Decennial Census: Census Bureau and Postal Service Should Pursue Opportunities to Further Enhance Collaboration
Published: 2011-09-30T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: The Census Bureau (Bureau) and U.S. Postal Service (USPS) collaborated on aspects of the 2010 Census and prior decennials, and those efforts generally went well in such areas as address list development. But both agencies face challenges: the Bureau needs to control the escalating cost of the decennial census and maintain its accuracy, while USPS must improve its financial condition. As requested, GAO examined opportunities to enhance collaboration in such areas as technology, personnel, and facilities that could improve the cost-effectiveness of the 2020 Census and generate revenue for USPS. GAO analyzed Bureau and USPS data and documents, compared the agencies' existing collaborative efforts with prior GAO work, and interviewed agency officials.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: The Bureau and USPS are expanding collaborative efforts for the 2020 Census. The collaborative efforts include a new Bureau initiative to continuously update its master address list using USPS and local address information. This could allow the Bureau to limit the size of field operations needed to develop an accurate and complete address list for the 2020 Census. The Bureau and USPS also plan to update their 1995 memorandum of understanding to, among other matters, help ensure that both agencies benefit from their collaborative efforts. Bureau officials explained that under the 1995 memorandum, the agencies' collaboration typically benefited the Bureau more than USPS. Now both agencies would like to improve each other's address and geographic information. One new effort anticipated under the revised memorandum of understanding would provide USPS with the Bureau's geographic data products and support, which USPS hopes to use to improve its mail routing and other business decisions. The revised memorandum of understanding is expected to be approved later this year. Additional opportunities exist for the Bureau to take advantage of the knowledge and experience of USPS mail carriers, including retirees. Bureau and USPS officials agree that USPS mail carriers are familiar with their communities, so hiring mail carriers as temporary census workers could allow the Bureau to, among other things, develop a more accurate address list for the 2020 Census. However, using mail carriers to conduct census field operations at USPS pay rates would not be cost-effective. In 2010, USPS mail carriers cost on average about $41 (city) or $34 (rural) per hour compared to about $15 per hour for census enumerators. In the 2010 Census, about 19-million forms could not be delivered--also known as undeliverable as addressed mailings. The Bureau, in its comments to a copy of this draft report, provided a summary of reasons for why forms were not delivered. These reasons include the house was vacant or there was no mail box. Thus, now that the Bureau has compiled this information, it will be important for the Bureau to work with USPS to assess strategies to reduce the number of undeliverable as addressed mailings, as undelivered mail results in additional operational and waste-disposal costs for USPS and additional postage fees for the Bureau. The Bureau works with the General Services Administration to lease space for its local offices during the census. For the 2010 Census, the Bureau leased two USPS locations for a total cost of $330,000. While USPS officials stated that ongoing efforts to downsize the USPS could increase the availability of facility space that could be used by the Bureau in the next census, USPS hopes to sell these facilities, and it is uncertain how many will be available in 2020 (and what condition those facilities would be in if they were available).
section_title: What GAO Recommends
paragraphs: GAO recommends the Secretary of Commerce and USPS consider (1) expanding their current collaborative efforts to include recruiting mail carriers, including retirees, for the 2020 Census, and (2) assessing whether strategies can be developed to reduce the number of "undeliverable as addressed" census mailings. USPS agreed with GAO's recommendations. Commerce disagreed with the second draft recommendation concerning analyzing the reasons for undelivered mailings. GAO revised the recommendation to focus on developing a strategy to help reduce costs involved with processing undelivered mail.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: In some respects, the U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) and U.S.  Postal Service (USPS) are operationally similar in that they fulfill  their missions by processing large amounts of paper, delivering  it to millions of housing units across the country, and employing  a large workforce. Additionally, both agencies face unique  financial and management challenges. The Bureau has the  challenge of controlling the escalating cost of the decennial  census—especially of field operations—while maintaining its  accuracy. The 2010 Census cost about $13 billion (almost $5  billion more than the 2000 Census—in 2010 dollars) and was  the most expensive population count in our nation’s history. At  the same time, while USPS has achieved cost savings in the last  5 years, its financial condition has deteriorated significantly  since fiscal year 2006, and its financial outlook is grim in both  the short and long term. USPS has been experiencing billion- dollar losses and cash shortfalls over the last 5 years, and  expects to reach its $15-billion borrowing limit this fiscal year.  In addition, on June 22, 2011, USPS officials announced that  USPS will suspend its employer’s contributions for the defined  benefit portion of the Federal Employees Retirement System in  order to conserve cash and preserve liquidity. The following  month USPS announced it planned to study the closure of  approximately 3,700 retail offices. We have reported extensively  on the feasibility of USPS increasing revenue and remaining  viable in the face of declining mail volumes resulting from the  recession and the continuing shift to electronic communication  alternatives. For these and other reasons, in 2009, we placed  USPS’s financial condition and outlook on our list of high-risk  programs and agencies.
The Bureau and USPS collaborated on aspects of the 2010  Census and prior decennials, and those efforts generally went  well. At your request, we examined planned and unexplored  opportunities to enhance collaboration in such areas as  technology, personnel, and facilities that could improve the  cost-effectiveness of census operations for the 2020 Census and  possibly generate revenue for USPS.
To collect data and information for this report, we reviewed  relevant documents, including the agencies’ documentation of  lessons learned from the 2010 Census, and we interviewed  agency officials to identify current and planned collaborative  activities. To determine existing and unexplored technological  efforts that could be shared between the agencies, we reviewed  relevant documents including agency strategic plans,  interviewed agency officials about current practices such as the  Intelligent Mail Barcode, and visited a mail distribution center in  Baltimore, Maryland, to understand how 2010 Census mail  pieces would have been shipped and received and whether there  could be improvements to that process for the 2020 Census. To  determine whether there were opportunities for additional  collaboration for personnel, we examined 2010 Census hiring  data from the Bureau and we interviewed agency officials and  USPS labor union representatives to discuss the hiring of mail  carriers as temporary census workers. To determine whether  additional collaboration between USPS and the Bureau could  include more uses of physical assets, we examined 2010 Census  leasing documents and interviewed officials from the Bureau,  USPS, and the General Services Administration (GSA). Finally,  we compared the agencies’ existing collaborative efforts to key  practices we identified in prior GAO work regarding sustaining  and enhancing cross-agency collaboration.
We conducted this performance audit from December 2010  through September 2011 in accordance with generally accepted  government auditing standards. Those standards require that  we plan and perform the audits to obtain sufficient, appropriate  evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and  conclusions based on our audit objective. We believe that the  evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings  and conclusions based on our audit objective.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: The decennial census is a constitutionally mandated undertaking  that is used, among other things, to apportion seats in  Congress, redraw congressional districts, help annually allocate  billions of dollars in federal aid to state and local governments,  and inform investment decisions by the public and private  sectors. As shown in figure 1, the cost of enumerating each  housing unit has escalated from around $16 in 1970 to around  $97 in 2010, in constant 2010 dollars (an increase of over 500  percent). Costs are driven in part by, the mail response rate—a  key indicator of a cost-effective census—which has declined  from 78 percent in 1970 to 63 percent in 2010. A variety of  factors account for the declining response rate, including  increases in non-English speakers and people residing in  makeshift and other nontraditional living arrangements. Given  these and other sociodemographic challenges, the Bureau has  been investing substantially more resources each decade just to  try and match the results of prior enumerations.
According to the Bureau, several factors were behind the  escalating costs of the 2010 Census, such as the need to hire  about 585,000 temporary field staff to count the more than 46- million households that did not mail back their census forms,  and substantial investments in updating the Bureau’s address  list—including address canvassing, a door-to-door effort to  verify the address list’s accuracy in 2009.
USPS also faces financial challenges, especially as customers  shift to electronic communications and electronic payments.  Total mail volume peaked in fiscal year 2006 at 213-billion mail  pieces and is expected to decline by about 22 percent by the  end of fiscal year 2011, to about 167-billion mail pieces. In the  first three quarters of this fiscal year, the volume for First-Class  Mail—USPS’s most profitable product—declined by 6.5 percent  compared to the same period last year. Over the last 5 fiscal  years, USPS has experienced a cumulative net loss of nearly  $23 billion, and has already reported a net loss of nearly $5.7  billion through the first nine months of fiscal year 2011. Further,  USPS anticipates ending this fiscal year with a loss of  approximately $10 billion.
USPS plays a key role in the success of the decennial census.  Since the advent of the mail-out/mail-back census in 1970,  USPS has helped to develop and improve the Bureau’s census  address list and has delivered and returned census forms. A  complete and accurate address list is the cornerstone of a  successful census because it both identifies all households that  receive a census questionnaire and serves as the control  mechanism for following up with individuals at households that  fail to respond. USPS maintains and regularly updates a  database (its Delivery Sequence File) of all addresses to which it  delivers mail and provides this information biannually to the  Bureau.
The collaborative efforts between the Bureau and USPS have  generally gone well and demonstrate the importance of key  leading collaboration practices that we previously identified.  Some of these include:    establishing compatible policies, procedures, and other  means to operate across agency boundaries;    defining and articulating a common outcome; and   identifying and addressing needs by leveraging resources.
For example, in 1990, the Bureau and USPS established the  interagency Joint Committee for Census Planning to develop  opportunities for cooperation in support of the decennial census.  This committee defines and agrees on the respective roles and  responsibilities of the two agencies and addresses the  compatibility of standards and policies. In 1995, USPS and the  Bureau signed a memorandum of understanding that is still in  effect which defined how the two agencies will share addresses  in order to conduct the decennial census. Moreover, for the  2010 Census the agencies agreed to have USPS destroy rather  than return certain undeliverable mail pieces, resulting in cost  savings of $250,000 for the Bureau and over $12 million in  savings for USPS, according to Bureau estimates.
Officials from both the Bureau and USPS believe their  collaboration related to the 2010 Census was mutually  beneficial. For example, Bureau officials stated that USPS  delivered 417-million census mail pieces, virtually 100 percent  of which were delivered on time, and according to USPS’s 2010  Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations, census  mailings generated over $202 million in revenue. Additionally,  the 2010 Census provided USPS with an opportunity to  demonstrate the benefits of a relatively new mail product, the  Intelligent Mail Barcode, which enables mailers to track the  progress of their mail through the many stages of processing to  delivery. The Bureau was the largest-ever user of Intelligent  Mail Barcode for a single-mailing effort, and the success of the  mailing could help USPS market the barcode to other customers.  Among other benefits, the barcode enabled the Bureau to  identify which census forms were in the mail-stream on their  way back to the Bureau 3 to 5 days sooner than if the Bureau  had not used this technology (see fig. 2). As a result, the  Bureau was able to remove 11-million addresses from the  replacement mailing, which led to nearly $5 million in postage  savings.
section_title: Opportunities Exist to Enhance the Partnership between the Bureau and USPS
subsections: section_title: The Bureau and USPS Plan Additional Collaborative Efforts for the 2020 Census
paragraphs: The Bureau and USPS are engaging in efforts to enhance their  collaboration. For example, given the Bureau’s use of the  Intelligent Mail Barcode for the 2010 Census, the Bureau  considered using the barcode for its American Community  Survey. Although Bureau officials indicated they planned to use  the Intelligent Mail Barcode for the American Community  Survey, since the completion of our audit, the Bureau  determined that the cost savings were insufficient to justify the  required investment to use the technology.
The Bureau is in the planning stages of working with USPS and  other federal agencies on a new program called the Geographic  Support System Initiative, which is intended to allow  government agencies at all levels to regularly share and  continuously update their address lists, making them more  detailed and accurate. Specifically, the Bureau plans to partner  with USPS and other federal agencies as well as approximately  40,000 tribal, state, and local governments. According to  current plans, USPS will continue providing the Bureau with  addresses from its Delivery Sequence File. Likewise, tribal,  state, and local governments, which maintain address lists for  purposes such as emergency response and property  assessment, will have the opportunity to share addresses with  the Bureau throughout the decade, rather than solely 2 years  prior to the decennial, as had been the case in prior decennials.  However, Bureau officials have noted that in moving forward  one challenge will be coordinating adherence to the  confidentiality protections included in the Bureau’s Title 13  provisions and USPS’s Title 39. Ultimately, by leveraging  address information from USPS and other government entities  during the non-decennial years, Bureau officials anticipate that  they will be in a position in 2019 to move away from a full door- to-door address canvassing of every housing unit, to a more  targeted effort. Address canvassing is one of the Bureau’s  largest and most expensive field operations, and Bureau officials  stated a more targeted program could lead to significant cost  savings.
The Bureau and USPS also plan to update their 1995  memorandum of understanding to, among other matters, reflect  routine changes that have occurred over time (e.g., update  contact information), and help ensure that both agencies benefit  from their collaborative efforts. Bureau officials explained that  under the 1995 memorandum, the agencies’ collaboration  typically benefited the Bureau more than USPS. Now both  agencies would like to improve each other’s address and  geographic information. One new effort anticipated under the  revised memorandum of understanding would provide USPS  with the Bureau’s geographic data products and support, which  USPS hopes to use to improve its mail routing and other  business decisions. The revised memorandum of understanding  is expected to be approved later this year.
section_title: The Bureau Could Better Leverage USPS Local Knowledge by Recruiting USPS Mail Carriers to Work Temporarily for the Census
paragraphs: Opportunities exist for the Bureau to take advantage of the  knowledge and experience of USPS mail carriers, including  retirees. Bureau and USPS officials agree that USPS city and  rural mail carriers are familiar with the local living conditions in  their communities and that this knowledge could help the  Bureau conduct aspects of the 2020 Census more effectively.  Mail carriers have experience and knowledge about the  dwellings on their routes and could help find unconventional and  hidden housing units (e.g., converted basements and attics) and  identify single versus multi-unit homes. Residents of these  households are often more difficult to find and count.  Additionally, in some communities, mail carriers have  information about hazardous locations along delivery routes  (e.g., houses with an unchained dog or other dangers such as  structurally unsafe porches), which could make census workers’  jobs safer and easier.
In hiring for the 2010 Census, the Bureau did not do a targeted  recruitment of USPS employees and retirees, a potential missed  opportunity given that there were approximately 300,000 USPS  mail carriers and approximately 100,000 additional retired mail  carriers at that time. Still, the Bureau hired approximately  2,400 USPS employees as temporary census employees at the  Bureau’s $15 average pay rate. The potential benefits of mail  carriers’ local knowledge was evident, for example, in a case we  observed in Louisiana, where a retired mail carrier used his  knowledge of local living conditions to successfully manage  census field operations in the area most devastated by  Hurricane Katrina. Specifically, the mail carrier knew which  addresses to remove and which to add to the address list based  on his experience delivering mail in those neighborhoods. In  moving forward for 2020, a targeted campaign—e.g., via job  listings in mail carrier union newsletters and publications—could  help the Bureau recruit more mail carriers to conduct census  operations.
That said, using full-time mail carriers paid at much higher  USPS wage rates—either for additional duties during the work  day or as part of a “postal holiday” (where regular mail  operations would be suspended in order to conduct census  activities)—would not be cost-effective. Regarding cost, in 2010,  the average USPS mail carrier was paid about $41 (city) or $34  (rural) per hour including benefits for regular time worked,  compared to the average hourly pay of about $15 paid to  census enumerators. Moreover, in conducting the 2010 Census,  it took about 45-million staff hours to contact nonrespondents.  Because of the difference in pay rates and the large number of  staff hours involved, it would not be practical for mail carriers to  perform census duties in lieu of census workers because of the  higher costs and disruption it would cause to U.S. mail service.
section_title: Reducing the Number of “Undeliverable as Addressed” Mailings Could Improve the Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness of USPS Operations
paragraphs: During the 2010 Census, USPS personnel were concerned about  resources spent attempting to deliver census mailings with  undeliverable addresses. Bureau officials initially noted that the  roughly 19-million undelivered forms were higher than the 12-  million undeliverable forms anticipated. According to officials  from both agencies, the different purposes of their address lists  contributes to undeliverable mailings; the Bureau’s Master  Address File supports the mission of counting everyone in the  nation and contains all addresses, vacant or occupied, where  someone may reside. However, USPS does not support the  delivery of mail to vacant housing units. Indeed, preliminary  data confirms that some 53 percent of undelivered forms were  because of housing units being vacant.
According to the Bureau the difference between the 19-million  and the 12-million undeliverable forms was primarily due to  replacement mailing forms that were sent to nonresponding  households, and not because of an increase in its initial  projection that approximately 12-million addresses would be  undeliverable. Nevertheless, while the Bureau is able to explain  the difference between the actual and projected number of  undelivered forms, the data still show that USPS processed a  significant number of forms—19-million (the initial mail out of  forms went to approximately 120-million addresses). In a  subsequent conversation, Bureau officials agreed that in looking  forward to 2020, it would be beneficial to both agencies to  research ways to reduce the number of undeliverable forms.  Indeed, one such example to reduce the undeliverable workload  was highlighted in a Census lessons-learned document dated  June 2010. In that document, it was recommended that  addresses that do not have a city or state be eliminated from  the address list provided to USPS. However, the Bureau will still  need to determine how it will get a census form to those  housing units.
In responding to a copy of our draft report the Bureau provided  a summary of preliminary reason codes for why approximately  12-million initial forms were not delivered. Thus, now that the  Bureau has compiled this information it will be important for the  Bureau to work with USPS to assess whether strategies can be  developed to reduce the number of undeliverable as addressed  mailings such as not delivering to housing units that do not have  a complete address or that do not have a mail box. Given the  fiscal situation of USPS, reducing the undeliverable workload is  important because these mailings incur additional operational  and waste-disposal costs for USPS and additional postage fees  for the Bureau.
section_title: Various Factors Could Affect the Bureau’s Use of USPS Facilities in 2020
paragraphs: For the 2010 Census, the Bureau operated 494 local census  offices across the country. The Bureau works with GSA to  identify, convert, and lease space for its local offices during the  census. When identifying space, GSA’s policy is to first search its  property database for government and USPS-owned facilities,  and if none are available to then turn to commercial facilities.  For the 2010 Census, the Bureau leased ten government-owned  facilities and two USPS facilities: one in Waycross, Georgia, and  the other in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. USPS received $196,990  on the 16-month lease of the facility in Waycross, Georgia, and  $132,702 on the 14-month lease in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.  The Bureau’s requirements for office space included a minimum  of 6,197 square feet in specific locations across the country, and  a short fixed time period. GSA officials stated that difficulty in  meeting these requirements was the principal reason why the  Bureau leased very few government and USPS-owned facilities.  USPS officials stated that ongoing efforts to downsize USPS will  probably increase availability of facility space that could be used  by the Bureau in the next census, but USPS hopes to sell these  facilities, and it is uncertain how many will be available in 2020  (and what condition those facilities would be in if they were  available). Additionally, Bureau officials have not determined  how many local census offices will be needed for 2020 or where  they will need to be located. These and other unknown factors,  such as potential changes to Bureau requirements, could affect  the Bureau’s need to lease space from USPS in 2020.
section_title: Conclusions
paragraphs: Bureau and USPS collaboration is important to achieving a  complete and accurate census. While such collaboration is  unlikely to lead to significant new funds for USPS, it could make  aspects of the census more cost-effective. To that end, the  Bureau and USPS have undertaken, and are currently engaging  in, efforts to enhance collaboration that will likely result in more  efficient mailings and more detailed and accurate address lists.  Additionally, by updating the 1995 memorandum of  understanding, the Bureau and USPS will help ensure that both  agencies benefit from their collaborative efforts. However,  because of potential changes to the design of the decennial  census and USPS’s financial condition, it is difficult to predict  how the Bureau and USPS’s collaboration will evolve for the  2020 Census.
Building upon the success of current and past partnership  efforts, opportunities exist to enhance the Bureau and USPS’s  collaborative efforts. First, the Bureau could better leverage  USPS local knowledge and tap into a large labor pool by doing  targeted recruitment of USPS mail carriers, including retirees, to  work temporarily for the census. Second, during the 2010  Census, USPS spent time and money attempting to deliver  millions of census mailings that were returned as undeliverable.  A focus on solutions for delivering census forms to addresses  where the Bureau does not have a complete address could  decrease USPS’s operational and waste-disposal costs.
section_title: Recommendations for Executive Action
paragraphs: Given the importance of Bureau and USPS collaboration in  successfully executing census operations, as part of future  partnership activities, we recommend that the Postmaster  General and the Secretary of Commerce direct their agencies to  expand their collaborative efforts by:    determining if there are ways that the Bureau could work  with USPS to target recruitment opportunities to mail  carriers, and    assessing whether strategies can be developed to reduce the  number of undeliverable as addressed mailings.
section_title: Agency Comments and Our Evaluation
paragraphs: On August 24, 2011 we sent a draft of this report to USPS and  on September 15, 2011, the Vice President of Product  Information at USPS provided written comments that are  reprinted in appendix I. USPS generally agreed with the overall  findings and recommendations of the report. In regards to  better leveraging USPS local knowledge by recruiting mail  carriers to work temporarily for the Census, USPS agreed that  this may be an opportunity to help the Census Bureau conduct  aspects of the 2020 Census, so long as the work did not disrupt  mail service. Moreover, USPS agreed that reducing the number  of undeliverable mailings will reduce USPS operational costs,  and stated that it will work with the Bureau through the  interagency joint committee to develop strategies to reduce  them in future mailings.
Additionally, on August 24, 2011 we sent a draft of this report  to the Department of Commerce and the Bureau and on  September 15, 2011, the Acting Secretary of Commerce  provided written comments from the Census Bureau. Those  comments are reprinted in appendix II. The Bureau in its  comments was silent on whether it agreed with the  recommendation to target recruitment opportunities to mail  carriers, however, in a subsequent discussion stated that it did  agree with that first recommendation. The Bureau disagreed  with the finding and recommendation for reducing the  undeliverable as addressed mailing workload, stating they had  already analyzed the available reasons for why mailings were  undeliverable and because the number of unique addresses that  were undeliverable did not vary substantially from Bureau  projections. Further, the Bureau provided additional information  related to one of our findings that we incorporated into the  report, as appropriate. Specifically, the Bureau informed us that  since the completion of our audit work, it has opted not to use  the Intelligent Mail Barcode in its American Community Survey.  This new information is reflected in the body of the report. In  the comments, the Bureau also included an attachment of  analysis that was not reprinted in this report because the data  were still in draft.
The Bureau noted that our report, in its discussion of  undeliverable as addressed mailings, implies that the majority of  these mailings were the result of invalid addresses. Our draft  report did not intend to imply that the majority of undeliverable  as addressed mailings were the result of invalid addresses. In  fact, our report emphasizes that the different purposes of the  address lists for USPS and the Census Bureau contributed to the  many undeliverable mailings. We have revised the language in  the finding to further clarify this point.
The Bureau stated that our report also implies that the Bureau  underestimated the number of undeliverable as addressed  mailings by 7 million because of a miscommunication between  the Census and USPS. Specifically, the Bureau in its response to  our draft report acknowledges that it never clearly  communicated to USPS that undeliverable mailings would be  higher than the number of undeliverable addresses. According  to Bureau officials, this is because undeliverable addresses  receive multiple mailings. We understand that it was 12-million  addresses that contributed to the 19-million undeliverable  forms; however, we believe our point to reduce the number of  undeliverable mailings is still valid because USPS still had to  process and attempt to deliver 19-million forms. In a  subsequent conversation Bureau officials agreed that finding  ways to reduce undeliverable mailings would benefit both  agencies. We have revised this section of the report.
The Bureau believes much of the undeliverable as addressed  operational and waste-disposal costs for USPS and additional  postage fees for the Bureau were both anticipated and  unavoidable. However, we believe that if the Bureau can reduce  the number of undeliverable as addressed mailings, then it can  avoid the cost to process forms that can not be delivered. For  example, in a Census lessons-learned document dated June  2010, it was recommended that one way to reduce the  undeliverable as addressed workload would be to eliminate  addresses that did not have a city or state. We believe that  steps to reduce the undeliverable as addressed workload, such  as the one highlighted in the lessons-learned document, can  prevent USPS from incurring unnecessary operational and  waste-disposal cost and the Bureau from incurring unnecessary  postage fees.
Finally, the Bureau disagreed with our recommendation to  analyze the reasons why there were more undeliverable as  addressed mailings than expected and to develop strategies and  procedures to reduce them, because according to the Bureau, it  has analyzed the reasons why mailings were undeliverable and  the number of “unique” addresses that were undeliverable did  not vary substantially from its projections. We believe that there  are opportunities to reduce undeliverable mailings. We have  revised our recommendation so it now reads that the Bureau  “assess whether strategies can be developed to reduce the  number of undeliverable as addressed mailings.” This change  recognizes that the Bureau has compiled the information to  understand the various reasons why there were so many  undelivered forms and can now use that data to assess whether  strategies can be developed to reduce the number of  undeliverable as addressed mailings.
We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of  Commerce, the Under Secretary of Economic Affairs, the  Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, the Postmaster General,   and interested congressional committees. The report also is  available at no charge on GAO’s Web site at  http://www.gao.gov.
If you have any questions on matters discussed in this report,  please contact Robert Goldenkoff at (202) 512-2757 or by e- mail at goldenkoffr@gao.gov or Phillip Herr at (202) 512-8509  or by e-mail at herrp@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of  Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the  last page of this report. Key contributors to this report are listed  in appendix III.
section_title: Appendix I: Comments from the U.S. Postal Service
section_title: Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Commerce
section_title: Appendix III: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments
subsections: section_title: GAO Contacts
section_title: Staff Acknowledgments
paragraphs: Other key contributors to this report include Lisa Pearson, Assistant  Director; Kathleen Turner, Assistant Director; Ronald Fecso, Chief  Statistician; David Bobruff; Robert Gebhart; Richard Hung; Hannah Laufe;  Andrea Levine; Sarah Veale; Crystal Wesco; Jarrod West; and Timothy  Wexler.