SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Public opinion studies - Northern Triangle - 16q0101 - ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- Notice Date
- 2/19/2016
- Notice Type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- NAICS
- 541910
— Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling
- Contracting Office
- Department of State, Office of Acquisitions, Acquisition Management, 1735 N. Lynn St., Arlington, Virginia, 22209, United States
- ZIP Code
- 22209
- Solicitation Number
- SAQMMA16Q0101
- Point of Contact
- Terence G. Lord, , Lakeshia T. Major,
- E-Mail Address
-
lordtg@state.gov, MajorLT@state.gov
(lordtg@state.gov, MajorLT@state.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Additional information, including submittal instructions and selection procedures The following solicitation provisions apply to this acquisition This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items 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; quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This is a firm fixed price acquisition being conducted under FAR part 12 in conjunction with FAR 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures (13.106). _______________________________________ The Office of Opinion Research (OPN) of the U.S. Department of State (the Client) is considering commissioning two waves of research consisting of nationally representative public opinion surveys, focus groups, and in-depth interviews in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras in 2016 as described below. SUMMARY OF CONTRACTOR'S RESPONSIBILITIES For public opinion surveys: •Designing an appropriate sample; •Translating, back-translating, formatting, and printing (or coding, for computer-assisted interviewing) the questionnaire submitted by the Office of Opinion Research; •Conducting a pretest; •Managing fieldwork; •Coding questionnaires, entering data, checking and cleaning the data; and •Providing required deliverables: detailed sampling design, translation and back-translation of questionnaire, pretest report, final field version of questionnaire and show cards, marginal frequencies, data in ASCII and SPSS formats, codebook, methodological report, contact sheets for selected interviewers, copies of 10 completed field questionnaires, and additional supporting documentation as necessary. For focus groups: •Designing a recruitment methodology that captures the requested group composition; •Translating and back-translating the focus group guide submitted by the Office of Opinion Research; •Providing facilities for focus groups; •Providing qualified moderators to conduct focus groups; •Providing comprehensive transcripts in Spanish and English of the focus groups. For in-depth interviews: •Designing a recruitment methodology that captures the requested subjects; •Translating and back-translating the in-depth interview guide submitted by the Office of Opinion Research; •Providing facilities for interviews (may be the same as for focus groups); •Providing qualified moderators to conduct in-depth interviews (may be the same as for focus groups); •Providing comprehensive transcripts in Spanish and English of the in-depth interviews. These responsibilities are described in detail below. PUBLIC OPINION SURVEYS SAMPLE DESIGN: Design and implement a probability sample design for face-to-face interviews in respondents' homes to achieve nationally representative samples of at least 1,200 respondents per country, age 15 and older. In addition oversampling of an additional 300 respondents will be done in each of the following cities: San Salvador, El Salvador; San Pedro Sula, Honduras; and Huehuetenango, Guatemala, for a total of 4,500 interviews at each wave of the survey, and an overall total of 9,000 interviews (1,500 interviews per country, per wave). Before the beginning of fieldwork for both waves of surveys the Contractor shall submit a spreadsheet or SPSS file showing all of the primary sampling units (PSUs) for each stratum within each country, together with a description of how each unit was selected. The Contractor shall indicate the skip intervals and random starting points used in the selection process, as well as the order in which the primary sampling units were selected within each stratum. QUESTIONNAIRE: OPN will provide an English-language questionnaire that will include approximately 50 substantive questions (47 closed-ended, 3 open-ended), focusing on public attitudes toward migration issues, domestic issues, and international affairs. In addition, for each respondent the questionnaire and final data set will include: Demographics: including but not limited to gender, exact age, education, occupation, household income, number of adults in household who are eligible for the survey, economic class, city, region, urban/rural, political party support, religion, primary language spoken in the household, and ethnicity. Interviewing information: •date of interview (month, day, day of week); •interview start time, interview end time, duration of interview in minutes; •variables used to stratify the sample; a unique code for each primary sampling unit, secondary sampling unit, and ultimate sampling point; and a variable indicating the order in which the PSUs were selected within each stratum if systematic sampling is used; •interviewer ID, supervisor ID, field manager ID, data entry/keypuncher ID; •interviewers' indication of the privacy of the interview and the comfort, comprehension and candor of the respondent; •whether the respondent is the originally selected respondent or a substitute, the number of visits/call-backs necessary to achieve a successful interview, whether the interview was back-checked, and the method of back-checking (supervisor's presence during the original interview, separate face-to-face interview by either the supervisor or another interviewer, telephone call, and/or a letter or postcard). TRANSLATION AND BACK-TRANSLATION OF QUESTIONNAIRE: The Contractor is responsible for translating the questionnaire into colloquial Spanish and must include plans for interviewing non-Spanish speakers in their proposal, and for back-translating the translated questionnaire into English. The back-translation must be done by someone who has not seen the original English questionnaire. The Client will review the translation and consult with the Contractor on necessary changes. The Client must approve the final translation before the pretest. PRE-TEST: After the Client approves the translation, the Contractor will pretest the full questionnaire with at least 25 randomly-selected representative interviews in each country that will not be included in the final sample. The Contractor will provide the Client with a pretest report, including a demographic summary of the participants and a discussion by question of any problems or suggested changes to the questionnaire. The Client must approve any changes to the questionnaire. FIELDWORK: Fieldwork will be done by face-to-face interviews in respondents' homes. All interviews shall be conducted in strict adherence to the sampling plan. The Contractor is responsible for organizing and overseeing all aspects of fieldwork, including: preparing and printing (or coding, for computer-assisted interviewing) the final questionnaires; selecting and training interviewers; assigning contact lists to interviewers; supervising interviewers; enforcing quality controls; monitoring and recording contact and non-response rates; and providing weekly feedback to the Office of Opinion Research on the status of fieldwork. If, in the course of fieldwork, it is apparent that there is an unusually large proportion of persons refusing to be interviewed, the Contractor must inform the Client. Contact with every sampled household or adult should be attempted at least 3 times during fieldwork. The contact attempts should be spread over different times of the day and days of the week and weekend. Note: the minimum achieved sample for each country is 1,500 fully completed interviews per wave. DATA MANAGEMENT: The Contractor is responsible for processing, cleaning, and coding the data in English, enforcing quality controls for data entry, and detecting data fabrication, if any. Closed-end or pre-coded questions: The Contractor shall use the codes specified on the final questionnaire for all items. Open-end questions: The Contractor will develop categories of responses based on 200 randomly selected questionnaires from all regions of the sample, providing at least 5 sample responses for each proposed category. Categories must be approved by the Client prior to coding responses. The "Other" category should not include more than 10% of the total responses for any question. If any single response in the "Other" category amounts to more than 2%, then the Contractor will code this response as a separate response, not as "Other." FOCUS GROUPS OVERVIEW : Eighteen (18) focus groups will be conducted with nine (9) at each wave of research: three (3) in San Salvador, El Salvador, three (3) in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and three (3) in Huehuetenango, Guatemala examining the views of citizens on the economy, security, and migration issues. Duration of each discussion: about 2 hours. Total focus group time: 18 hours per wave. RECRUITMENT METHODOLOGY : Focus group participants should be randomly selected young adult and adult residents of the city where the focus groups take place. All parameters and selection resources should be fully explained in the proposal. Each group should consist of 8-10 participants. Eleven to twelve should be recruited for each group, with a minimum of 8 chosen randomly to participate in the discussion. In each location for each wave focus groups will consist of: Gender Age SES group Characteristic Males 15-17 C-D Aspiring migrant; attempted migration to US Males 31-50 C-D Parent of child 0-17; migrant aspirations Females 31-50 C-D Parent of child 0-17; migrant aspirations Participants should meet the following criteria that will be determined through the use of filter questionnaire. Prior to final selection into the groups, the Client requests copies of filter questionnaires and screening materials: •Need a minimum of some high school education •Be a resident of the city where the group is taking place •Should not have participated in any focus group discussions in the previous year •Should have a personal desire to migrate to the United States or have attempted to migrate to the United States or have a desire to send their children to the United States •Should have family currently living in the United States TRANSLATION AND BACK-TRANSLATION OF GUIDE: The client will provide a discussion guide that the contractor will translate into Spanish. FACILITIES: The Contractor is responsible for the provision of suitable space for the group discussions, catering, and incentive payment if necessary. In order to assure clear audio recordings the contractor will use recording systems as necessary to clearly capture what people are saying within group discussions. The contractor agrees to the presence of representative(s) from the Office of Opinion Research on-site to supervise and observe the conduct of the groups. Facilities should have a way in which the groups can be observed anonymously (either through a one-way mirror or via a live video feed). The contractor will also provide a translator to interpret focus group discussions, when representatives from the Office of Opinion Research are observing focus group sessions. MODERATOR(S): The Contractor is responsible for the provision of trained and qualified moderators to conduct the focus groups. These moderator's qualifications will be submitted in the proposal. TRANSCRIPTS/RECORDINGS: The Contractor will provide verbatim transcripts of the focus groups in both Spanish and English, as well as high quality audio recordings of the group discussions. The Contractor's proposal should include detailed measures that will be taken to maximize the safety of all involved in this phase of the project. If your firm is unable to meet certain of the above requirements, or considers certain changes advisable, please propose modifications. IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS OVERVIEW : Thirty (30) in-depth interviews will be conducted with fifteen (15) interviews conducted at each wave: ten (10) in San Salvador, El Salvador, ten (10) in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and ten (10) in Huehuetenango, Guatemala examining personal experiences with migration. Duration of each discussion: about 1 hour. Total interviewing time: 30 hours. RECRUITMENT METHODOLOGY: Participants should be screened at the same time as focus group recruits. Interview participants should be young adult and adult residents of the city where the focus groups take place and who (a) personally attempted migrating to the United States as young adults (11-17 years of age) in the past three years or who have (b) sent or attempted to send their family member(s) (children, grandchildren, spouse) to the United States. All parameters and selection resources should be fully explained in the proposal: Participants should meet the following criteria that will be determined through the use of filter questionnaire. Prior to final selection, the Client requests copies of filter questionnaires and screening materials: •Need a minimum of some high school education •Be a resident of the city where the interview is taking place •Should not have participated in any focus group discussions or in-depth interviews in the previous year •Should have (a) attempted to migrate to the United States as young adults (11-17 years of age) in the past three years or (b) sent or attempted to send their family member(s) (children, grandchildren, spouse) to the United States •Should have family currently living in the United States TRANSLATION AND BACK-TRANSLATION OF GUIDE : The client will provide an interview guide that the contractor will translate into Spanish. FACILITIES: The Contractor is responsible for the provision of suitable space for the interviews (which could be the same place as the focus groups), catering, and incentive payment if necessary. In order to assure clear audio recordings the contractor will use recording systems as necessary to clearly capture what people are saying within the interviews. The contractor agrees to the presence of representative(s) from the Office of Opinion Research on-site to supervise and observe the conduct of the interviews. Facilities should have a way in which the interviews can be observed anonymously (either through a one-way mirror or via a live video feed). The contractor will also provide a translator to interpret the interviews, when representatives from the Office of Opinion Research are observing focus group sessions. INTERVIEWER(S): The Contractor is responsible for the provision of trained and qualified interviewers (who could be the same as the focus group moderators) to conduct the focus groups. These interviewers' qualifications will be submitted in the proposal. TRANSCRIPTS/RECORDINGS: The Contractor will provide verbatim transcripts of the interviews in both Spanish and English, as well as high quality audio recordings of the interviews. The Contractor's proposal should include detailed measures that will be taken to maximize the safety of all involved in this phase of the project. If your firm is unable to meet certain of the above requirements, or considers certain changes advisable, please propose modifications. DELIVERABLES: The Contractor shall deliver the following to OPN by email (except as otherwise noted): PUBLIC OPINION SURVEYS 1)Detailed sampling design for each country; 2)Translation and back-translation of the questionnaire; 3)Pretest report; 4)Field version(s) of the questionnaire and all show cards; 5)Marginal frequencies (weighted, if appropriate) for all questions, including demographics; 6)The final, cleaned data files including all survey questions, demographics, interviewing information and (if applicable) weight values; these files shall be in two formats: a.ASCII, with all records having the same length b.SPSS Windows format (*.sav), with all variables and values labeled in English; c.Two additional SPSS files: (1)Containing all incomplete cases (such as break-offs and refusals); (2)Containing cases rejected because they did not meet quality control standards; 7)A complete codebook for all survey questions, demographics, interviewing information, and (if applicable) weight values, identifying the column positions of all variables in the ASCII file; 8)A detailed methodological report which contains sufficient details on the sampling design and weighting so that independent researchers would be able to replicate the survey using only information in the report. In particular, the methodological report shall include the following: •A brief report of any unusual problems or significant events which may have influenced the conduct of the survey or the responses given; •A description of field interviewing, including: exact dates of field work; interviewer selection, training and supervision; and enforcement of quality controls; •A description of the sampling design and procedure, including: oThe universe sampled; oThe populations excluded from the sample and why these were excluded; oDescription of statistical documentation used to design the sample (e.g., census data) and date of the information; oAll forms of stratification used, and the basis for stratification; If you use differential probabilities of selection in sampling (e.g., stratification with different rates by strata), provide the justification for using those rates and describe the expected effects on the variances. oSelection procedure at each stage of sampling: primary sampling unit (PSU), secondary sampling unit (SSU), sampling point, household and individual respondent; oFor PSUs and SSUs, indicate the order in which each unit was selected. For systematic sampling, indicate the random starting point and the skip interval; •If you weight the data, provide a detailed description of weighting procedures. The Client must be able to recreate weight values based on this documentation, the data sources, and the data file. Any weights should account for: oThe probability of selection of the household and the adult (the base weights should be the inverse of the probability of selection); oNonresponse and noncoverage; oAdjustments to match population data (describe sources of population data); oAnd Client-requested oversamples in particular areas. •Report on sampling performance, including: oInformation on sampling point substitution, including: a list of sampling points that were replaced, the reason for their replacement, the procedures for replacement, and the replacement sampling points; oRate of respondent substitution and procedures for substituting respondents; oThe number of completed interviews, partial interviews, refusals, failed contacts (e.g. no one at home), cases that are not eligible (e.g. not a housing unit, no adults in the household), and cases of unknown eligibility (e.g. unable to locate address), and the resulting response rate ("RR1" as defined in "Standard Definitions" by the American Association for Public Opinion Research); oThe response rate (as defined above) for each city/province/region/interviewer; oAn estimate of sampling error that takes into account the actual sampling procedures used (stratification, clustering, etc.). Include a brief explanation of how interviewing and fieldwork procedures affected the theoretical margin of error. 9)Selected contact sheets for 10 specific interviewers which the Client will specify after receipt of the final data set. These may be sent either in hard copy or as a scanned email attachment; 10)Ten completed questionnaires which the Client will specify after receipt of the final data set (either in hard copy or as a scanned email attachment); 11)The Client may request additional supporting documentation to fully understand the design and conduct of the survey (e.g., interviewer maps). FOCUS GROUPS 1)Detailed English-language report on the methodology used for participant selection in each country, including filter questionnaire; 2)Translation and back-translation of focus group guide; 3)Facility description; 4)Moderator qualifications; 5)Verbatim transcripts in Spanish and English, with participants identified by socio-demographic profile (sex, age, education level, occupation, and city); 6)High quality audio recordings of focus group discussions. IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS 1)Detailed English-language report on the methodology used for participant selection in each country, including filter questionnaire; 2)Translation and back-translation of interview guide; 3)Facility description; 4)Moderator qualifications; 5)Verbatim transcripts in Spanish and English, with participants identified by socio-demographic profile (sex, age, education level, occupation, and city); 6)High quality audio recordings of interviews. TIME SCHEDULE: Each stage of the survey project should be conducted according to a schedule agreed to by the Contractor and the Office of Opinion Research. Wave one will be conducted in late February or early March, and wave two will be conducted in the summer. Focus groups and in-depth interviews will take place before surveys in each round. CONFIDENTIALITY: The study is to be conducted in the name of the Contractor, in keeping with standard industry practice. The Client's identity shall not be revealed to field supervisors, interviewers or respondents in order to minimize bias. Further, the Client's identity, details of the project and the survey results shall not be revealed to outside parties - e.g., media, academic or government - at any point before, during or after completion of the project without the express written permission of the Client. ARCHIVING OF STUDY: The Client may store parts of the study (questionnaires, data set, methodological summary) with a non-profit archive (e.g., the Roper Center, the National Archive and Records Administration). Projects will be embargoed for at least two years, and all identifiable markers of the Contractor will be removed. BILLING AND PAYMENT: Payment is typically authorized either in a single installment upon receipt and approval of all required deliverables, OR in two installments - the first upon approval of the final questionnaire and sampling plan, and the second upon receipt and approval of all required deliverables. Please note, payment cannot be authorized upon commissioning the survey. All payments will be made in U.S. dollars. The method of payment is typically by electronic funds transfer if the Contractor provides appropriate banking information, but may also be made by U.S. Treasury check. _________________________________________________ The following solicitation provisions apply to this acquisition: • FAR 52.212-3, "Offeror Representations & Certifications Commercial Items" (May 2014) _____________________ The following contract clauses apply to this acquisition:The following contract clauses apply to this acquisition: • FAR 52.212-4, "Contract Terms and Conditions Commercial Items" (May 2015) • FAR 52.212-5, "Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders" (Feb 2016) In addition to the required paragraphs, the following are the applicable optional paragraphs under FAR 52.212-5: (8) 52.209-6,"Protecting the Government's Interest When Subcontracting with Contractors Debarred, Suspended, or Proposed for Debarment". (Aug 2013) (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) (33)(i) 52.222-50, "Combatting Trafficking in Persons" (Mar 2015) (22 U.S.C. chapter 78 and E.O. 13627) (49) 52.232-30, "Installment Payments for Commercial Items" (Oct 1995) (41 U.S.C. 4505, 10 U.S.C. 2307(f)) (50) 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer--System for Award Management (Jul 2013) (31 U.S.C. 3332). ____________________________________ For additional terms/conditions and instructions, including proposal contents and evaluation factors, please refer to the attachment. PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR QUOTE BY THE SPECIFIED DATE/TIME DIRECTLY TO LORDTG@STATE.GOV. Submittals provided through this website wil NOT be evaluated or considered.
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