Special Report: 2020 U.S. census plagued by hacking threats, cost overruns

FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators demanding an accurate U.S. Census gather outside the U.S. Supreme Courthouse in Washington, U.S., April 23, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

(Reuters) - In 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau faced a pivotal choice in its plan to digitise the nation’s once-a-decade population count: build a system for collecting and processing data in-house, or buy one from an outside contractor.

The bureau chose Pegasystems Inc, reasoning that outsourcing would be cheaper and more effective.