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 -- SURVEY OF VOICE OF AMERICA PROGRAMMING RE-BROADCAST BY LOCAL RADIO STATIONS IN SELECTED MARKETS IN BRAZIL. SOL B/PA-99-8 DUE 020599 POC Contact Point/Contracting Officer: Lorraine Mullen, Telephone (202)260-2933; Facsimile: (202) 205-1921. E-MAIL: Click here to contact the contracting officer via, lfmullen@IBB.GOV. This public notice is also a written Request for Quotation (RFQ) No. B/PA-99-8 pursuant to procurement of the required services described below using the "Simplified Acquisition Procedures" specified in Part 13 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). 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. The U.S. Information Agency's International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) has a requirement, subject to the availability of funds, for a 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 Brazil. Each week, VOA provides some 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. Quoters are herein requested to submit written price quotations and technical capabilities/experience information for the collection of data as outlined below. 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 the Contracting Officer) 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 VOA, BBC, and CNN Radio (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 the Contracting Officer 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 stations expected 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 the Contracting Officer, 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. Quoters may submit quotations for this project on any or all of the following markets or sets of markets: 1. S o Paulo 2. Rio de Janeiro 3. Porto Alegre 4. Brasilia Responsibilities of IBB: IBB 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 periodsstudied in each market, to aid the contractor in accurately identifying such material monitored on recordings of local stations. Contractor 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, 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 is subject to approval by IBB; -- 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 shall 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 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 the Contracting Officer in a further four weeks. Where commercial data on radio listening is to be used, the contractor shall schedule the other phases around the research period planned by the vendor of the commercial radio audience data. Selection Criteria: A contract (i.e., Purchase Order) award will be made by the Contracting Officer based on A) the quoter's Technical Capabilities/Experience for which there are four (4) 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 audience research in the target markets or Latin America generally, with particular experience in the design and successful conduct of panel studies of radio or television usage based on completion of personal diaries. 2. 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 commercial 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 a quoter's quotation). 3. 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. 4. Ability to complete the project in a timely manner by complying with the Delivery Schedule above. Each response to this RFQ shall also include: -- Current information on the qualifications of quoter's office and field staff. -- Specific information on quoter'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 quoter submits a price quotation, addressing each of the four research phases set out above, in items 1-4, 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 (sampling, recruitment, distribution, compliance and quality assurance) and how the data to be purchased or collected satisfies IBB's requirements; in addition to the specified 1,000-person custom diary panel, quoters may propose options for samples of less than 1,000, but in no case less than 500. -- Separate price quotations for each market or set of markets on which quoter is submitting a price quotation. Submission of Responses to the RFQ and Due Date: Firms interested in the above described work are requested to submit their responses to this RFQ by 5:00 p.m. EST, Friday, February 5, 1999 and shall reference this RFQ No. B/PA-99-8 in their transmittal letter to the Contracting Officer. All questions (technical or otherwise) from a prospective quoter regarding this RFQ shall be in writing. Any questions and the quoter's complete written response to this RFQ shall be sent directly and only to the Contracting Officer for the procurement, Lorraine Mullen, via facsimile at (202) 205-1921. The Price quotation submitted as part of a quoter's response to this RFQ shall be on a separate page from the above requested Technical Capabilities/Experience and Schedule information. The Contracting Officer has found and determined that this proposed work is appropriate for an "unrestricted" procurement pursuant to FAR Subpart 19.502 (Setting Aside Acquisitions). All responsible sources may submit a quotation which will be considered. Posted 01/21/99 (W-SN290158). (0021)

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