Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey (MVOSS)

United States Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration SYNOPSIS Solicitation No. DTNH22-13-R-00683 Title: Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey (MVOSS) Description: This contract will survey the population age 16 and older that provides a status report of attitudes, knowledge, and self-reported behavior in the area of occupational protection. First administered in 1944, this will be the seventh in the series. It employs two questionnaires, one focusing on belt use and the other on child occupant protection. This MVOSS will it introduce a major change in methodology, becoming a multi-mode survey with Web as the primary response mode, and mail and telephone as alternative response modes. Introduction: Improving occupant protection is a major responsibility of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Program areas subsumed under occupant protection include seat belts, child safety seats, and air bags. There has been substantial movement across these areas over the years in terms of public attention, technological development, legislative and enforcement activity, and public attitudes and behavior. Thus the current environment for driver/passenger safety activities has considerably changed over time. The concerted attention directed at occupant protection areas has substantially raised the level of occupant safety behavior by the public. Yet further improvement will be increasingly difficult to attain as the "easy" gains have been accomplished. The injury prevention community must now dig deeper for solutions as remaining barriers to safety will be more resistant to programmatic influences. Up-to-date information is essential to plot the direction of future activity that will achieve the more difficult gains that await. As the highway safety arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation, NHTSA is responsible for collecting these data and developing programs appropriate to meeting policy requirements. Specific Requirements: The Contractor shall prepare for and conduct a multi-mode national survey of the public age 16 and older on occupant protection issues. The survey shall use address-based sampling, mail contact, and a method for random selection of a single respondent within households. The Contractor shall administer two different versions of the questionnaire, one focusing on seat belts and the other focusing on use of child restraints. The two questionnaires will be administered using independently drawn samples. The Contractor shall adapt updated versions of the MVOSS questionnaires for multi-mode administration, to include usability testing and cognitive testing. The Contractor shall develop Spanish language versions of the final questionnaires for administration. The Contractor shall develop and host the Web site for Web administration of the survey, and shall program a CATI version for telephone administration. All systems are to be tested and meet security requirements. The Contractor shall obtain Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval of the survey methods. NHTSA shall obtain OMB approval for the data collection; however the Contractor may be called upon to assist in this process. The Contractor shall pilot test the survey, testing methods for all three modes. Any changes in methods resulting from the pilot test shall be re-submitted as an amendment to the IRB. The Contractor shall administer the two MVOSS questionnaires to a randomly selected national sample of individuals age 16 and older. The sample shall be drawn so that national estimates can later be calculated for the at 6,000 per questionnaire (total of 12,000), with average interview length for the telephone CATI version estimated at 15 minutes. The Contractor shall initially contact the sample by mail, offering only the Web response mode. Additional contact waves shall be conducted involving a mix of mail and telephone contact. The later mail contact waves will include paper copies of the questionnaires to be completed and returned using an enclosed stamped envelope. The Contractor shall monitor the data collection, and respond to any issues or problems that arise. When necessary, the Contractor shall seek direction from the NHTSA COTR. Contract Award: NHTSA intends to award a single, Time and Materials contract with a period of performance of thirty-six (36) months. The anticipated award date for this resultant contract is expected on or about Friday, August 30, 2013. This solicitation is full and open competition. Solicitation: The solicitation DTNH22-13-R-00683 will be available for downloading from FedBizOps.gov on or about Wednesday, April 10, 2013.