For the full Request for Proposals, please visit this link: https://www.iri.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/RFP-EURASIA2022M05o-Moldova-Polling.pdf

Request for Proposals Moldova polling 

Questions deadline - August 15

Proposals submission - August 18

Background

The International Republican Institute (IRI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, organization dedicated to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide. Since 1983, IRI has worked to develop democratic institutions and ideals, carrying out a variety of international programs to promote freedom, self-government and the rule of law worldwide. IRI provides technical assistance in the areas of political party strengthening, developing civic institutions and open elections, promoting democratic governance and advancing the rule of law.

IRI’s work in Moldova is geared toward developing the capacity of political parties—with specific focus on internal structures and processes, financial compliance and outreach to voters. IRI’s programming seeks to strengthen the ability political leaders to organize themselves and effectively communicate and represent the Moldovan citizens. A key component of this work is the regular polling that IRI conducts in order to gauge public sentiment and in turn to inform political parties and local stakeholders on issues relevant to constituents

Period of Performance

Date of Signature through August 31, 2023, with the option to extend for a total duration of up to one additional year in a one-year increment

Statement of Work

Moldova Surveys

OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

Public opinion data shall be obtained through a nationwide survey of Moldova that is designed to obtain the most accurate possible information about: (a) ratings of government institutions, political parties and politicians, (b) elections (c) Moldovan media environment, (d) foreign relations, and social and economic issues in Moldova Bidder will conduct two surveys during the period of performance with the option to extend for an additional year with two more surveys

RESEARCH TASKS 

1) General Responsibilities of Bidder. For each survey the bidder shall be responsible for the project design and execution, including the following specific tasks: (a) translation, formatting, pretesting, adaptation, and printing of questionnaires (PAPI) or programming of questionnaires (CAPI/CATI); (b) development of a Sampling Plan, to be based a multistage stratified plan (PAPI/CAPI) or a CATI sampling methodology (CATI); list and explain any geographic or other exclusions; the proposed Sampling Plan will be reviewed by and any further changes agreed upon by IRI and Bidder will be incorporated; (c) training supervisors and interviewers; (d) arranging and supervising all aspects of fieldwork, including back-checks; (e) entering (only if PAPI) and processing the survey data, including data cleaning and encoding survey responses; (f) ascertaining the representativeness of the sample and weighting the data, if necessary;

(2) Questionnaire. For each survey, IRI will provide a draft questionnaire and the bidder will provide input, such as a need for rephrasing certain terms for local context. Questionnaire will be approximately 50% identical from wave to wave. IRI requests translation into Russian and Romanian. Translations will be reviewed and approved by IRI. For PAPI, full versions should be printed and interviewers should be allowed to code the questionnaire in the interview language. For CAPI/CATI at least the main interview language must be programmed—only programming in English (unless English is the main interview language) is not sufficient. For PAPI/CAPI, the questionnaire may call for showcards, which need to be printed in all translated languages. For PAPI/CAPI, the estimated average interview duration is 45 minutes, and for CATI the estimated average interview duration is 15 minutes.

3) Sample Design.

For each survey, IRI requires a total sample of 1,600 adults, age 16 or older. This total sample consists of n=1200, that is nationally representative plus n=400 oversample of Chisinau to be able to provide analysis of Chisinau in particular (as local elections will be coming in 2023). Planned exclusions of the population of the survey universe (e.g. geographic, linguistic, lacking accessing to a phone etc.) must be discussed during quotation stage. For PAPI/CAPI, the sample shall be drawn using recognized probability methods, all the way down to the selection of the individual respondent at the household level. In the event that any departure from probability sampling methods is recommended by the bidder for all or any part of the survey, the sampling methodologies to be employed shall be described in detail and a rationale for their use shall be provided. IRI’s general preferred sampling approach is: 1. Stage 1: PPS Stratification by administrative units as per census (e.g. province, district etc.) 2. Stage 2: PPS Stratification by urban/rural (if census data exists) 3. Stage 3: Random selection of Sampling Point (no more than 10 interviews per Sampling Point) within each Stage 2 stratum 4. Stage 4: Random route household selection within each Sampling Point. Starting point within Sampling Point ideally randomly determined by satellite map or GPS coordinates. 5. Stage 5: Random selection of respondent within each selected household by KISH grid or last/next birthday method. 

For the sampling table, please see the full RFP at the link above. 

A detailed sampling plan (template provided by IRI) shall be submitted to the IRI prior to fieldwork, including a description of the survey coverage, allocation of the sample, description of the sampling frame, description of any stratification criteria to be used, description of the stages of selection and the selections methods to be used at each stage, a definition of the Sampling Points and approximate number of interviews to be conducted within each Sampling Point, the method to be used for selection of the respondent at the household level, an explanation for any divergence from use of the KISH grid for respondent selection, and call-back rules to be employed. It is assumed that the sample will be distributed in proportion to the population of each region or other geographic unit to be surveyed; in the event that the bidder wishes to propose a sample design departing from this principle the proposal should describe the allocation to be used and the reasons for doing so. For CATI, the sample shall be drawn using recognized probability methods, all the way down to the selection of the individual respondent. In the event that any departure from probability sampling methods is recommended by the bidder for all or any part of the survey, the sampling methodologies to be employed shall be described in detail and a rationale for their use shall be provided. IRI’s preferred approach to CATI is sampling list-based, provided that recent sampling frame data exists in form of listings of all phone numbers (landline and mobile, incl. of all major mobile phone service providers.) Alternatively, IRI accepts an RDD approach, ideally with some stratification, e.g. by area code. A detailed sampling methodology shall be submitted to the IRI prior to fieldwork, including a description of the survey coverage, allocation of the sample, description of the sampling frame, description of any stratification criteria to be used, description of the stages of selection and the selections methods to be used at each stage, the method to be used for selection of the respondent in case of shared phone numbers, and call-back rules to be employed. It is assumed that the sample will be distributed in proportion to the population of each region or other geographic unit to be surveyed; in the event that the bidder wishes to propose a sample design departing from this principle the proposal should describe the allocation to be used and the reasons for doing so.

(4) Pre-test.

For each survey, the questionnaire shall be pre-tested by the bidder prior to the commencement of any fieldwork. No less than 20 pre-test interviews shall be conducted and in surveys with translations into multiple language, no less than 10 interviews per language. The bidder shall provide IRI 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 bidder prior to commencement of any fieldwork. Remote training via video-conference is acceptable. The bidder shall ensure that interviewers are thoroughly familiar with household and respondent selection procedures, call back procedures (at least 3 attempts total before substituting a selected respondent), and the structure of the questionnaire, including routing and filtering. Interviewer training shall include practice sessions in administering the questionnaire. All interviewers must have at least completed secondary education and must be fully fluent (reading and speaking) in the language(s) in which they are to administer the interviews. No interviewer shall conduct more than 10% of the total interviews, but a 5% upper limit would be preferable. A minimum of 10% of interviews shall be back checked or accompanied/live listened to by a team supervisor. For PAPI/CAPI, the interviews shall be face-to-face and they shall be conducted in the home of the respondent. IRI prefers questionnaire administration via CAPI but is open to paper-andpencil questionnaire administration if CAPI use is not feasible or advisable. For CATI, the interviews will be conducted on the phone. Household and respondent selection must be tracked on a contact tracking sheet or similar—this will be needed to calculate the response rate. Informed consent (oral is acceptable unless country laws require written) must be sought prior to commencing the interview. IRI will provide draft informed consent language to the bidder and this template may be updated by the bidder to conform with the country’s legal requirements

(6) Data Processing.

The bidder shall be responsible for data entry with a 10% double-punch standard (if PAPI), cleaning, and processing, including development and implementation of a coding scheme for all open-ended questions. The bidder shall supply data to IRI as a clean, fully labeled in English SPSS “*.sav” file with a complete data dictionary of variable names and value labels. There shall be one data record for each respondent and records shall be of fixed length. The bidder shall be responsible for deriving and applying any post-stratification weights required to bring the sample into conformity with the demographic profile of the population at the very least for gender and age groups, as well as any additional weighting factors required to correct for disproportionate allocation, if use. Each dataset will have two weights: one to bring the oversamples down to their national proportion, and one for all cases in Chisinau. Ideally, IRI would want education groups included in weights, and if available demographic data allows it, those without formal education will be assigned a separately code from those with a least some primary education. If demographic weights fall below 0.3 or above 3.0, this must be discussed in writing with IRI before the weight is applied. IRI has strict upper limits on postweighting and requires unweighted samples already generally matching the population’s rough gender and age distribution. For example, an unweighted sample of 65% male and 35% female would not be accepted, even if corrected with post-weights, unless the potential for this skew is already disclosed in the proposal. Each record shall include a unique respondent ID number, interviewer ID number, interview duration, Sampling Point ID number for PAPI/CAPI, landline versus mobile phone for CATI, interview start and end times, date of interview, GPS coordinates if using CAPI devices capable of capturing this data, and interview language if there is more than one. Each record shall include demographic information about the respondent, including: gender, exact age, and education level.

(7) Technical Report.

When delivering data for each survey, the bidder shall provide a Technical Report (template provided by IRI) which shall include the following: (a) PAPI/CAPI: A complete Sampling Plan, including list of PSUs and individual sampling points and number of interviews conducted at each sampling point. CATI: Complete sampling methodology (b) Details of response rates, including tabulation of unsuccessful interview attempts, with reasons for non-response (i.e. respondent refusal, proxy refusal, inability to locate selected respondent, etc.). (c)I A brief report on survey operations including any practical difficulties encountered in carrying out the survey. Fieldwork photos (not showing any respondent faces) would be highly appreciated as well; (d) Estimated sampling error; (e) 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 (i.e., age, gender, and education distributions in the population); (f) any abnormalities encountered during data QC, including but not limited to: suspicious patterns by interviewer ID (e.g. usually fast completion rates), for CAPI GPS coordinates not matching the selected sampling point, potential contradictions (e.g. respondents who rate a certain politician as highly untrustworthy yet definitely plan on voting for this person), significant data changes of indicators since the previous poll etc

(8) Summary of deliverables.

The Deliverables to be provided to IRI by the bidder are as follows: (a) Sampling Plan/ Methodology (b) Pretest report (c) Copies of the final questionnaire, as fielded, in English and translations (d) A complete data set formatted as SPSS file (e) A technical report

(9) Delivery Schedule.

Bidder will complete the timeline table below for the proposal stage. Any deviations from the proposed timeline caused by any party other than IRI will result in deductions of the contract award and may disqualify the bidder from future procurements. For the purposes of the delivery schedule, business days are Monday through Friday and do not include weekends, though fieldwork may take place on weekends.

For the delivery schedule table, please see the link above 

Technical Proposals

All proposals submitted to IRI must include: 1. Information addressing Bidder’s experience in providing each of the services identified in the above Statement of Work and Bidder’s proposed specific approach for providing those services to IRI under this contract, including sufficient information to determine a clear definition of services as it relates to other providers that may be involved. 2. The name, address, and telephone and facsimile numbers of the Bidder (and electronic address if available). If the Bidder is a firm, name(s) should be provided for individuals authorized to conduct business on behalf of the firm. 3. Bidders may provide a list of up to three references for work performed of a similar nature during the last three years, along with contact details. IRI may contact the references to evaluate past performance. 4. If the Bidder is a U.S. organization/resident, or a foreign organization/resident which has income effectively connected with the conduct of activities in the U.S. or has an office or a place of business or a fiscal paying agent in the U.S., the information submitted must contain Bidder’s Taxpayer Identification Number. 5. Proposals will not exceed 10 pages (not including cover page). 6. List surveys with similar specifications previously conducted in this country 7. Explain if planning on using subcontractors for any tasks 8. Is bidder able to comply with all requirements listed on the SOW without alterations? If any proposed alterations, explain. 9. Coverage, if not 100% of non-institutionalized adults aged 16+: 10. Describe sampling methodology, including design and the source the sampling frame is drawn from, household selection, respondent selection, number of call-backs 11. Anticipated response rate 12. List interview method (F2F Paper and Pencil, CAPI) 13. Describe Number of Interviewers intended for this project and Interviewer Training (duration, topics etc.) 14. Describe fieldwork quality control (direct observation, personal backchecks, phone backchecks etc.) 15. Describe data entry and data checks protocol (e.g. checks for duplicate entries, logic checks etc.) 16. Bidders will submit a completed timeline table as presented in the SOW section. X will be replaced by number of business days required for each step. 17. Explain any risks associated with the Coronavirus situation or war in Ukraine to your company’s operations, employees, and respondents, and how you intend to mitigate such risks 18. Describe anticipated challenges if any. 

Price Proposals

Bidders must propose a firm-fixed Unit Price for each of the deliverables identified below and in the format of the table below. The Bidder’s pricing must be valid for at least 60 (sixty) calendar days after the due date for proposal submission. The proposed Unit Price should be fixed and inclusive of all costs to perform, including inspection services, transportation, taxes, import duties (if any), and other levies. To the extent that a Bidder proposed to include any pricing not reflected in the table below, such pricing must be fully described in the proposal. Proposals must be submitted in USD, payments under any resulting contract will be made in this currency

For the price proposals table, please see the link above.

Two polls will be conducted during the period of performance. This table represents the pricing for one poll. 

Evaluation and Award Process

1. IRI may contact any Bidder for clarification or additional information, but Bidders are advised that IRI intends to evaluate the offers based on the written proposals, without discussions, and reserves the right to make decisions based solely on the information provided with the initial proposals. IRI may but is not obligated to conduct additional negotiations with the most highly rated Bidders prior to award of a contract, and may at its sole discretion elect to issue contracts to one or more Bidders. 2. Mathematical errors will be corrected in the following manner: If a discrepancy exists between the total price proposed and the total price resulting from multiplying the unit price by the corresponding amounts, then the unit price will prevail and the total price will be corrected. If there is a discrepancy between the numbers written out in words and the amounts in numbers, then the amount expressed in words will prevail. If the Bidder does not accept the correction, the offer will be rejected.

IRI may determine that a proposal is unacceptable if the prices proposed are materially unbalanced between line items or sub-line items. Unbalanced pricing exists when, despite an acceptable total evaluated price, the price of one or more contract line items is significantly overstated or understated as indicated by the application of cost or price analysis techniques. A proposal may be rejected if IRI determines that the lack of balance poses an unacceptable risk. 4. IRI will conduct a source selection based as follows: IRI intends to make an award to the responsible Bidder based on the following evaluation factors: a) Technical evaluation, (including technical capabilities, proposed technical approach, and personnel qualifications) – 40 percent a. Sampling methodology 20 percent b. Capacity to perform scope of work 20 percent b) Proposed timeline (including length and feasibility) – 15 percent c) Experience in performing similar projects – 20 percent Experience conducting face to face and telephone polling in Moldova d) Price – 25 percent IRI intends to evaluate Bidders’ proposals in accordance with these factors and make an award to the responsible Bidder whose proposal is most advantageous to the program. 5. If a cost realism analysis is performed, cost realism may be considered in evaluating performance or price.

Submission Instructions

Bids must be submitted via email to Eric Peterman; epeterman@iri.org with the subject line “EURASIA2022M05o” by the deadline listed above. Please also send bids in CC to Teodora Graur (tgraur@iri.org

RFP Terms and Conditions

1. Prospective Bidders are requested to review clauses incorporated by reference in the section “Notice Listing Contract Clauses Incorporated by Reference”. 2. IRI may reject any or all proposals if such is within IRI’s interest. 3. Proof of costs incurred, such as but not limited to receipts, pictures and financial documents, may be requested during and for up to three years after the end of the contract period. 4. The Bidder’s initial proposal should contain the Bidder’s best offer. 5. Payment will be made upon receipt of invoices and deliverables/services. 6. Discussions with Bidders following the receipt of a proposal do not constitute a rejection or counteroffer by IRI. 7. IRI will hold all submissions as confidential and submissions shall not be disclosed to third parties. IRI reserves the right to share proposals internally, across divisions, for the purposes of evaluating the proposals. 8. For any currency conversion, the exchange rate to US Dollars listed on oanda.com on the closing date of this solicitation shall be used.

9. Every contract will contain provisions governing termination for cause and termination for convenience. 10. By submitting a proposal, offeror agrees to comply with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation and agreement to the services identified above, and will specifically identify any disagreement with or exceptions to the terms, conditions, and provisions. 11. Offerors confirm that the prices in the proposal/proposal/application/quote have been arrived at independently, without any consultation, communication, or agreement with any other Bidder or competitor for the purpose of restricting competition. 12. If IRI continues to require the goods and services and the price remains reasonable and within market norms, resulting contract may be renewed each year for up to 5 years with 30 days’ notice to the Contractor. Bidder must establish any price increase for each renewal year in the initial bid. 13. By applying to this RFP, applicant is certifying that if it is awarded a contract, none of funds payable under the resulting contract will be used to (1) procure or obtain, extend or renew a contract to procure or obtain; (2) enter into a contract (or extend or renew a contract) to procure; or (3) obtain the equipment, services, or systems that uses covered telecommunications equipment or services as a substantial or essential component of any system, or as critical technology as part of any system in compliance with the National Defense Authorization Act. Covered telecommunications equipment and services mean any of the following: i. Telecommunications equipment produced by Huawei Technologies Company or ZTE Corporation (or any subsidiary or affiliate of such entities). ii. For the purpose of public safety, security of government facilities, physical security surveillance of critical infrastructure, and other national security purposes, video surveillance and telecommunications equipment produced by Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, or Dahua Technology Company (or any subsidiary or affiliate of such entities). iii. Telecommunications or video surveillance services provided by such entities or using such equipment. iv. Telecommunications or video surveillance equipment or services produced or provided by an entity that the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Director of the National Intelligence or the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, reasonably believes to be an entity owned or controlled by, or otherwise connected to, the government of a covered foreign country. (2 CFR 200.216). 14. Bidders agree to disclose as part of the proposal submission: o Any close, familial, or financial relationships with IRI staff and agents. For example, the Bidder must disclose if a Bidder’s mother conducts volunteer trainings for IRI. o Any family or financial relationship with other Bidders submitting proposals. For example, if the Bidder’s father owns a company that is submitting another proposal, the Bidder must state this. o Any other action that might be interpreted as potential conflict of interest

Notice Listing Contract Clauses Incorporated by Reference

IRI is required to make the contractor subject to certain flowdown clauses of the prime award. This awarded contract will incorporate one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Where “flow-down” to the contractor is applicable, references to “USAID/Department of State” shall be interpreted to mean “IRI”, “Recipient” to mean “Contractor”, and “Subrecipient” to mean “lower-tier subcontractor.” Included by reference are the applicable provisions contained in Appendix II to 2 CFR Part 200 and USAID Standard Provisions for Non-US Non-governmental Organizations/US Department of State Standard Terms and Conditions

IRI Obligations

Issuance of this RFP does not constitute an award commitment on the part of IRI, nor does it commit IRI to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of a proposal or quotation.

Required Certifications

The following certificates need to be signed by all Bidders. These certifications are an integral part of the quotation/proposal. Please print them off and send back to us with your proposal after signature on each certificate. They are: • Certification regarding debarment, suspension, ineligibility and voluntary exclusion lower tier covered transactions • Authorized Individuals • Certification Regarding Lobbying 

For the required certifications, please see the link above