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GAO-20-671R 1 (2020-08-27)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaebpj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: A Report to Congressional Requesters 2020 Census Recent Decision to Compress Census Timeframes Poses Additional Risks to an Accurate Count This correspondence is the fourth in a series of updates reporting on the Census Bureau's (Bureau) 2020 Census activities and operations. This update includes information from GAO's ongoing work on the status of 2020 Census operations and challenges, including those raised by COVID-19. As part of a series of decisions to suspend, extend, and delay certain operations and extend data collection activities until October 31, the Department of Commerce requested statutory relief on the required dates for delivering census data to the President and states for apportioning seats in the House of Representatives and redistricting for elections. While legislation providing this relief was introduced in Congress, the legislation has not been enacted into law. On August 3, the Bureau announced it would accelerate completion of its data collection and data processing operations to deliver the apportionment counts by the statutory deadline of December 31, 2020. To do so, the Bureau announced it would end all data collection operations by September 30, reducing the amount of time the Bureau has to complete its nonresponse follow-up (NRFU) operation. GAO and the Bureau have previously identified late design changes as a risk to a complete and accurate count. As of August 10, the Bureau had received responses from 63.4 percent of households and plans to hire up to approximately 435,000 enumerators to follow- up with the approximately 56.4 million nonresponding households. Areas for Continued Bureau Attention to Help Ensure a Complete and Accurate Census COVID-1 9 has forced the Bureau to change how it will conduct its operations. As it implements those operations and anticipates completing them within the new compressed timeframes, the Bureau must monitor a number of areas to help ensure a complete and accurate census, including: * Hiring a sufficient NRFU workforce. The Bureau began hiring for NRFU on July 14, and as of August 18, the Bureau hired 309,391 enumerators, but is experiencing higher attrition than expected. To complete the operation by September 30, the Bureau plans to maximize the number of hours worked by staff each week and continue recruiting, hiring, and training replacement enumerators. * Ensuring the safety of Census workers and the public. The Bureau is taking social distancing steps to protect census enumerators and the public and to increase the likelihood that households will participate in door-to-door interviews- see figure. Safety Protocols for the 2020 Cesus in Response to COVID 19 Encourage Noj-Contac-t Encourage Virtual PersonaI Protectivo Outside, and 6 FetAway Avoid Contac~t Response Mvejhods Out~reach Eveots Eqipm)rent Source! GAO analysis of Census Bureau protocols. I GAO-20-671R * Maintaining the public's awareness of the 2020 Census. The Bureau has expanded its communications campaign with new advertisements promoting online self-response and promoting cooperation with in-person interviews. To __ United States Government Accountability Office August 2020

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