program  to assess the quality of the population data collected in the 2000 Census,  using a smaller sample of 300,000 housing units. The bureau conducted  A.C.E., which corresponded to the PES in past censuses and the ICM in the  original 2000 Census Plan, to measure and correct the overall and  differential coverage of the U.S. resident population in the 2000 Census. The bureau accounts for the costs of conducting the ICM/A.C.E. programs. programs? This  original estimate included fiscal years 1997 through  2003. programs? The first evidence for the $400  million cost estimate for conducting the ICM/A.C.E. costs are based on  assumptions about the needs for headquarters and support staff and  related benefits, contractual services, travel, office space, and equipment  costs necessary to conduct and support operations of the program. As shown in figure 1, we identified from bureau records budgeted amounts  of $276.5 million for conducting the ICM/A.C.E. As shown in figure 2, we identified from bureau records obligated amounts  of $206.9 million, of which $58.4 million was for the ICM program from  fiscal year 1996 through 1999, and $148.5 million was for the A.C.E. About $57.7 million of budgeted funds that we identified from bureau  records for the ICM/A.C.E. programs were not obligated through fiscal year  2001. What were the ICM/A.C.E. program-related costs for the bureau dress  rehearsal in fiscal year 1998? programs that we could identify. We did not suggest that the difference between  $277 million of  budgeted life cycle costs and $207 million of obligated life cycle costs  demonstrated the bureau’s inability to properly manage and record  expenditures relating to the ICM/A.C.E.
Why GAO Did This Study

To assess the quality of the population data collected in the 2000 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau conducted the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (A.C.E.) program, which focused on a survey of housing units designed to estimate the number of people missed, counted more than once, or otherwise improperly counted in the census. GAO reviewed the life cycle costs of the A.C.E. program and its predecessor, the Integrated Coverage Measurement (ICM) program.

What GAO Found

GAO found that the original estimated cycle costs of conducting the ICM/A.C.E. programs were $400 million. The first evidence for the original $400 million estimate is in the original budget justifications for fiscal year 2000. The bureau based its estimates of ICM/A.C.E. costs on assumptions about the needs for personnel and benefits, contractual services, travel, office space, equipment, and other costs necessary to conduct and support operations of the programs. The budgeted amounts that GAO identified from bureau records for conducting the ICM/A.C.E. programs are $277 million through fiscal year 2003. The obligated costs that GAO identified from bureau records for conducting the ICM/A.C.E. programs are $207 million through fiscal year 2001. $58 million of budgeted funds for the ICM/A.C.E. programs that GAO identified from bureau records were not obligated through fiscal year 2001. The ICM/A.C.E. program-related costs that GAO identified from bureau records for the 1998 dress rehearsal were $11 million budgeted and $9 million obligated.