2020 Census: Some Decennial Census Data Quality Assurance Methods Were Not Tested or Did Not Work as Intended During the 2018 End-to-End Census Test

For our final audit report on the U.S. Census Bureau’s (the Bureau’s) 2018 End-to-End Census Test, with specific attention paid to the testing of peak operations, our objectives were to determine whether (1) the test included data quality components identified as success criteria in the test plan, (2) the Bureau designed the test to inform the 2020 Census, (3) nonresponse followup (NRFU) systems are included in the test and function as designed, and (4) the Bureau performed non-ID processing and unduplicated responses in a timely manner to reduce the NRFU operation’s workload.We found the following: I. The Bureau has not fully tested some activities designed to ensure the quality of 2020 Census respondent data. II. The Bureau’s reengineered approach to NRFU closeout has not been adequately tested. III. Potentially unqualified field staff completed cases during NRFU. IV. Unresolved NRFU alerts may not help the Bureau maintain or improve the quality of decennial census data.In addition, and noted in an “Other Matters” section of this report, we discuss how (1) NRFU quality assurance lacks segregation of duties and (2) the Bureau must still improve its training for NRFU operation proxy procedures.