STATEMENT OF WORK

BEA Website Customer Satisfaction Data Collection and Analysis

1. BACKGROUND

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is one of the world’s leading statistical agencies. BEA produces economic statistics that enable the government, economists, statisticians, and the public to understand the performance of the national economy. BEA collects source data, conducts research and analysis, develops and implements methodologies, and disseminates statistics to the public.

The website bea.gov is the official site of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Its primary purpose is to provide accurate, objective, and timely economic data that helps policymakers, businesses, researchers, and the public understand the performance of the U.S.

economy. Measuring the satisfaction of visitors to the website is critical to ensure BEA is meeting the information needs of the public.

Executive Order 13571--Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service states, “The public deserves competent, efficient, and responsive service from the Federal Government. Executive departments and agencies must continuously evaluate their performance in meeting this standard and work to improve it.” To meet this Order, BEA must deploy customer satisfaction surveys to collect customer feedback and provide performance measures to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

2. OBJECTIVE

The objective of this contract is to obtain support for the delivery of customer satisfaction assessment services for the website www.bea.gov. This contract will allow the agency to collect satisfaction metrics, as well as comments from visitors to consider website modifications to improve the user experience.

3. SCOPE

The vendor shall:

1. Design a customized Data Collection Instrument/Survey that will meet the stated objectives

2. Develop a sample plan for the data collection instrument, and provide the necessary code to be placed on the BEA website for the data collection http://www.bea.gov/

3. Provide data modeling and analysis of the collected data, and

4. Perform a usability audit review of www.bea.gov.

Cloud services must maintain a FedRamp authorization.

1. Data Collection Instrument/Survey

The vendor will work with BEA to design a customized data collection instrument/survey that will fill all the stated objectives for the measurement effort. The data collection instrument will be a combination of closed and open-ended questions. Data collection instruments will be designed to require less than 15 minutes to complete (approximately 40-50 questions including up to 3 open ends) to generate customer satisfaction (CSAT).

The vendor will use a digital data collection methodology (an online survey) to collect at least 25,000 responses per year captured. The vendor will provide the necessary code to BEA to be placed on the BEA.gov website for the data collection.

Upon final approval and clearance from all applicable parties, the vendor will program and test the online surveys to ensure accuracy and reliability of the data collection process. Upon request, representatives from BEA will be provided with a survey link for review and testing.

The vendor team shall continue to contact BEA periodically to discuss survey results, make necessary changes in sampling or non-model questions, provide additional analysis, and make recommendations regarding changes on the website.

In collecting, analyzing and reporting the data, this project shall be executed in full compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974. Furthermore, the vendor shall obtain clearance from the Office of Management and Budget for this survey under the Paperwork Reduction Act.

This service must comply with Federal Section 508 guidelines for accessibility.

2. Sample Plan

The vendor shall develop a sample plan customized for the survey that meets management’s information needs. Development of the plan will take into consideration the volume of visitors to the website and the need for specific feedback regarding specific pages as appropriate.

The sample plan will specify how often the opportunity to take the survey will be offered to visitors through a pop-up window on the website (the survey pop rate), the criteria for the number of page views required for the survey to pop-up, the duration of cookies used to manage the survey administration and minimize burden to website visitors, and specific pages of the site that the survey will appear.

The sample plan will also address whether a static link will be available on the site for visitors seeking to provide feedback.

In addition, the survey shall include customized questions developed by BEA that are not related to the model but desirable for informational purposes and general analysis. These questions may be deleted, modified, or replaced at appropriate intervals during the subscription period.

3. Data Modeling and Analysis

After all the survey feedback is collected, the vendor will employ best practice data cleaning measures to ensure the data collected reflects valid responses free from straight lining responses and/or SPAM or bot responses. Customer satisfaction indices will be calculated as well as performance scores for all relevant performance metrics. Additionally, analysis will be completed to identify the impact value for all drivers of satisfaction to inform data driven priority setting and/or process improvement planning.

4. Usability Audit Review

The vendor will perform an expert evaluation of www.bea.gov using an industry-standard set of heuristics to evaluate the usability of ten key pages and four primary use cases of the site. The specific scope of evaluation will be defined in collaboration with a group of representatives from BEA during a scoping and context meeting. Recommendations are provided based on the results. A one-hour presentation and a written report will be provided by the vendor.

4. DELIVERABLES

The vendor shall:

• Hold a kick-off meeting with the relevant parties at the BEA within 3 business days of contract award

• Provide a project plan to the COR within one week following the kick-off meeting that contains major milestones and anticipated completion dates

• Provide the necessary code to BEA to be placed on the BEA.gov website for the data collection.

• Provide login credentials to an online, cloud-hosted reporting portal that will allow up to 25 users to interrogate the data 24/7. This portal will provide the capability to filter and crosstab results, review and filter open-ended responses, and download the study data.

• Upon request, schedule a virtual presentation of results to BEA stakeholders up to four times per year.

• Prepare a usability audit and present the results in a one-hour presentation and a written report.

5. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance will be one year from date of award, and 4 possible option years.

6. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The place of performance is BEA, 4600 Silver Hill Rd, Suitland, MD 20746. Contract staff will work fully remotely, and are not expected to be on-site.

7. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED RESOURCES

7.1 The Government will provide the Contractor the use of certain Government owned facilities, equipment, and materials for use only in connection with this contract. The use of Government furnished property for other purposes are prohibited. All such facilities, equipment, and materials will be provided in "as is" condition.

7.2 All property furnished by the Government under this task order will remain the property of the Government.

7.3 Any property furnished by the Government to fulfill contracted requirements, which is lost or damaged resulting from improper use or negligence by the Contractor's employees, will be repaired or replaced by the Government and the cost of such repairs or replacement shall be deducted from the Contractor's invoice.

7.4 Government property, such as telephones, electrical and mechanical equipment where installed, to include computers, printers, fax machines, photocopiers, alarm and surveillance systems, communications equipment, closed-circuit televisions shall be used for official Government business only in the performance of this contract. The Contractor or the Contractor’s employees shall not use government property in any manner for any personal advantage, business gain, or other personal endeavor.

7.5 The contractor shall take all reasonable precautions, as directed by the Government, or in the absence of such direction, in accordance with sound industrial practices, to safeguard and protect Government property.

7.6 The Government will provide the Contractor the use of existing and available Government owned equipment in the performance of the task order. Such Government furnished equipment shall include, as necessary:

• Land line telephones for the conduct of official Government business.

• Building utilities and services will be afforded the contractor in accordance with established Department operational procedures. Upon completion or termination of the task order, all Government owned equipment should be returned to the Government in the same condition as received, except for normal wear and tear. The Contractor shall be responsible for the cost of any repairs or replacement caused by negligence or abuse by the Contractor or their employees. Government furnished equipment shall not be removed from the building or immediate surroundings unless approved in writing by the COR or the Contracting Officer.

8. GOVERNMENT POINT OF CONTACT

The Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) is Makia Riley, (301) 278-9182.

The Alternate Contracting Officer’s Representative (ACOR) is Susanne Palacios, (301) 278-9684.