Delivery order 0002NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STATISTICAL SCIENCES

Description of requirement

IGF::CT::IGF "CRITICAL FUNCTIONS" THE COMPARATIVE WAGE INDEX IS A STATISTICAL MEASURE DEVELOPED BY THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS (NCES) FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING ADJUSTMENTS TO EDUCATIONAL EXPENDITURES BASED ON WAGE DIFFERENCES AMONG LABOR MARKETS IN VARIOUS GEOGRAPHIES ACROSS THE NATION. NCES LAST PUBLISHED THESE INDEXES IN 2007 FOR YEARS 1997 THROUGH 2005. DETAILED BACKGROUND DOCUMENTATION ON THE CWI CAN BE FOUND HERE: HTTP://NCES.ED.GOV/EDFIN/ADJUSTMENTS.ASP. NCES IS DEVELOPING A REVISED WAGE INDEX PRODUCT TO REPLACE THE OLD CWI WITH MORE ROBUST MEASURES THAT ARE COMPUTED FROM MORE CURRENT DATASETS THAT WERE NOT PREVIOUSLY AVAILABLE. IN 2011 NCES CONVENED A TECHNICAL EXPERT PANEL (TEP) THROUGH THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STATISTICAL SCIENCES TO REVIEW AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE METHODOLOGY OF THE NCES COMPARATIVE WAGE INDEX (CWI). IN AUGUST, NISS DELIVERED A DRAFT REPORT TO NCES THAT OUTLINED THE TEP S RECOMMENDATIONS. THE REVISED WAGE INDEX PRODUCT WILL BE DEVELOPED INITIALLY AS A RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (R&D) PRODUCT USING THE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE TECHNICAL EXPERT PANEL AND THE PUBLIC USE FILES FOR THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY (ACS). IN ADDITION, THE CONTRACTOR AWARDED THIS TASK WILL PERFORM FURTHER RESEARCH TO ADDRESS THE OPERATIONAL FEASIBILITY OF THE TEP S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR USING THE ACS RESTRICTED USE DATA TO COMPUTE A REVISED WAGE INDEX AND ANY REMAINING METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES NOT ADDRESSED BY THE TEP. THIS CONTRACT SHALL PROVIDE SUPPORT TO NCES TO FIRST DEVELOP AN R&D STATISTICAL PRODUCT USING PUBLICLY AVAILABLE DATA FROM THE ACS TO COMPUTE A REVISED WAGE INDEX. NEXT, THE REVISED WAGE INDEX WILL BE COMPUTED USING RESTRICTED USE ACS DATA. ISSUES SUCH AS PERIODICITY AND LEVEL OF GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL WILL BE EVALUATED USING THE TWO SETS OF ACS DATA. THIS PROJECT WILL BE USED AS THE BASIS FOR IMPLEMENTING A STANDARD DATA PRODUCT THAT WILL BE PUBLISHED ON A RECURRING AND TIMELY BASIS.