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FBO DAILY ISSUE OF NOVEMBER 22, 2002 FBO #0355
SOURCES SOUGHT

R -- Conduct Random Digital Dialing Surveys

Notice Date
11/20/2002
 
Notice Type
Sources Sought
 
Contracting Office
Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Procurement and Contracts (OPC), Program Support Division, NCS, 451 Seventh Street, SW Room 5256, Washington, DC, 20410
 
ZIP Code
20410
 
Solicitation Number
R-2003-R-00022
 
Archive Date
12/19/2002
 
Point of Contact
Judy Harrison, Contract Specialist, Phone 202-708-1585, Fax 202-401-2032, - Catherine Haddon, Contract Specialist, Phone 202-708-1585, Fax 202-708-2032,
 
E-Mail Address
Judy_S._Harrison@hud.gov, Catherine_M._Haddon@hud.gov
 
Small Business Set-Aside
Total Small Business
 
Description
NOTICE OF SOURCES SOUGHT The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is issuing a Request for Information (RFI) for Random Digital Dialing. This Request for Information is seeking sources of small businesses capable of conducting Random Digit Dialing (RDD) surveys with response rates at or above 50% without pre-contact mailings as calculated according to the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) guidelines or response rates at or above 65% with pre-contact mailings. The contractor is to conduct and analyze the area-specific Fair Market Rent survey methodology and conduct research. It is anticipated that the solicitation will be prepared in accordance with FAR Part 12, Acquisition of Commercial Items and will be set-aside for small businesses if feasible. A draft copy of the Statement of Work is included. NAICS code is 541611 and small business size standard is $6 million. It is anticipated that the contract resulting shall be Firm Fixed Unit Price for a 12-month base period and 1 option. HUD shall utilize best value when selecting awardees. Best value allows HUD to consider an award to an offeror who is other than the lowest priced or other than the highest technically rated. The following information is requested to be included in your response: 1. Information regarding the number of directly controlled CATI stations. 2. Information regarding three (i.e, within past three years) RDD surveys conducted, including client name and contact, sample size and type, a brief description of the survey content, and survey response rates with an explanation of the calculation method used. 3. AAPOR survey response method 3 calculation for at least one survey, including calculation component numbers. Your response is limited to no more than 10 one-sided pages. Your close attention is directed to the minimum requirements section. Potential offerors are reminded that this is Request For Information; no formal proposals are being requested or accepted. Sources are also encouraged to respond regarding the procurement strategy- Commercial Item and pricing strategy- Fixed Unit Price. Your response to this Sources Sought notice is due no later than December 4, 2002 by 2:00 PM EST. at the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer, Research Services Branch, 451 7th Street, SW, Room 5256, Washington, DC 20410, Attention: Judy Harrison. Responses will be accepted hand-delivered, by mail by facsimile or via email. The contact persons are Judy Harrison, Contract Specialist, e-mail address Judy_S._Harrison@hud.gov, 202-708-1585, ext. 2160; or Catherine Haddon, Contracting Officer, Catherine_M._Haddon@hud.gov, 202-708-1585, ext. 7155. Draft STATEMENT OF WORK SECTION 8 FAIR MARKET RENT TELEPHONE SURVEYS I BACKGROUND Fair Market Rents (FMRs) serve as the payment standard used to calculate subsidies under the Rental Voucher program. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) annually estimates FMRs for about 350 metropolitan areas and 2,330 nonmetropolitan county FMR areas. FMR Standard.--FMRs are gross rent estimates. They include the shelter rent plus the cost of all tenant-paid utilities, except telephone. HUD sets FMRs to assure that a sufficient supply of rental housing is available to program participants. To accomplish this objective, FMRs must be both high enough to permit a selection of units and neighborhoods and low enough to serve as many low-income families as possible. The level at which FMRs are set is expressed as a percentile point within the rent distribution of standard-quality rental housing units. The current definition used is either the 40th or 50th percentile rent paid by recent movers for standard quality housing units. The definition of "recent mover" is that used by the census - those who moved to their current residence within the past 15 months. Public housing units, units less than 2 years old, units rented from relatives, and units where the tenant supplies more than basic maintenance services, are excluded. Data Sources. HUD uses the most accurate and current data available to develop the FMR estimates. Three sources of survey data are used: 1. Most currently available decennial Census, which provides statistically reliable rent data for use in establishing base year FMRs. 2. American Housing Survey (AHS), which are conducted by the Bureau of Census for HUD for selected large metropolitan areas. [and whose accuracy is comparable to that of the decennial Census.] AHS enables HUD to develop revisions between Census years for some of the largest metropolitan areas that are surveyed on a revolving schedule of about 11 areas annually. 3. Random digit dialing (RDD) telephone surveys, which are based on a sampling procedure that uses computers to select statistically random samples of telephone numbers, dial and keep track of them, guide the interviewer through a questionnaire, and tabulate the responses to the calls. RDD surveys are conducted for HUD by a contractor to: (a) develop 40th or 50th percentile FMR estimates for selected FMR areas; (b) develop rent estimates for subparts of FMR areas; and (c) develop the annual HUD regional gross rent change factors. RDD regional rent change factors are developed annually for the metropolitan parts (exclusive of metropolitan areas with their own Consumer Price Index [CPI]) and nonmetropolitan parts of each of the 10 HUD regions--20 surveys in all. Base year FMR estimates are updated and trended forward using CPI data for rents and utilities or HUD regional updating factors developed from the regional RDD surveys. CPI data are available for about 100 metropolitan FMR areas. The RDD regional factors are used to update the base year estimates for all FMR areas that do not have their own CPI survey. This contract effort is restricted to area-specific FMR surveys, and does not require use of the regional rent survey time-series estimation methodology. FMR Areas. HUD defines FMR areas as metropolitan areas and nonmetropolitan counties. FMRs are intended to be housing market-wide rent estimates that provide housing opportunities throughout the geographic area in which rental units are in direct competition. With a few exceptions, the most current Office of Management and Budget (OMB) definitions of metropolitan areas are used because of their generally close correspondence with housing market areas. For a small number of large metropolitan areas, some peripheral counties of OMB-defined metropolitan areas are treated as free-standing FMR areas because HUD does not consider them to be integral parts of the respective housing market areas. II OBJECTIVES The objectives of this contract are to conduct up to 90 area-specific Fair Market Rent surveys per year. Because of the volume of surveys that must be conducted simultaneously, high levels of telephone and data processing technology and staffing are critical for success. III SCOPE The contractor is to conduct and analyze the area-specific Fair Market Rent survey methodology and conduct research as specified by the GTR. 1. Area Surveys Under this contract, for which it is anticipated multiple awards will be necessary, up to 90 area surveys may be conducted per fiscal year: 1 Each contractor shall be capable of completing at least 5 surveys within a two-month period. These surveys may start the first week of January and are to be delivered by March 15th. Up to 60 surveys may be requested during this period. The Government Technical Representative (GTR) will specify what areas are to be surveyed by the previous December 31st. No individual survey is to take more than six weeks to complete. 2 Each contractor shall be capable of completing at least 5 additional surveys that must be completed by the end of the first full week in August and may be started in April. No individual survey is to take more than six weeks to complete. 3 Each contractor selected for this contract may also be requested to conduct and deliver results for additional surveys at any point in the year to the extent they have the capacity and are requested to do so. 2. Research, Evaluation, and Program Support Under this contract HUD has the option of requesting additional survey design research for FMR estimation factors. This may include: (1) refining the simplified methodology for estimation of FMRs in areas that are too small to merit full-scale RDDs; (2) analyzing all survey data obtained to estimate confidence intervals, medians, and other statistical properties; and (3) optimizing survey design for hard-to-survey areas. This research is to be conducted by experts in survey design and statistics who are intimately familiar with the details of the surveys being done under this contract and any request. These services may be provided by subcontractors which need not be identified until the need for such services, if any, is requested by HUD. IV DETAILED WORK REQUIREMENTS A. Minimum Requirements 1. Contractors must document the proven capacity for conducting Random Digit Dialing (RDD) surveys with response rates at or above 50% without pre-contact mailings as calculated according to the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) guidelines (see attachment, AAPOR method 3), or response rates at or above 65% with pre-contact mailings. This is a non-negotiable OMB requirement. 2. Because of the large volume of work, the degree of precision required, and the requirement for detailed documentation, the contractor must use fully automated telephone interviewing and data processing technology. The questionnaire must be programmed into a computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) system with data validation feed-back to interviewers. The system must also feature direct data entry and summarization and automatic telephone scheduling, dialing, sample tracking, and record-keeping. 3. The contractor's facility must operate a minimum of 15 computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) stations, and it must be capable of completing 5 area surveys and submitting results within an 8-10 week period. For estimation purposes, it should be assumed that an average of 100,000 phone numbers would need to be selected for 5 area surveys, that surveys should be done primarily during evening and weekend hours over a 8-10 week period, and that at least 10 attempts must be made to contact each number 4. The contractor may expand its CATI capacity by using a subcontractor, but the subcontractor's capacity may not be substituted for the minimum contract capacity of 15 CATI stations or, in total, reduce the offer's portion of the work done to less than 50 percent of the total contract value. B. General Requirements The contractor shall furnish the necessary personnel, materials, services, postage, equipment, facilities and otherwise do all things necessary for, or incidental to, the performance of the tasks set forth in this Statement of Work. The work to be performed under this task includes, but is not necessarily limited to: discussions with the GTR and other HUD staff on methodological issues; modification of instruments for information collection; modification of the sampling methodology for selecting phone numbers; development of interviewer protocols; training and monitoring interviewers; conducting all needed phone calls; automation of results; calculation of the 40th and 50th percentile contract and gross rents for surveyed areas; calculation of the 95th percent confidence interval for the estimates produced; quality control; and provision of reports to HUD containing the results of the surveys conducted. The contractor is responsible for maintaining data files under secure conditions, to be released only to the GTR. In addition, the contractor is responsible for providing off-site backups of data files. The contractor shall make all work sites available for on-site inspection and monitoring on an as-requested basis by HUD staff or designees. C. Specific Requirements In conducting this work, the Contractor shall perform the following subtasks in accordance with the objectives and general scope of the contract. Subtask 1: Orientation and Work Plan Within two weeks of the contract award date, the Contractor's project manager and key project staff shall review all information provided in this contract package and discuss the scope of this effort with HUD staff. The objective is to establish a detailed common understanding of the task order objectives, the scope of work needed to achieve these objectives, the type of information sought, procedures for contacting HUD staff, and a schedule for the performance of subtasks. The contractor shall submit to the GTR a work plan with a time schedule for completing the area surveys within two weeks following the discussion, and describe a time frame and process for responding to additional requests for area-specific surveys, as well as for related statistical consulting. It shall also specify a proposed means of electronically exchanging data files, such as via the Internet or an FTP site. Subtask 2: Review Survey Design and Instruments and Recommend Modifications Within four weeks of contract award, the contractor shall submit to the GTR any modifications sought to the survey design or questionnaire used in either type of survey. Any modifications must have the GTR's prior approval. Subtask 3: Conduct Area Surveys 3.1 General Background Attachment J-1(will be included in the solicitation) describes in detail the methodology to be used to conduct area-specific surveys, including the suggested questionnaire wording and the precision requirements. For each metropolitan area, the contractor must complete at least 200 interviews of eligible recent mover renters, thereafter increasing the sample size if necessary to produce the desired 95% confidence level that the rent estimate desired is within 5% of the true value. In most cases, 200 responses are adequate, and it is very unusual to need more than 250. (This requirement is more stringent than that specified in Attachment J-1, as it is possible that more than 200 responses may be needed to achieve the required sample precision.) Under this contract, up to 90 area surveys per year will be conducted: up to 60 between January 2 and March 15, up to 60 between April and the end of the first week of August are to be conducted. [For the first year of this contract these time schedules will not apply.] 3.2 Operational Requirements Samples must be randomly selected from all known working 100-blocks of residential numbers. Automated screening must be used to filter out non-working and business numbers. Reverse address matches must be used to identify residential addresses to the extent possible, and pre-contact postcards sent using a provided HUD script to encourage survey participation. The contractor must make at least 10 attempts to reach and interview each sample number. These attempts must be made on different days and at different times of the day. Extensive supervision of interviewers (i.e., one supervisor per 5-6 interviewers) is required to ensure that protocols are followed and that interviewees are treated with respect in accordance with survey protocols. For surveys in areas with high numbers of Spanish speakers, Spanish-speaking interviewers must be available at all times. Interviewers with other language capability must be available as needed, but need not be on duty at all times. 3.3 Schedule and Deliverables Under this contract up to 90 area surveys per year will be conducted, with the following timing: (1) for up to 60 of these surveys, to begin in January, the contractor shall deliver the results to the GTR by the middle of March. This requirement is premised on specification by the GTR of what areas are to be surveyed by no later than December 31st; (2) for up to an additional 60 surveys, to begin no earlier than April, the contractor shall deliver the results no later than the end of the first full week in August; (3) each contractor may also be requested to conduct and deliver results for up to 1 survey a year, of which no more than one will be requested at one time, within 4 weeks of the GTR's request. The contractor must calculate the fair market rent at the 40th or 50th percentile (depending on whether or not an area receives a 40th or 50th percentile rent) for all units surveyed and separately for recent movers and for stayers. For each of these categories, rents must be calculated for 1-bedroom units, 2-bedroom units and a blended rate based on both 1- and 2-bedroom units. The 95% estimate confidence interval for the 40th or 50th percentile rent should be calculated for the 2-bedroom blended recent mover rent (i.e., based on 1- and 2-bedroom units), the 2-bedroom only recent mover rent, and the 2-bedroom blended rent for all units surveyed (stayers and movers). The resolution rate, residential rate, response rate, screening rate, completion rate and overall rate must be calculated for each area using AAPOR definitions. As noted previously in the Minimum Requirements specifications, an average AAPOR (method three) response rate performance standard of 65% is required for this work. This response rate assumes use of a pre-contact mailing. Surveys used to demonstrate an offeror's potential to comply with this requirement must show at least a 50% AAPOR response rate if no pre-contact procedure was used. The contractor shall provide to the GTR all information needed to reconstruct any statistics or estimate of sampling errors, including an explanation of how the sample was selected; all information for completed one and two-bedroom renter unit interviews (including telephone numbers); all calculations used to construct estimates of the 40th percentile rent estimates (2-bedroom blended recent movers, 2-bedroom recent movers, and 2-bedroom blended all renters) and their variance; and all of the response rate calculations specified in Attachment J-1. The results are to be summarized in a written communication, and the full survey data are to be sent electronically as a data file in the form requested by the GTR. In addition, the contractor shall submit an overall summary and recommendations report within two months of submitting the results of the January-March surveys. 3.4 Government-Furnished Materials HUD will supply the current Section 8 utility allowance schedule, as a data file or in Microsoft EXCEL form, prior to completion of each Area survey (See Attachment J-3 for an example.) HUD will also provide the survey instrument and the script for the pre-contact postcard mailing. Subtask 4: Research and Evaluation 4.1 General Background The contractor may, at the GTR's discretion, review the Area survey methodology as currently specified in Attachments J-1 and J-2, and propose any modifications that it deems necessary. Cost-saving measures to be taken in areas where surveys are expected to be particularly expensive to conduct should be proposed to the GTR. This is particularly true in the smaller nonmetropolitan areas, where a somewhat lower standard of precision may be acceptable to HUD. 4.2 Simplified RDD Surveys Small housing authorities wishing to comment on their FMRs must be able to provide usable, scientifically defensible surveys without the comparatively large expenditure of funds required by full-scale RDDs. In response to this need, HUD developed a simplified RDD survey methodology and guide explaining, in non-technical terms, how to conduct surveys that would be acceptable as FMR comments. The latest version of this guide is included as Attachment J-2. The contractor may be requested to advise HUD on ways to refine that survey methodology, if requested by the GTR. V INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS, AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS A. Varying Number of Area RDDs The total number of individual area RDDs that HUD will fund annually may differ from year to year, subject to funding availability, as follows: 1. No less than ten (10) or more than sixty (60) area RDDs to be completed between January 2 and March 15, by all contractors in total. Each area RDD is to take at most 6 consecutive weeks of interviewing time. 2. No less than ten (10) or more than sixty (60) area RDDs are to be completed between April 1 and August 7, by all contractors in total. Each area RDD is to take at most 6 consecutive weeks of interviewing time. 3. Up to three (3) area RDDs to be completed by all contractors in total at any time of the year on an expedited basis (final results to be delivered within 4 weeks of the GTR's request) at any one time. B. Minimum Number of Area RDDs Subject to annual funding availability, HUD anticipates never requesting fewer than 40 area surveys per year. Not less than five (5) surveys will be assigned to a contractor at one time for either of the two normal area survey periods. C. Work Assignment Preferences Surveys will be assigned based on estimated cost, capacity, and performance (i.e., lowest bidder will be given as many surveys as they can readily conduct within required timeframes.) D. Cost Variability In addition to the number of surveys that will be requested annually under the contract, there will also be variability in the size of the samples required to meet the survey requirement for 200 or more completed surveys of recent mover renters of one and two bedroom units. This variability will be compensated using a standardized formula approach that will be provided in the formal solicitation.
 
Place of Performance
Address: To Be Determined
 
Record
SN00208021-W 20021122/021120213202 (fbodaily.com)
 
Source
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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