The Census Bureau Needs to Improve Its Performance Management Processes and Quality Control Program for the Reimbursable Surveys Program

For our final report on our audit of the U.S. Census Bureau’s (the Bureau’s) Demographic Programs Directorate’s reimbursable surveys, our overall objective was to determine whether reimbursable surveys conducted by this directorate provided quality and reliable data to help sponsoring federal agencies make informed decisions. As part of this review we (1) determined whether quality metrics were met or exceeded, (2) determined whether quality assurance processes were working as intended, and (3) assessed the impact of data quality issues on survey sponsors. We found that while the Bureau has established controls along with performance and quality metrics to ensure the quality of survey data, it does not consistently follow or achieve them. Specifically, we found that I. the Bureau needs to improve performance management processes for reimbursable surveys; II. the Bureau needs to improve its quality assurance program for reimbursable surveys; and III. regional offices did not relieve FRs from survey data collection during falsification investigations and systematically track confirmed falsifications for use in future hiring decisions.