The University of Waterloo (UW) intends to award a contract for the continuation of services supporting international survey panels in Japan, to Rakuten Insight, of New York, NY, USA, as outlined in the ACAN document. The University of Waterloo’s Department of Psychology is engaged in an international longitudinal study that conducts on-line surveys for the International Tobacco Control Policy. The ITC Project is a global project, having been conducted in 31 countries. We have conducted over 180 survey waves of what in most countries are surveys of nationally representative samples of tobacco users (smoked and smokeless) and increasingly of e-cigarette users, users of heated tobacco products, and dual/multiple users of these nicotine products. The complexities of conducting surveys of these different user types leads to complexities of every aspect of our research procedures and protocol, including the development of our surveys. This contract, supported by the Korean Health Promotion Institute, will include access to the Rakuten Insight consumer panel for conducting the surveys. This survey activity is for wave 5 of the ITC Korea Project, survey data collection, using Rakuten’s samples for this adult study. For the Waves 1 to 4 of the ITC Korea Project, the Korea Health Promotion Institute (KHEPI) funded the ITC Project at UW and KHEPI contracted Rakuten Insight to conduct the survey fieldwork. For the current Wave 5 ITC Korea Project, the funder is also KHEPI. As with Waves 1 to 4, the KHEPI has requested that the University of Waterloo subcontract Rakuten Insight to conduct the Wave 5 survey fieldwork. By retaining Rakuten, the University of Waterloo will be able re-assess respondents from previous waves to examine changes over time; access to the entire Waves 1 to 4 set of respondents (over 6,000 respondents), all recruited from the Rakuten Insight’s panel. This allows longitudinal cohort design, which involves repeating the survey to the same set of respondents from wave to wave. Additionally, key contacts at Rakuten Insight are based in New York (Rakuten Insight USA), which makes it very easy for our University of Waterloo team to communicate in real time.
This is an advanced Notice indicating to the supplier community that UW intends to award a contract for these services to a pre-identified supplier. If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date of this ACAN, a challenge with a suitable plan for a comparable survey approach complete with cost, the competitive requirements of the University are considered to have been met. Following notification to any suppliers not successful in demonstrating an approach that is in the best interests of the University, the contract will then be awarded to the pre-identified supplier.
