Summary: The Census Bureau recently released its design decisions for the 2000 Decennial Census. GAO is encouraged by several of the Bureau's decisions, such as the questionnaire redesign; address list development, with support from the Postal Service; and multiple mail contacts, which GAO urged in past testimonies and reports. GAO is also encouraged that the Bureau has decided to sample households that failed to respond to census questionnaires rather than conducting a 100-percent follow-up as it has in the past. The Bureau estimates that a reengineered census will cost about $3.9 billion, which is $900 million less than would be spent if the census was carried out without design changes. However, achieving the $900 million savings will require aggressive management attention by the Bureau to ensure that the fundamental changes are well executed. Congress now needs to weigh in on the Bureau's decisions and provide the funding that it believes are appropriate. GAO is concerned that the opportunity for a well-planned census will be lost if Congress and the Bureau cannot agree on the fundamental design and budget for the 2000 census in a timely manner.
