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Census
count, Powner added. “It’s just that it costs more money.”
The bureau has continued to push forward on the IT contracts for the decennial count. At the most recent pro- gram management review in January, o cials announced that the ngerprint and badging contract had been awarded to IndraSoft, with a ceiling value of $64.8 million. That leaves just one major contract, for eld IT, and it is expected to be awarded in May or June.
The push to deliver those IT systems in time to test underscores the need for funding, Sparks said. “At some point, you need to move boldly and robustly for the IT, and that hasn’t happened” in 2017, he added.
Publicly, Census Bureau o cials say they are still on track. “We feel very comfortable we’re on the way to a very successful 2018 end-to-end test and a very successful 2020 census,” said Al Fon- tenot, the bureau’s associate director for decennial census programs, during the January program management review.
Who’s minding the store?
The bureau’s challenges are exacerbated by a shortage of permanent leaders. At the top of the bureau and in its lower ranks, Census “has been caught up in the lack of appointments that this ad- ministration has been slow on, which is too bad because this is one responsibil- ity that has deadlines coming up,” said Vargas, who is a member of the bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations.
After Thompson’s resignation in June, longtime Census employees Ron Jarmin and Enrique Lamas took over and are still serving in an acting capacity as director and deputy director, respectively.
Thompson expressed con dence in both men’s ability to lead the bureau but added that “if the census is a priority for the administration, then the administra- tion ought to nominate a director who is
con rmable by the Senate.” Lowenthal said Ross’ hands-on
approach to managing the decennial headcount has been encouraging. In addition, Karen Dunn Kelley is playing a key oversight role as Commerce’s un- dersecretary for economic a airs and acting deputy secretary, the position to which the Census Bureau’s director has traditionally reported.
“I think the secretary and the under- secretary fully appreciate that the 2020 census will take place on this adminis- tration’s watch,” Lowenthal said. “And
I can’t imagine that they will not do everything that they feel is reasonable to make sure that the census is successful, for that reason alone. It will be part of this administration’s legacy and part of their legacy.”
It’s not just high-ranking positions that lack permanent employees, how- ever. The program o ce tasked with overseeing the integration contractor for the bureau’s IT systems had vacan- cies in 35 of 58 positions as of Oct. 31, according to GAO’s most recent count.
Why it matters
Census data is critically important to how federal, state and local government services are delivered. The decennial headcount is used to allocate seats in the House and is the basis for the distribu- tion of more than $675 billion in federal funds annually to state, local and tribal governments for services such as roads and infrastructure, education, health care and more.
As the bureau focuses its resources and attention on making sure IT sys- tems are ready for the dress rehearsal this year, advocates want to make sure the bureau doesn’t overlook the importance of its communications and partnership programs.
Commerce recently estimated that the 2020 count’s self-response rate will be 55 percent — an 8.5 percent drop from
the 2010 count’s gure.
Thompson emphasized the impor-
tance of scaling up the partnership program nationally well in advance of 2020 to make sure people know the census is taking place and so that trusted community leaders can assure them that their responses — and data — are safe.
“If you look at what’s going on in terms of trusting government, it’s lower than it’s been in awhile,” he said. “They’ve got to get out there and start really, really working on that.”
24 January/February 2018 FCW.COM