2000 Census

This report focuses on the year 2000 Census Data Capture System (DCS). GAO noted that the Bureau of the Census has made significant progress toward completing its first-pass data capture operations as planned, and during these operations the DCS has performed as intended. It has also made progress toward modifying DCS 2000 to support second-pass data capture operations and has taken effective testing and risk management steps to ensure that the modified version of DCS 2000 is effectively implemented and performs as intended.

GAO noted that: (1) the Bureau has made good progress on first-pass data capture operations; (2) in particular, the Bureau met its milestone for completing its processing of questionnaires that households mailed back, and it finished processing of questionnaires completed by enumerators ahead of schedule; (3) in addition, DCS 2000 has exceeded its key performance goals, such as optical character recognition accuracy, in support of first-pass operations; and (4) the Bureau's contractor responsible for modifying DCS 2000 to support second-pass operations is proceeding slightly ahead of schedule and that the contractor is employing effective management controls in testing the modified system.