Groves claims Census has fixed tech issues

It's already become a familiar storyline in Beltway tech circles: following a damaging report from the GAO or Commerce inspector general, the current Census director meets with reporters to claim that the Bureau's computer problems have been fixed and no longer threaten the accuracy or cost of the 2010 count. Hearings follow, with plenty of scolding from lawmakers along with promises from Census officials to get it right. Then things die down for a few months until the next incendiary report.

The latest example came yesterday when Census chief Robert Groves told Nextgov that the Bureau has made significant progress fixing issues with its computer systems over the past few days. Last week an IG's report outlined major outages in the Bureau's systems over two weeks in April, leading to increased overtime, ballooning costs and depressed morale among Census workers.

Now Groves says the Bureau has the problems under control, a claim sure to be met with some skepticism given the Bureau's track record when it comes to major technology projects. The 2010 census in particular has been plagued by systems development issues since shortly after the 2000 count when decennial census chief Jay Waite decided that the Bureau should switch from using paper forms to handheld computers to collect information from households that don't return their census forms.

Waite's attempt to leverage technology ultimately resulted in one of the costliest and most embarassing government IT failures in recent history. In April 2008 then-Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez announced the Bureau would scrap its plans to use the handhelds to count households and revert to using paper forms. The late-game switch is expected to cost taxpayers an additional $3 billion, bringing the total cost of the 2010 count to an unprecedented $15 billion.

But even more important than the 2010 census' ever-increasing price tag is the potential impact on the accuracy of the count, which is used to determine everything from Congressional representation to the allocation of federal broadband grants. Experts and observers have warned that the Bureau's frequent changes to the process and inability to harness technology effectively could make this year's census less accurate than the 2000 count. Such a step backwards would also be unprecedented.

Aside from updating the public on the status of the Bureau's tech troubles, Groves also said he can't imagine a 2020 count that doesn't involve an internet response method, though he has no idea what that method would look like. He also supports a bill from Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., that would make the Census director a five-year, term-limited position.