SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Conduct Qualitative Research
- Notice Date
- 8/8/2013
- Notice Type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- NAICS
- 541910
— Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling
- Contracting Office
- Broadcasting Board of Governors, Director, Office of Contracts, Office of Contracts (CON), 330 C Street, SW, Room 4300, Washington, District of Columbia, 20237, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20237
- Solicitation Number
- BBG50-R-13-0016
- Archive Date
- 9/6/2013
- Point of Contact
- Wayne D Greene, Phone: 202-619-2339, Herman P Shaw, Fax: 202-382-7870
- E-Mail Address
-
wgreene@bbg.gov, hshaw@bbg.gov
(wgreene@bbg.gov, hshaw@bbg.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- (i) THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR A COMMERCIAL ITEM PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN SUBPART 12.6 AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; PROPOSALS ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. (ii) Solicitation No. BBG50-R-13-0016 is issued as a Request For Proposal (RFP) and a contract will be awarded using the contracting by negotiation procedures in FAR Part 15. (iii) This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect from the Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-069, dated August 1, 2013. (iv) This is a total small business set aside. The North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541910 and the small business size standard is $14.0M. (v) The contractor shall provide Firm Fixed Price in accordance with SECTION (ix)(5) and in conjunction with the Statement of Work in Attachment A. (vi) The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), Office of Contracts (CON) located in Washington, D.C. requires a research survey in the Kurdish-speaking region of Turkey. The objective to conduct qualitative research on the media habits of the Kurdish speaking population of Eastern Turkey as well as assessment of programming produced by the Voice of America's Kurdish service. (vii) The period of performance is September 15, 2013 through November 30, 2013. The Contractor shall submit a monthly invoice electronically for services provided the preceding month. (viii) The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision FAR 52.212-1 Instruction to Offerors-Commercial Items, applies to this solicitation. FAR provisions and clauses may be obtained from the Internet Web address at: http://acquisition.gov/far/index.html. Interested contractors who are capable of providing these services should submit a proposal identifying capabilities as noted below. The contractor shall demonstrate the ability and experience in providing the required services. Offeror qualifications shall include but not be limited to: a) Demonstrated experience in conducting qualitative research in Turkey and surrounding countries; b) Demonstrated experience in conducting qualitative research on topics that may be deemed "sensitive" in the environment in which the research is conducted and among populations that may be suspicious of formal research activities; c) Demonstrated understanding and experience conducting qualitative research on broadcast media; d) Suitability of the proposed methodology to the research objectives; e) Professional qualifications of the proposed project managers and interviewers; and, f) Suitability of the proposed field team for work in work in Eastern Turkey, as demonstrated by personal experience of the region, knowledge of Kurdish, and previous professional experience to comply with all contract requirements. (ix) The Government will award a Commercial Item, Firm-Fixed-Price, contract resulting from this RFP to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the RFP will be most advantageous to the Government, based on price, technical, past performance, and other factors in the solicitation. When combined, technical evaluation factors are significantly more important than cost/price. The following factors listed in order of importance shall be addressed in the technical proposals and shall be used to evaluate proposals: 1) Capabilities Statement - The Offeror shall provide a description of their organization and its demonstrated capabilities in performing the service requirement and schedule. The Offeror will also identify his specific channel assignment on each of the direct-to-home satellite services he utilizes in the local Miami market area; 2) Management Approach - The Offeror must provide a description of the approach that they will take to meet the requirement; 3) Contractor Qualifications - The Offeror shall provide their understanding of the requirements and ability of the Offeror to provide the required services meeting the technical requirements; 4) Past Performance - The Offeror is required to provide no more than three (3) references from previous customers for same or similar services to the requirement. Offerors shall provide the three (3) references with the following information: (i) reference's name and address, email and telephone number of contact person; (ii) dollar amount of the contract; (iii) term of the contract; and (iv) brief description of the work performed. Pursuant to FAR 15.305(a) (2) (i), past performance information is one indicator of an offeror's ability to perform the contract successfully. The currency and relevance of the information, source of the information, context of the data, and general trends in contractor's performance shall be considered. This comparative assessment of past performance information is separate from the responsibility determination required under Subpart 9.1, and 5) A separate Price Proposal showing a breakdown of the price by the following price factors: a) preparation work; b) fieldwork c) data processing; d) report preparation; and e) miscellaneous. Prices for all of the listed CLIN shall be noted in English and United States dollars. (x) Offerors shall include a completed copy of the provision FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items which is completed by registering in the System for Award Management (SAM) Website at: https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. Proposals must also include contractor's DUNS Number, prompt payment terms, and correct remittance address, if different from mailing address. OFFERORS MUST BE REGISTERED WITH SAM PRIOR TO CONTRACT AWARD. (xi) The FAR clause 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition with addendum to the clause. The addendum is as follows: CONTRACTING OFFICER REPRESENTATIVE: The Contracting Officer will appoint by letter a Contracting Officer Representative (COR) who will have the responsibility of ensuring that the work conforms to the requirements of the contract and such other responsibilities and authorities as may be specified in the letter of authorization or this contract. It is understood and agreed, in particular, that the COR shall not have authority to make changes in the scope or terms and conditions of the contract unless and only to the extent that such authority is specified in the letter of authorization or the contract. THE RESULTANT CONTRACTOR IS HEREBY FOREWARNED THAT, ABSENT THE REQUISITE AUTHORITY OF THE COR TO MAKE ANY SUCH CHANGES, IT MAY BE HELD FULLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CHANGES NOT AUTHORIZED IN ADVANCE, IN WRITING, BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER, MAY BE DENIED COMPENSATION OR OTHER RELIEF FOR ANY ADDITIONAL WORK PERFORMED THAT IS NOT SO AUTHORIZED, AND MAY ALSO BE REQUIRED, AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO THE GOVERNMENT, TO TAKE ALL CORRECTIVE ACTION NECESSITATED BY REASON OF THE UNAUTHORIZED CHANGES. (End of Clause) (xii) FAR clause 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, applies to this solicitation by reference and proposed subsequent contract as well as the following clauses contained within FAR clause 52.212-5: 52.204-10 Reporting Executive compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards; 52.219-6 Notice of Total Small Business Set (15 U.S.C. 644); 52.219-8 Utilization of Small Business Concerns; 52.219-28 Post Award Small Business Program Representation; 52.222-3 Convict Labor; 52.222-19 Child Labor-Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies; 52.222-21 Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity (E.O. 11246); 52.222-35 Equal Opportunity for Veterans (38 U.S.C. 4212); 52.222-36 Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities (29 U.S.C. 793); 52.222-37 Employment Reports on Veterans (38 U.S.C. 4212); 52.222-40 Notification of Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act; 52.222-50 Combating Trafficking in Persons; 52.223-18 Contractor Policy to Ban Text Messaging with Driving; 52.225-13 Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases and 52.232-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-Central Contractor Registration (31 U.S.C. 3332) (xiii) Additional FAR provisions and clauses incorporated by reference and applicable to this solicitation and the proposed subsequent contract are: 52.237-3 Continuity of Services and 52.242-17 Government Delay of Work. (xiv) A Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) assigned rating is not applicable to this acquisition. (xv) Failure to provide any of the above-required CLIN may result in the rejection of your proposal. Full text of all FAR clauses and provisions are available electronically at the following Internet address: (http://www.arnet.gov/far). Proposals shall be in writing and must be signed by an official who is authorized to bind the organization. Oral proposals will not be accepted. Questions must be submitted in writing and only via email to Julian McElveen at jmcelveen@bbg.gov. Written questions must be submitted before 3:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on August 16, 2013. Technical proposals shall be submitted with an original and two (2) copies. Price proposals shall be submitted with an original and one (1) copy. Proposals may be sent via courier or overnight delivery before the closing deadline below. Proposals are due to Wayne Greene, Contract Specialist, Broadcasting Board of Governors, International Broadcasting Bureau, Office of Contracts, 330 C Street, SW, Room 4007B, Washington, DC 20237 before 3:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on August 22, 2013. (xvi) Contact: Wayne Greene, Contract Specialist, email: wgreene@bbg.gov or Facsimile 202-382-7870. All responsible sources may submit an offer that will be considered by the Agency. Attachment A - STATEMENT OF WORK The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has a requirement for a contractor to conduct qualitative research on the media habits of the Kurdish speaking population of Eastern Turkey as well as assessment of programming produced by the Voice of America's (VOA) Kurdish service. SECTION A: BACKGROUND: The VOA has broadcast in Kurdish since 1992. VOA's Kurdish service serves an ethnic group that covers a wide geographic territory, including significant populations in Northern Iraq, Iran, and Turkey with smaller numbers in Syria and Lebanon. VOA is the only government-sponsored broadcaster with Kurdish language programs; however, there are a number of Kurdish language satellite TV channels with large audiences in Kurdish speaking communities, and survey research suggests that satellite access is common in Kurdish households. Previous research also suggests that radio is becoming a less important medium overall and that TV is regarded as the number one medium for news. Internet access is also growing rapidly, and VOA's Kurdish service considers this a very important communications channel, especially for sectors of their target audience that they are outside the limited reach of their FM radio outlets (which exist only in a few cities in Iraqi Kurdistan.) While research on behalf of VOA's Kurdish service has been conducted previously in Iraqi Kurdistan, such research has never been conducted in Turkey, which has the largest Kurdish population in the region. SECTION B: OBJECTIVES BBG's purpose in commissioning this research is to explore how it can be more effective in communicating with Kurdish speakers in Turkey. To that end, the research should be designed to address the following questions: General Issues: 1) What are the main sources of information relied upon by Kurds in Turkey? Among bi-lingual Kurds (who understand both Turkish and Kurdish) what is role of Kurdish language, as opposed to Turkish language media? What is the role of TV, radio and Internet, and the specific outlets within each of these platforms? 2) How do Kurds assess the quality and reliability of the main TV channels available to them? Do they regard the political affiliations of the channels as a negative, positive, or irrelevant factor? To what extent if any do they believe there are gaps - whether in terms of content or quality - in the Kurdish language media choices available to them? 3) What specifically is the role of Internet in Kurds' media diet? How and why do they use the Web and what sites are most popular? Are any websites blocked? Are there technical issues that affect Web access? 4) To the extent determinable by qualitative research, how do media consumption patterns among Turkish Kurds differ by demographics (age, gender, education?) 5) To what extent, if at all, do Turkish Kurds rely on external sources of information about Turkey, the region, and the rest of the world? If any, which sources and why? 6) What is the perception of VOA Kurdish among the target audience (assuming it is sufficiently well known for audiences to have an informed opinion)? To what extent is VOA's position as an "outside" information provider (i.e. one unaffiliated with any Kurdish political party) an advantage? How if at all does VOA's affiliation with the US government affect its image among the audience? 7) If VOA is not well known, what is the reaction to the idea of a Kurdish language station based in the U.S. and providing news and information? What would they want such a station to do? Would they be willing to make the effort to listen to such a station on shortwave radio or listen to/read its content on the Internet? Would steps should VOA take to publicize its availability to Kurdish-speaking audiences? 8) What are the topics Kurds want most to hear about? Do they see a role for a "surrogate" broadcaster reporting primarily on events in Greater Kurdistan, or are they sufficiently satisfied with current sources that this would be superfluous? What is the level of their interest in events elsewhere in the world? To what extent should an international broadcaster like VOA focus on news as opposed to cultural and educational topics? Evaluation of VOA Kurdish programming: VOA Kurdish believes that the Web is its most promising way of reaching Kurdish audiences in Turkey, given that VOA has no satellite TV programming and no FM distribution for its radio service. Therefore evaluation of current VOA content should be focused on material - primarily video - that is being distributed via the VOA Kurdish website. Preferably such stimulus material would be presented to research participants in its "natural" form - i.e. on the Web; if that is not practical the same content could be provided on DVD. VOA foresees providing 2 - 3 short video pieces (ca. 5 mins each) for evaluation by the research participants. SECTION C: RESEARCH METHODS Methodology will have to be determined through discussion with the field company. In spite of some greater openness in recent years, the role of Kurdish language and culture in Turkey is still a highly sensitive topic and BBG will need local advice on the best way to conduct this research. While group discussions would be desirable in principle, BBG encourages contractors to advise as to any pitfalls in such an approach, and to suggest possible alternatives. These details would need to be worked out in a later stage of project planning. BBG will consider more than one research method option, along with costs for each method, if potential contractors believe that there are multiple valid means of achieving the objectives of this research. SECTION D: DELIVERABLES AND SCHEDULE At the conclusion of the project, the contractor shall provide a full report of 30 - 40 pages in length, with illustrative quotations, plus an executive summary of 2-3pages. The report should include the demographic characteristics of each respondent, including age, gender, highest level of education, location of interview, and media consumption habits. Fieldwork shall begin no later than September 15, 2013 and the final report shall be delivered no later than November 30, 2013. SECTION E: SELECTION CRITERIA A contract (i.e., Purchase Order) award will be made by the contracting officer based on: A) the offeror's Technical Capabilities/Experience (for which there are six (6) equally weighted sub-criteria); and B) the offeror's Price Quotation. Of the two Selection Criteria, Technical Capabilities/Experience is significantly more important than price. The Technical Capabilities/Experience sub-criteria are as follows: 1. Demonstrated experience in conducting qualitative research in Turkey and surrounding countries; 2. Demonstrated experience in conducting qualitative research on topics that may be deemed "sensitive" in the environment in which the research is conducted and among populations that may be suspicious of formal research activities; 3. Demonstrated understanding and experience conducting qualitative research on broadcast media; 4. Suitability of the proposed methodology to the research objectives; 5. Professional qualifications of the proposed project managers and interviewers; and, 6. Suitability of the proposed field team for work in work in Eastern Turkey, as demonstrated by personal experience of the region, knowledge of Kurdish, and previous professional experience.
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