Vetting of workers concerns watchdog

ORLANDO, FLA. >> Almost 300 people working for the U.S. Census Bureau last year had “major” issues with their background checks and a lack of vetting oversight could pose a risk to the public and the agency as it hires and deploys hundreds of thousands of census takers for the 2020 census, according to a watchdog report released last week.

About 70 of the workers deemed to have “major” issues were in the field last fall, verifying addresses ahead of the once-a-decade head count of the U.S. More than a dozen other workers with some kind of derogatory information in their background checks had access to Census Bureau facilities and information systems, and they included employees working in positions deemed “critical” and “high risk,” according to the report from the Office of Inspector General.

“Due to the lack of oversight of its background check program, the Bureau cannot reliably attest to the suitability of its decennial workforce — increasing the risk of exposing the public, the Bureau’s systems and facilities, and its employees to individuals who have not been properly vetted,” the OIG said in a management alert sent to the bureau.

Some 10,000 background checks for employees and contractors haven’t been evaluated, some dating back to 2014, the watchdog office said. In a statement, the Census Bureau said the backlog of almost 300 major cases had fallen to 200, and the remaining cases will be evaluated by mid-June.