**** C E N S U S 2 0 0 0 B U L L E T I N **** Vol. 3 - No. 2 Feb. 3, 1999 If April 1, 2000, comes and goes and no census form shows up in the mail, or if a resident doesn't understand something on their questionnaire, they can call any of six toll-free numbers for Telephone Questionnaire Assistance (TQA). In one of the more innovative operations in the next census, the Census Bureau last Dec. 23 signed a contract with Electronic Data Systems Corp. worth up to $100 million to build and manage a network of 30 call centers that will provide an array of TQA services. This is the first time that the Census Bureau has contracted for TQA services. In 1990, the Census Bureau itself hired and trained temporary staff at seven processing offices and more than 400 district offices to handle calls from an estimated 6 million residents. In 2000, the Census Bureau expects up to 11 million in-bound calls from people who have questions about the census or the census questionnaire, need assistance to complete the questionnaire or require support in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog or Korean. The call centers will be in operation during a three-month period from March 3 to June 8. About 80 percent of the calls will come in during a three-week period before and immediately after April 1. The TQA program will manage incoming calls from the public and outgoing calls by call center operators who may need to obtain missing information or clarify information on mailed-in questionnaires. The agents may, in certain circumstances, conduct a telephone interview on request for people who are having difficulty completing the paper questionnaire. Although most people should find the instructions on the questionnaire straightforward and easy to follow, the Census Bureau felt the necessity to offer telephone assistance to those people who otherwise might not be able to complete the paper questionnaire. The specially-trained contractor operators will be on duty between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in all time zones while an automated Interactive Voice Response system, with menus in English and Spanish, will be in place 24 hours a day during the three-month period. TQA will cover all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico and includes a Census Bureau-supported toll-free telephone device for the deaf (TDD) at its Hagerstown, Md., call center. "We believe that providing this type of assistance to people with questions about their forms can directly affect the quality and completeness of the census," said Ed Wagner, the Census Bureau's senior manager for TQA. "This program will likely be the first personal contact that many respondents have with the Census Bureau. Our ability to handle their inquiries in a professional and accurate manner will directly influence their view of the census, the Census Bureau and the federal government in general." Wagner added: "The growth of the call-center industry in this country allows us to acquire both the infrastructure and expertise necessary to mount this one-time, short-term effort for the census. It would not be cost-effective for us to build the type of infrastructure needed to conduct this kind of one-time, short-duration activity." EDS' teammates on the contract include Centrobe Inc., Affina Corp., APAC TeleServices Inc., Call Interactive, GeoTel, Precision Response Corp., TeleTech Holdings Inc. and West TeleServices Corp. For further information about the TQA program, contact Ed Wagner on 301-457-4031 (fax: 301-457-4411; e-mail: edwin.b.wagner.jr(a)ccmail.census.gov