RFI for Baseline Data Collection for the USAID/Vietnam Disabilities Project

Social Impact – USAID Learns

Baseline Data Collection for the USAID/Vietnam Disabilities Project

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Disclaimer

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. The RFI is solely for information gathering purposes and is NOT a Request for a Proposal (RFP), a Request for Quotation (RFQ), an invitation for Bids, a Solicitation, or an indication that Social Impact (SI) will contract for the items contained in the RFI.

In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are NOT offers and CANNOT be accepted by SI to form a binding contract. Responses to this RFI are strictly voluntary and SI will NOT pay respondents for information provided in response to this RFI. Responses to this RFI will NOT be returned and respondents will NOT be notified of the result of the review. If a Solicitation is issued, it will be announced at a later date, and all interested parties must respond to that Solicitation announcement separately from any response to this announcement. This RFI does NOT restrict SI’s acquisition approach on a future solicitation. 

About Social Impact and Learns

Social Impact is a global development management consulting firm. We provide monitoring, evaluation, strategic planning, and capacity building services to advance development effectiveness. We work across all development sectors including democracy and governance, health and education, the environment, and economic growth. Since 1997 we have worked in over 100 countries for clients such as US government agencies, bilateral donors, multilateral development banks, foundations, and nonprofits. 

SI is implementing the new USAID/Vietnam Learns Contract. The scope of the five-year project is to support USAID/Vietnam staff and its implementing partners to implement more efficient, effective, and sustainable programs by (1) improving staff’s knowledge and skills in Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) and Collaborating, Learning & Adapting (CLA); (2) advancing evidence-informed decision-making; (3) strengthening strategic collaboration between staff and local stakeholders.

Under this contract, SI is requesting information from firms to gauge interest in and qualifications for a forthcoming solicitation for baseline data collection services regarding persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Vietnam. 

Project Background

USAID/Vietnam has been assisting PWDs in Vietnam since 1989. Beginning in 2015, USAID started a new Disabilities Project focusing on improving service provision, rehabilitation systems, and policy support to expand opportunities for PWD. This project, originally intended to expire in 2019, has since been modified and extended through 2024. As of 2019, USAID’s Disability Project’s objective, theory of change, and results framework are centered on “Improved Quality of Life (QoL) for PWD in USAID’s Target Provinces.”     

Evaluation design

USAID/Vietnam has called for a performance evaluation of its overall Disabilities Project to understand how QOL and access to rehabilitation and social services will change for targeted PWD beneficiaries during this new phase. This study will be used primarily by USAID, its implementing partners (IPs), and its host government partners to inform their understanding of the current and changing landscape of PWD QOL and services available to them. This effort will help them improve the quality and effectiveness of this project.

Social Impact is currently designing the protocols, tools, and sampling framework for this effort. Most likely the baseline will involve the following:

1. Quantitative surveys with between 1,000-3,000 PWDs (exact sample size to be determined) or their caregivers to address quality of life, including topics of health, life satisfaction, discrimination, autonomy, and inclusion. Surveys will last no more than one hour.
2. Between 30-70 qualitative key informant interviews with PWDs, caregivers, rehabilitation or social service providers, provincial government stakeholders, NGOs, and others. Each interview will last no more than 1.5 hours.
3. Between 15-30 qualitative focus group discussions with PWDs and service providers. Each interview will last no more than 2 hours.
4. Quantitative data extraction forms to be completed with at least 40 hospitals or other PWD rehabilitation/social service providers
5. Data collection will likely occur in all of the following provinces: Binh Dinh, Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Kon Tum, Quang Nam, Quang Tri, Tay Ninh, Thua Thien Hue. Data collection will occur in both rural and urban areas and will sometimes require travel to remote or hard-to-reach areas.

Illustrative scope of work

Social Impact’s own evaluation team will design data collection instruments and protocols, select the sample of PWDs and other entities for data collection, obtain approval from a local ethics boards, and complete data analysis. We seek to work with a qualified Vietnamese or regional firm that will complete baseline data collection. While the specific scope of work for a data collection partner is yet uncertain, the following are very likely activities a data collection firm partner would need to complete:

1. Recruit qualified enumerators with at least a high school diploma and qualitative interviewers having at least a bachelor’s degree (master’s degree and some experience in the sector is preferred for qualitative interviewers). Ideally a sufficient number should be recruited to complete data collection within three weeks. Data collectors will ideally have experience with interviewing on similar topics.
2. Provide feedback to the SI evaluation team on data collection instruments and proposed protocols and logistical considerations
3. Translate data collection instruments from English to Vietnamese, from ethnic minority languages to Vietnamese and back-translate into English to verify accuracy
4. Organize and lead a training of enumerators and qualitative interviewers to ensure complete understanding of how to administer data collection tools and locate sampled parties. SI will support this training
5. Complete data collection activities described in Evaluation Design section above.^[1]
6. Assign experienced supervisors to provide guidance and quality oversight for data collection teams
7. Maintain detailed contact information from respondents (separated from data they share) to facilitate re-contact for follow-up data collection
8. Complete regular quality checks on both quantitative and qualitative data, and rectify issues through calling back respondents or other measures as necessary
9. Manage data collection logistics and regularly communicate with SI about progress and challenges throughout data collection
10. Transcribe and translate qualitative interviews into English
11. Complete basic cleaning of quantitative data to deliver complete datasets free from duplicates and major errors. This would ideally be done using software that documents all changes made to datasets, such as Stata.

Training and data collection are expected to begin in early March 2021. Following data collector training, data collection will occur over a period of approximately three weeks. The firm will be expected to perform basic data cleaning and compilation and submit data to SI within one week after data collection ends.

RFI response instructions

SI welcomes all locally or regionally based data collection service providers or NGOs in Vietnam to reply to the RFI. 

Firms interested in this work should provide three components: 1) a response no longer than four pages addressing the questions below. Responses should be accompanied by 2) an annex listing past work that demonstrates capabilities relevant to the above described effort, and 3) an illustrative CV of a person you would likely propose to serve in a Senior Research Manager role, responsible for managing the overall effort. The past performance annex and CV do not count toward the page limit, and there is no limit to their length. We ask firms to provide this information in the format provided in Exhibit A to facilitate our review.

RFI questions:

1. Please describe your firm’s general level of experience with managing data collection efforts of the nature and scale in Vietnam. Please address your experience with both quantitative and qualitative methods.
2. Please describe your firm’s general level of experience with data collection regarding quality of life topics and data collection with PWDs or other vulnerable groups.
3. Please briefly describe typical quality assurance measures your firm undertakes for both quantitative and qualitative data collection.
4. Please describe your firm’s experience with electronic data collection using tablets or mobile phones. Within your response, please address a) which platforms you have used to administer surveys (e.g. Survey CTO, Open Data Kits) b) whether you have capability to complete back-end programming, c) whether your firm already possesses or has capability to rent tablets or mobile phones, and if so, indicate the types and number of devices you have available.
5. Please describe your firm’s level of experience using Stata or similar data analysis software that permits a reproducible record of data cleaning procedures completed.
6. Should telephonic interviews be required, please describe any experience you have with this method of data collection in Vietnam. Please share challenges and other considerations SI should keep in mind if such a shift is necessary.
7. Please share any other considerations Social Impact should keep in mind that would inform our baseline design and any request for proposals we might issue for this effort.

Exhibit A. Format for Past Performance Listing Annex