IG sounds alarm about accuracy of Census address database

The Census Bureau's database of addresses it relies on to conduct the decennial census contains inaccuracies, which jeopardize the accuracy of the 2010 count, the Commerce Department's inspector general concluded in a recently released report.

Comment on this article in The Forum.The agency's database of addresses for all U.S. residents, called the Master Address File, and its digital mapping system, called TIGER, contain inaccuracies and duplications that the inspector general first exposed in the 2000 decennial census and during a 2006 test when counting Native Americans, according to the briefing report posted on the inspector general's Web site. The IG also found that the mapping program contained roads and addresses that did not exist.

"This year, our review of the address canvassing operation conducted during dress rehearsal continued to find errors in the lists that resulted in duplicate addresses or missed housing units," according to the briefing report. The inspector general said a report detailing its findings would be forthcoming.

In the briefing, the IG cited a 2006 Report in Brief, in which it concluded that the updated address file "is used in subsequent census operations to contact every household and has a direct bearing on the bureau's ability to accurately count the population."

The inspector general also cited a National Academy of Sciences report released in 2000, which stated, "The address list might be the most important factor in determining the overall accuracy of the decennial census."

A Census official contacted by Government Executive declined to comment on the report but said that the inspector general planned to announce on Wednesday other reviews of Census operations, which Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez had requested.

Census began an extensive upgrade of its address file and TIGER system shortly after the 2000 count, when it awarded a $200 million contract to Harris Corp. The Census Bureau also awarded to Harris in 2006 a $595 million contract to develop handheld computers that census takers would use in 2010 during their door-to-door visits to households that don't return Census forms. Census officials announced this year that it would not use the handhelds for the follow-up count because the bureau was too far behind in developing and testing the devices. The agency plans to use more than 100,000 of the devices to verify addresses and upload new ones.

Officials with the bureau and Harris have said the use of the handhelds, which are equipped with Global Positioning System technology, will lead to the most accurate address list in history. However, the inspector general expressed concern that the slow pace of software development meant the agency could not test the technology as part of this year's Census dress rehearsal.

"We evaluated the upgrade project in its early stages and found that the bureau did not have an effective management process in place at the project's inception: System requirements, a work plan, and project schedule were not developed in tandem, and this complex redesign got a late start," the report concludes.

During a 2006 address canvassing rehearsal, users experienced problems with the handheld devices including slow download speeds and trouble with the GPS capabilities. The inspector general reported that errors in maps and complex block configurations added to the difficulty of compiling the address list. The bureau created a quality control team, which verified the data shortly after it was collected. However, the IG found weaknesses in quality-control practices and concluded that the agency cannot assure the data collected was reliable.