Cost Proposal Policies

Cost Estimate

Cost estimates are based on the information provided when the quote is prepared. Any changes to the specifications could result in a change in pricing. Cost changes will be communicated and approved by the client before Focus Forward starts the project. Recruitment costs (CPR) are based on estimated hours to screen and confirm qualified respondents. If the incidence during recruitment is lower than quoted — resulting in higher than estimated hours — the client will be consulted to either change the project details or approve a higher cost.

Respondents Recruited

Focus Forward invoices for all recruits. The industry standard is to recruit more participants than expected to show for the project. The client will authorize the total number of recruits with an expectation that the industry standard of 20% of the recruits may not fully participate in the project. The client will be invoiced for all recruits.

When recruitment is to a bulletin board or other type of project that extends for days or weeks, Focus Forward is responsible for recruitment of the specified number of respondents to start the project. We replace at no cost those who do not start participation. Since we do not moderate or control the online platform, we are not responsible for respondent retention. We will follow up with respondents who are lagging at the request of the client.

Respondent Rescreen

Client rescreens of respondents who fully qualify on the screener will be charged the CPR if, after the rescreen, the client decides to disqualify/cancel the respondent. We assume that rescreens will be limited to those questions included in the original client screener.

Incentives to Respondents

Incentives will be recommended for your project. Using the information in the project specifications, we base our incentive recommendation on the time commitment of the respondent, the activities which make up participation, and the type of respondent recruited. If the actual project participation varies from our client estimates, we will inform the client so that choices can be made on how to move forward with the incentive.

Respondent Bill of Rights

Focus Forward is a member of the Insights Association and all professional agreements are subject to the rules and regulations of the Insights Association Code of Standards.

Database Respondent Recontact

In accordance with the Insights Association code of conduct, respondents from a database are for one-time use only. Any recontact for the current project or future projects must be authorized and written permission granted from Focus Forward to the client. Focus Forward charges a fee regardless of whether our team contacts the respondent or the client team does the recontact for any reason. Likewise, and consistent with the code of conduct, respondents may not be invited to join or be added to a client database.

3rd Party Billing

We must be notified that a 3rd party will be responsible for payment when we are commissioned to recruit a project. If the 3rd party defaults in payment, financial responsibility will fall on the secondary party that commissioned the research.

Specification or Screener Changes

The full CPR will be charged for respondents lost due to screener specification changes or quotas after recruitment has begun for a project.

Rush Project Request

Recruitment requests with a short timeline, considered "rush" projects, will incur a minimum 10% upcharge to our recruitment costs.

Algorithm

To program the typing tool/algorithm internally, we need all passwords required to unlock and view the document (including vba/back-end code). If this is not available, we would need a description of how the segments are calculated so we can replicate it on our end.

For all projects, we assume that the incidence rate of each algorithm segment or combined-segments quota will be greater than 10%. If the incidence comes in significantly lower, that portion of the project will be completed at a best-effort basis.

Algorithm must include a "Batch Tool."

Project Minimum

Once we are commissioned to recruit a project, the minimum recruitment fee would apply if the project is cancelled, or fully recruited by another firm prior to our reaching the minimum recruitment billing.