Working with a contractor to administer the Youth Tobacco Survey (YTS) – 1/14/11

Q: The Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Program would like to learn whether other states have worked with a contractor to administer the Youth Tobacco Survey. They would like to know:

• Is your state contracting out the Youth Tobacco Survey?
• If so, what kind of contractor is being used?
• What is the cost of the contracts?
• Have there been any issues surrounding the YTS contracts?

A:

1. Alabama: Alabama does not contract with another agency to conduct the YTS, so we do not have anything to contribute on this request.
    
2. Arkansas: We went through this whole process two years ago – determining whether a contractor versus the state would conduct the YTS. We found we could do it much cheaper in house for about the same about of work because so much must be done with the schools – in state. The contractors were way too expensive and much of the work still had to be done by the state, no matter what. Our surveillance and evaluation section chief took on the task with another staff member and did a great job.
    
3. California: Yes, California is contracting out the Youth Tobacco Survey.
    
   • What kind of contractor is being used?
     WestEd, Joint Powers Agency – Research, Service, Development Agency
   • What is the cost of the contracts?
     $800K for 24 month period
   • Have there been any issues surrounding the YTS contracts?
     Limited qualified agencies to implement survey. Competitive RFP procedure is difficult, and there have been issues with service interruption due to state contracting issues.
      
4. Florida: Florida currently conducts our YTS independent from CDC, in conjunction with up to three other state surveys.
    
   We contract with ICF Macro for the survey administration. They draw our sample, print and ship questionnaires, provide training to local county-coordinators, receive the completed questionnaires, scan, clean, and weight the dataset, and provide us with final datasets. We then perform all analyses, reporting, and data dissemination.
    
   Because the YTS is only one of four surveys that make up our larger contract, the cost of our contract would not be comparable to the cost of a YTS alone.
    
   We have not had any issues, but we conduct our YTS completely independently from CDC.
    
5. Maryland: Maryland has had contracts in place for a biennial county-level youth tobacco survey since 2000.
    
   • What kind of contractor is being used?
     Our current contractor is ICF Macro. In the last procurement, Westat also submitted a bid.
   • What is the cost of the contracts?
     Cost is highly dependent upon the number of schools/classes surveyed. If your state does the YRBS and you are planning on following that model, costs and contractor availability would come from that procurement
   • Have there been any issues surrounding the YTS contracts?
     Maryland has had very few issues surrounding the YTS. The one issue that does arise, however, is the burden of student health surveys. Classroom time is a highly prized commodity and you are asking schools/teachers to give that up. There is a great deal of pressure to consolidate surveys and/or to administer them jointly.
      
6. New Hampshire: We use a part time survey coordinator to oversee/administer jointly the high school YTS and YRBS. This person is in part funded by OSH and the New Hampshire Department of Education.
    
7. West Virginia: We do this survey in conjunction with the WV State Board of Education's Office of Healthy Schools and CDC/OSH epidemiology folks.
    
8. Wisconsin: Wisconsin’s contractor is an academic partner, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In 2010, for the middle school and high school surveys, the cost of the contracts was $125,000. There have there been no issues surrounding the YTS contracts.

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