HYPOTHETICAL_TASKS_Survey_v4.docx

Hypothetical Tasks

The statement of work will include three hypothetical tasks for which the offeror is asked to provide proposals. The proposed plan for each hypothetical task shall be presented in a summary format; an outline or bullet format is acceptable if it conveys the necessary information. Plans shall summarize the offeror's strategy and technical approach by specifying objectives, probable methodologies, data sources, applicable analytic approaches, anticipated difficulties, and proposed approaches for overcoming those difficulties. Plans shall also include a schedule of activities. Plans should divide a task into sub-tasks as appropriate, and need not adhere to the sub-task structure, if any, listed in the hypothetical task orders. Plans shall describe the categories of personnel and levels of effort (labor hours) required, and shall include resumes of illustrative personnel for the task, but shall not contain any discussion of costs. Cost information related to the hypothetical task orders is requested separately as part of the business proposal.

In responding, offerors shall assume that they have just received a copy of the statement of work from the NSF Contracting Officer and shall deliver within one two weeks a task plan with a level of detail commensurate with the overall scope of the work for the task. Evaluation of the offeror’s technical proposal will be based in part on the quality of its response to the hypothetical statements of work. Responses to the hypothetical task statement of work are due at proposal closing and are counted against technical proposal page limits.

Hypothetical Task 2. Support in Developing a Research Sampling Frame and Design for Upcoming Survey of Graduate Student Experience.

Background

NCSES currently gathers information on graduate students and their education patterns from several sources:

· The annual Survey of Graduate Students and Post-doctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS) collects aggregate data on graduate students via an annual survey of all academic institutions in the United States granting research-based master’s degrees or doctorates in science, engineering, or selected health (SEH) fields.

· The Early Career Doctorates (ECD) Project is a pilot project designed to collect in-depth information about postdoctoral appointees and doctorate recipients who have earned their first doctorate within the past 10 years. Information collected includes demographics, professional activities and achievements, professional development activities, and career plans and paths.

· The Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) provides retrospective information on the education experiences of those completing a research doctorate at a U.S. institution. This includes many items of interest to policy makers such as time to degree, types and sources of financial support, and length of fulltime enrollment.

· The Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR) is a longitudinal biennial survey that provides career history information about individuals with a research doctoral degree in a science, engineering, or health field from a U.S. academic institution.

NCSES would like to collect richer data from graduate students at the individual level to better understand how the graduate school experience ties into program completion rates and future outcomes such as occupation and earnings. Our current surveys either do not thoroughly address quality of life as a graduate student or they only cover students that complete their graduate education. NCSES seeks contractor support in addressing this gap in our collections to perform exploratory research geared towards selecting a sampling frame, designing a sample, and developing a questionnaire to conduct a new survey of the graduate student population. The primary focus of this new survey is to provide an assessment of the graduate school experience, such as: (1) reasons for enrolling in graduate school, (2) quality of life while in graduate school, (3) management of finances while enrolled in graduate school, (4) post-graduate school plans, and (5) post-graduate school outcomes (i.e. employment, salary). The proposed survey would also collect information of interest to researchers who would like to make comparison statements across academic, demographic (e.g. male vs. female, S&E vs non-S&E degree), and institutional characteristics. The survey would need to be designed to collect data on respondents’ field of degree, time enrolled in graduate school as of the survey reference date, gender, race/ethnicity, disability status, and institutional characteristics.

Statement of Work

NCSES requires that the work be completed no later than two years after the date of award. For subtasks 1 through 3, the contractor shall submit a draft plan for this subtask to the task leader for review. The contractor shall make revisions responsive to comments from the task leader within ten business days of receiving the task leader’s comments. In the cost proposal, the contractor should budget for two rounds of comments and revisions with the COR.

Subtask 1. The contractor shall research and recommend potential sampling frames for use in the proposed survey of graduate students. The contractor shall propose several frames for consideration and make a recommendation on which one to use. The contractor must include the limitations of each frame as their rationale for selecting one frame over the other.

Subtask 2. The contractor shall develop a sampling plan to sample graduate students from the recommended frame. The contractor must take into consideration the goals of the survey (as listed in the background section) when developing the sampling plan. Users of the survey data should be able to generate accurate estimates both nation-wide and for key sub-groups (i.e. race, gender, S&E vs. non-S&E). The contractor must include sample size calculations to yield acceptable estimates from a precision standpoint. The contractor’s plan must also include an analysis of how the precision of estimates may change based on different sample sizes.

Subtask 3. The contractor shall develop a set of questions to measure the construct of “quality of life” for a graduate student. Depending on the expertise of the staff, the contractor may wish to sub-contract portions of the task to an expert in questionnaire design or in the subject matter. The contractor shall propose appropriate methodological approaches to the development of the questionnaire including rationales for the proposed approaches.

Subtask 4. The contractor shall prepare a report describing the work performed under this task. The report shall be suitable for use by NCSES survey managers, statisticians, and analysts who will use the information to report the activities to the public and to provide to future survey contractors.

Subtask 5. The contractor shall perform all duties related to project management for this task. This must include, but is not limited to: holding a project kick off meeting, providing weekly e-mail status updates on the progress for the task, and holding bi-monthly project status phone calls with the COR to discuss any issues or decisions that may need resolution. The contractor must provide a detailed schedule of activities and due-dates for milestones related to the project. The contractor will also be responsible for arranging the travel and costs of any outside individuals that need to be brought in.

Business Proposal Instructions

For cost estimation purposes, offerors shall provide an estimate of the amount of money to be allocated to the activity, the overall plan of activities to be performed, and the labor categories and costs for this activity.