a broader spectrum of facilities, as  compared to local telephone listings that were used in 2000. Table 5  compares key aspects of the 2000 and 2010 SBE operations.
section_title: The Bureau Generally Implemented SBE Consistent with Its Operation Plans but Experienced Continuing Challenges
paragraphs: The Bureau generally implemented the SBE operation as planned,  completing the 3-day operation on schedule, and spending $10.9 million,  slightly more than the $10.6 million budgeted for the operation. However,  while the overall budget estimate for the 2010 SBE operation was more  accurate than in 2000, the actual costs for local census offices in urban  HTC areas was almost double the amount budgeted—-$1.9 million  compared to the actual cost of $3.6 million. Bureau officials said they will  examine the data further to determine why the budget was exceeded in  urban HTC areas. We have noted the Bureau’s difficulties in developing  accurate cost estimates for several other Bureau operations, and the cost  overrun in urban HTC areas is another example of this.
As in 2000, our observers noted that enumerators were professional,  responsible, knowledgeable, and highly committed to fulfilling their  responsibilities. For example, during heavy rain in the Boston area,  enumerators remained focused on counting individuals living under  overhangs and stairwells, despite the difficult conditions. Our observers in  Brooklyn reported the same of enumerators there, although enumeration  of the outdoor locations was delayed one night because of adverse  weather conditions. Further, one of our observers reported that in Los  Angeles, cultural advocates—individuals the Bureau hired to accompany  enumerators and facilitate access to certain communities—helped ease  potentially tense situations.
As described below, based on our observations and the results of the  LCOM survey, SBE generally went well, and in some areas the Bureau  appears to have addressed challenges it experienced in 2000.
subsections: section_title: Enumeration Supplies Were Generally Adequate
paragraphs: Enumerators we spoke with reported having enough forms in 68 of 78  sites we visited. Also, 76 percent of 359 LCOMs who responded to our  question on the timing of the delivery of questionnaires and other  enumerations supplies were generally or very satisfied. In contrast, during  the 2000 Census, our observers noted that the timing of questionnaires and  training materials was not always adequate at the locations they visited,  which impeded enumerators’ ability to conduct their work in a timely  manner.
section_title: Advanced Visits Helped Enhance Service Providers’ Readiness for Enumeration
paragraphs: Our observers reported that facilities were prepared for SBE enumeration  in 35 of 56 visits to SBE facilities. Furthermore, 73 percent of 356 LCOMs  who responded to our question about the readiness of SBE facilities were  generally or very satisfied. In instances where facilities were not prepared,  there appears to have been an expectation or communication gap. Despite  advance visits from the Bureau, one representative at a Baltimore facility  said she was not aware that census workers were expected, and would not  allow enumeration to take place because it would disrupt the individuals’  dinner and medication treatments. She was not receptive to the workers  returning later the same evening. In another case, a Boston facility  manager was not aware that the enumeration was to take place, but  allowed the census workers to proceed. Bureau officials said that in some  instances facility staff may not have communicated previous agreements  for conducting the enumeration to new or other staff on duty at the time of  the enumeration.
section_title: Training Material Was Tailored to Accommodate Local Conditions
paragraphs: Of the LCOMs we surveyed, 65 percent of 359 LCOMs were generally or  very satisfied that the content of SBE training materials was tailored to  accommodate local conditions, such as taking into account whether an  area was urban or rural. In 2000, enumerators expressed concern that the  training they received did not always adequately prepare them for the wide  range of scenarios they encountered.
Despite these successes, the Bureau experienced some procedural and  operational challenges during SBE implementation, some of which were  similar to the Bureau’s experience in 2000.
section_title: Enumerators Did Not Always Follow Procedures
paragraphs: The Bureau’s policy referred to in its SBE enumeration manual stipulates  that when individuals state that they have already been enumerated  elsewhere, the enumerator still must attempt to complete a  questionnaire. While enumerators adhered to this procedure at about  two-thirds of the facilities we visited, we found that in 26 of 78 visits  enumerators did not attempt to enumerate individuals who told them they  had already completed a questionnaire at another location. When  individuals refuse to be enumerated, regardless of the reason, the Bureau’s  guidance instructs enumerators to ask the facility’s contact person for  information about the individual. If a contact person is not available, the  enumerator should attempt to complete as much of the questionnaire as  possible through observation. By not always following these procedures,  enumerators may have missed individuals who should have been  enumerated and the extent to which accuracy of the count was affected is  unknown.
section_title: Enumerators Did Not Always Fulfill Agreements
paragraphs: As mentioned previously, Bureau officials visited SBE facilities to make  agreements with service providers on conducting the actual enumeration.  Our observers noted that in 15 of 78 site visits, enumerators did not arrive  as scheduled at shelter locations. One of these instances occurred in  Washington, D.C., where the facility manager had instructed the clientele  who typically frequent that location to make an effort to be present when  the enumerator arrived. According to the facility manager, the enumerator  did not arrive at the scheduled time. In another instance, a facility manager  at a Boston site told our observers that she was concerned that  enumerators had arrived earlier than the agreed-upon time. She explained  that her clientele consisted of emotionally disturbed women, many of  whom had fears of authority. Thus, she said she would have preferred  more time to prepare the women for the impending visit.
When enumerators do not fulfill commitments, the missed appointments  and the need to reschedule could make the enumeration more  burdensome to service providers and detract from the Bureau’s  reputation.
section_title: Determining Appropriate Staffing Levels for SBE Sites Was Sometimes Problematic
paragraphs: The mobile nature of the SBE population and other factors make it  difficult to precisely determine the number of enumerators that should be  sent to a particular site, and sending either too many or too few  enumerators each has its consequences. Although the Bureau has  guidance on staffing ratios for enumerating different types of group  quarters, including service-based facilities, it did not always result in  optimal levels of staffing at shelters and TNSOLs. Overstaffing can lead to  unnecessarily higher labor costs and poor productivity, while  understaffing can affect the Bureau’s ability to obtain a complete count at  a particular site.
Our observers and those in the Department of Commerce’s Office of  Inspector General both reported overstaffing as an issue at SBE locations.  For example, at one of our SBE site visits, approximately 30 enumerators  reported to the same shelter in Atlanta to conduct the enumeration.  Unsure of how to proceed, the census enumerators waited for over an  hour before a crew leader instructed over half of the enumerators present  to leave, at which point no work had taken place. Similarly, the  Department of Commerce Inspector General’s staff observed long periods  of inactivity at sites and increased operational costs as a result.
Also, while most LCOMs we surveyed were satisfied with SBE staffing  levels, pockets of dissatisfaction existed at some locations. Of the LCOMs  responding to our survey in April, 81 percent of 361 were generally or very  satisfied with the number of enumerators hired to complete the SBE  workload, 10 percent of managers said they were generally or very  dissatisfied, and 9 percent of managers said they were neither satisfied nor  dissatisfied. Of the responses from managers who elaborated on our  question about their satisfaction level with the SBE operation, a key theme  that emerged was overstaffing. One manager, elaborating on his response,  said that he sent a detailed cost and benefit document to higher-level  Bureau officials to demonstrate that the number of enumerators needed  for the SBE operation in his local area should be reduced, but his request  was denied. In another instance, a manager said he was required to train  and hire at least 100 more enumerators than he felt were necessary.
Given the Bureau’s constitutional mandate to enumerate the country’s  entire population and the difficulty of enumerating the SBE population, it  is not unreasonable for the Bureau to err on the side of over- rather than  understaffing SBE to help ensure a complete count. Going forward, as part  of the Bureau’s plans to examine SBE costs, schedule, training, and  staffing, it will be important for the Bureau to determine the factors that  led to less-than-optimal staffing levels and use the information to help  determine staffing levels for SBE in 2020.
section_title: Be Counted/QAC Programs Were Implemented as Planned, but Visibility Issues Remain a Concern
paragraphs: For 2010, the Bureau developed plans that according to Bureau officials,  were designed to address challenges that the Be Counted/QAC programs  faced during the 2000 Census, such as (1) visibility of sites, (2) ability of  the public to find where the Be Counted/QAC sites were located, and   (3) monitoring of site activity. In 2000, for example, several sites we visited  lacked signs publicizing the sites’ existence, which greatly reduced  visibility. In some sites, census questionnaires were in places where  people might not look for them, such as the bottom of a shelf. We reported  that the Bureau had problems with keeping site information current, and  as a result, changes in the information about the program’s site location or  points of contact were not always available to the public. To address  these issues, in 2010, the Bureau created banners for display in public  areas of Be Counted/QAC sites, developed a Web page with locations and  hours of the sites, and updated the guidance for site selection. Table 6  compares key aspects of the 2000 and 2010 Be Counted/QAC programs.
The Bureau generally implemented the Be Counted/QAC program as  planned. The Bureau opened around 38,000 sites, conducted the Be  Counted/QAC program as scheduled from March 19 through April 19, and  completed the Be Counted/QAC program under budget. The Bureau  reported spending $38.7 million versus the $44.2 million budgeted. Bureau  officials commented that the program came in under budget in part  because the Bureau staffed the sites with one QAC representative for 15  hours a week, rather than with 1.5 representatives, as originally budgeted.  This allowed the Bureau to spend less on payroll and training, according to  officials.
Overall, the majority of the 51 sites we visited were staffed as planned and  census materials and forms were available at most sites in multiple  languages. Further, the Bureau’s preliminary data on 2010 show overall  activity at Be Counted/QAC sites increased, with about 1 million more  forms picked up in 2010, compared to the approximately 1.7 million forms  in 2000—an increase of 62 percent.
subsections: section_title: Visibility of Be Counted/QAC Sites Was Poor at Many Sites Visited
paragraphs: Visibility is key to the effectiveness of Be Counted/QAC sites because it is  directly related to people’s ability to find them. According to the Bureau’s  Be Counted job aid guidance, Be Counted clerks in local census offices  were responsible for monitoring sites and ensuring that banners were  displayed at Be Counted/QAC locations. In many locations we visited, the  Bureau’s efforts to raise the visibility of sites were evident to our  observers. For example, 23 of the 51 Be Counted/QAC sites visited were  displaying the banners the Bureau developed to advertise the existence of  the Be Counted/QAC sites. More generally, however, there were areas for  improvement. For example, our observers noted problems with “street- level” visibility in 26 of 51 Be Counted/QAC sites visited. At one site in  Atlanta, for instance, no signs were visible from the main road to publicize  the existence of the Be Counted site. In addition, our observers visited two  sites in Brooklyn that were not visible from the street. In some cases, the  banners provided by the Bureau to advertise the location of a site were not  used or displayed prominently upon entering a location that housed a site.  At another site in Washington, D.C., our observers noted that the banner  was rolled up and leaning against a file cabinet and consequently was not  clearly visible to the public.
In addition, Be Counted/QAC sites were sometimes in obscure locations  within the buildings in which they were housed. For example, at sites  located in the basement or rear of the building, we observed no signage  directing people to the Be Counted/QAC site. Further, forms and materials  available at Be Counted/QAC sites were not always clearly identified and  thus could have been overlooked. Figure 2 is an example of a Be Counted  site in Brooklyn that was prominently visible at a library. Importantly, the  banner was clearly displayed to draw attention to the site, and the time  that staff would be in attendance was also obvious.
In contrast, figure 3 shows a Be Counted site in Fresno, California, that  was difficult to find in a barbershop. Note that the area had no signage to  draw attention to the site and the forms were scattered about and difficult  to find.
In those instances when the Be Counted/QAC sites were not clearly visible  to the public, the Bureau may have missed one of the last opportunities to  directly enumerate individuals. Moving forward, the Bureau should  consider more effective ways to monitor site visibility at Be Counted/QAC  sites. For example, the Bureau could include visibility as one of the areas  to monitor when census staff conduct their regular monitoring of the Be  Counted sites.
section_title: Site Selection Guidance Does Not Consider Potential Activity Levels
paragraphs: Along with visibility, the procedures used to select Be Counted/QAC sites  are also key to the effectiveness of the program because they affect the  extent to which sites are easily accessible to targeted populations. To  improve selection of Be Counted/QAC sites in 2010, the Bureau revised its  guidance on Be Counted/QAC site criteria by emphasizing locating sites in  HTC areas and specifying the types of local census office areas where sites  should be located (e.g., urban/HTC and urban/metropolitan). However, the  guidance did not provide direction on identifying sites in locations with  the likelihood of higher levels of activity, which would increase the  potential for individuals to pick up Be Counted forms. Moreover, Bureau  officials said they encouraged staff to take advantage of locations that  were free of charge as well as locations with the likelihood of higher levels  of activity.
Activity levels at the Be Counted/QAC sites varied based on information  from Bureau staff and our observations. QAC representatives at 8 of 43  QAC-only sites visited told us that their sites had moderate to high levels  of activity while 12 of 43 QAC representatives told us their sites had low  levels of activity. For example, a QAC representative at one facility in  Phoenix and another in Atlanta said they had to frequently restock Be  Counted forms and that they provided many people with assistance.  Another QAC representative in Dallas said that he assisted up to 30 people  in one day at the Be Counted/QAC site he staffed. Conversely, a QAC  representative in Miami said that the LCOM was considering the site for  closure because very few people visited the location and used the services.  Similarly, a firefighter at a Dallas QAC site observed that the site was open  for 11 days and no one visited the site during this time and the box  containing materials accompanying the questionnaires (i.e., pens and  language reference documents) was unopened. Additionally, during a June  debriefing, where QAC representatives discussed their experiences with  Bureau officials, the QAC representatives commented on the problem of  low activity at some Be Counted/QAC sites, according to Bureau officials.
Preliminary data on forms returned and checked in also revealed changes  in activity levels at Be Counted/QAC sites for 2010. For example, an  average of 20 forms were returned and checked in from each Be  Counted/QAC site in 2010, down from an average of 28 in 2000. Given that  the operation was conducted over a 30-day period, that translates to less  than 1 form per day per site. While this difference might reflect the fact  that the address list in 2010 was better than in 2000 and that fewer  households were missed, it also indicates that the operation was very  resource intensive relative to the number of forms that were returned.
According to Bureau planning guidance, both local census office staff and  partnership specialists were jointly responsible for identifying Be  Counted/QAC sites, and local census office staff were responsible for  monitoring the sites. However, a number of LCOMs we surveyed in May  expressed concern about assistance from partnership specialists in  identifying Be Counted/QAC sites. While 32 percent of 369 LCOMs who  responded to our survey were generally or very satisfied with the  assistance they received from partnership specialists for identifying sites,  57 percent of managers responding indicated that they were generally or  very dissatisfied. Among the responses of those LCOMs who elaborated on  their satisfaction level with the partnership program, one key theme that  emerged was dissatisfaction with the Be Counted/QAC sites identified. For  example, one LCOM commented that many of the Be Counted/QAC sites  were in poor locations and were not in areas with the highest need. To the  extent that the Be Counted/QAC sites were established in locations with  low activity, the result was lower productivity and higher costs to the  Bureau in the form of wages paid to census employees to staff and  monitor the sites. There were also opportunity costs in monitoring a site  with low activity when a site in a different location could have produced  better results.
The Be Counted/QAC program, in concept, may be a reasonable effort to  include people who might have otherwise been missed by the census.  However, it was also a resource-intensive operation in which relatively  few questionnaires, on average per site, were generated, once the cost and  effort of identifying, stocking, staffing, monitoring, and maintaining the  sites are considered. More will be known about the effectiveness of the Be  Counted/QAC program when the Bureau determines how many Be  Counted/QAC forms resulted in adding people and new addresses to the  census. Similar to SBE, the Bureau plans to assess the Be Counted/QAC  program by examining costs, schedule, training, and staffing. Moving  forward, it will also be important for the Bureau to explore ways to  maximize the Be Counted/QAC program’s ability to increase the number of  forms returned and checked in from the target population for the 2020  Census and, ultimately, determine whether fewer but more strategically  placed sites could produce more cost-effective results.
section_title: Conclusions
paragraphs: In 2010, the Bureau was better positioned to reach out to and enumerate  HTC populations compared to 2000 in large part because its plans  addressed a number of the challenges experienced in the previous  decennial. For example, the Bureau focused more of its resources on  targeting paid media efforts to HTC groups, employed partnership staff  with a wider range of language capabilities, and developed a more  comprehensive list of service-providing facilities that likely enhanced its  capacity to enumerate people lacking conventional housing. Further, from  an operational perspective, the Bureau generally implemented its HTC  outreach and enumeration efforts consistent with its operational plans,  completing them within schedule and budget. Overall, while the full  impact of these efforts will not be known until after the Bureau completes  various assessments, including an evaluation of the extent and nature of  any under- and overcounts, the Bureau’s rigorous effort to raise  awareness, encourage participation, and enumerate HTC populations  likely played a key role in holding mail participation rates steady in 2010  for the overall population, a significant achievement given the various  factors that were acting against an acceptable mail response in 2010.
Still, certain aspects of the Bureau’s outreach and enumeration of HTC  populations need attention. Key focus areas for outreach efforts include  (1) ensuring the Bureau is using paid media efficiently to improve  response rates, (2) improving the coordination between partnership and  local census office staff to leverage opportunities to achieve a more  accurate and complete count, (3) improving the partnership database to  enhance its use as a management tool, and (4) making promotional  materials available to partnership staff when they begin their work to  improve their ability to develop relationships with partner organizations.  For enumeration activities, by determining the factors that lead to the SBE  staffing issues at some locations and revising site selection guidance for  Be Counted/QAC sites based on visitation and other applicable data, the  Bureau may increase the overall value of special enumeration activities.
More generally, the Bureau invested more resources in reaching out to and  enumerating HTC groups in 2010 but achieved the same overall  participation rate as in 2000. This trend is likely to continue as the nation’s  population gets larger, more diverse, and more difficult to count. As the  Bureau looks toward the next national headcount, it plans to use the  results of its evaluations for input into 2020 planning. At the same time, it  will be important for the Bureau to go beyond that and use 2010 evaluation  results to gain a better understanding of the extent to which the various  special enumeration activities aimed at HTC groups produced a more  complete and accurate census. More specifically, better information on the  value added by each special enumeration activity could help the Bureau  allocate its resources more cost effectively. This may include changing  existing programs to increase efficiency or undertaking new special  enumeration efforts altogether.
section_title: Recommendations for Executive Action
paragraphs: To help improve the effectiveness of the Bureau’s outreach and  enumeration efforts, especially for HTC populations, should they be used  again in the 2020 Census, we recommend that the Secretary of Commerce  require the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs as well as the Director of  the U.S. Census Bureau to take the following seven actions:  To improve the Bureau’s marketing/outreach efforts:    Use evaluation results, response rate, and other data to develop a  predictive model that would inform decisions on how much and how  best to allocate paid media funds for 2020.
Develop mechanisms to increase coordination and communication  between the partnership and local census office staff. Possible actions  include offering more opportunities for joint training, establishing  protocols for coordination, and more effectively leveraging the  partnership contact database to better align partnership outreach  activities with local needs.
Improve the user-friendliness of the partnership database to help  ensure more timely updates of contact information and enhance its use  as a management tool.
Ensure that promotional materials, including in-language materials for  the partnership program, are available when partnership staff are first  hired.
To improve some of the Bureau’s key efforts to enumerate HTC  populations:    Assess visitation, response rate, and other applicable data on Be  Counted/QAC locations and use that information to revise site  selection guidance for 2020.
Determine the factors that led to the staffing issues observed during  SBE and take corrective actions to ensure more efficient SBE staffing  levels in 2020.
Evaluate the extent to which each special enumeration activity  improved the count of traditionally hard-to-enumerate groups and use  the results to help inform decision making on spending for these  programs in 2020.
section_title: Agency Comments and Our Evaluation
paragraphs: On December 8, 2010, the Secretary of Commerce provided written  comments on the draft report, which are reprinted in appendix I. The  Department of Commerce generally agreed with the overall findings and  recommendations of the report. In addition, the department noted that its  Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) has management oversight  responsibility for the Bureau and asked that we include ESA in our  recommendation. We revised the report to reflect this comment.
We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Commerce, the  Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, the Under Secretary for Economic  Affairs, and interested congressional committees. The report also is  available at no charge on GAO’s Web site at http://www.gao.gov.
If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact me  at (202) 512-2757 or goldenkoffr@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices  of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last  page of this report. GAO staff who made major contributions to this report  are listed in appendix II.
section_title: Appendix I: Comments from the Department of Commerce
section_title: Appendix II: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments
subsections: section_title: Staff Acknowledgments
paragraphs: In addition to the contact named above, Signora May, Assistant Director;  Peter Beck; David R. Bobruff; Benjamin C. Crawford; Shaunessye Curry;  Kathleen Drennan; Elizabeth Fan; Robert Gebhart; Guillermo Gonzalez;  Thomas Han; Paul Hobart; Brian James; Paul Kinney; Elke Kolodinski;  Kirsten B. Lauber; Veronica Mayhand; Karine McClosky; Catherine Myrick;  Keith O’Brien; Michael Pahr; Melanie Papasian; Rudolfo Payan; Stacy  Spence; Barbara Steel-Lowney; Travis Thomson; Cheri Y. Truett; Timothy  Wexler; Monique B. Williams; Carla Willis; and Katherine Wulff made key  contributions to this report.
section_title: Related GAO Products
paragraphs: 2010 Census: Data Collection Operations Were Generally Completed as  Planned, but Long-standing Challenges Suggest Need for Fundamental  Reforms. GAO-11-193. Washington, D.C.: December 14, 2010.  2010 Census: Follow-up Should Reduce Coverage Errors, but Effects on  Demographic Groups Need to Be Determined. GAO-11-154. Washington,  D.C.: December 14, 2010.  2010 Census: Cooperation with Enumerators Is Critical to Successful  Headcount. GAO-10-665T. Washington, D.C.: April 30, 2010.  2010 Census: Plans for Census Coverage Measurement Are on Track, but  Additional Steps Will Improve Its Usefulness. GAO-10-324. Washington,  D.C.: April 23, 2010.  2010 Census: Data Collection Is Under Way, but Reliability of Key  Information Technology Systems Remains a Risk. GAO-10-567T.  Washington, D.C.: March 25, 2010.  2010 Census: Operational Changes Made for 2010 Position the U.S.  Census Bureau to More Accurately Classify and Identify Group  Quarters. GAO-10-452T. Washington, D.C.: February 22, 2010.  2010 Census: Efforts to Build an Accurate Address List Are Making  Progress, but Face Software and Other Challenges. GAO-10-140T.  Washington, D.C.: October 21, 2009.  2010 Census: Census Bureau Continues to Make Progress in Mitigating  Risks to a Successful Enumeration, but Still Faces Various Challenges.  GAO-10-132T. Washington, D.C.: October 7, 2009.  2010 Census: Communications Campaign Has Potential to Boost  Participation. GAO-09-525T. Washington, D.C.: March 23, 2009.  2010 Census: Fundamental Building Blocks of a Successful  Enumeration Face Challenges. GAO-09-430T. Washington, D.C.: March 5,  2009.  2010 Census: Census Bureau Needs Procedures for Estimating the  Response Rate and Selecting for Testing Methods to Increase Response  Rate. GAO-08-1012. Washington, D.C.: September 30, 2008.   2010 Census: The Bureau’s Plans for Reducing the Undercount Show  Promise, but Key Uncertainties Remain. GAO-08-1167T. Washington,  D.C.: September 23, 2008.