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entitled '2010 Census: Census Bureau Generally Follows Selected Leading 
Acquisition Planning Practices, but Continued Management Attention Is 
Needed to Help Ensure Success' which was released on May 19, 2006. 

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Report to Congressional Committees: 

United States Government Accountability Office: 

GAO: 

May 2006: 

2010 Census: 

Census Bureau Generally Follows Selected Leading Acquisition Planning 
Practices, but Continued Management Attention Is Needed to Help Ensure 
Success: 

GAO-06-277: 

GAO Highlights: 

Highlights of GAO-06-277, a report to Congressional Committees. 

Why GAO Did This Study: 

For the 2010 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) is making the most 
extensive use of contractors in its history to supply a number of 
mission-critical functions and technologies. Because of the critical 
role that contractors will play in the 2010 Census, GAO reviewed the 
Bureau’s acquisition planning process. Specifically GAO’s objectives 
were to (1) determine the status of the Bureau’s major decennial 
contracts, and (2) evaluate the extent to which the Bureau is using 
selected leading practices to manage its acquisition planning for these 
contracts. 

What GAO Found: 

The Bureau has awarded three of its seven major decennial contracts 
consistent with their award date, but has changed the award dates of 
two of the remaining contracts (data dissemination and communications) 
because of changes in its acquisition approach. Bureau officials noted 
that the communications contract is currently on track. Still, changes 
in contract milestones—coupled with the Bureau’s tight systems 
development schedule and interdependence of those systems—could affect 
the Bureau’s ability to develop fully functional and sufficiently 
mature systems to be tested in concert with other operations during the 
2008 Dress Rehearsal for the 2010 Census. Already, aspects of the 
Bureau’s data dissemination system will not be assessed during the 
dress rehearsal because of changes to solicitation and contract award 
dates. 

Table: Status of Major Contracts Related to the 2010 Census Contract: 

Contract: Master Address File/ Topologically Integrated Geographic 
Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Accuracy Improvement Project; 
Purpose: Delivery of accurate, improved, and current information to 
MAF/TIGER system; Target Award Dates: June 2002 (actual); 

Contract: Decennial Response Integration System; Purpose: Data 
capture/processing and respondent assistance; Target Award Dates: 
October 2005 (actual); 

Contract: Field Data Collection Automation; Purpose: Providing 
automated resources and support for field data collection; Target Award 
Dates: March 2006 (actual); 

Contract: Data Access and Dissemination System II; Purpose: Providing a 
replacement for legacy tabulation and dissemination system; Target 
Award Dates: October 2006; 

Contract: 2010 Communications; 
Purpose: Development of an advertising and outreach campaign to promote 
the 2010 Census; Target Award Dates: Calendar year 2007; 

Contract: 2010 Census printing contracts; Purpose: Printing and 
distribution of census questionnaires and other documents; Target Award 
Dates: March 2007-April 2009; 

Contract: Decennial Census Leasing; 
Purpose: Leasing, build-out, and management of regional census centers 
and local census offices; Target Award Dates: April 2007-June 2009 
(sign leases for individual offices). 

Source: GAO Analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. 

[End of Table] 

To date, the Bureau has generally followed five selected leading 
practices for federal acquisition planning that we evaluated. For 
example, the Bureau has monitored the acquisition planning process for 
individual contracts, involved relevant stakeholders in the planning 
phase, and implemented certain actions to its business processes 
resulting from its reliance on contractors. However, as part of its 
strategic planning, the Bureau does not have a schedule for documenting 
what and when information needs to be provided to development teams to 
integrate all decennial systems. Additionally, in planning for its 
decennial acquisition workforce—which includes staff who award or 
manage contracts—the Bureau has not fully implemented key strategic 
workforce planning principles. For example, while the Bureau took steps 
at the division level to plan for its acquisition workforce, it does 
not assess or monitor at a high level gaps in the skills needed by its 
decennial acquisition workforce. The Bureau also has not identified the 
needs of the decennial acquisition workforce in its human capital 
management plan and did not involve all relevant acquisition workforce 
stakeholders in the development of this plan. 

What GAO Recommends: 

GAO is recommending to the Secretary of Commerce that the Bureau (1) 
ensure that key systems to be provided by contractors are fully 
functional and ready to be assessed as part of the dress rehearsal, (2) 
establish a schedule for the definition of interfaces between all 
decennial systems so that this information can be provided on a timely 
basis to development teams, and (3) devote further attention to 
planning strategically for its decennial acquisition workforce by, 
among other actions, identifying and assessing acquisition workforce 
skill gaps. In commenting on a draft of this report, the Secretary 
neither agreed nor disagreed with the recommendations but described 
steps the Bureau is taking that address the last recommendation. 

[Hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-277]. 

To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on 
the link above. For more information, contact Brenda S. Farrell at 
(202) 512-6806 or farrellb@gao.gov 

[End of Section] 

Contents: 

Letter: 

Results in Brief: 

Background: 

The Bureau Has Made Progress on Major Decennial Contracts, but 
Adherence to Contract Milestones Will Be Essential: 

The Bureau Is Generally Following Five Leading Acquisition Planning 
Practices, but Continued Management Focus Will Be Critical: 

Conclusion: 

Recommendations for Executive Action: 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation: 

Appendix I: Scope and Methodology: 

Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Commerce: 

Appendix III: MAF/TIGER Accuracy Improvement Project (MTAIP) Contract 
Details: 

Appendix IV: Decennial Response Integration System (DRIS) Contract 
Details: 

Appendix V: Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) Contract Details: 

Appendix VI: Data Access and Dissemination System (DADS II) Contract 
Details: 

Appendix VII: Summaries of Major Decennial Contracts Planned for Award 
in 2007 or Later: 

Appendix VIII: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments: 

Related GAO Products: 

Table: 

Table 1: Status of Major Decennial Contracts: 

Figures: 

Figure 1: The Bureau's Testing and Development Schedule and Contract 
Activities Overlap: 

Figure 2: Decennial Contracts and Other Census Systems Will Need to 
Work in Concert with One Another: 

Figure 3: Selected Leading Practices for Acquisition Planning: 

Abbreviations: 

CMMISM: Capability Maturity Model Integration: 
DADS II: Data Access and Dissemination System II: 
DRIS: Decennial Response Integration System: 
FDCA: Field Data Collection Automation: 
GPO: Government Printing Office: 
GSA: General Services Administration: 
MAF/TIGER: Master Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic 
Encoding and Referencing: 
MTAIP: MAF/TIGER Accuracy Improvement Project: 
RFP: request for proposal: 

United States Government Accountability Office: 

Washington, DC 20548: 

May 18, 2006: 

The Honorable Susan M. Collins: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman: 
Ranking Minority Member: 
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: 
United States Senate: 

The Honorable Tom Davis: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable Henry A. Waxman: 
Ranking Minority Member Committee on Government Reform: 
House of Representatives: 

The Honorable Michael Turner: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable Wm. Lacy Clay: 
Ranking Minority Member: 
Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census: 
Committee on Government Reform House of Representatives: 

For the 2010 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) is making the most 
extensive use of contractors in its history, turning to the private 
sector to supply a number of different mission-critical functions and 
technologies. These functions range from data capture and processing 
services to the manufacture and support of hundreds of thousands of 
handheld mobile computing devices that temporary census workers will 
use to locate addresses and to collect and transmit data 
electronically. The Bureau estimates that of the $11.3 billion it will 
cost to conduct the 2010 Census, around $1.9 billion (nearly 17 
percent) will be spent on its seven major decennial contracts. More 
importantly, the success of these contracts will largely determine 
whether the Bureau meets its goals to improve the accuracy, reduce the 
risk, and contain the cost of the 2010 Census. 

Contractors can help address the challenges the Bureau faces as it 
plans for and implements the 2010 Census. Because of various social and 
demographic trends, the nation's population has become increasingly 
difficult to count. Due to this and other challenges, the Bureau 
recognized that it is not equipped to perform the needed tasks using 
its own staff and capabilities and has been looking outside the agency 
to obtain the expertise and services essential for a complete and 
accurate enumeration. 

That said, increased reliance on contractors also entails certain 
management challenges. The Bureau's experiences in the 2000 Census--the 
first time the Bureau relied on contractors to perform a large number 
of major decennial activities--highlight the importance of a rigorous 
acquisition planning process[Footnote 1] to help mitigate those 
challenges and better ensure that contractors meet the Bureau's needs 
in an effective, economical, and timely manner. For example, the 
Department of Commerce (Commerce) Office of Inspector General raised 
questions regarding the Bureau's ability to acquire critical systems 
and services. Although these projects were ultimately successful in 
supporting the 2000 Census, the Inspector General concluded they were 
more costly than necessary.[Footnote 2] 

In March 2006, we testified on the Bureau's acquisition and management 
of two critical information technology systems that contractors are 
developing for the 2010 Census. The two contracts--Field Data 
Collection Automation and the Decennial Response Integration System-- 
are two of the seven major decennial acquisitions for the 2010 Census. 
We noted that, while the project offices responsible for these two 
contracts have carried out initial acquisition management activities, 
neither office has the full set of capabilities they need to 
effectively manage the acquisitions. Until these basic management 
activities are implemented, both projects face increased risks of cost 
overruns, schedule delays, and performance shortfalls.[Footnote 3] 

Because of the mission-critical role contractors will play in the 2010 
Census, we reviewed the Bureau's acquisition planning process under the 
Comptroller General's statutory authority. As agreed with your office, 
we are providing this report to you because it contains information 
that will be useful for your oversight responsibilities for the 
decennial census. Specifically, our objectives were to (1) determine 
the status of the Bureau's major contracts related to the 2010 Census, 
and (2) evaluate the extent to which the Bureau is using selected 
leading practices to manage its acquisition planning process for the 
decennial census. 

To address the first objective, we reviewed documents related to the 
seven major 2010 Census acquisitions (as defined by Bureau officials)-
-including acquisition plans, strategic planning documents, requests 
for proposals, finalized contracts, and budget requests to the Office 
of Management and Budget--and interviewed knowledgeable Bureau 
officials responsible for contracting and acquisition planning. 

To evaluate the Bureau's use of leading acquisition planning practices, 
we first reviewed (1) our own guidance, reports, and testimonies on the 
acquisition function; and (2) external studies to identify leading 
acquisition planning practices used in the federal government. From 
these, we adapted five leading acquisition planning practices most 
relevant to the Bureau's acquisition planning efforts for its major 
decennial contracts. We then evaluated the extent to which the Bureau 
employed these leading practices for its seven major decennial 
contracts by interviewing officials, reviewing Bureau documents, and 
observing acquisition activities related to these contracts. Appendix I 
provides additional information on our scope and methodology. We 
conducted our work from July 2005 through March 2006 in accordance with 
generally accepted government auditing standards. 

This report is the latest in a series of evaluations that we have 
issued on the Bureau's preparations for the 2010 Census. Most recently, 
this March, we testified on the progress of the Bureau's planning and 
testing activities and information technology systems.[Footnote 4] See 
the Related GAO Products section for a list of selected reports we have 
issued to date. 

Results in Brief: 

The Bureau has awarded three of its seven major decennial contracts 
consistent with their award dates and is preparing for the award of the 
remaining four. The three contracts that have been awarded represent 
about $1.3 billion of the $1.9 billion the Bureau expects to eventually 
award. 

* In June 2002, the Bureau awarded the Harris Corporation a $209 
million contract to modernize its Master Address File/Topologically 
Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) system, 
which provides the address list, maps, and other geographic support 
services for the Census and other Bureau surveys. Known as the MAF/ 
TIGER Accuracy Improvement Project (MTAIP), the contract is currently 
meeting milestones for project deliverables and remains on budget, 
according to Bureau documents we reviewed. 

* In October 2005, the Bureau awarded the Lockheed Martin Corporation a 
contract for more than $500 million to develop and operate the 
Decennial Response Integration System (DRIS), to capture and integrate 
paper, Internet, and telephone responses to the census, in addition to 
providing assistance to census respondents. Progress on DRIS is running 
60 to 90 days behind schedule because of a bid protest that was later 
withdrawn. Bureau officials are working to revise the contract schedule 
and believe this schedule change will not be a significant setback. 

* In March 2006, the Bureau awarded the Harris Corporation a contract 
for an estimated $600 million to provide automated resources for 
supporting field data collection, including the provision of handheld 
mobile computing devices used by the enumerators. The Bureau had 
originally intended to award the contract, known as Field Data 
Collection Automation (FDCA), in late 2005, but pushed it back so that 
it could first conduct a short field test to evaluate prototypes 
developed by multiple offerors of the mobile computing devices that 
enumerators are to use in their fieldwork. The Bureau then successfully 
awarded the contract consistent with its revised award timeline. 

Of the four contracts that have not yet been awarded, the Bureau has 
pushed back the target award dates of two contracts due to changes in 
its acquisition approach. 

* The Bureau changed, twice, the award date and scope of a contract 
related to its Data Access and Dissemination System (DADS II). Most 
recently, the Bureau delayed the release of the request for proposal 
(RFP) by 6 months and expanded the contract scope to require 
contractors to acquire an integrated system. Consequently, the Bureau 
is delaying the contract award by 2 months to October 2006. 

* The Bureau originally planned to award the 2010 Communications 
contract to advertise and promote the census in October 2006, but has 
decided to award the contract at a later date because it still 
researching various approaches to the acquisition. Bureau officials 
noted that they plan to award this contract during the 2007 calendar 
year. 

Bureau officials have stated that the 2010 Communications contract is 
currently on track to award the contract in 2007. Moreover, the Bureau 
expects to award the two remaining contracts--one for printing census 
forms and the other for leasing temporary field census offices--on 
time. 

However, any change in acquisition milestones--coupled with the 
Bureau's tight systems development schedule, and the interdependence of 
decennial systems--could affect its ability to develop fully functional 
and sufficiently mature systems that can be demonstrated in concert 
with other operations during the dress rehearsal for the 2010 Census 
scheduled for 2008. For example, aspects of the DADS II contract will 
not be assessed during the dress rehearsal as the Bureau originally 
intended because of the delayed solicitation release and contract 
award. The 2008 Dress Rehearsal will be the Bureau's last opportunity 
to assess the various procedures and systems for the decennial census 
under as near-census-like conditions as possible. During the 1998 Dress 
Rehearsal for the 2000 Census, a number of new features were not test- 
ready, and the Bureau said it could not fully evaluate with any degree 
of assurance how they would affect the census. 

In preparing for these seven contracts to date, the Bureau has 
generally adhered to the leading acquisition planning practices we 
evaluated. 

1. Planning strategically: The Bureau has documented how major 
decennial contract operations and its integration will achieve 2010 
Census objectives. 

2. Monitoring the acquisition planning process: To date, the Bureau 
monitored the acquisition planning process for individual contracts. 

3. Involving stakeholders: The Bureau has so far involved relevant 
stakeholders in the acquisition planning process. 

4. Addressing business process changes: The Bureau has addressed 
changes to its business processes resulting from its increased reliance 
on contractors. 

5. Planning for the acquisition workforce: The Bureau is taking steps 
to strategically plan for its acquisition workforce, which includes 
census staff who award or manage contracts. 

However, the Bureau has not completed necessary actions regarding 
certain activities within two of the practices. First, while the Bureau 
has taken steps to plan for the integration of its decennial systems, 
it does not have a schedule for documenting what and when information 
needs to be provided to development teams that will integrate all 
decennial systems. Successful systems integration will facilitate the 
Bureau's ability to achieve its goals for a successful enumeration 
during the 2010 Census. 

Second, the Bureau does not assess or monitor, at an agencywide level, 
gaps in the skills needed by its decennial acquisition workforce. It 
also has not incorporated the needs of the decennial acquisition 
function in its agency human capital plan or in a plan specific to the 
acquisition workforce. Taking these actions could help the Bureau 
anticipate and address challenges that may be faced by the acquisition 
workforce stemming from demands brought on by the Bureau's greater 
reliance on contractors for conducting the 2010 Census. 

We are making three recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce in 
this report. First, we recommend that the Secretary of Commerce ensure 
that the key systems to be developed or provided by contractors for the 
2010 Census are fully functional and ready to be assessed in concert 
with other operations as part of the 2008 Dress Rehearsal. To help 
ensure the successful integration of decennial systems, we are also 
recommending that the Secretary direct the Bureau to establish a 
schedule for the definition of interfaces between all decennial systems 
so that these data can be provided on a timely basis to development 
teams. Third, the Secretary should direct the Bureau to devote further 
attention to planning strategically for its decennial acquisition 
workforce by, among other actions, identifying and assessing 
acquisition workforce skill gaps, and involving appropriate acquisition-
related stakeholders in identifying the needs of the acquisition 
workforce in its workforce plans. 

The Secretary of Commerce provided written comments on a draft of this 
report (see app. II). While Commerce neither agreed nor disagreed with 
our recommendations it described actions the Bureau is taking that, to 
some extent, address our third recommendation for the Bureau to devote 
further attention to decennial acquisition workforce planning. We 
believe that these are important first steps. We also believe that 
fully incorporating the key strategic workforce planning principles we 
describe in our report would help the Bureau to better align its 
acquisition workforce with the demands brought on by the Bureau's 
greater reliance on contractors to help carry out the 2010 Census. 

Background: 

The Constitution vests Congress with the authority to conduct the 
decennial census in such manner as it determines, and Congress in turn 
has granted the Secretary of Commerce (and by delegation, the Director 
of the Census Bureau) considerable latitude in carrying out the census. 
In counting the nation's population, it is important for the Bureau to 
stay on schedule, as the Secretary of Commerce is statutorily required 
to (1) conduct the census on April 1 of the decennial year, (2) report 
the state population counts to the President for purposes of 
congressional apportionment by December 31 of the decennial year, and 
(3) send population tabulations to the states for purposes of 
redistricting no later than 1 year after the April 1 census date. To 
meet these mandated reporting requirements, census activities need to 
take place at specific times and in the proper sequence. As Census Day 
approaches, the tolerance for any operational delays or changes becomes 
increasingly small. 

Throughout its history, the Bureau has mostly relied on its in-house 
capabilities to conduct the decennial census.[Footnote 5] However, the 
2000 Census marked the first time the Bureau relied on contractors to 
perform a large number of major decennial activities. For example, the 
Bureau awarded a data capture contract--to scan more than 100 million 
questionnaires, capture and read that data, and send the information to 
headquarters for additional processing--to TRW, and awarded the 
advertising firm of Young & Rubicam a contract to develop an outreach 
and promotion campaign. 

Although the contractors generally performed well,[Footnote 6] 
Commerce's Office of Inspector General identified several shortcomings. 
For example, incomplete quality assurance procedures for the Bureau's 
printing contracts led to one contractor printing and mailing out 
approximately 20 million misaddressed letters informing households that 
the decennial questionnaires would soon follow, resulting in 
unnecessary negative publicity just weeks before the Bureau was to send 
out census forms. 

Further, the Inspector General found that the Bureau did not have 
sufficient program management staff with the training and experience to 
efficiently acquire systems and manage complex, high-dollar contracts. 
As a result, the Bureau incurred higher costs than necessary. For 
example, costs for the data capture system increased from a projected 
$49 million at the time of contract award in 1997 to $238 million by 
the end of the decennial because of continually changing and expanding 
requirements late in the decade. The Commerce Office of Inspector 
General recommended that for the 2010 Census, the Bureau would need a 
sufficient number of highly skilled and properly trained personnel 
dedicated to the planning and management of decennial contracts. 

The Bureau Has Made Progress on Major Decennial Contracts, but 
Adherence to Contract Milestones Will Be Essential: 

The Bureau has awarded three of its seven major decennial contracts on 
time, and is working to accomplish contract milestones for these three 
and preparing for the award of the remaining four contracts. However, 
the tight systems development and testing schedule coupled with the 
interdependence of decennial systems may affect the Bureau's ability to 
meet its ambitious schedule for completing the testing necessary for a 
successful census. 

The Bureau Has Awarded Three Contracts and Is Working to Achieve 
Contract Milestones: 

As shown in table 1, the Bureau has awarded three of its seven major 
decennial contracts on time, and is working to accomplish contract 
milestones for these three and preparing for the award of the remaining 
four contracts. However, the Bureau has pushed back the award dates of 
two of the remaining four contracts because of changes in its 
acquisition approach for the contracts (additional detail about each of 
the seven contracts is presented in apps. III through VII). Going 
forward, it will be important for the Bureau to stay on schedule so 
that key systems can be demonstrated in concert with one another as 
part of the 2008 Dress Rehearsal. 

Table 1: Status of Major Decennial Contracts: 

Contract: Master Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic 
Encoding and Referencing Accuracy Improvement Project (MTAIP); 
Contractor/agency managing contracts: Harris Corporation; 
Contract purpose: Delivery of accurate, improved, and current 
information to the Master Address File/ Topologically Integrated 
Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) database; 
Estimated contract cost: $209 million; 
Target award dates: June 2002 (actual). 

Contract: Decennial Response Integration System (DRIS); 
Contractor/ agency managing contracts: Lockheed Martin Corporation; 
Contract purpose: Providing a solution for data capture and respondent 
assistance; 
Estimated contract cost: More than $500 million; 
Target award dates: October 2005 (actual). 

Contract: Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA); 
Contractor/agency managing contracts: Harris Corporation; 
Contract purpose: Providing automated resources for supporting field 
data collection, including the provision of mobile computing devices 
used by enumerators; 
Estimated contract cost: $600 million; 
Target award dates: March 2006 (actual). 

Contract: Data Access and Dissemination System II (DADS II); 
Contractor/agency managing contracts: To be determined; 
Contract purpose: Develop a replacement for legacy tabulation and 
dissemination system; 
Estimated contract cost: To be determined; 
Target award dates: October 2006. 

Contract: 2010 Communications; 
Contractor/agency managing contracts: To be determined; 
Contract purpose: Development of an advertising campaign to promote the 
2010 Census; 
Estimated contract cost: To be determined; 
Target award dates: Calendar year 2007. 

Contract: 2010 Census printing contracts; Contractor/agency managing 
contracts: Government Printing Office (will manage contracts); 
Contract purpose: Printing and distribution of census questionnaires 
and other documents; 
Estimated contract cost: To be determined; 
Target award dates: March 2007 (contract for major operations) November 
2008 - April 2009 (other printing contracts). 

Contract: Decennial Census Leasing; 
Contractor/agency managing contracts: General Services Administration 
(will manage leasing); 
Contract purpose: Leasing, build-out, and management of regional census 
centers and local census offices; 
Estimated contract cost: To be determined; 
Target award dates: April 2007 - June 2009 (leases signed for 
individual offices). 

Source: GAO analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. 

[End of table] 

The MTAIP contract, for about $209 million, was awarded in June 2002 to 
the Harris Corporation (Harris). Harris is to correct in the Bureau's 
geographic information system, called the Topologically Integrated 
Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) database, the location of 
every street, boundary, and other map feature so that coordinates are 
aligned with their true geographic locations. Our review of Bureau 
documents indicates that Harris is meeting expected schedule and cost 
targets for the MTAIP contract. According to Bureau documents, Harris 
completed work for 75 counties in fiscal year 2003, as was planned for 
the first year of production for the contract. Bureau documents also 
show that in fiscal years 2004 and 2005, Harris was both on schedule 
and within budget, completing 602 counties in 2004 and 623 counties in 
2005. Similarly, for the first 2 months of fiscal year 2006, Harris was 
also on schedule and within budget. Bureau plans call for Harris to 
finish its work for all remaining counties by the end of fiscal year 
2008. 

The DRIS contract was awarded in October 2005 to Lockheed Martin and is 
expected to cost more than $500 million. Bureau officials told us that 
work on the DRIS contract is slightly behind schedule. The 
implementation of the DRIS contract was pushed back by 60 to 90 days, 
according to Bureau officials, because of a bid protest that was 
ultimately withdrawn. Bureau officials told us they did not expect this 
change to substantially affect the contractor's ability to complete the 
work as planned. DRIS staff are working to adjust the schedule for the 
first few months of the contract to accommodate the change. 

The Bureau awarded the FDCA contract to Harris for an estimated cost of 
$600 million. Although the award date was consistent with its schedule, 
the Bureau had revised the original award date for FDCA from late 2005 
to March 2006 to enable multiple offerors to develop and test 
prototypes of the mobile computing device that will be used by 
enumerators during their fieldwork. The Bureau held a 3-day field 
demonstration in January 2006 to evaluate the prototype, and considered 
the results as part of the process for selecting a contractor. Bureau 
officials with responsibility for FDCA believe this strategy had 
multiple advantages. For example, they believe the development of a 
prototype prior to contract award increases the likelihood of having a 
working device in time for the first operation of the 2008 Dress 
Rehearsal. 

Of the four remaining contracts, the Bureau has also revised the 
original award dates for two but expects to award the contracts for 
printing and field office leasing according to its original schedule. 
The two contracts for which the Bureau has pushed back the award dates 
are the DADS II contract to replace the Bureau's data tabulation and 
dissemination system and the 2010 Communications contract to advertise 
and promote the 2010 Census. 

The Bureau has twice changed the DADS II award date and contract scope. 
It originally planned to establish a new Web-based system that would 
serve as a single point for public access to all census data and 
integrate many dissemination functions currently spread across multiple 
Bureau organizations. The Bureau had planned to award that contract in 
the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2005. However, due to fiscal and 
resource constraints, the Bureau decided against investing in this 
integrated approach and opted instead to rely on contractors to enhance 
the DADS system used for the 2000 Census. The Bureau planned to release 
a RFP for DADS II on February 27, 2006, and to award the contract in 
August 2006. 

On March 8, 2006, however, the Bureau announced its plan to delay the 
release of the RFP by 6 months to gain a clearer sense of budget 
priorities before issuing a delegation of procurement authority. The 
Bureau also changed its plan to acquire a contractor to maintain and 
enhance the system used for the 2000 Census. In its draft RFP for the 
DADS II contract, the Bureau noted that because the system used in 2000 
was becoming obsolete, it planned to revert back to its original plan 
to acquire an integrated system. The Bureau currently estimates it will 
delay the award of the DADS II contract from August to October of 2006. 

The Bureau had also originally planned to award the 2010 Communications 
contract in October 2006--earlier in the decade than for Census 2000, 
when the Bureau awarded its advertising contract in October 1997--but 
has decided to do so at a later date because it is still researching 
various approaches to the acquisition. Bureau officials told us they 
plan to award the contract during the 2007 calendar year. They also 
told us that the contract is currently on track. 

Tight Time Frames May Affect the Bureau's Ability to Properly Test Key 
Systems: 

The tight schedule for systems development and testing schedule coupled 
with the interdependence of decennial systems may affect the Bureau's 
ability to meet its ambitious time frame for completing the testing 
necessary for a successful census. For example, as shown in figure 1, 
the FDCA contract--the scope of which will provide handheld mobile 
computing devices to be used by enumerators--was awarded in March 2006 
to Harris. This occurred in the midst of the 2006 Census Test[Footnote 
7] during which the Bureau is assessing the use of these devices. 
Although the Bureau noted that it provided competitors for the FDCA 
contract information about the design, requirements, and specifications 
for the 2006 test in its RFP, Harris will have only a short time to 
incorporate performance information from the 2006 test into the 
development of new mobile computing devices, as these devices need to 
be ready by April 2007 for the address canvassing operation of the 2008 
Dress Rehearsal. The dress rehearsal will be the Bureau's last 
opportunity to assess the various procedures and systems for the 
decennial census under as near-census-like conditions as possible. 

Figure 1: The Bureau's Testing and Development Schedule and Contract 
Activities Overlap: 

[See PDF for image] 

[End of figure] 

Moreover, several of the Bureau's key decennial systems--both those 
developed by contractors and those developed by the Bureau itself--will 
need to exchange data (or interface) with each other to carry out 
decennial operations, as illustrated in figure 2. The decennial system 
is comprised of many systems that must work in concert and rely on one 
another. Because of these interdependencies, these various systems need 
to stay on schedule during the development phase. For example, data 
collected by the mobile computing devices supplied under the FDCA 
contract need to be processed by the data capture system provided by 
the DRIS contractor to be consistent with data from other sources, such 
as the Internet or telephone. 

Figure 2: Decennial Contracts and Other Census Systems Will Need to 
Work in Concert with One Another: 

[See PDF for image] 

[End of figure] 

More broadly, the principal census-taking activities and systems need 
to be sufficiently mature so they can be demonstrated in concert with 
one another as part of the 2008 Dress Rehearsal. Based on the Bureau's 
past experience, a true dress rehearsal--which requires the Bureau to 
specify all design features by 2007--is critical for meeting the 
Bureau's goals and objectives. We previously reported that during the 
1998 Dress Rehearsal for the 2000 Census, a number of new features were 
not test-ready; as a result, the Bureau said it could not fully 
evaluate with any degree of assurance how they would affect the 
census.[Footnote 8] These late design changes and hastily developed 
untested systems resulted in additional costs to that census. 

For the 2010 Census, changes to the acquisition milestones of both the 
FDCA and DADS II contracts affected the testing programs for both of 
those systems. For example, as the Commerce Office of Inspector General 
concluded in a recent report,[Footnote 9] delaying FDCA time frames 
reduced the amount of time after contract award to complete the 
remainder of the work needed to prepare for, and begin, the dress 
rehearsal. Moreover, pushing back the award date resulted in a missed 
opportunity for the FDCA contractor to observe the real-time use of the 
mobile computing devices for address canvassing in 2005 as part of the 
2006 test. According to the Inspector General, observations of the 2006 
Test could have provided the contractor with a level of understanding 
of key census-taking operations that would have been difficult to 
obtain in any other fashion. 

Additionally, the DADS II system will not be developed in time to be 
fully tested during the 2008 Dress Rehearsal, partly due to the delay 
in its acquisition milestones. Moreover, because the Bureau moved the 
release date for the RFP from February to August 2006 and plans to 
award the contract in October 2006, the time frame the Bureau now has 
to prepare for awarding the contract has been compressed from 6 to 2 
months. In 2 months, the Bureau has to (consistent with planning 
activities leading up to contract award by governments acquiring 
systems) prepare for and evaluate responses, conduct supporting 
negotiations, and recommend a contract award, among other activities 
involved in selecting a contractor. 

The Bureau Is Generally Following Five Leading Acquisition Planning 
Practices, but Continued Management Focus Will Be Critical: 

In planning its major acquisitions for the 2010 Census, the Bureau has 
generally adhered to the five leading practices for acquisition 
planning we selected (see fig. 3). 

Figure 3: Selected Leading Practices for Acquisition Planning: 

[See PDF for image] 

[End of figure] 

However, additional efforts are needed within two of these practices in 
the Bureau's activities leading up to contract award. As part of its 
strategic planning process (practice 1), the Bureau needs to complete 
its plan for integrating its major decennial systems. Further, in 
planning for its decennial acquisition workforce (practice 5), the 
Bureau needs to fully implement key principles of strategic workforce 
planning. In the years ahead, it will be important for Bureau 
management to follow these leading practices to successfully plan for 
and award its remaining contracts for the development of mission- 
critical systems to support activities for the 2010 Census. 

The Bureau Has Developed a Strategic Plan Linked to Program Goals but 
Needs to Fully Address Systems Integration: 

Leading results-oriented organizations that rely on acquisitions to 
accomplish their missions use strategic plans to align the activities 
of individual contractors with the organizations' overall objectives. 
Linking an organization's acquisition activities to specific program 
goals is particularly important for the census, where various systems 
have to work seamlessly and in the right sequence. For example, the 
National Academy of Sciences reported that during the 2000 Census, 
weaknesses in the Bureau's strategic planning for major systems 
developed by contractors led to a patchwork of information systems that 
were costly, complex, and high risk. 

For the 2010 Census, the Bureau has developed a strategic plan linking 
some activities to be performed by contractors to the Bureau's program 
goals. To enhance its planning process and improve systems efficiency, 
the Bureau is developing a 2010 Census Architecture, which is a 
blueprint of its business process, data, applications and interfaces, 
and the technologies needed to efficiently conduct the census. This 
architecture will also serve as the basis on which the Bureau and its 
contractors will build systems necessary to complete the 2010 Census. 
The National Academy of Sciences has endorsed the Bureau's development 
of the 2010 Census Architecture and noted that its full use has the 
potential to greatly reduce risk in system development and enable the 
various information subsystems of the census to communicate effectively 
with each other. 

Within this architecture, the Bureau has several documents that detail 
its plans to produce a census that achieves its program goals for the 
reengineered 2010 Census. Although these documents do not specifically 
identify contracts, they do link activities that will be performed by 
contractors to achieving specific program goals. For example, the 2010 
Baseline Design specifies that automation and use of mobile computing 
devices--to be provided by the FDCA contractor--will significantly 
reduce the amount of paper used in the field. It will also cut down on 
the large number of staff and the office space required to handle that 
paper, thereby also reducing the cost of the census. Likewise, in a 
budget document submitted to the Office of Management and Budget, the 
Bureau also links contracted activities to decreased workload and 
costs. 

The Bureau is planning for the integration of DRIS, FDCA, DADS II, and 
its other information technology systems. Successful systems 
integration involves almost every aspect of the project and reaches 
from the very beginning through the maintenance phase of a system's 
life cycle. To facilitate this planning, the Bureau will use the 2010 
Census Architecture to coordinate technical planning for systems 
integration. As part of this architecture, the Bureau has developed the 
Physical Architecture, which specifically identifies which systems need 
to exchange data or interface with one another. Contractors will be 
required to follow this document as they develop interoperable systems. 
Bureau officials stated that they plan to finalize the Physical 
Architecture by the spring of 2006. 

As the Bureau continues its testing and development for the 2010 
Census, it will be important for it to fully develop and carry out its 
plan to integrate its decennial systems. The Bureau has taken the 
responsibility of managing systems integration itself. Therefore, it 
needs to provide each contractor with the information needed to enable 
the systems they develop to work in concert with other decennial 
systems. Bureau officials indicate that they intend to define these 
information needs after all major information technology contracts have 
been awarded and will implement a joint effort with the Bureau's 
contractors and in-house developers to integrate its systems 
development schedules at that time. 

However, the Bureau has not yet established a schedule for defining 
this information that needs to be shared with contractors or other 
census teams for their development of decennial systems. To 
successfully provide this information on schedule so as to ensure the 
successful integration of decennial systems, the Bureau--in its role as 
the systems integrator--should establish a schedule to define 
interfaces between all decennial systems so that the interface 
information can be provided on a timely basis to development teams. 
Consistent with the leading acquisition planning practice of 
strategically planning for contracts, the successful integration of 
decennial systems is a key factor in the Bureau's ability to meet its 
internal milestones. This integration will decrease the chance for 
unanticipated cost increases as well as technical and programmatic 
risks. 

To Date, the Bureau Has Monitored the Acquisition Planning Process for 
Individual Contracts: 

Agencies relying on contractors should monitor planning activities 
leading up to contract award so that appropriate corrective actions can 
be taken if the process begins to deviate from plan. These planning 
activities involve (1) planning for and performing the actions 
necessary to develop and issue a solicitation package, (2) preparing 
for the evaluation of responses, (3) conducting an evaluation, (4) 
conducting supporting negotiations, and (5) making recommendations for 
award of the contract. Without appropriate monitoring of acquisition 
planning, agencies run the risk of delaying contract award and other 
contract milestones, which can result in acquisitions becoming more 
costly than necessary. 

The Bureau has monitored activities leading up to contract award for 
the three major contracts it has awarded and is monitoring its 
acquisition planning for the remaining four major contracts. For two of 
its awarded contracts--MTAIP and DRIS--the Bureau has established 
acquisition project schedules and processes, while also tracking 
whether its acquisition activities are performed on time through the 
maintenance, review, and inspection of detailed contract files. The 
Bureau was relatively close to meeting the dates specified in its 
contracts' revised planning schedules for the issuance of the MTAIP and 
DRIS RFPs and subsequent award of those contracts. The Bureau has also 
been monitoring the planning process for the award of its remaining 
major decennial contracts. 

Continued monitoring of contractor performance after contract award 
will also factor heavily into the success of major decennial contracts. 
For example, in our March 2006 testimony[Footnote 10] focusing on the 
DRIS and FDCA contracts, we noted that several plans needed for post- 
award contract monitoring for the two contracts, such as detailed 
performance measures for tracking the contractor or the Bureau's own 
internal progress, were not yet developed. While the Bureau does not 
have a policy requiring such plans to be completed prior to contract 
award, not having them in place could limit the Bureau's ability to 
determine when performance deviates from expectations and could 
increase the risk of delays in identifying problems with the project 
and taking appropriate corrective actions. 

The Bureau Has So Far Involved Relevant Stakeholders in the Acquisition 
Planning Process: 

In our previous work,[Footnote 11] we found that engaging relevant 
stakeholders[Footnote 12] and empowering them to coordinate acquisition 
actions help agencies to better define their needs and to identify, 
select, and manage providers of goods and services. For the inputs of 
stakeholders to be useful during the acquisition planning phase, 
careful selection of relevant stakeholders is necessary. A plan for 
stakeholder involvement should include a list of relevant stakeholders, 
the roles and responsibilities of the relevant stakeholders, and a 
schedule for stakeholder involvement. The Bureau, in its evaluations of 
the 2000 Census, reported that it could have had greater involvement 
from internal division stakeholders in its planning process. Likewise, 
the Commerce Office of Inspector General found that inadequate 
stakeholder participation--namely, the lack of coordination between the 
General Services Administration (GSA), the contractors GSA managed, and 
Bureau staff--resulted in many wasted hours of government employee time 
and increased contractor cost on the contract involving the opening of 
over 500 local offices during the 2000 Census. 

For some decennial contracts, the Bureau developed plans that include a 
list of relevant stakeholders, their roles and responsibilities, and 
schedules of when the involvement of each is needed. For example, the 
project management plan for the FDCA contract includes a strategy to 
communicate between internal and external stakeholders and the 
different management and technical teams that will provide oversight of 
the FDCA contract. It also details specific roles and responsibilities 
for individuals within project teams that will support the management 
and technical activities for the FDCA contract. In another example, the 
charter for the DRIS acquisition review team details the composition of 
the team, membership responsibilities, and guidelines in reviewing the 
acquisition of the system. 

After contract award, Bureau attention to stakeholder involvement will 
remain important. For example, each participant's role in post- 
contract-award activities should be clearly defined and shared among 
stakeholders for each contract. We noted in our testimony evaluating 
the Bureau's progress on the DRIS contract[Footnote 13] that in at 
least one case, the Bureau has not yet obtained written stakeholder buy-
in on a project plan for managing the contract. 

The Bureau Has Implemented Actions to Address Changes in Business 
Processes Resulting from Its Increasing Reliance on Contractors: 

An agency's increased reliance on contractors may result in changes to 
its business processes that can adversely affect staff and the 
performance of the contractor. For example, a 2003 IBM study[Footnote 
14] found that during the 2000 Census, some Bureau employees felt 
threatened by the presence of contractors because they believed that 
their roles and responsibilities had been taken away from them. 
Additionally, the Bureau did not have established processes to transfer 
knowledge and information from Bureau personnel to contractors. This 
lack of effective communication created tensions and engendered a less- 
than-constructive working relationship between contractors and Bureau 
staff, according to IBM. Moreover, the study found that because Bureau 
employees did not know how to properly define contractual requirements 
and deliverables, there were cost overruns. 

For the 2010 Census, the Bureau has planned several needed changes to 
its business processes. For example, to improve how it defines 
contractual requirements and deliverables, project teams led by the 
Bureau's Decennial Management Division are to oversee the development 
and management of requirements for particular operations and associated 
contracts. The teams will also work in conjunction with contractors to 
facilitate the understanding and execution of system requirements. 

To improve communication between Bureau and contractor staff, Bureau 
officials are relying on the 2010 Census Architecture to provide a 
formal means of sharing processes and requirements with contractors. 
Other Bureau officials have observed that the sharing of 2010 Census 
Architecture work products with contractors that has occurred to date 
has already resulted in improvements: the Bureau received better 
proposals from potential contractors, better conveyed its systems needs 
to contractors during the RFP phase, and had a means to provide answers 
to contractors' inquiries about systems specifications. 

The Bureau Has Taken Steps to Plan for Its Decennial Acquisition 
Workforce, but Needs to Fully Incorporate Key Strategic Workforce 
Planning Principles: 

Agencies that rely heavily on acquisitions to accomplish their missions 
stand to benefit greatly by planning strategically for their 
acquisition workforces. In a previous report, we noted that this 
planning should include developing a strategic workforce plan that 
defines the capabilities that will be needed by the acquisition 
workforce in the future, as well as strategies that can help this 
workforce meet these capabilities.[Footnote 15] During the 2000 Census, 
the Bureau experienced some difficulty managing its contracts because 
of a lack of skilled acquisition and contract-management personnel. 

For example, the Commerce Office of Inspector General reported that, 
because the Bureau's Decennial Systems and Contracts Management Office 
lacked staff with the experience needed to manage large-scale 
contracts, the Bureau did not prepare a written contract surveillance 
and management plan when it awarded a contract to a firm to help 
respondents complete their census questionnaires over the telephone. 
(Surveillance and management plans describe the responsibilities, 
roles, and interactions among the program office, contracting officer, 
and contractor.) Although the Department of Commerce, in commenting on 
a draft of this report, noted that the Bureau carried out these 
surveillance and management activities without a written plan, a 
written plan would have provided greater assurance that the contracts 
were (1) executed successfully, (2) not changed without authorization, 
and (3) that the contractor performs as expected. For the 2010 Census, 
the Bureau continues to face acquisition workforce challenges. 

Senior officials told us that the agency lacks and has trouble 
recruiting qualified acquisition personnel with the necessary 
experience and skills to award and oversee complex contracts. 
Additionally, the Bureau has not strengthened the monitoring of its 
mission-critical workforce more closely and at a higher level, as we 
noted in a June 2005 report.[Footnote 16] (According to a Commerce 
planning document, the Bureau considers its decennial acquisition 
workforce to be mission-critical.) For example, the Bureau did not 
identify its decennial acquisition workforce in its overall human 
capital management plan, nor did it solicit the input of the 
Acquisition Division in developing that plan. An April 2005 Office of 
Management and Budget policy letter to federal departments and agencies 
underscores the importance of this type of planning by requiring high- 
level acquisition officials to provide substantial input to their 
agency's human capital strategic plans regarding the acquisition 
workforce.[Footnote 17] 

We have previously identified five key principles that strategic 
workforce planning should address: (1) involving top management, 
employees, and other stakeholders in developing and implementing the 
workforce plan; (2) determining critical skills and competencies needed 
to achieve programmatic results; (3) developing strategies tailored to 
address gaps in critical skills and competencies; (4) building the 
capability needed to address administrative, educational, and other 
requirements important to support workforce strategies; and (5) 
monitoring and evaluating the agency's progress toward its human 
capital goals.[Footnote 18] 

The Bureau has incorporated some key strategic workforce planning 
principles in planning for its acquisition workforce,[Footnote 19] but 
primarily at a division level. Divisions within the Bureau that have 
responsibility for acquisition-related staff have independently 
implemented certain strategic workforce planning actions, including 
working to determine the critical skills and competencies needed to 
award and manage decennial contracts and developing strategies to have 
adequate skilled staff in place in time for the decennial. For example, 
as part of its workforce planning, the Decennial Systems and Contracts 
Management Office retained a contractor to conduct a study of what 
grades, competencies, and skills were needed to effectively manage the 
DRIS contract. Bureau divisions are also turning to formal training to 
enhance the capabilities of their staff. For instance, the Decennial 
Management Division is requiring some of its employees to take project 
management or contracting officer's technical representative training. 
Likewise, the Decennial Systems and Contracts Management Office has 
trained some of its staff in program management as well as in the 
development of enterprise architecture. 

At an agencywide level, the Bureau has taken some initial steps to 
identify the skills and competencies needed to manage contracts, but 
more could be done. For example, in the Bureau's strategic human 
capital plan, the Bureau acknowledges that project and contract 
management are among the new skills required for its staff for the 
reengineering of the 2010 Census. To build the capacity to help staff 
obtain these and other skills, the Bureau has established a Project 
Management Master's Certificate Program and an Information Technology 
Master's Certificate Program, and has developed competency guides as 
well. According to Commerce, these certificate programs, initiated in 
1998, are a way to develop the management and leadership skills needed 
in mid-to-senior level career employees to successfully oversee Bureau 
operations well beyond the 2010 Census. 

However, the Bureau still lacks an agencywide approach to strategically 
planning for its acquisition workforce. First, as we previously 
noted,[Footnote 20] the Bureau does not assess or monitor gaps in 
numbers by mission-critical occupation at an agencywide level. Instead, 
it focuses on "building infrastructure" by recruiting and developing 
competencies. The Bureau delegates decisions to line managers to fill 
vacancies, and believes there is no need to assess workers by mission- 
critical categories. In not performing this agencywide assessment, the 
Bureau cannot monitor its mission-critical occupations related to 
acquisitions more closely and at a higher level within the agency. As a 
result, it may not know overall if it has the acquisition-related 
competencies it needs in place agencywide to be prepared for conducting 
the 2010 Census as efficiently or effectively as possible. 

Second, the Bureau has not identified the needs of its decennial 
acquisition workforce in its agencywide human capital management, nor 
has it developed a separate plan specific to the acquisition workforce 
that identifies these needs. Further, according to Bureau officials in 
the Acquisition Division, their input was not sought in the development 
of the Bureau's existing human capital management plan. 

This lack of high-level attention to the decennial acquisition 
workforce in the Bureau's strategic human capital planning process is 
notable, especially in light of the Bureau's challenges of recruiting 
qualified acquisition personnel. It will be important for the Bureau to 
address the needs of its acquisition workforce in its agencywide human 
capital management plan or a separate plan and to involve the 
Acquisition Division in this planning effort. Taking these actions 
would help facilitate a better alignment between the acquisition 
workforce and the demands brought on by the Bureau's greater reliance 
on contractors for the successful conduct of the 2010 Census. 

Conclusion: 

As the 2010 Census approaches, the Bureau faces the challenge of 
managing its extensive network of contractors to perform mission- 
critical operations. The Bureau is well aware that early planning, 
testing, and development will help facilitate a successful decennial 
census. Acquisition planning plays a key role in that process and 
provides a road map the Bureau can use to manage its contracts to 
increase the likelihood of timely deliverables at reasonable cost. 

Overall, progress on the seven major decennial contracts is moving 
forward. Still, as Census Day 2010 draws closer, it will become 
increasingly difficult for the Bureau to make up any time lost to 
delays. Already, aspects of the Bureau's DADS II system will not be 
assessed in the dress rehearsal because of a change in the contract's 
acquisition milestones, while changes to FDCA time frames have reduced 
the amount of time the Bureau will have to complete the work needed to 
prepare for, and begin the dress rehearsal. 

Further, to help the contractors stay on track, Bureau officials will 
need to document a schedule for when information needs to be exchanged 
between contractors and census teams working to develop these 
interoperable systems for the 2010 Census. The Bureau also needs to pay 
attention to strategically--and at an agencywide level--managing the 
human capital planning for its acquisition workforce. 

Recommendations for Executive Action: 

To help the Bureau improve the management of the 2010 Census, we 
recommend that the Secretary of Commerce direct the Bureau to take the 
following three actions: 

* Ensure that the key systems to be developed or provided by 
contractors for the 2010 Census are fully functional and ready to be 
assessed in concert with other operations as part of the 2008 Dress 
Rehearsal. 

* Establish a schedule for the definition of interfaces between all 
decennial systems so that these data can be provided on a timely basis 
to development teams. 

* Devote further attention to planning strategically for its decennial 
acquisition workforce by (1) assessing, at a higher level within the 
agency, whether it has the acquisition-related skills needed to conduct 
the 2010 Census by developing strategies to identify and address gaps, 
monitoring and evaluating progress toward closing gaps, and adjusting 
strategies accordingly; and (2) identifying the needs of the 
acquisition workforce in its human capital management plan or another 
acquisition-specific workforce plan and involving appropriate 
stakeholders in this planning effort. 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation: 

In written comments on a draft of this report, Commerce neither agreed 
nor disagreed with our recommendations. Commerce commented on aspects 
of our principal findings and our third recommendation regarding its 
planning for the decennial acquisition workforce. Its comments included 
some technical corrections and suggestions where additional context was 
needed, and we revised the report to reflect these comments as 
appropriate. Commerce's comments are reprinted in their entirety in 
appendix II. 

Commerce did comment on our first principal finding concerning the 
Bureau's readiness for the 2008 Dress Rehearsal. This finding led to 
our first recommendation for the Bureau to ensure that its key systems 
are fully functional and ready to be assessed in concert with other 
operations during the dress rehearsal. Commerce noted that the Bureau 
provided competitors for the FDCA contract information about the 
design, requirements, and specifications for the 2006 Test in its RFP 
(we have now added this information to our report). Commerce also noted 
that the Bureau will be sharing preliminary results from the 2006 Test 
with Harris--the firm that was awarded the contract--as soon as the 
results are available. However, the Bureau did not specify when this 
might be. Moreover, as we discussed in the report, the mobile computing 
devices will need to be ready by April 2007, when the Bureau is to use 
them for the address canvassing operation for the 2008 Dress Rehearsal. 
Consequently, the contractor will have around a year, perhaps less, to 
study the results of the 2006 Test; assess what worked and what 
improvements, if any, are needed; and develop and test any solutions in 
time to be included in the devices that will be used in 2007. 

For our second principal finding that the Bureau does not have a 
schedule for defining what and when information needs to be provided to 
development teams to better integrate the systems they develop, 
Commerce did not comment on our recommendation for the Bureau to 
develop such a schedule, but stated that it was not clear how the 
Bureau could have had such a schedule prior to awarding the contracts. 
Commerce further noted that the Bureau plans to implement a joint 
effort with its contractors and in-house developers to integrate its 
development schedules. Our report acknowledged that the Bureau intended 
to define these information needs after it awards the major information 
technology contracts. We believe that establishing a schedule defining 
the interfaces between all decennial systems as soon as practical is 
critical because it allows the Bureau to better manage the process and 
hold various components accountable to a schedule and thus help ensure 
the successful integration of decennial systems. 

In its comments related to our third finding and recommendation for the 
Bureau to assess the decennial acquisition workforce at a higher level 
within the agency, Commerce described the actions the Bureau is taking 
consistent with this recommendation. For example, Commerce reported 
that high-level Bureau officials will be regularly briefed on the 
status of each decennial acquisition. Commerce also detailed the steps 
the Bureau is taking with stakeholders to plan for the needs of the 
Bureau's acquisition-related workforce as part of its human capital 
management plan. Commerce noted that this plan includes input from 
managers who represent each Bureau directorate. 

These are important first steps toward addressing our third 
recommendation. While the Bureau has begun working closely with 
stakeholders to plan for the decennial acquisition workforce as part of 
its human capital management plan, it has not yet begun incorporating 
that information into the plan. As we stated in our report, documenting 
its decennial acquisition workforce needs in the Bureau's strategic 
human capital plan would help facilitate a better alignment between the 
acquisition workforce and the demands brought on by the Bureau's 
greater reliance on contractors for the successful conduct of the 2010 
Census. 

In addition, Commerce commented on information in our report that was 
obtained from our March 2006 testimony and a 2002 Commerce Office of 
Inspector General study. Specifically, our report notes that in March 
2006, we testified that neither the FDCA nor DRIS contract project 
offices had the full set of capabilities they need to effectively 
manage those acquisitions.[Footnote 21] Commerce commented that full 
project management offices were not needed to carry out the Bureau's 
initial acquisitions and will be staffed in time to effectively manage 
the contracts. As discussed in the testimony and noted in our report, a 
full set of capabilities--including the institution of requirements 
management or risk management processes--are significant factors in 
successful systems acquisitions and development programs. Having these 
capabilities in place will also improve the likelihood of meeting cost 
and schedule estimates as well as performance requirements. Regarding 
the Inspector General's study, we noted that the Inspector General 
found that the cost of the data capture system for the 2000 Census 
increased almost fivefold by the end of that decennial cycle because of 
continually changing and expanding requirements late in the decade, and 
the Inspector General recommended that for 2010, the Bureau would need 
a sufficient number of trained personnel dedicated to the planning and 
management of decennial contracts. In its comments, Commerce noted that 
the issue of changing and expanding requirements must be addressed by 
program management, and that the Bureau, in its preparations for the 
2010 Census, is following practices for rigorous requirements 
management. 

We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Commerce, 
Commerce Office of Inspector General, the Director of the U.S. Census 
Bureau and other interested congressional committees. We will make 
copies available to others upon request. This report will also be 
available at no charge on GAO's Web site at [Hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov]. 

If you or your staff have any questions concerning this report, please 
contact me on (202) 512-6806 or by email at farrellb@gao.gov. Contact 
points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs 
may be found on the last page of this report. GAO staff who made major 
contributions to this report are listed in appendix VIII. 

Signed by:

Brenda S. Farrell: 
Acting Director Strategic Issues: 

[End of section] 

Appendix I: Scope and Methodology: 

Our objectives for this report were to (1) determine the status of the 
U.S. Census Bureau's (Bureau) major contracts related to the 2010 
Census, and (2) evaluate the extent to which the Bureau is using 
selected leading practices to manage its acquisition planning process 
for the decennial census. To address our first objective, we reviewed 
documents related to major 2010 Census acquisitions, including 
acquisition plans, requests for proposals (RFP), finalized contracts, 
and budget requests to the Office of Management and Budget. We also 
reviewed the Bureau's strategic planning documents, such as its 2010 
Census Management Plan, 2010 Census Architecture, and 2010 Baseline 
Design for Reengineering the Decennial Census. 

Additionally, we interviewed Bureau officials about the status of and 
future plans for the major contracts for the 2010 Census (as defined by 
Bureau officials). Those officials include those from the Decennial 
Management Division, which is responsible for implementing the 
decennial census; the Decennial Systems and Contracts Management 
Office, which manages selected system contracts supporting the 
decennial census; and the Acquisition Division, which carries out 
acquisition activities, including setting up and signing contracts, for 
other Bureau offices. Further, we interviewed an official from the 
Decennial Information Technology and Geographic Systems division. 

For the second objective, we identified selected leading acquisition 
planning practices used in the federal government from a variety of 
sources. Sources included our own guidance, reports, and testimonies on 
the acquisition function[Footnote 22] as well as external works, such 
as the Capability Maturity Model" Integration (CMMISM)[Footnote 23] 
model. The CMMISM model was developed by Carnegie Mellon University's 
Software Engineering Institute, recognized for its expertise in 
software and system processes. The CMMISM model includes criteria to 
evaluate, improve, and manage system and software development 
processes. We adapted these CMMISM criteria to evaluate system and 
software development issues during acquisition planning for the four 
information technology contracts (Field Data Collection Automation, 
Decennial Response Integration System, MAF/TIGER Accuracy Improvement 
Project, and Data Access and Dissemination System II). From these, we 
selected five leading practices based on the acquisition-related 
challenges the Bureau faced during Census 2000. The five leading 
practices we selected focused on management oversight of the Bureau's 
acquisition planning process, not on the Bureau's acquisition strategy 
for specific contracts or compliance with the Federal Acquisition 
Regulation. 

To evaluate the extent to which the Bureau followed these leading 
practices, we reviewed relevant Bureau documents, such as acquisition 
plans, strategic planning documents, RFPs, finalized contracts, and 
budget requests to the Office of Management and Budget; observed some 
acquisition-related events at the Bureau, including Bureau 
presentations for potential bidders and contract monitoring meetings; 
and interviewed knowledgeable Bureau officials about acquisition 
planning. We focused on the Bureau's activities to date in planning for 
its major decennial contracts. Because the Bureau is still planning 
most of these acquisitions, our review presents findings about current 
status and plans as reported by Bureau officials or as supported by 
Bureau documents. We conducted our work from July 2005 through March 
2006 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 
standards. 

[End of section] 

Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Commerce: 

The Secretary Of Commerce: 
Washington, O. C. 20230: 

April 24, 2006: 

Ms. Brenda S. Farrell: 
Acting Director: 
Office of Strategic Issues: 
United States Government Accountability Office: 
Washington, DC 20548: 

Dear Ms. Farrell: 

The U.S. Department of Commerce appreciates the opportunity to comment 
on the United States Government Accountability Office draft report 
entitled 2010 Census: Census Bureau Generally Follows Selected Leading 
Acquisition Planning Practices, but Continued Management Attention Is 
Needed to Help Ensure Success. The Department's comments on this report 
are enclosed. 


Sincerely, 

Signed by Carlos M. Gutierez:

Enclosure: 

U.S. Department of Commerce Comments on the United States Government 
Accountability Office Draft Report Entitled 2010 Census: Census Bureau 
Generally Follows Selected Leading Acquisition Planning Practices, but 
Continued Management Attention Is Needed to Help Ensure Success (GAO- 
06-277): 

General Comments: 

In case the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) would 
like to add this information to the final report, the Field Data 
Collection Automation (FDCA) contract was awarded to the Harris 
Corporation. The contract was awarded on schedule, March 31, 2006, for 
an estimated $600 million. 

Page-Specific Comments: 

On pages 3-4, the report states that neither the FDCA nor Decennial 
Response Integration Systems (DRIS) contract project offices has the 
full set of capabilities they need to effectively manage the 
acquisitions. 

Comment: The project offices had what they needed to carry out all 
initial acquisition management activities. We do not believe the full 
Project Management Offices (PMOs) were needed for that phase. The full 
PMOs will be staffed in time to effectively manage the contracts. 

On pages 7-8, the report states: "[The Bureau] does not have a schedule 
for documenting what and when information needs to be provided to 
development teams to integrate all decennial systems. " 

Comment: It is not clear how the Census Bureau could be expected to 
have such a schedule prior to awarding these major contracts. Since the 
Census Bureau is outsourcing for solutions, it would not know the 
specific detailed schedule for development of systems until it has 
awarded each contract to a specific vendor. The Census Bureau does plan 
to implement a joint effort with its contractors and in-house 
developers to integrate its development schedules. 

On page 10, the report states: ".costs for data capture system 
increased [for Census 20001 from a projected $49 million . to $238 
million . because of continually changing and expanding requirements." 

Comment: The report implies this resulted from a lack of training and 
experience of contract management staff. The issue of changing and 
expanding requirements is beyond the scope or authority of the contract 
management staff. It must be addressed by overall program management. 
The absence of a rigorous requirements and management and traceability 
discipline during the 2000 cycle is being rectified for this cycle by 
the Census Bureau's commitment to Capability Maturity Model Integration 
(CMMI) processes. CMMI includes specific practices for rigorous 
requirements management. We and our contributors follow CMMI Level 3. 

On page 14, the report states that the Census Bureau delayed Data 
Access and Dissemination Systems (DADS) to "develop a strategy to 
provide potential bidders with a more comprehensive understanding." 

Comment: The contract award for DADS was delayed to gain a clearer 
sense of budget priorities before issuing a delegation of procurement 
authority. 

On pages 15-16, the report states: "The FDCA contractor will have only 
a short time to incorporate performance information from the 2006 Test 
into the development of new mobile computing devices." 

Comment: Competitors for the FDCA contract were provided information 
about design, requirements, and specifications for the 2006 Census Test 
as part of Section J of the Request for Proposal. The Census Bureau 
will be sharing preliminary results from the test as soon as they are 
available. 

On page 16, the report provides a schedule of major activities and 
contract award dates. 

Comment: The dates shown for "Award remaining printing contracts" are 
not current. The dates should read "March/April 2007 through April 
2009." 

On page 17, the report shows a schematic of data exchanges between 
decennial contracts and systems. 

Comment: The schematic shows a direct link between DRIS and our 
geographic support systems, but this link is not part of the Census 
Bureau's current plans. Similarly, the direct link shown between FDCA 
and DADS is not part of their current plans. 

On page 29, the report states: "The Bureau did not prepare a contract 
surveillance and management plan." 

Comment: The report quotes an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report 
here, but does not add the additional context that the OIG report also 
recognized that the Census Bureau carried out these surveillance and 
management activities in spite of the lack of a written plan. 

On page 30, the report references the June 2005 (GAO-05-585) report and 
states that the Census Bureau has not monitored its mission-critical 
acquisition workforce more closely as GAO has recommended. 

Comment: The June 2005 report makes no mention of the Census Bureau's 
acquisition workforce. 

On page 31, the report notes that divisions within the Census Bureau 
that have acquisition-related staff have "independently implemented 
certain strategic workforce planning actions." 

Different offices at the Census Bureau, such as the Decennial Systems 
and Contracts Management Office (DSCMO), Decennial Management Division 
(DMD), and Acquisition Division have different occupational mixes, 
professional competencies, and responsibilities. The Acquisition 
Division is comprised of Contracting Officers who have specific and 
unique roles. They are the only organization with GS-1102 Contract 
Specialists. That occupation has unique characteristics and 
responsibilities. The type of training and the competencies required 
for staff in the Acquisition Division will vary significantly from 
staff in DSCMO and/or DMD. There are, however, standards in place for 
acquisition-related staff in terms of the training they are required to 
have. 

Since March 2004, the Department of Commerce has implemented a 
"Contracting Officer Representative Certification Program" for 
acquisition personnel. The goal of this program is to provide 
individuals who are managing government contracts with the necessary 
tools and abilities to do so effectively and efficiently. Based on the 
level of responsibilities an individual has and the size of the 
contracts they are managing, the individual is assigned a level, from I 
to III, that specifies the number of and types of courses they are 
required to take. Bureaus have the discretion to require any additional 
courses and/or hours that they feel are necessary. The Census Bureau 
requires all their Contracting Officer Technical Representatives 
(COTRs) to be Level II-certified, which requires them to take 40 hours 
of acquisition training, with a refresher course every 3 years and 18 
hours of Project Management training. Census Bureau task managers are 
required to be Level I-certified, which requires them to take 18 hours 
of acquisition and 12 hours of Project Management training. 

On page 32, the report notes that the Project Management (PM) Master's 
Certificate and the Information Technology (IT) Master's Certificate 
were established to help staff gain the project and contract management 
skills needed for the reengineering of the 2010 Census. 

The PM and IT programs were initiated in 1998 as part of the Census 
Bureau's much larger succession planning practices. The certificate 
programs are a way to develop the management and leadership skills 
needed in mid-to-senior level career employees to successfully oversee 
Census Bureau operations well beyond the 2010 Census. Since its 
inception, the programs have had participants from across the Census 
Bureau. By the end of 2005, there were 758 employees who had completed 
the program. 

Comments on Recommended Actions: 

GAO's Recommended Actions: "Devote further attention to planning 
strategically for its decennial acquisition workforce by (1y assessing, 
at a higher level within the agency, whether it has the acquisition- 
related skills needed to conduct the 2010 Census by developing 
strategies to identify and address gaps, monitoring and evaluating 
progress toward closing gaps, and adjusting strategies accordingly and 
(2) identifying the needs of the acquisition workforce in its human 
capital management plan or another acquisition-specific workforce plan 
and involving appropriate stakeholders in this planning effort." 

On page 32, the report suggests that the Census Bureau needs to track 
the acquisition workforce "at a higher level within the agency." We 
have begun a regular assessment of Census Bureau acquisition-related 
skills and processes. The Associate Director for Decennial Census and 
the Assistant Director for Decennial Information Technology and 
Geographic Systems, as well as the Census Bureau's Chief Information 
Officer (CIO), will be regularly briefed on the status of each 
decennial census acquisition. Further, the Census Bureau's Associate 
Director for Administration and Chief Financial Officer (ADACFO), the 
Bureau's CIO, and oversight groups from GAO and the OIG have been 
issued a standing invitation to attend all program review meetings. 

The Human Capital Management Council (HCMC) has been working closely 
with the Decennial Acquisition Management staff to develop strategies 
to help them obtain the experienced staff they need to successfully 
oversee the 2010 Census contracts. The HCMC have also been working 
closely with the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Office of 
Personnel Management to obtain additional flexibilities to help staff 
key positions in the acquisition arena on a time-limited basis. 

One flexibility that has been granted to the Census Bureau is the 
direct-hire authority for acquisitions-related personnel. On January 
30, 2006, the Department of Commerce granted the Census Bureau the 
direct-hire authority for contract specialists and procurement analyst 
positions, GS-1102, in GS 5 through 14. This authority will help the 
Census Bureau recruit and appoint qualified acquisition personnel 
needed to successfully conduct the 2010 Census. 

The Census Bureau's Human Capital Management Plan was developed 
corporately by HCMC, which consists of managers who represent each 
directorate, including both the decennial and the administration 
directorates (of which the Acquisition Division is a part). The 
directorates' human capital representatives were responsible for 
soliciting the input of their senior managers to reflect goals, needs, 
and priorities in the plan. Senior managers, including senior level 
officials in the Acquisition Division, provided their Council 
representatives with the information they determined was appropriate 
and necessary for the corporate-level Human Capital Management plan 
covering fiscal years 2005 through 2010. The ADACFO provided guidance 
and direction to ensure that the plans and relevant issues for 
acquisition were developed and expressed in concert with all of the 
administrative areas, reflecting a more comprehensive view. The ADACFO 
also won support from key acquisition stakeholders to fill three senior 
contracting officer and two contract specialist positions to manage/ 
support the large decennial contracts. 

[End of section] 

Appendix III: MAF/TIGER Accuracy Improvement Project (MTAIP) Contract 
Details: 

[See PDF for Image]

[End of Section]

[End of section] 

Appendix IV: Decennial Response Integration System (DRIS) Contract 
Details: 

[See PDF for Image] 

[End of Figure]

[End of section] 

Appendix V: Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) Contract Details: 

[See PDF for Image]

[End of Figure]

[End of section] 

Appendix VI: Data Access and Dissemination System (DADS II) Contract 
Details: 

[See PDF for Image]

[End of Figure]

[End of section] 

Appendix VII: Summaries of Major Decennial Contracts Planned for Award 
in 2007 or Later: 

[See PDF for Image]

[End of Figure]

[End of section] 

Appendix VIII: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments: 

GAO Contact: 

Brenda S. Farrell (202) 512-6806 or farrellb@gao.gov: 

Acknowledgments: 

In addition to the contact named above, Robert Goldenkoff, Assistant 
Director; Betty Clark; Shirley Hwang; Anne McDonough-Hughes; and 
Brendan St. Amant made key contributions to the report. Tim DiNapoli, 
Richard Donaldson, Richard Hung, John Krump, Donna Miller, and Amy 
Rosewarne provided significant technical support. 

[End of section] 

Related GAO Products: 

Selected GAO Reports on the 2010 Decennial Census: 

2010 Census: Planning and Testing Activities Are Making Progress. GAO- 
06-465T. Washington, D.C.: March 1, 2006. 

Census Bureau: Important Activities for Improving Management of Key 
2010 Decennial Acquisitions Remain to be Done. GAO-06-444T. Washington 
D.C.: March 1, 2006. 

Data Quality: Improvements to Count Correction Efforts Could Produce 
More Accurate Census Data. GAO-05-463. Washington, D.C.: June 20, 2005. 

Information Technology Management: Census Bureau Has Implemented Many 
Key Practices, but Additional Actions Are Needed. GAO-05-661. 
Washington, D.C.: June 16, 2005. 

2010 Census: Basic Design Has Potential, but Remaining Challenges Need 
Prompt Resolution. GAO-05-9. Washington, D.C.: January 12, 2005. 

Data Quality: Census Bureau Needs to Accelerate Efforts to Develop and 
Implement Data Quality Review Standards. GAO-05-86. Washington, D.C.: 
November 17, 2004. 

American Community Survey: Key Unresolved Issues. GAO-05-82. 
Washington, D.C.: October 8, 2004. 

2010 Census: Cost and Design Issues Need to Be Addressed Soon. GAO-04- 
37. Washington, D.C.: January 15, 2004. 

Decennial Census: Lessons Learned for Locating and Counting Migrant and 
Seasonal Farm Workers. GAO-03-605. Washington, D.C.: July 3, 2003. 

Decennial Census: Methods for Collecting and Reporting Hispanic 
Subgroup Data Need Refinement. GAO-03-228. Washington, D.C.: January 
17, 2003. 

Decennial Census: Methods for Collecting and Reporting Data on the 
Homeless and Others without Conventional Housing Need Refinement. GAO- 
03-227. Washington, D.C.: January 17, 2003. 

Selected GAO Reports on Acquisition Planning: 

Framework for Assessing the Acquisition Function at Federal Agencies. 
GAO-05-218G. Washington, D.C.: September 2005. 

Human Capital: Selected Agencies Have Opportunities to Enhance Existing 
Succession Planning and Management Efforts. GAO-05-585. Washington, 
D.C.: June 30, 2005. 

Homeland Security: Successes and Challenges in DHS's Efforts to Create 
an Effective Acquisition Organization. GAO-05-179. Washington, D.C.: 
March 29, 2005. 

Transportation Security Administration: High-Level Attention Needed to 
Strengthen Acquisition Function. GAO-04-544. Washington, D.C.: May 28, 
2004. 

Federal Procurement: Spending and Workforce Trends. GAO-03-443. 
Washington, D.C.: April 30, 2003. 

Acquisition Workforce: Status of Agency Efforts to Address Future 
Needs. GAO-03-55. Washington, D.C.: December 18, 2002. 

FOOTNOTES 

[1] The Federal Acquisition Regulation defines acquisition planning as 
"the process by which the efforts of all personnel responsible for an 
acquisition are coordinated and integrated through a comprehensive plan 
for fulfilling the agency need in a timely manner and at a reasonable 
cost. It includes developing the overall strategy for managing the 
acquisition." Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) § 2.101(b)(2). 

[2] Department of Commerce, Office of Inspector General, Improving our 
Measure of America: What Census 2000 Can Teach Us in Planning for 2010, 
OIG-14431 (Washington, D.C.: Spring 2002). 

[3] GAO, Census Bureau: Important Activities for Improving Management 
of Key 2010 Decennial Acquisitions Remain to be Done, GAO-06-444T 
(Washington, D.C.: Mar. 1, 2006). 

[4] GAO-06-444T and GAO, 2010 Census: Planning and Testing Activities 
Are Making Progress, GAO-06-465T (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 1, 2006). 

[5] In conducting the census, the Bureau hires enormous numbers of 
temporary employees to conduct field data collection as well as other 
tasks. For example, during the 2000 Census, the Bureau hired around 
500,000 enumerators. 

[6] For example, the data capture system exceeded its performance goals 
for accuracy, and the advertising campaign blanketed the country with 
more than 250 advertisements in 17 languages, which helped boost the 
response rate higher than the Bureau had expected. 

[7] The Bureau's testing and development program for the 2010 Census 
included field tests in Georgia and New York during its 2004 Census 
Test, as well as ongoing field tests in Texas and South Dakota for the 
2006 Census Test. In 2008, the Bureau plans to hold a dress rehearsal 
in California and North Carolina, which is to be a demonstration of the 
operations and systems planned for 2010. 

[8] GAO, 2010 Census: Basic Design Has Potential, but Remaining 
Challenges Need Prompt Resolution, GAO-05-9 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 12, 
2005). 

[9] U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Inspector General, FDCA 
Program for 2010 Census Is Progressing, but Key Management and 
Acquisition Activities Need to be Completed, OSE-17368 (Washington, 
D.C.: August 2005). 

[10] GAO-06-444T. 

[11] GAO, Framework for Assessing the Acquisition Function at Federal 
Agencies, GAO-05-218G (Washington, D.C.: September 2005). 

[12] Relevant stakeholders include representatives from program 
offices, contract officials, financial managers, human capital 
officials, and information technology officials. 

[13] GAO-06-444T. 

[14] IBM Business Consulting Services, Management Evaluation of Census 
2000 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 8, 2003). 

[15] GAO-05-218G. 

[16] GAO, Human Capital: Selected Agencies Have Opportunities to 
Enhance Existing Succession Planning and Management Efforts, GAO-05-585 
(Washington, D.C.: June 30, 2005). 

[17] Office of Management and Budget, Developing and Managing the 
Acquisition Workforce, Policy Letter 05-01 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 15, 
2005). 

[18] GAO, Human Capital: Key Principles for Effective Strategic 
Workforce Planning, GAO-04-39 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 11, 2003). 

[19] The Bureau defines its acquisition workforce broadly, including in 
its definition both Acquisition Division employees, such as contracting 
officers and contract specialists, and employees in other divisions 
that play a significant role in acquisitions, such as contracting 
officer technical representatives, program managers, and individuals 
responsible for defining contract requirements. 

[20] GAO-05-585. 

[21] GAO-06-444T. 

[22] See for example, GAO, Framework for Assessing the Acquisition 
Function at Federal Agencies, GAO-05-218G (Washington, D.C.: September 
2005). 

[23] CMM", Capability Maturity Model, and Capability Maturity Modeling 
are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. CMMISM is a 
service mark of Carnegie Mellon University.

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