Federal Drive Interviews -- Jan. 4, 2013

Certified financial planner talks about Thrift Savings Plan numbers for 2012. Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments sheds light on DoD's recent shopping spree. Jim Treat of the Census Bureau discusses the Web-first approach to the American Community Survey. Attorney Sandy Hoe discusses a recent case in which a contractor sued the Air Force. Dr. Gerald Dillingham of the GAO talks about possible changes in leadership at the FAA.

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Census to offer Internet option in gov't surveys

For the first time, the Census Bureau is giving U.S. households a chance to respond to government surveys over the Internet, part of a bid to save costs and boost sagging response rates in a digital age. The new online option will supplement the traditional census mail-out operation. It is a major shift for the agency, which has relied almost exclusively on paper forms since 1970 but is now moving toward a more Internet-based system after spending a record $13 billion on the 2010 census.

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IT Innovation in the New Era of Government

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Census managers, employees take backseat-driver role in reorg

Bureau leadership has relied heavily on ideas from the workforce as the agency pushes ahead with its first major reorganization in 50 years. The goal is to create a more efficient and effective Census Bureau, officials say.

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Census asks employees to grade themselves to cut costs

Agency leaders hope employees will help the Census Bureau fill critical workforce skills gaps. The self-assessments are aimed at upgrading the way workers collect, process and analyze data about the U.S. ahead of the 2020 census.

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Groves envisions future censuses to be cheaper, more mobile

Robert Groves led the U.S. Census Bureau into an era of technological innovation in the hopes of lowering costs and collecting better data for future censuses.

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2010 census missed more than 1.5M minorities

The 2010 census missed more than 1.5 million minorities after struggling to count black Americans, Hispanics, renters and young men, but was mostly accurate, the government said Tuesday.

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House passes 2013 funding for Commerce, Justice

The House approved the first spending bill for 2013, setting operating budgets for the Commerce and Justice Departments and for science-related agencies, such as NASA.

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Robert Groves stepping down as Census director

Robert Groves is stepping down as the head of the Census Bureau to become provost of Georgetown University. He begins the new position in late August.

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Census, Archives face 'tsunami' of interest in 1940 census data

You might think the year 1940 is firmly ensconced in the history books. But the Census Bureau, which earlier this week released data from that year's census online, has brought it into the digital age.

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1940 US census viewable online after near freeze

The National Archives said Tuesday that census pages are again available for viewing. The government website got 37 million hits hours after the information was first released to the public Monday morning, all but shutting out would-be researchers from the records.

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1940 census records include 21 million still alive

When the 1940 census records are released Monday, Verla Morris can consider herself a part of living history.

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Census offers early outs at headquarters

As of Thursday, 206 employees at the U.S. Census Bureau's Human Resources Division applied for early retirement offers.

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US Census covering Great Depression to be released

It was a decade when tens of millions of people in the U.S. experienced mass unemployment and social upheaval as the nation clawed its way out of the Great Depression and rumblings of global war were heard from abroad.

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Six months into field-office restructure, Census shares best practices

Thomas Mesenbourg, the deputy director of the Census Bureau, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss how the agency's restructuring effort is progressing.

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Section 508 revision nears home stretch but compliance problems remain

The Access Board hopes to publish new accessibility standards this fall, known as Section 508, which agencies use to buy tech products. The agency has been working on the standards for six years. But some advocates of disabled employees say the update, while necessary, doesn't address the real problem: lack of enforcement.

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Census launches new user-friendly website

The Census Bureau has moved a large cache of files from its AmericanFactFinder system into a new setup.

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Mobile device pilots giving Census a look into the future

The bureau hired Agilex under a four-year, $6.4 million contract to provide application development and technical support for field workers to use tablet computers. Census field workers will receive one of three different tablets for conducting actual surveys for the bureau and other federal agencies.

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Census posts economic data online

Census Bureau officials Stephen Buckner and Mark Wallace joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris to discuss the new searchable database and why the bureau decided to put the data online now.

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In wake of Census sleepers, how can fed managers approach embarrassing conversations?

Deciding how to communicate sensitive information to your organization is tricky. Tim Barnhart, president of Federal Management Partners, discusses how leaders should think about conversations or memos about potentially embarrassing subjects.

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