U.S. Information Agency, International Broadcasting Bureau, Office of Personnel and Administration, Contracts and Procurement Division, B/PA/AC, Room 1645, 330 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, DC 20547

B -- NATIONAL AUDIENCE SURVEY OF VIETNAM SOL n/a POC Contact Point/Contracting Officer: Gloria Sweetney, Contracting Officer, (202) 619-1623 (Voice)/(202) 205-1921 (FAX). This public notice is also a written Request for Quotation (RFQ) No. B/PA-98-31 pursuant to procurement of the required services described below using the "Simplified Acquisition Procedures" specified in Part 13 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Price quotations submitted in response to this RFQ that exceed the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (as specified in FAR Subpart 2.101, Definitions) will not be considered as responsive to this RFQ. The U.S. Information Agency's International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) has a requirement, subject to the availability of funds, for a contractor to obtain quantitative data on the size, composition, and media habits of the audience for Voice of America (VOA) broadcasts in Vietnam. Quoters are herein requested to submit written price quotations and technical capabilities/experience information for conducting a national audience survey as outlined below. SECTION A: SURVEY REQUIREMENTS 1) Nature of Survey. Audience data shall be obtained through a survey of urban areas of Vietnam that is designed to obtain the most accurate possible information about: the number of regular (i.e., weekly) and occasional listeners to VOA's broadcasts; the demographic characteristics and geographical distribution of the audience; the size of the regular and occasional listening audience for other international and domestic broadcasters; and general patterns of media use. The interviews will be face-to-face, and they will be conducted in the home of the respondent by a trained interviewer. IBB will require demographic information on each respondent; including gender, age, native language, education, occupation, and area of residence. 2) General Responsibilities of the Contractor. The contractor shall be responsible for the project design, translation, formatting, pretesting, adaptation, and printing of IBB supplied questionnaires; developing a Sampling Plan; training interviewers; supervising fieldwork; cleaning and encoding survey responses; entering and processing the survey data; ascertaining the representativeness of the sample and weighting the data and, if necessary; preparing cross-tabulations in data-books; submitting data on diskettes; and communicating all necessary audience survey information and results to the Contracting Officer in a timely manner. 3) Sample Design. Interested quoters are herein requested to submit price quotations for a sample of 1,500 adults, age 15 or older, representative by, gender, age, and education of the population of the following cities: Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang, Haiphong, Can Tho, and Hue. Approximately half of the interviews shall be carried out in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, with the remainder divided between the four other cities. The precise sample allocation shall be subject to agreement between IBB and the contractor. The contractor shall be responsible for obtaining the most accurate available information about the population of the sample universe and shall derive and apply weights to the survey data to bring the sample into conformity with the demographic characteristics of the population covered. If, in the professional judgement of the quoter, certain of the cities listed here cannot be surveyed for logistical or other reasons, the quoter's price quotation shall so state this situation, providing the Contracting Officer with specific reasons for the proposed exclusion of these regions, and the quoter's written estimate of the size of the population that would be excluded from the survey. The sample shall be drawn using recognized probability methods, all the way down to the selection of the individual respondent at the household level. Only one individual per household shall be selected, and at least three attempts shall be made to interview selected respondents before any substitutions for the respondent is allowed. A detailed "Sampling Plan", including stratification criteria, description of the sampling frame, listing of anticipated Primary Sampling Units (PSUs), approximate number of interviews in each PSU, procedures for selecting households within PSUs, and procedures for selecting individual respondents at the household level, shall be submitted to and approved by the Contracting Officer prior to the commencement of any fieldwork. The Sampling Plan shall also include a description of the training and instructions to be provided to the fieldwork team. 4) Questionnaire. The Contracting Officer will provide the contractor with a set of questions prepared by IBB for an interview of approximately 45 minutes consisting of approximately 70 questions (in English), up to 5 of which may be open-ended. This questionnaire will be provided to the contractor in draft form for suggestions and comments, based on the contractor's knowledge of local cultural and/or political sensitivities. Following receipt of the contractor's comments, IBB will finalize the text of the questionnaire for translation by the contractor into Vietnamese. The contractor shall prepare a Vietnamese translation of the questionnaire and shall submit this translation to the Contracting Officer for its approval prior to the contractor's conducting a pretest. The contractor shall be responsible for compiling a comprehensive list of both local and international broadcast media available in the local environment of the areas to be surveyed. This information will be used to compile a precoded list of stations on the survey and shall be submitted to the Contracting Officer for approval prior to finalization of the questionnaire. Following the IBB's review of any contractor comments and the Contracting Officer's final approval of the translation of the questionnaire, the contractor shall prepare final versions of the questionnaire in Vietnamese as agreed to in a form suitable for use by interviewers. 5) Pretest. The questionnaire shall be pretested by the contractor prior to the commencement of the fieldwork. At least 25 pretest interviews shall be conducted by the contractor. The contractor shall provide the Contracting Officer with a written report of the results of the pretest, along with details of any problems encountered and any suggested remedies, prior to commencement of any fieldwork. 6) Fieldwork. Interviews shall be conducted by experienced field workers who shall be thoroughly briefed by contractor prior to commencement of any fieldwork. The contractor shall ensure that interviewers are thoroughly familiar with household and respondent selection procedures, call-back procedures, and the structure of the questionnaire, including routing and filtering. Interviewer training shall include practice sessions in administering the questionnaire. A minimum of 10% of the interviews shall be back-checked, and 5% of the interviews shall be accompanied by a team supervisor. Quoter's responses to the RFQ shall include a description of the professional qualifications of all proposed interviewers, and a description of the specific training that shall be provided to interviewers to ensure their proper understanding of the survey instrument. 7) Data Processing. The contractor is responsible for data-entry, cleaning, and processing. The contractor shall provide printed tabulations of survey results, including percentage responses to all questions, broken down by gender, age group, education level, and urban/rural status. Tabulations shall show the weighted and unweighted base for each question. The contractor shall supply data to the Contracting Officer as an SPSS portable (*.por) or SPSS for Windows (*.sav -- Version 6.1 or lower) file with a complete data-dictionary of variable names. The contractor shall also supply raw data on computer diskettes in ASCII fixed format with accompanying codebook identifying the locations of all variables and the coding scheme. There shall be one data-record for each respondent, and the records shall be of fixed length. If weights are used, weighting factors shall be in the same position on each record, with their location specified in the codebook. Each record shall include a unique respondent ID number, interviewer ID number, PSU ID number, and codes for the precise location and date of each interview. Each record shall include demographic information about the respondent, including: gender, exact age, education level, occupation, and ethnicity. In addition to exact age, the record for each respondent shall be coded by age-group as follows: 15-24; 25-39; 40+. This coding scheme shall be the age categories used in the printed tabulations mentioned above. 8) Technical Appendix. When delivering printed tabulations and raw data, the contractor shall provide a "Technical Appendix", which shall include the following items: -- A complete Sampling Plan, including lists and maps of PSUs, individual sampling points and the number of interviews conducted at each sampling point -- Details of response rates -- Interviewer instructions -- A brief report on survey operations, including any practical difficulties encountered by the contractor in conducting the survey -- The estimated sampling error -- The weighting scheme, including details of how weighting factors were developed and applied by the contractor, as well as the demographic data on which the weights were based. 9) Summary of Deliverables. See the preceding paragraphs for detailed descriptions of the specific requirements for each contract Deliverable. The four Deliverables to be provided to the Government by the contractor under this contract are as follows: a. Raw data from the survey compiled on computer diskettes. b. A complete data-set of all survey responses formatted as a SPSS file. c. Printed tabulations of all survey results. d. A Technical Appendix per Subsection A.8.. 10) Delivery Schedule. The contractor shall perform the work under this contract in accordance with the following Delivery Schedule: a. Provision of the detailed Sampling Plan to the Contracting Officer within 2 weeks of the contractor's receipt of confirmation of contract award. b. Submission of the translated questionnaires within 2 weeks following the contractor's receipt of IBB's draft questionnaire. c. Pretestingto be completed and a Pretest Report submitted to the Contracting Officer by the contractor within 2 weeks of the Contracting Officer's approval of the questionnaire translations. d. After pretesting and the Contracting Officer's approval of contractor's Pretest Report, interviewing fieldwork shall begin within 2 weeks and shall be completed by the contractor within an additional 8 weeks. e. Cleaned, verified, and processed data, and the Technical Appendix shall be delivered to the Contracting Officer not later than 6 weeks after conclusion of all fieldwork (See Subsections A.6, Fieldwork and A.8. Technical Appendix). SECTION B: SUBMISSION OF RESPONSES TO THE RFQ (i.e., PRICE QUOTATIONS AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION) In the event that all price quotations for the work specified in this RFQ significantly exceed the IBB's budget, IBB reserves the right to reduce the scope of the work specified herein. This action could include reduction in the overall sample size and/or restriction of the geographical universe covered during the survey. Each quoter's response to this RFQ shall include sufficient quantitative/qualitative information on the following technical items to enable the IBB to objectively evaluate the quoter's capabilities/experience to successfully perform the work specified in above Section A of this RFQ: a. A detailed description of the proposed research methodology to be used by the quoter for this work, including a specific listing of organizations the quoter shall use for performing the fieldwork (if subcontractors are to be used by the contractor); b. Current information on the qualifications of the quoter's office and field staff who will participate in performing the work specified in above Section A of this RFQ; c. Specific information on the quoter's past experience in conducting media research and survey research in Vietnam; d. A detailed description of the proposed fieldwork plan, including the quoter's proposed "Sampling Plan" and sampling procedures, the number and type of sampling points, and the manner in which interviews shall be allocated across the population of the region covered in the survey; and e. A schedule showing the time required for each phase of the project, consistent with the "Delivery Schedule" specified in above Subsection A.10. SECTION C: SPECIFIC TIMETABLE Upon contract award, the contracting Officer will provide the contractor with a specific "Timetable", including the contractor's Delivery Schedule prepared in accordance with above Subsection A.10, for the contractor's use in completing all phases of the work; as agreed to between the Contracting Officer and the contractor; and also including the exact dates when each portion of the work shall be completed. This Timetable will be based on the schedule submitted by the contractor (as specified at Item e. above Section B) with its price quotation, with any modifications to this Timetable being mutually agreed upon by the contractor and the Contracting Officer. If delays in the work are required due to circumstances beyondthe contractor's control, the reasons and acticipated length of such delays shall be immediately reported to the Contracting Officer. Unless written approval is granted by the Contracting Officer, all Deliverables shall be received by the Contracting Officer by the dates specified in the Timetable. SECTION D: SELECTION CRITERIA A contract (i.e., Purchase Order) award will be made by the Contracting Officer based on: A) the quoter's Technical Capabilities/Experience (for which there are five (5) equally weighted subcriteria); and B) the offeror's Price quotation. Of the two Selection Criteria, Technical Capabilities/Experience is the significantly dominant criterion over the Price criterion. The Technical Capabilities/Experience subcriteria are as follows: 1. Demonstrated experience in conducting quantitative research on broadcast media. 2. Demonstrated experience in conducting research in Vietnam. 3. Quality of the proposed sampling technique. 4. Quality of the proposed procedures for data collection, entry, and verification. 5. Ability to complete the project in a timely manner by complying with Section A.10, Delivery Schedule. Each response to this RFQ shall also include a schedule showing the key project milestone dates (i.e., project start-date; completion date; dates of key events within a project activity; beginning/ending dates, etc.). In addition to specifically addressing the above-stated technical items, a quoter's response to this RFQ shall also provide technical details on any proposed subcontractors who would be engaged to work on this project. Omission of any of the information requested in above Section B pertaining to the quoter and/or any subcontractors proposed by the quoter in performing this contract, will weigh against the offeror during the Contracting Officer's evaluation of the quoter's response to this RFQ. Firms interested in the above described work are requested to submit their responses to this RFQ (i.e., Technical Capabilities/Experience and Schedule information, and Price quotation) by the close of business (5 p.m. EST), Friday, August 21, 1998, and they shall reference this RFQ No. B/PA-98-31 in their transmittal letter to the Contracting Officer. All questions (technical or otherwise) by a prospective quoter regarding this RFQ shall be in writing. Any questions and the quoter's complete written response to this RFQ shall be sent directly and only to the Contracting Officer for this procurement, Ms. Gloria Sweetney, via facsimile at (202) 205-1921. The Price quotations submitted as part of a quoter's response to this RFP shall be on a separate page from the above-requested Technical Capabilities/Experience and Schedule information. In addition to the quoter's proposed Total Contract Price, the quoter's Price quotation shall be further broken down into the following component prices: a) preparation work; b) fieldwork; c) data processing; d) report preparation; and e) miscellaneous. The Contracting Officer has found and determined that this proposed work is appropriate for an "unrestricted" procurement pursuant to FAR Subpart 19.502 (Setting Aside Acquisitions). All responsible sources may submit an offer which will be considered. Posted 07/21/98 (W-SN226504). (0202)

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