Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday: Census Bureau Reinvents Paper and Pencil

Topline: The 2020 U.S. Census was the first to be conducted online, but not for a lack of trying — $810 million worth of trying, to be exact.

Census Bureau wasted millions trying to invent computers for its 2010 crews

The Census Bureau spent five years trying to invent computers to use in the 2010 Census but ended up using paper and pencil once the project fell through.

That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses.

Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn’t stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.

Coburn’s Wastebook 2008 included 65 examples of outrageous spending, including the $810 million wasted preparing for the 2010 U.S. Census. The money would be worth $1.2 billion today.

Key facts: The Census Bureau awarded a $600 million contract to the Florida-based Harris Corporation in 2006 to invent handheld computers so census workers could take data electronically. It was meant to save money in the long run.

Coburn asked Census Director Louis Kincannon at a 2006 Senate hearing what would happen if the computers didn’t work.

He replied, “They will work. They have worked. You might as well ask me what happens if the Postal Service refuses to deliver the census form.”

Kincannon was wrong.

Computers over budget, behind schedule, and untested

The Government Accountability Office later reported that the computers were over budget, behind schedule and were not properly tested. In 2008, Congress asked the Census Bureau to go back to using paper and pencil, even though the Harris Corporation contract had already been paid.

The decision forced Congress to transfer an emergency $210 million into the Census Bureau to help cover a shortfall in the cost of completing the census.

Critical quote: Congress and the Harris Corporation both laid most of the blame for the mishap on the Census Bureau.

Harris Corporation Vice President Cheryl Janey told the House Oversight Committee in 2008 that “It was just this past January, two years after the contract was first issued, that we received more than 400 new and altered contract modifications.”

Summary: If the Census Bureau is able to count every person living in the U.S., they should have no trouble counting all the money they wasted in the 2000s.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.