The Census Bureau’s mission is to serve as the leading source of high- quality data about the nation’s people and economy. The Bureau’s core activities include conducting decennial, economic, and government censuses, conducting demographic and economic surveys, managing international demographic and socioeconomic databases, providing technical advisory services to foreign governments, and performing such other activities as producing official population estimates and projections. Conducting the decennial census is a major undertaking involving considerable preparation, which is currently under way. A decennial census involves identifying and correcting addresses for all known living quarters in the United States (known as “address canvassing”); sending questionnaires to housing units; following up with nonrespondents through personal interviews; identifying people with nontraditional living arrangements; managing a voluminous workforce responsible for follow-up activities; collecting census data by means of questionnaires, calls, and personal tabulating and summarizing census data; and disseminating census analytical results to the public. The Bureau estimates that it will spend about $3 billion on automation and IT for the 2010 Census, including four major systems acquisitions that are expected to play a critical role in improving its coverage, accuracy, and efficiency. Figure 1 shows the key systems and interfaces supporting the 2010 Census; the four major IT systems involved in the acquisitions are highlighted. As the figure shows, these four systems are to play important roles with regard to different aspects of the process. To establish where to count (as shown in the top row of fig. 1), the Bureau will depend heavily on a database that provides address lists, maps, and other geographic support services. The Bureau’s address list, known as the Master Address File (MAF), is associated with a geographic information system containing street maps; this system is called the Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) database. The ® MAF/TIGER database, highlighted in fig. 1, is the object of the first major IT acquisition—the MAF/TIGER Accuracy Improvement Project (MTAIP). The project is to provide corrected coordinates on a county-by-county basis for all current features in the TIGER database. The vital role of this database in the census operations is the reason that MTAIP is a key acquisition, even though it is relatively small in scale (compared with the other three key IT acquisitions) and will not result in new systems. To collect respondent information (see the middle row of fig. 1), the Bureau is pursuing two initiatives. First, the Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) program is expected to provide automation support for field data collection operations as well as reduce costs and improve data quality and operational efficiency. This acquisition includes the systems, equipment, and infrastructure that field staff will use to collect census data, such as mobile computing devices. Second, the Decennial Response Integration System (DRIS) is to provide a system for collecting and integrating census responses from all sources, including forms, telephone interviews, and mobile computing devices in the field. DRIS is expected to improve accuracy and timeliness by standardizing the response data and providing it to other Bureau systems for analysis and processing. To provide results, the Data Access and Dissemination System II (DADS II) acquisition (see the bottom row of fig. 1) is to replace legacy systems for tabulating and publicly disseminating data. The DADS II program is expected to provide comprehensive support to DADS. Replacement of the legacy systems is expected to maximize the efficiency, timeliness, and accuracy of tabulation and dissemination products and services; minimize the cost of tabulation and dissemination; and increase user satisfaction with related services. Table 1 provides a brief overview of the four acquisitions. Responsibility for these acquisitions lies with the Bureau’s Decennial Management Division and the Geography Division. Each of the four acquisitions is managed by an individual project team staffed by Bureau personnel. Additional information on the contracts for these four systems is provided in appendix II. In preparation for the 2010 Census, the Bureau plans a series of tests of its operations and systems (new and existing) in different environments, as well as to conduct what it refers to as the Dress Rehearsal. During the Dress Rehearsal period, which runs from February 2006 through June 2009, the Bureau plans to conduct development and testing of systems, run a mock Census Day, and prepare for Census 2010, which will include opening offices and hiring staff. As part of the Dress Rehearsal activities, the Bureau began address canvassing in April 2007 and plans to distribute questionnaires in February 2008 in preparation for the mock Census Day on April 1, 2008. It plans to begin performing nonresponse follow-up activities immediately afterwards. These Dress Rehearsal activities are to provide an operational test of the available system functionalities, in a census-like environment, as well as other operational and procedural activities. We have previously reported on weaknesses in the Bureau’s IT acquisition management. In June 2005, we reported on the Bureau’s progress in five IT areas—investment management, systems development and management, enterprise architecture management, information security, and human capital. These areas are important because they have substantial influence on the effectiveness of organizational operations and, if implemented effectively, can reduce the risk of cost and schedule overruns and performance shortfalls. We reported that while the Bureau had many practices in place, much remained to be done to fully implement effective IT management capabilities. To improve the Bureau’s IT management, we made several recommendations. The Bureau agreed with the recommendations but is still in the process of implementing them. In March 2006, we presented testimony on the Bureau’s progress in implementing acquisition and management capabilities for two key IT system acquisitions for the 2010 Census—FDCA and DRIS. We testified that although the project offices responsible for these two contracts had carried out initial acquisition management activities, neither office had the full set of capabilities needed to effectively manage the acquisitions, including a full risk management process. Effective management of major IT programs requires that organizations use sound acquisition and management processes, including project and acquisition planning, solicitation, requirements development and management, and risk management. We recommended that the Bureau implement key activities needed to effectively manage acquisitions. For example, we recommended that the Bureau establish and enforce a system acquisition management policy that incorporates best practices, including those for risk management. The Bureau agreed with our recommendations and is in the process of implementing them. Three key systems acquisitions for the 2010 Census are in process, and a fourth contract was recently awarded. The ongoing acquisitions are showing mixed progress in providing deliverables while adhering to planned schedules and cost estimates. Currently, two of the three projects have experienced schedule delays, and the date for awarding the fourth contract was postponed several times. In addition, we estimate that one of the three ongoing projects (FDCA) will incur about $18 million in cost overruns. In response to schedule delays as well as other factors, including cost, the Bureau has made schedule adjustments and plans to delay certain system functionality. As a result, Dress Rehearsal operational testing will not address the full complement of systems and functionality that was originally planned, and the Bureau has not yet finalized its plans for further system tests. Delaying functionality increases the importance of system testing after the Dress Rehearsal operational testing to ensure that the decennial systems work as intended. MTAIP is a project to improve the accuracy of the MAF/TIGER database, which contains information on street locations, housing units, rivers, railroads, and other geographic features. MTAIP is to provide corrected coordinates on a county-by-county basis for all current features in the TIGER database. Features not now in TIGER are to be added with accurate coordinates and required attributes. Currently, the acquisition is in the second and final phase of its life cycle. During Phase I, from June 2002 through December 2002, the contractor identified technical requirements and established the production approach for Phase II activities. In Phase II, which began in January 2003 and is ongoing, the contractor is developing improved maps for all 3,037 counties in the United States; to date, it has delivered more than 75 percent of these maps, which are due by September 2008. Beginning in fiscal year 2008, maintenance for the contract will begin. The contract closeout activities are scheduled for fiscal year 2009. MTAIP is on schedule to complete improvements by the end of fiscal year 2008 and is meeting cost estimates. The following is the status of MTAIP’s schedule and cost estimates: The MTAIP acquisition is on schedule for the deliverables for Phases I and II. According to Bureau documents, as of September 2006, the contractor (Harris Corporation) had delivered (as required) 2,000 improved county maps out of the 3,037. As of March 2007, Bureau documents showed that the contractor had completed 338 of the 694 counties expected to be complete by the end of fiscal year 2007. The contractor is scheduled to complete the remaining 356 counties by the end of fiscal year 2007. Cost estimates for Phase I and Phase II are $4.8 million and $205.2 million, respectively, for a total contract value of $210 million. The contract met cost estimates for Phase I, and based on cost performance reports, we project no cost overruns by September 2008. As of June 2007, the Bureau had obligated $178 million through September 2010. FDCA is to provide the systems, equipment, and infrastructure that field staff will use to collect census data. It is to establish office automation for the 12 regional census centers, the Puerto Rico area office, and approximately 450 temporary local census offices. It is to provide the telecommunications infrastructure for headquarters, regional and local offices, and mobile computing devices for field workers. FDCA also is to facilitate integration with other 2010 Census systems and to provide development, deployment, technical support, de-installation, and disposal services.