Public Opinion Data Subscription - Argentina

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 acquiring via subscription two readings from a regular (monthly, bimonthly) nationally representative public opinion survey data in Argentina in September 2015 as described below. SUMMARY OF CONTRACTOR'S RESPONSIBILITIES - Designing an appropriate sample; - Sharing the field version of the questionnaire with the Office of Opinion Research; - Managing fieldwork; - Coding questionnaires, entering data, checking and cleaning the data; and - Providing required deliverables: detailed sampling design, the final field version of questionnaire and show cards, marginal frequencies, data in ASCII and SPSS formats, codebook, methodological report, and a Power Point presentation of the results for each survey. These responsibilities are described in detail below. SAMPLE DESIGN: Design and implement a probability sample design for face-to-face interviews in respondents' homes to achieve a nationally representative sample of at least 1,000 adults age 18 and older. Before the beginning of fieldwork the Contractor shall submit a spreadsheet or SPSS file showing all of the primary sampling units (PSUs) for each stratum, 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: The Offeror will provide OPN with a Spanish-language questionnaire that will be used for the omnibus survey focusing on public attitudes toward domestic economic and social issues. In addition, for each respondent the questionnaire and final data set will include, if possible: 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, and political party support Interviewing information: - date of interview (month, day, day of week); - if possible, 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; - if possible, interviewer ID, supervisor ID, field manager ID, data entry/keypuncher ID; - 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-check. The Contractor is responsible for sharing the Spanish-language questionnaire before each survey is fielded. FIELDWORK: Fieldwork will be done by face-to-face interviews in respondents' homes. All interviews shall be conducted in strict adherence to the Contractor's omnibus sampling plan. The Contractor is responsible for organizing and overseeing all aspects of fieldwork, including: preparing and printing 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 feedback to the Office of Opinion Research on the status of fieldwork. DATA MANAGEMENT: The Contractor is responsible for processing, cleaning, and coding the data in Spanish, enforcing quality controls for data entry, and detecting data fabrication, if any. DELIVERABLES: The Contractor shall deliver the following to OPN by email (except as otherwise noted): 1) Detailed sampling design; 2) Field version of the questionnaire and all show cards; 3) Marginal frequencies (weighted, if appropriate) for all questions, including demographics; 4) 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 Spanish; 5) 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; 6) 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: o The universe sampled; o The populations excluded from the sample and why these were excluded; o Description of statistical documentation used to design the sample (e.g., census data) and date of the information; o All forms of stratification used, and the basis for stratification; o Selection procedure at each stage of sampling: primary sampling unit (PSU), secondary sampling unit (SSU), sampling point, household and individual respondent; - 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: o The probability of selection of the household and the adult (the base weights should be the inverse of the probability of selection); o Nonresponse and noncoverage; o Adjustments to match population data (describe sources of population data). - Report on sampling performance, including: o Information 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; o Rate of respondent substitution and procedures for substituting respondents; o The 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); o An 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. 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. CONFIDENTIALITY: The subscription with the Contractor is to be confidential, 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 shall not be revealed to outside parties - e.g., media, academic or government - at any point before, during or after completion of the subscription 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 in a single installment upon receipt and approval of all required deliverables for the first survey. Please note, payment cannot be authorized upon commissioning the survey subscription. 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: - FAR 52.212-4, "Contract Terms and Conditions Commercial Items" (Dec 2014) - Addenda attached - FAR 52.212-5, "Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders" (Apr 2015). In addition to the required paragraphs, the following are the applicable optional paragraphs under 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)). 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 TO contact@example.gov. QUOTES SUBMITTED IN ANY OTHER FASHION WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.