Council of Governments
DEADLINE: Proposals shall be uploaded no later than 2:00 p.m. EDT, September 29, 2022
PROJECT OVERVIEW
COG’s Community Engagement Campaign (CEC) is comprised of thirteen water and
wastewater utilities serving the District of Columbia, northern Virginia and suburban
Maryland. The goal of this RFP is to assist the CEC committee with further investigating the
findings from their 2022 COG Water and Wastewater Survey to maximize the effectiveness
of the CEC’s messages and outreach campaigns about the safety of drinking tap water.
The survey was issued online by Dinsmore Research in May 2022 to a survey panel
representative of the COG region.
See separate document Appendix 1 for the Report of these survey findings and a copy of
the survey. We would like to delve deeper to understand local perceptions about tap water and how to better promote tap water’s benefits, including that is safe and economical.
TASKS
1. Comparison of CEC survey findings with other surveys and national research about
public confidence in tap water.
2. Do a literature review of national data and trends about perceptions of drinking tap
water, and where applicable compare with our survey’s findings. It would also be
helpful to research tap water marketing that is effective.
3. Conduct focus groups
Using your technical expertise to form one or more focus groups to reach a
defined target audience (ethnicities, age, and education), based on your
research, our survey findings from the last three years, and geographic
representation of our committee members.
4. Report on the national research and focus group findings and
recommendations about types and format for messaging that would be most
effective for reaching our target audiences.
5. Based on the focus group discussion, provide a written report and presentation
to the CEC about focus group findings. The report should include
recommended messages and avenues for relaying our messages that would
be most beneficial for reaching our defined target audience.