The Forms Printing and Distribution Assessment measure the success of the activities of the 2010 Census Forms Printing and Distribution Program for the 50 United States, D.C., and Puerto Rico. It documents the results of the program for historical and informational purposes, and provides recommendations and best practices for the next planning cycle in support of the 2020 Census.

The 2010 Census Forms Printing and Distribution Integrated Product Team was responsible for developing strategies and identifying risks in planning, awarding, and managing contracts for printing Public Use Forms. These are forms issued by the Census Bureau to obtain and provide information to/from the public for the 2010 Census. The Census Bureau printed nearly 2.1 billion Public Use Forms in support of the 2010 Census.

The Printing Program Office of the Decennial Automation and Contract Management Office was responsible for overseeing the entire printing operation, from gathering print requirements and preparing print contracts, to providing quality assurance during production and coordinating the distribution of the forms. The Decennial Management Division was responsible for the forms design work and for coordinating activities within the Census Bureau’s forms design area in the Administrative and Customer Services Division as well as with the other appropriate decennial census subject matter divisions.

The Government Printing Office acted as the Contracting Officer for all printing completed through private sector vendors. Private printing vendors printed the paper materials, assembled the mailing packages, and distributed the Public Use Forms. The print vendor delivered the questionnaire mailing packages for each mailing to the United States Postal Service for first-class delivery on specified dates. The print vendor also shipped pre-assembled Update/Leave questionnaire packages to the Local Census Offices for delivery to housing units by Census Bureau field personnel. Other questionnaire packages and materials were shipped to the National Processing Center for storage and for inclusion in the field prepackaged kits.

This report focuses on printing and distribution aspects of the Printing Program Office’s 2010 Census strategies and describes the conclusions that led to the success of the 2010 Census printing program. This assessment provides evidence for the following conclusions:

• The development and use of stringent, yet clear, print requirements allowed for the development of printing contracts that clearly outlined the program expectations and supported the vendors in producing a timely and high quality product.
• The development and use of a “best value” approach to contract solicitation in lieu of the standard lowest bid approach provides greater control over the product quality.
• The Quality Information for Success Printing II system allowed daily monitoring and verification of the quality of the printed material and was critical to the program’s success.
• Print quantities of the Public Use Forms were sufficient for the 2010 Census operations based on census design estimations.
• The communication and collaboration efforts between the United States Postal Service, Government Printing Office, print vendors, and Census Bureau subject matter experts were instrumental to the success of the operation.
• The actual printing costs were lower than the estimated printing costs due to program changes and the economic conditions at the time, which contributed to a more competitive bidding environment.
• The estimated postage costs were higher than the actual postage costs due to the lower than anticipated number of addresses for the mail out.
• The security measures employed by the Census Bureau ensured the confidentiality and integrity of the mail pieces throughout the printing and production phases were sufficient.

Some of the recommendations for 2020 include:

• The 2010 Census procurement methodology should be repeated for the 2020 Census.
• Research managing Undeliverable As Addressed on the front end (i.e. eliminating them from the address file).
• A team of stakeholders including from the Geography Division, Decennial Systems Processing Office, Printing Program Office and Decennial Management Division need to join together to develop a set of process improvements for the development of the address file that streamline activities and reduce operational risk.