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Overbudget Program Could Stall 2010 Census

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The Washington Post

Published: February 17, 2008

WASHINGTON - A $600 million program to buy handheld devices and create an automated network to collect data for the 2010 census faces major cost overruns and could cause delays in preparing for the nationwide head count.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Steve Murdock, director of the U.S. Census Bureau, briefed half a dozen congressional leaders last week to discuss the agency's contract to buy networking equipment and 500,000 handheld devices from Harris Corp. of Melbourne.

The wireless devices would be used to collect information from people who do not mail in census forms, replacing the clipboards, pens and paper that census workers now use. The network would automate records in field offices, saving money that would be spent to print, store and transport forms and other documents.

But the program, called Field Data Collection Automation, has gone $50 million over its original costs in the past two years, government auditors said. Congressional leaders said Census Bureau officials have warned that if they have to revert to pen and paper, it could add at least $1 billion to the $12 billion effort to conduct the 2010 census.

Mitre, a government research group, said the program "lacks a leader with the experience, stature and passion to make FDCA successful. The Census Bureau has a lack of personnel with large-scale IT program management experience."

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