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By John McCormick
The Census Bureau yesterday dropped its plans to have field personnel use handheld computers to collect information from Americans who do not fill out their census forms.
The bureau said its canvassers will instead use pencil and paper in its follow-up data collection efforts.
The move could add as much as $3 billion to the government's cost of preparing for the next nationwide census in 2010, according to the bureau.
In 2006, the Census Bureau signed a contract, valued at just under $600 million, with Harris Corp., a communications and information technology vendor based in Melbourne, Fla., to develop a Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) system, which included the development of infrastructure to support a wireless data collection system, the handheld computers, and a management system for monitoring the progress of the census.
The handheld devices were to be used both in collecting information on people as well as gathering street addresses. However, Census said it did not have the human resources to successfully manage both those efforts to completion.
The plan now is to use the handhelds for address canvassing only.
While progress has been made on the project, including the transferred of Census records from paper to digital form, FDCA has come under increased scrutiny.
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Last month, the General Accountability Officer, which monitors government contracts, designated FDCA as a high risk project. In doing so, the GAO made reference to its previous reports that found changes to the project requirements had contributed to cost increases and schedule delays.
Carlos M. Gutierrez, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, gave testimony yesterday before a House subcommittee, in which he said: "We now understand that the problem with the FDCA program was due to a lack of communication between the Census Bureau and the prime contractor for FDCA, and to difficulties the contractor had in developing the full scope of the project within our deadlines. From the beginning, we did not effectively convey to the contractor the complexity of census operations, and the detailed requirements that needed to be fulfilled in order to complete the operations that FDCA covers. Once these detailed requirements were completely delineated, we had serious concerns about rising costs and our ability to complete a successful 2010 Census if we continued developing the FDCA program as planned."
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In its defense, Harris said more than 400 requirements had been added to the project since the contract was signed.
"The Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) program...is a large IT and systems integration program created to fully integrate the multiple automated systems required to efficiently and securely obtain Census data for the 2010 Decennial Census," Harris said in a statement. "We understand that such a significant cultural shift presents organizational challenges to any organization, and Harris is encouraged that automation and the adoption of new technology is moving forward, even if in a more narrowly focused fashion."
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