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 -- AUDIENCE SURVEY IN LATIN AMERICA SOL n/a POC Contact Point/Contracting Officer: Technical Point Contact: Scott Michael PHONE (202) 619-2200. Contracting Officer: Lorraine Mullen PHONE (202)260-2933. This is a Request for Quotation No. B/PA-98-12 using Simplified Acquisition Procedures in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13. Quotes that exceed the simplified acquisition threshold ($100,000) will not be considered. The United States Information Agency's International Bureau of Broadcasting (IBB) Office of Research has a requirement, subject to the availability of funds, for contractor(s) to obtain data that will allow estimation and analysis of the cumulative weekly audience for Voice of America (VOA) programming re-broadcast by local radio stations in selected markets in Latin America. Each week, VOA provides some 30 hours of Spanish-language and 16 hours of Portuguese-language news and programs to local radio stations via satellite and telephone lines. The varied amounts and dispersion of program material local stations choose to re-broadcast require a four-phase methodology to gather data on VOA programming's cumulative reach. Scope of Work: For each market, the contractor(s) shall obtain this data by matching a precise record of re-broadcasts of VOA-produced news and program material on any local stations during a specified week, with data on individuals' listening by station and time during that week, gathered from regular commercial research sources (where available) or from custom diary-based panel studies. 1. Local Station Programming Survey: The contractor(s) shall (using a brief questionnaire supplied by IBB Research) conduct a survey of programming directors of all radio stations in each market to establish awareness and typical patterns of use of news and program material produced by foreign sources, including Voice of America, BBC, CNN Radio, Deutsche Welle, and Radio France Internationale (type of programming, times and frequency of use, whether or not material is identified by source). Based on the information gathered, the contractor(s) shall compile a summary of stations and (15-minute) time blocks during which specified foreign-produced material can be reasonably expected to air over the course of the week for which radio listening studies are to be conducted. This summary shall include all regularly scheduled times foreign-produced programs air, as well as air times for program spaces that might be expected to air foreign-produced material (e.g., newscasts that make occasional use of foreign-prepared material). 2. Collection of Detailed Radio Audience Estimates: a) Where such data is commercially available, the contractor(s) shall arrange for the purchase of ratings data for all local stations in each market. Acceptable commercial ratings data must be based on a sample of individuals (not households) in the target market and detail the radio listening behavior of individual panel members in 15-minute intervals over one full week or more, and must also include basic demographics on respondents (age and sex, and where available, education and other socio-economic classifications normally developed in the diary study); or b) Where radio audience data matching the above specifications is not regularly available from commercial sources, the contractor(s) shall design and conduct a 7-day diary-based panel study of radio listening with a sample of the adult population (15+) in the target market (achieved sample of 1,000 -- individuals rather than households). The contractor(s) shall be responsible for assuring that, whether purchased commercially or gathered directly, the data are delivered to IBB in a form that will allow their analysis with SPSS at the level of respondent and station-listening by 15-minute time blocks throughout the target week. 3. Monitoring of Local Stations During Target Week: The contractor(s) shall compile for each market a summary of the local stations and times (accurate to least at the level of quarter hours) where VOA-produced material was actually aired during the week for which data on radio listening is purchased or collected. To gather such information, the contractor(s) shall make audio recordings of the broadcasts of the local stationsexpected to re-transmit VOA-produced material during the target week. The recordings must cover all these stations' air time that might reasonably be expected to include VOA-produced material, based on the programmers' survey. The contractor(s) shall review the recordings of stations to determine when (by 15-minute block) each local station transmitted VOA-produced news or program material over the course of the target week. The contractor(s) shall compile a log briefly identifying the VOA-produced material, organized by local station/15-minute block. 4. Follow-up Questionnaire for Diary Panel Members. As part of its own diary panel studies or in cooperation with the vendor of commercial radio ratings data, the contractor(s) shall administer a brief questionnaire (supplied by IBB Research) to panel study participants regarding their awareness and recall of listening to foreign radio programming and to supplement basic demographics not collected in the commercial ratings study. Offerors may submit quotations for this project on any or all of the following markets or sets of markets: 1. Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, and S o Paulo, Brazil 2. Bogot and Medell n, Colombia 3. San Jos, Costa Rica 4. Panam, Panam 5. Montevideo, Uruguay Responsibilities of IBB Research: IBB Research will provide the contractor(s) with: -- information from VOA on the programs it delivers to the target markets (names, times, descriptions) and on the use of that programming by local stations in the target markets; -- a brief questionnaire to use in surveying local programming directors as to their use of foreign-produced program material; -- a brief follow-up questionnaire for panel participants in the radio listening studies. -- a detailed log and description of VOA programming that was actually available to local stations during the 7-day periods studied in each market, to aid the contractor(s) in accurately identifying such material monitored on recordings of local stations. Contractor(s) Responsibilities: The contractor(s) shall be responsible for the following deliverables for each target market: -- a comprehensive research plan for each target market, to be reviewed and approved by IBB Research, including instruments and methodology used in custom diary panels and in recording and review of monitored local station broadcasts; -- a station-by-station summary of the results of the programming directors survey describing the typical patterns of re-broadcast of specified foreign-produced material; -- a concrete plan for monitoring local broadcasts to confirm precise airing of VOA-produced material, based on reasonably-expected usage patterns as revealed by the survey of programming directors, such plan subject to approval by IBB Research; -- cassette copies of all audio tapes made in the monitoring of local stations, labeled by station and day/time period contained on the tape; -- a station-by-quarter hour block summary of the VOA-produced material actually monitored on local stations during the test week; -- a digital copy of the ratings data purchased or collected, preferably in SPSS format, or at a minimum in plain ASCII format with a codebook identifying variables and corresponding column locations; the data will include one record for each respondent in the diary panel, with listening data for each station by quarter-hour block, as well as demographic variables and, for each respondent, data from the companion questionnaire. Delivery Schedule: After approval by IBB Research of the comprehensive media plan for a given market (including agreed-upon start date), the four phases of the research project should be completed within a four-week period, with data and reports ready for analysis delivered to IBB Research in a further four weeks. Where commercial data on radio listening is to be used, the contractor(s) shall schedule the other phases around the research period planned by the vendor of the commercial radio audience data. Selection Criteria: In addition to total projectcost and ability to meet the proposed schedule, quotations will be evaluated and vendor selected on the basis of the following equally important technical criteria: -- demonstrated experience in conducting audience research in the target markets or Latin America generally, in particular experience in the design and successful conduct of panel studies of radio or television usage based on completion of personal diaries; -- the degree to which the proposed research plan satisfies IBB's requirements for reliable, detailed data on individual radio use, demographic and follow-up awareness/recall data, as reflected in the information provided on the commecial data to be used or on the planned methodology for conducting a custom diary-based panel study in the target market(s) (while sampling only "ABC" socio-economic strata may be the most feasible standard practice for audience research in a given market, comprehensiveness of proposed sample coverage across socio-economic strata will weigh in favor of an offeror's quotation); -- comprehensiveness of coverage of the target markets or sets of markets, assuring comparable methodology and field supervision in audience measurement and radio monitoring across as many of the proposed target markets as possible. Each offeror's quotation shall include: -- current information on the qualifications of offeror's office and field staff; -- specific information on offeror's past experience in conducting audience research, especially diary-based panel studies, in the target markets and Latin America generally; -- a plan of work for each target market for which the offeror is submitting a quotation, addressing each of the four phases of the research set out above, describing the commercial data planned for purchase (sample type, size and coverage, methodology, periods of availability) and/or the methodology planned for custom diary panel research (plans for sampling, recruitment, distribution, compliance and quality assurance) and how the data to be purchased or collected satisfies IBB Research's requirements; in addition to the specified 1,000-person custom diary panel, offerors may propose options for samples of less than 1,000, but in no case less than 500; -- separate cost quotations for each market or set of markets on which offeror is submitting a quotation. Submission of quotations and due date: Firm-fixed price quotations should be submitted no later than March 31, 1998 and shall reference this RFQ No. B/PA-98-12. In addition to addressing the points noted above, submissions should also provide details on any subcontractors who would be engaged to work on these projects. Omission of any of the points of information requested will weigh against a quotation. Please submit any questions concerning technical requirements to Scott Michael, Office of Research, USIA/IBB, at (202) 619-2200 or Fax (202) 205-3766. Proposal and price quotation should be faxed to Lorraine Mullen, Contracting Officer, at (202) 205-1921. Price quote must be on a separate page from the proposal. (0051)

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