ICR Forms and Collector Record Book Printing for 2011 Census

The sixteenth national Census of Population and Housing will be held in August 2011. An essential segment of the Census is the printing and production of the Intelligent Character Recognition Forms and the Collector Record Books.
The Census collects information relating to each person and household in the country. The statistics collected are used to provide information about the Australian community as a whole and groups within the community. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has strict privacy and confidentiality rules relating to protection of data. No results are ever released in a way which would enable particular individuals or households to be identified. The public expects that the information they provide will be kept confidential and this protection is given by provisions in the Census and Statistics Act. The ABS also has an obligation to comply with the Information Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 . To ensure that confidentiality and privacy provisions are observed and obeyed, all ABS officers are legally bound to secrecy under the Census and Statistics Act.
For the 2011 Census all forms and Collector Record Books will be Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) type documents and must be produced in accordance with stringent specifications set by the ABS. ICR readers read images from Census forms that have been written in response to Census questions. These are then interpreted and processed at the Census Data Processing Centre. The ICR format will impose special requirements in relation to printing accuracy, above those applying to standard forms printing work. There will be a requirement to produce a number of different form types as well as several versions of the Collector Record Book (CRB). It is estimated that 11.8 million Household Forms and 2.9 million Personal forms will make up the bulk of the printing.
The printing and production of all Census Forms is time sensitive and performed under strict security conditions. There will be a requirement for stringent quality assurance to be undertaken on the final forms and working pages of the Collector Record Books. To enable a high quality outcome this contract will include the production of all the above mentioned items for the 2010 Census Dress Rehearsal.
Final Census forms will be transported to a Central Packing Centre where forms, along with several other items, will be packed into purpose designed and built cardboard boxes. The successful contractor will need to work closely with the project manager for the packing operation (non-ABS) and the ABS project manager to ensure timetables are met.

The ICR printing operation is divided into three categories, namely
(a) Large quantity generic Census forms (Household Form and Personal Form);
(b) Small quantity generic Census forms (Summary Form); and
(c) Collector Record Books.
ABS officers will need access to the printing site on a regular basis prior to and during all production runs. As part of the tender evaluation the ABS project manager and Security Advisor will be required to undertake a security check of all sites used to print, produce and store Census forms.