The Office of Inspector General says the Census Bureau didn’t adequately monitor contract orders worth hundreds of millions of dollars dealing with advertising to promote participation in the 2020 census. The watchdog agency said in a report last month that bureau contracting officers failed to make sure standards were followed to measure the performance of a contractor and didn’t receive supporting documentation for paid media invoices totaling $363 million. The report says that, as a result, the bureau could have accepted substandard performances, potentially wasting millions of taxpayers’ dollars. The Census Bureau says that, while the findings in the audit report are valid, the advertising program was a success.
