The 2020 Census Decennial Logistics Management operation coordinated space acquisition and lease management of six regional census centers, the Puerto Rico Area Office, and 248 area census offices in collaboration with Field Division and the General Services Administration.  

Examples of space acquisition and lease management activities included but were not limited to developing a space acquisition plan and program schedule; collaborating with the General Services Administration to conduct the design and build-out of the regional census centers and the Puerto Rico Area Office, in addition to training regional census center staff to design and build-out area census offices; securing bids and awarding contracts and leases; monitoring procurement and build-out of space (i.e., specifications, schemas, designs, etc.); ensuring that all office locations met physical security requirements; and closing out offices. 

For this operation, leases were awarded to the regional census centers and the Puerto Rico Area Office first. These regional census centers opened between January 2017 and June 2018. However, the Puerto Rico Area Office sustained damage because of Hurricane Maria, which delayed its opening until August 2018.

Of the 248 area census offices, 40 were designated to open to support 2020 Census early operations (Wave 1). All Wave 1 leases were awarded by July 6, 2018. However, the Caguas Area Census Office was made “Ready for Business” with the Wave 2 area census offices. The other 208 area census offices (Wave 2) had their leases awarded between November 2018 and June 2019. 

After the 2020 Census, the regional census centers used an office closeout daily activities tracker spreadsheet, an innovation for the 2020 Census that enabled the successful, earlier-than-scheduled closure of the 248 area census offices in February 2021. In general, the Decennial Logistics Management operation succeeded in meeting its space acquisition and lease management goals for the 2020 Census.   

Key recommendations for the 2030 Census space acquisition and lease management activities are as follows: begin the space acquisition process for field offices and the National Processing Center’s (NPC) logistics warehouse earlier; secure adequate, nonshared space for the NPC’s additional logistics warehouse; and designate adequate-sized, private areas in regional census centers for special operations and activities.