SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- AUDIENCE SURVEY IN ABIJAN, IVORY COAST
- Notice Date
- 9/11/2003
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Broadcasting Board of Governors, Associate Director for Management, Office of Contracts (M/CON), 330 C Street, SW, Room 2500, Washington, DC, 20237
- ZIP Code
- 20237
- Solicitation Number
- CON-03-0031
- Response Due
- 9/22/2003
- Archive Date
- 10/7/2003
- Point of Contact
- Lesley Isaac, Contracting Officer, Phone 202-619-1623, Fax 202-205-1921,
- E-Mail Address
-
lisaac@ibb.gov
- Description
- The Broadcasting Board of Governors/International Broadcasting Bureau (BBG/IBB), Office of Contracts, Simplified Acquisition Branch (M/CON/SA has a requirement for a contractor to obtain quantitative data on the size, composition, and media habits of the audience for Voice of America (VOA) broadcasts in Abidjan, Ivory Coast using the Test Program for Certain Commercial Items specified in Subpart 13.500 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Pursuant to FAR Subpart 12.603, the following constitute both the synopsis and the solicitation: (i) This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplement with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; written proposals are herein being requested, and a separate solicitation will not be issued. (ii) The solicitation number for this procurement is CON-03-0031 and this solicitation is issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ). (iii) Incorporated provisions and clauses incorporated in this solicitation document are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2001-015, Title 48, July 24, 2003. (iv) The Contracting Officer has found and determined that the nature of the services to be performed are appropriate for an "unrestricted" procurement in accordance with FAR Subpart 19.502 entitled "Setting aside acquisition". (v) The following contract line item and survey specifications are as follows: Item 1. Quantitative data on the size, composition, and media habits of the audience for VOA broadcasts in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Research specifications are as follows: Nature of Survey. Audience data shall be obtained through a national survey of Abidjan that is designed to obtain the most accurate possible information about: the number of regular (i.e. weekly) and occasional listeners to VOA's radio broadcasts, the listening audience for other international and domestic broadcasters; the previous-day usage patterns among audiences for radio and television broadcasts; awareness of international broadcasts available either directly or through local rebroadcasts; audience opinions as to the accuracy, reliability, quality, and relevance of programming from major radio and television broadcasters; and general patterns of media use. The interviewing shall be face-to-face and conducted in the home of the respondent by a trained interviewer. VOA will require demographic information on each respondent including, gender, age, education, and occupation. 1) General Responsibilities of the Contractor. The contractor shall be responsible for the project design and execution, including the following specific task: a)translation, formatting, pretesting, adaptation, and printing of IBB supplied questionnaires; b) developing the Sampling Plan; c) training interviewers; d) supervising fieldwork; e) cleaning and encoding survey responses; f) entering and processing the data; g) ascertaining the representiveness of the sample and weighting the data, if necessary; h) preparing cross-tabulations in data books; (i) submitting data on diskette; and (j) communicating all necessary information and results to IBB in a timely manner. 2) Sample Design. Interested quoters are herein requested to submit price quotations for a sample of 1,000 adults, age 15 or older, representative by ethnicity, gender, age, and education of the population of Abidjan. 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 substitution 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, procedures for selecting households within PSUs, and procedures for selecting individual respondents at the household level, shall be submitted to and approved by IBB prior to commencement of any fieldwork. 3) Questionnaire. IBB will supply a set of questions for an interview lasting approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour. The questionnaire shall consist of approximately 80 questions (in English), up to 5 of which may be open-ended. Questionnaire shall be provided in draft form for suggestions and comments by the contractor based on the contractor's knowledge of local cultural or political sensitivities. Following receipt of the contractor's comments, IBB will provide a final version of the questionnaire for translation by contractor into French and any other languages necessary for successful administration of the survey. The contractor shall prepare translations of the questionnaire in French and other languages as agreed upon and shall submit these translations to IBB for approval prior to pre-test. The contractor shall be responsible for compiling a comprehensive list of both local and international broadcast media available in the local environment in the areas to be surveyed. This information shall be used to compile a precoded list of stations on the survey and should be submitted to IBB for approval prior to finalization of the questionnaire. Following IBB's review of any contractor comments and final approval of translations of questionnaires, the contractor shall prepare final versions in French and other languages as agreed upon in form suitable for use by interviewers. 4) Pre-test. The questionnaire shall be pre-tested by the contractor prior to the commencement of any fieldwork. At least 25 pre-test interviews shall be conducted. The contractor shall provide IBB with a written report of the results of the pre-test, along with details of any problems encountered and suggested remedies, prior to the commencement of any fieldwork. 5) Fieldwork. Interviews shall be conducted by experienced field workers who shall be thoroughly briefed by the contractor prior to commencement of any work. 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 interviews shall be back checked and 5% shall be accompanied by a team supervisor. The contractors' proposals shall include a description of the professional qualifications of the proposed interviewers and a description of the training that shall be provided to interviewers to ensure proper understanding of the survey instrument. 6) Data Processing. The contractor is responsible for data entry, cleaning, and processing. The contractor shall provide printed tabulations of results, including percentage responses to all questions broken down by gender, age group, and educational level. Tabulations shall show weighted and unweighted base and response frequencies for each question. The contractor shall supply data to IBB as an SPSS for Windows syntax file (*.sps) (SPSS version 8.0 or lower) file and as an SPSS "*.sav" file with a complete data dictionary of variable names and value labels. In addition, the contractor shall supply raw data in plain ASCII format, with codebook showing values and column locations of all variables. There shall be one data record for each respondent and records shall be of fixed length. If weights are used, weighting factors shall be in the same position on each record, with location specified in the codebook. Each record shall include a unique respondent ID number, interviewer ID number, PSU ID number, and codes for precise location and date of interview. Each record shall include demographic information about the respondent, including: gender, exact age, education level, occupation, and ethnicity. In addition to exact age, record for each respondent will be coded by age group as follows: 15-24; 25-39; and 40+. This coding scheme shall be the age categories used in the printed tabulations mentioned above. 7) Technical Appendix. When delivering printed tabulations and raw data, the contractor shall provide a technical appendix which will include the following: a) a complete Sampling Plan, including list of PSUs and individual sampling points and number of interviews conducted in each. b) details of response rates. c) Interviewer instructions. d) a brief report on survey operations including any practical difficulties encountered in carrying out the survey. e) estimated sampling error. f) a complete explanation of the weighting scheme including details of how weighting factors were developed and applied, as well as the demographic data on which weights were based. g) a brief description of each local radio and television station covered in the survey, including: ownership, political affiliation (if any), years of operation, hours of broadcast, means of broadcast (i.e. AM, FM, etc), and general program content. 8) Summary of deliverables. (See preceding paragraphs for detailed description of requirements for each deliverable. The four Deliverables to be provided to IBB by the contractor under this contract are as follows: (a) Raw data on diskette in plain ASCII format, with codebook (b) Complete data set formatted as SPSS file (see description above under A.6) (c) Printed tabulations of results (d) Technical Appendix (see description above under A.7) Upon contract award, IBB will provide the contractor with an actual timetable for the completion of all phases of the work agreed upon, including precise dates when each portion of the work should be completed. Timetable shall be based on schedule submitted by offer with proposal, with any modifications to be mutually agreed upon by contractor and IBB. Unless written approval is granted by IBB, all deliverables must be received by IBB by the date specified in the timetable. (vi) Audience Survey in Abijan, Ivory Coast (vii) Delivery Schedule. The contractor shall perform the work under this contract in accordance with the following Delivery Schedule: (a) Provision of detailed Sampling Plan to IBB within 2 weeks of contractor receiving confirmation of contract award. (b) Submission of translated questionnaires within 2 weeks following contractor's receipt of IBB draft. (c) Pretesting to be completed and pretest report submitted to IBB within 2 weeks of IBB's approval of the questionnaire translations. (d) After pretesting and IBB approval of pretest report, interviewing should begin within 1 week and be completed within an additional 6 weeks. (e) Cleaned, verified data and a final report must be delivered to IBB no later than 6 weeks after conclusion of any fieldwork. (viii) The provisions at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items is incorporated by reference. 1) Offerors are reminded to submit their DUNS Number with their price quotation. 2) Offerors responding to this RFQ shall include the following information in their technical proposal: a) detailed description of the proposed research methodology, including specific listing of organizations the offeror shall use for fieldwork; b) Current information on the qualifications of offerors office and field staff; c) Specific information on offerors past experience in conducting media research and survey research in West Africa; d) A detailed description of the proposed fieldwork plan, including sampling plan and procedures, number and type of sampling points and manner in which interviews will be allocated across the population; and e) A schedule showing the time required for each phase of the project which would include (a) translation, pretest, reporting of pretest results and printing of final questionnaire, (b) completion of fieldwork, (c) completion of data verification, data entry, and codebook, (d) delivery of data files and media environment/methodological report - detailed description of the proposed research methodology, including specific listing of organizations the offeror will use for fieldwork (if sub- contractors are to be used). 3) Omission of any of the points of information requested will weigh against the offeror during the Contracting Officer's evaluation of the proposal. 4) 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. 5) The price quotation shall be submitted on a separate page from the Technical Capabilities/Experience and Schedule information. 6) In the event that price quotations for the work outlined in this RFQ significantly exceed IBB's budgetary limitations, IBB reserves the right to reduce the scope of the work specified herein. (ix) FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation, Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. The Government will award a firm-fixed price contract (i.e. purchase order) resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose proposal conforming to the specification requirements contained herein will be most advantageous to the Government based on: A) The quoter's Technical Capabilities/Experience (for which there are (5) equally weighted subcriteria); and B) the quoter'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 survey research in West Africa; 3. Quality of the proposed sampling technique; 4. Quality of the proposed procedures for data collection, entry, and verification; and 5. Ability to complete the project in a timely manner. (x) Offerors shall include a completed copy of the provisions at 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications--Commercial Items, with their offer. (xi) The FAR Clause 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition -with no addenda to the clause. (xii) FAR Clause 52-212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions required to Implement Statues or Executive Orders-Commercial Items applies to this acquisition as well as the following clauses contained within FAR Clause 52.212-5: 52.222-19, Child Labor--Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies; 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; 52.222.36; 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity (E.O. 13146); 52.222-35, Equal Opportunity for Special Disabled , Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and other Eligible Veteran (38 U.S.C. 793), 52.222-37, Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era and Other Veterans (38 U.S.C. 4212); 52.225-13, Restriction on Certain Foreign Purchase (E.O. 12722,12724, 13059, 13067, 13121,13129); 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-Central Contractor Registration (31 U.S.C. 3332); (xiii) The following FAR clause is also applicable to this acquisition: 52.222-22, Previous Contracts and Compliance Reports. There are no additional contract requirement (s) or terms and conditions (such as contract financing arrangements or warranty requirement (s) necessary for this acquisition other than those consistent with customary commercial practices. (xiv) The Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) and assigned rating is not applicable to this acquisition. (xv) None of the Numbered Note are applicable to this acquisition. (xvi) Offers are due no NLT 3PM, Monday, September 22, 2003 and they shall reference RFQ No. CON-03-0031. Price Quotations may be sent via either facsimile to (202) 205-1921; e-mail to lisaac@ibb.gov or by mail to BBG/IBB, Office of Contracts, 330 C Street, S.W., Room 2512, Washington, D.C. 20237, Attn: Lesley D. Isaac Jr. Offerors responding to this RFQ shall submit to the above-listed Contracting Officer the following information by mail, facsimile, or e-mail, as part of their quotation: unit and extend price for the above-listed items, prompt payment terms, correct remittance address if different from the offerors mailing address, and a completed copy of the provision 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items. Full text of all FAR clauses and provisions are available electronically at the following Internet address: (http://www.arnet.gov/far). Oral price quotations will not be accepted for this acquisition. (xvii) Any questions related to this proposed procurement shall be submitted in writing directly and only to the Contracting Officer, Lesley D. Isaac Jr. NLT Tuesday, September 16, 2003. All responsible sources may submit a price quotation, which will be considered.
- Record
- SN00431778-W 20030913/030911213013 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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