Ariadne - cross-country survey on attitudes regarding carbon pricing, preferences regarding implementation and fairness, and mobility behavior

Kurze Beschreibung

RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research (RWI) is a leading center for economic research and evidence-based policy advice in Germany and a member of the Leibniz Association, which connects 93 independent research institutions and includes a wide range of disciplines, e.g., natural sciences, engineering, environmental sciences, economics, spatial and social sciences, as well as humanities. RWI"s research work is based on the latest theoretical concepts and empirical methods. The institute"s major fields of research range from economic growth and business cycles to energy use and resource consumption. The central aim of the research group Environment and Resources is to analyze environmental and energy policy instruments using sophisticated methods of evaluation research and microeconometrics. The applied research at RWI fulfils the highest academic standards and its results are regularly published in renowned academic journals.
The Paris Agreement aims to keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels and pursues efforts to limit the temperature rise even further to 1.5°C. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate policy measures are required. The Kopernikus project Ariadne analyzes which instruments are suitable for this purpose. Based on a better understanding of the effects of individual political measures and policy paths, the project investigates meaningful strategies for the transformation of the energy system and its acceptance by citizens.
The Ariadne project aims to get both an overall picture of technologies, instruments, regulation, and social conditions, but also develops sector-specific solutions in all relevant sectors, i.e. electricity, industry, building, and transport. Since the very beginning of the project, political decision-makers, citizens, and stakeholders have been involved through a dialogue process. This enables Ariadne to evaluate, which political measures are practical and meet with public approval.
One central element of the Ariande project is a large, multiple-country citizen survey on individual mobility behavior and acceptance of carbon pricing policies with the goal to collect a broader base of European citizens" opinions and find out whether there are national particularities regarding policy preferences. This survey, that is subject to this tender procedure, will be conducted in the wake of the EU Commission"s recent "Fit for 55" package for a green transition and can serve as a tool for addressing common concerns.
The target countries are heterogeneous in terms of their climate policies as well as the expected support of further action and include at least France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Poland.

Beschreibung der Beschaffung

Within the scope of the Ariadne project, RWI will design and analyze a large, multiple-country citizen survey on individual mobility behavior and acceptance of carbon pricing policies. The target countries are heterogeneous in terms of their climate policies as well as the expected support of further action and include France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Poland. Moreover, we aim to also collect data from Portugal and Greece, since resistance against the EU's "Fit for 55" plan has been especially large there. The aim of the survey is to gain an understanding of which factors influence the support of carbon pricing in the respective countries, which policy variations and redistribution schemes are preferred, and whether transport decisions are influenced by such policies.
A minimum of 1.500 respondents will be sampled in each country, whereas we prefer a sample size as high as possible. Aspects that will be covered by the survey are the citizens" opinions on carbon pricing in general, how these opinions are formed, how they change with income, education, price level, and redistribution of the collected revenue. Additionally, questions on mobility behavior, mode choice, and opinions on current transport policies will be included.
To ensure the comparability of the survey results across countries, RWI and partners within the Ariadne project will collaborate with professional marketing research institutes (as contractors) that implement the survey in the respective countries based on representative household panels.
The questionnaire will be developed by RWI and partners. The sampling of the cross-country citizen survey in the countries stated above shall be implemented by professional market research companies as contractors of RWI.
The services to be provided by the Contractor are expected to comprise
- the provision of a sample of panellists who are representative with respect to age, gender, education, and income in the respective country
- the data collection (field work) and field reporting for the purpose of sample quality monitoring and
- the processing of the data, including the coding and further checking and editing of the data for the preparation of the final survey dataset and the calculation of post-stratification weights.
The Contractor must have access to professionally managed online panels in the countries, in which the services will be conducted that are object to the lot(s) the contractor wishes to tender for.
The expected interview length will be at maximum 20 minutes.
The quality of the sampling plan and an appropriate sampling strategy to provide for a proper representativeness of the sample with respect to age, gender, education, and income in the country in which the respective sampling takes place is very important for RWI. The Contractor shall provide a sample plan that aims for as much representativeness as possible.
As survey methodology research shows, small incentives can increase the participation rate. To incentivize participation in the survey, RWI would like to give small gifts or compensations (e.g., in the form of a lottery amongst all participants to a survey or the issuance of rewards for answering certain questions). The candidates that will be invited to tender are expected to specify the type and extent of the incentives for each lot for which they submit a tender.
The Contractor is required to carry out a range of checks on the validity of the data while fieldwork is ongoing and is expected to report on the findings in real time.
The Contractor must comply with all applicable data protection, environmental, social, and labor law obligations established by Union law as well as with national legislation, collective agreements and the international environmental, social and labor conventions listed in Annex X to Directive 2014/24/EU.
The Contractor has to ensure that the impartial and objective implementation of the work and services under this contract is not compromised for reasons involving economic interest, political or national affinity, family or emotional ties or any other shared interest ("conflict of interests").
The actual contract price depends on the outcome of the procurement procedure. The essential part of the contract with the Contractor is the scope of works and services specified in this document.
The contract price shall be subject to the following payment conditions:
- 20 % of the price shall be paid within 30 days after the award of the contract and receipt of a corresponding pre-invoice
- 80 % of the price shall be paid within 30 days after the supply of the data and the receipt of a final invoice.
The survey for each country needs to be available in English and in the official language of the respective country. The questionnaire will be developed in English by RWI. The tenderers are expected to offer the translation of the questionnaire and the survey and specify the respective costs in the tender as a separate option. RWI is free to either call this option or to commission a different translator or translation agency with the translation services.
The contractor assigns to RWI all copyrights and/or other related rights that must be obtained to use the goods and services that are subject to the contract (in particular, but not exclusively the survey).

Objektive Kriterien für die Auswahl der begrenzten Anzahl von Bewerbern

Candidates must prove their legal, regulatory, economic, financial, technical, and professional capacity to carry out the work subject to this procurement procedure. Candidates may rely on the capacities of other entities, regardless of the legal nature of the links which it has with them. In that case, candidates must prove that they will have at their disposal the resources necessary for the performance of the contract, for example, by producing an undertaking on the part of those entities to place those resources at its disposal. The request must include the proportion of the contract that the tenderer intends to subcontract.
The candidates must prove to have the organizational capacity to carry out the contract. The candidates must provide a comprehensive company profile and describe
- the organizational structure and corporate experience,
- the candidate's experience in the field of works and services that are similar to those that are described in Section II of the document "Car Data_Scope of Work and Services (incl. invitation to participate and conditions of application)", and
- the candidate"s contract management and quality assurance measures.
In order to prove sufficient experience in the field of collection and supply of data about economic and political development and/or consumer behaviour the candidate shall provide a list of references for similar contracts undertaken during the last five years; the list must contain values, descriptions of the work, dates, names and contact details of at least the three most recent clients. In order to prove sufficient experience in the field of collection and supply of data about economic and political development and/or consumer behaviour the candidate shall provide a list of references for similar contracts undertaken during the last five years; the list must contain values, descriptions of the work, dates, names and contact details of at least the three most recent clients. The declarations may either be included in the Supplier"s declaration based on the document attached to this specification document (Annex II), an ESPD or provided by the candidate in a separate document.

Zusätzliche Informationen

The project is subject to funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
RWI is beneficiary of the Reference number (Förderkennzeichen) 03SFK5C0.

Liste und kurze Beschreibung der Auswahlkriterien

Candidates shall prove the extent of their technical, and professional capacity to carry out the work subject to this procurement procedure. Candidates may rely on the capacities of other entities, regardless of the legal nature of the links which it has with them. In that case, candidates must prove that they will have at their disposal the resources necessary for the performance of the contract, for example, by producing an undertaking on the part of those entities to place those resources at its disposal. The request must include the proportion of the contract that the tenderer intends to subcontract.
The candidates shall prove to have the organizational capacity to carry out the contract. The candidates shall provide a comprehensive company profile and describe
- the organizational structure and corporate experience,
- the candidate"s experience in the field of works and services that are similar to those that are described in the field of collection and supply of data about economic and political development and/or consumer behaviour,
- the candidate"s contract management and quality assurance measures.
In order to prove sufficient experience in the field of collection and supply of data about economic and political development and/or consumer behaviour the candidate shall provide a list of references for similar contracts undertaken during the last five years; the list must contain values, descriptions of the work, dates, names and contact details of at least the three most recent clients. The declarations may either be included in the Supplier"s declaration based on the document attached to this specification document (Annex II), an ESPD or provided by the candidate in a separate document.

Bedingungen für die Vertragserfüllung

The Contractor must have access to a professionally managed data set.
The Contractor is required to carry out a range of checks on the validity of the data.
The Contractor must comply with all applicable data protection, environmental, social, and labor law obligations established by Union law as well as with national legislation, collective agreements and the international environmental, social and labor conventions listed in Annex X to Directive 2014/24/EU.
The Contractor has to ensure that the impartial and objective implementation of the work and services under this contract is not compromised for reasons involving economic interest, political or national affinity, family or emotional ties or any other shared interest ("conflict of interests").