Census Ditches PDAs for Paper and Pencil

The U.S. Census has decided to abandon its plans to use handheld computers to collect population data, and will instead use the old-fashioned method: paper and pencil.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has told Congress that the U.S. Census is abandoning plans to have its field agents use handheld computers to collect information about the millions of residents who won’t return census forms in the mail. Instead, the agency will resort to time-tested, highly reliable technology: paper and pencil.

“As I have said before, the situation today is unacceptable, and we have been taking steps to address the issues,” Gutierrez told a House Appropriations subcommittee. Gutierrez cited communications problems with one of the department’s key contractors as the main reason for ditching the high-tech plans, likely Florida’s Harris Corporation.

The 2010 U.S. census was to be the first high-tech census in the nation’s history, with census workers using specialized PDAs to verify residential street addresses using GPS positioning technology, and collect door-to-door information from residents who do not return U.S. census forms. The bureau estimates that about a third of U.S. residents will not return census forms by mail.

The Census Bureau had planned to purchase about half a million PDAs for about $600 million. How, the cost of the contract is expected to be in excess of $1.3 billion, with the Census Bureau only purchasing about 150,000 of the handheld devices. Instead, the Bureau will hire and train some 600,000 temporary workers to assist with the door-to-door survey.

Testimony to Congress indicates the Census Bureau was unprepared to deal with an external contractor, and failed to lay out detailed specifications for the services and devices it required. As more details were added, costs ballooned.

The Department of Commerce oversees the U.S. Census Bureau. The U.S. Constitution mandates a census of the nation be conducted every ten years; result of that census carry a vast influence on U.S. politics, public funding, and public policy, including apportionment of the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.