Atch 4-ILAB1 SOO

ATTACHMENT 4

STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES (SOO)

Solicitation Nr: DOL111RP21274

ILAB-OTLA Contract Research Program 2011:

Research Supporting Livelihoods, Working Conditions or Worker Rights

Bureau of International Labor Affairs Office of Trade and Labor Affairs

Office of the Assistant Secretary

U.S. Department of Labor 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room S-1325

Washington, D.C. 20210

June 2, 2011

1. Background

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) leads the U.S. Department of Labor’s efforts to ensure that workers around the world are treated fairly and are able to share in the benefits of the global economy. ILAB’s mission is to use all available international channels to improve working conditions, raise living standards, protect workers’ ability to exercise their rights, and address the workplace exploitation of children and other vulnerable populations

2. Program Objective

The objective of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) program is to acquire the services of multiple contractors to produce research papers in the following topic areas: the promotion of sustainable livelihoods in developing countries for workers and their families; the relationship between working conditions and product quality, and the measurement of this relationship; or methodologies for quantifying the trade impacts resulting from the violation of labor provisions in trade agreements.

The research findings generated will:

(1) Inform the design of technical assistance and cooperative activities undertaken by ILAB;

(2) Inform the development of sound policies for improving international employment, livelihoods and worker rights;

(3) Improve ILAB’s capacity to participate in discussions concerning the measurable impact of violating trade agreement labor provisions; and

(4) Further the knowledge base on livelihoods, working conditions and worker rights.

3. Management Objective

This SOO presents the Government an opportunity to assess the offeror’s understanding of all aspects of the effort to be performed, by eliminating the ‘how to’ instructions to accomplish the required effort. The objective is to allow the contractor maximum flexibility in determining the approach deemed most appropriate to ensure the ILAB program office is successful in achieving its stated objectives within budget, on schedule, and with low risk impact to the overall program’s mission. A second management objective is to provide little to no oversight during contract performance while maintaining clear government visibility into program cost, schedule, technical performance, and risk associated with not achieving the program’s objectives. The number of projects awarded is contingent upon the following:

• Total number of questions proposed for research relative to each topic cited below

• Proposed amounts to complete research projects

• Proposed duration to complete research projects

The Government intends to make multiple awards under this SOO. It is anticipated that individual awards will fall within the range of $19,050 and $123,295.

4. Contract Objective

Proposals must address a specific research question (defined by the offeror) that falls under one of the three general research areas described below. Offerors seeking to propose work in more than one research area must submit separate proposals for each area. Proposals to extend existing research projects are welcome and encouraged.

Topic A: Sustainable Livelihoods in Developing Countries ILAB seeks research proposals on interventions that promote sustainable livelihoods for workers and their families in developing countries. ILAB would like to gain insight into successful strategies for combating the root causes of poverty and providing the security needed to allow workers to seek gainful employment.

ILAB requests research that proposes to: (1) review the literature on programs and efforts to improve the livelihood of households in developing countries; (2) provide an applied analysis of existing programs and policies; or (3) both. Because this research should help inform future policy and program design work, ILAB has a strong interest in research proposals specifying plans to analyze why policies and programs succeed. Proposals for analyses of successful programs should plan on taking into account the characteristics, context and conditions of implementation of these programs.

They should seek to identify causal factors for success that are context-specific separately from factors for success that are broadly reproducible. Similarly conceived proposals to look at why programs fail may also be of interest. Finally, ILAB would welcome proposals for focused studies that compare and contrast the success or failure of specific interventions, highlighting causal factors in each case.

Topic B: The Relationship between Working Conditions and Product Quality Anecdotal evidence suggests that low quality production correlates with poor working conditions at the factory level. One line of intuition behind this relationship is that workers’ ability to meet a standard of quality is reduced if they are fatigued, provided inadequate environmental conditions (e.g., poor lighting), injured, or otherwise face poor working conditions.

ILAB is interested in research proposals that specify plans to examine this relationship through rigorous empirical methods designed to address one or more of the following questions:

B1. What are the obstacles to obtaining accurate data on production error rates or other product quality measures and how can they be overcome? The shortage of research on working conditions and product quality may be explained in large part by a lack of relevant data. For example, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) reports that buyers’ inability to link excessive hours to increased error rates stems from a difficulty in obtaining accurate information on quality.

B2. What are the long-term effects of poor working conditions on quality? Some research suggests that excessive hours have effects that stretch beyond the period of exertion. Workers may be unable to recover immediately (i.e., by the next shift) from excessive hours and their performance will therefore be affected in the longer-term. Injury and burnout are likely to create additional burden on the remaining workforce, including workers who have not worked overtime.

B3. Do buyer characteristics contribute to the longevity of workplace practices that overtax workers at the price of reduced quality? Why do factories over exert workers if the practice leads to poor quality product? Do such factories maximize profits by satisfying a critical mass of buyers who are willing to trade quality for price?

Topic C: Methodologies for Measuring Harm from Violation of Labor Provisions in Trade Agreements

ILAB seeks proposals for research that develops methodologies for measuring the harm from violation of labor provisions in trade agreements.

Following from provisions of recent bilateral free-trade or trade-promotion agreements, ILAB seeks to address the question: When would a country's use of policy with regard to internationally recognized labor rights affect its bilateral trade or investment relationship with the United States and how could harmful effects be feasibly measured?

Agreements with Peru, Colombia, Panama and the Republic of Korea contain certain requirements about internationally recognized labor rights and conceptual mechanisms for addressing disputes with regard to those requirements. To make these provisions operational, feasible-to-implement methodologies are required for verifying how the enforcement or non-enforcement of labor obligations would affect trade or investment between parties to the agreement and for quantifying any harm caused.

Fruitful approaches may include specifying how the degree of harm could be calculated in terms of a subsidy to the cost of production or in terms of a tariff-equivalent rate that would remedy the harm.

Successful methodologies would specify how to measure harm cumulated over a sustained or recurring course of action or inaction. To ensure the development of a feasible methodology, the researcher should list the data necessary to implement it and should show that such data exist and are readily available.

Proposals to implement the methodology so as to perform analysis of specific countries will not be considered.

5. Contractor Requirements:

5.1 Conference Call with COTR: Within one (1) week of the effective date of the contract, the Contractor shall arrange an initial conference call with the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR) to clarify the scope of work and delivery schedule, delineate roles and responsibilities, and establish communication protocols.

5.2 Bibliography and Literature Review: Complete a bibliography and literature review of work related to the research to be undertaken. The literature review is a stand alone document that provides the non-expert reader with the state of existing research (e.g., by whom and how it has been conducted; gaps; what are the current consensus/conflict areas of findings). It demonstrates how the current project will contribute to that literature by explaining the need to take it in a new direction, to make refinements in the way certain issues had been treated or viewed previously, and/or by weighing in favor of one side or another of an unsettled issue with a new line of rigorous argument. The bibliography includes all work cited in the literature review as well as studies the researcher expects to draw from over the course of the project. It should be formatted using a standard and consistent format. Upon request, copies of articles included in the bibliography and/or literature review will be provided to ILAB.

5.3 Conduct Original Research: Conduct original empirical, synthetic or theoretical research on the specific research question proposed by the contractor and accepted by USDOL.

5.4 Produce and Submit Draft Research Paper: Produce a draft research paper and submit it to ILAB researchers for peer review and to serve as a basis of consultation with ILAB policy and program officials. The draft research paper will present the research conducted and preliminary results and conclusions. It shall be well-written, in English. ILAB staff must be allotted at least one month to review and comment on draft reports.

The draft research paper shall include, at a minimum:

• Introduction, overview of key issues, and motivation for study

• Literature review

• Conceptual model or framework

• If paper is an empirical study, a description of data collection, data, and analytic strategy

• Preliminary Results

• Preliminary Policy implications

• Caveats and limitations

• Preliminary Conclusions

• Bibliography

• Appendices

5.5 Consultations with ILAB: Conduct virtual or in-person consultations with ILAB policy and program officials to identify recommendations that follow from the research and will aid ILAB in its work.

5.6 Produce Final Research Paper: The Contractor will prepare a final research paper taking on board relevant comments from ILAB peer review and consultations. The paper will be complete, well-written, and well organized. The final paper must be of a caliber equal to an article in a peer-reviewed economic journal such as those listed in Econlit. The paper will be written in English.

ILAB staff must be allotted at least two weeks to review and accept the final report. The final research paper shall include, at a minimum:

• Introduction, overview of key issues, and motivation for study

• Literature review

• Conceptual model or framework

• If paper is an empirical study, a description of data collection, data, and analytic strategy

• Results

• Policy implications

• Caveats and limitations

• Conclusions

• Bibliography

• Appendices

The researcher will provide an electronic copy of the research paper and any non-proprietary data used in the analysis to USDOL. The data will be delivered in an electronic format readable by Stata, SPSS or SAS. The data will be cleaned of personal identifiers to protect the privacy of study participants. Codebooks and/or survey instruments used to collect the data shall also be provided.

5.7 Presentation of Research The contractor shall give an in-person presentation of the final research paper to ILAB and other interested parties invited by ILAB. Presentation to ILAB must be given in Washington, DC. The presentation will take place after ILAB-approval of the draft research paper. The presentation will take place at the U.S. Department of Labor, Frances Perkins Building in Washington DC. It is anticipated to take place during September 2012. The Contractor shall coordinate with the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative to establish the presentation date and time.

6.0 Deliverables

The deliverables required under this project are listed in Technical Exhibit 1.

7. Place of Performance

The primary location of the work will be the contractor’s site(s) or the sites of its subcontractors.

The contractor will be required to travel to Washington, D.C. to present the research study and final results. The cost of approved travel will be reimbursed in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulations. Approval from the COTR must be obtained prior to travel.

8. Additional Information

8.1 Special Conditions of Contract.

8.1.1 USDOL distribution rights: U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), at its discretion, may make the completed paper available to the public via its web site, publication, or other format.

8.1.2 USDOL rights to data used in analysis: In addition to hardcopy submission of draft and final products, the researcher will provide an electronic copy of the research paper and any data used in the analysis. Unless explicitly negotiated otherwise, data shall be provided without limitation on its subsequent use by USDOL. The Government shall have the full right to use the data for its purposes without compensation or approval on the part of the contractor. The government shall have access to and the right to make copies of the abovementioned items. All proprietary data shall be indicated as such in individual proposals.

8.1.3 Recognition of USDOL support of work: The contractor may seek publication of the completed paper in professional journals or other outlets; however, whether the U.S. Government, USDOL and/or ILAB support for the work is to be noted will be determined at the sole discretion of ILAB at the conclusion of the contract. Contractor must notify ILAB before publication.

8.1.4 Application of disclaimer: All publications and presentations that show U.S. Government, USDOL and/or ILAB support for the work must include the following disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views or official positions of the U.S. Government or the U.S. Department of Labor.