1. About the Organization

Centre for Civil Society (CCS) advances social change through public policy. Our work in education, livelihood, and policy training promotes choice and accountability across public and private sectors. To translate policy into practice, CCS engages with policy and thought leaders through research, pilot projects and policy training.

2. Context and Purpose of the Project

Section 12(1)(c) of the Right to Education Act, 2009 mandates that 25% of seats in private unaided schools in India be reserved for students from economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups. The policy assumes that increased enrolment in private schools will lead to improved learning outcomes. 

The TWCF–CCS study (2025–2026) seeks to examine the educational attainment and schooling experiences of students admitted under the RTE quota, comparing them with peers who applied but were not allotted seats, to test whether this assumption holds. 

CCS is seeking to appoint a qualified and experienced survey agency to conduct a large-scale learning assessment and parent survey of approximately 10,000 school students who are currently enrolled in Grade 7, across government and private schools, in 2 big Indian cities - Jaipur and Delhi/Dehradun/Pune.

The assessment will be administered at home and will include:

• A learning assessment test for students
• A survey questionnaire for parents

We are looking for a tablet-based implementation for better data quality and management.

3. Scope of Work

The selected agency will be responsible for the end-to-end execution of the survey, which includes (but is not limited to):

3.1 Sampling and Field Planning

• Design a representative sampling strategy across school types, and locations
• Develop a detailed fieldwork plan, including recruitment and training of enumerators

3.2 Enumerator Training

• Train field staff on administering assessments and parent questionnaires
• Ensure ethical protocols, informed consent, and data privacy standards are followed

3.3 Pilot Study

• Conduct a pilot study of 400 students and parents across the two locations. This is subject to change based on mutual agreement.

3.4 Deliverables

• Administer the final assessment and parent questionnaire at students' homes

• Expected reach: 10,000 students across two locations. This number does not include the students and parents covered under the pilot study

3.5 Survey Administration and Field Protocol

• Develop survey form software on a digital platform, and make it available offline. The assessment tool and the questionnaire used for the survey will be provided by CCS
• Deploy a team of minimum 500 experienced surveyors and 20 supervisors for the period of ~1.5 months
• Issue identity cards to the field staff for doing the data collection
• Complete the survey within 4 weeks and before 30.3.2026. There might be an extension of date based on mutual agreement based on other factors such as natural calamities etc. 

3.6 Data Quality

• Ensure data quality, supervision, and troubleshooting in the field
• Conduct regular quality checks of the survey by doing regular field visits using methods of back checks and spot checks
• Undertake on-field monitoring of the surveyors during the survey hours by conducting regular phone call, field visits, and share daily updates with the CCS team

3.7 Data Management

• Provide raw and cleaned datasets in required formats (e.g., CSV, Stata)

3.8 Reporting & Documentation

• Submit a detailed fieldwork report including response rates, issues encountered, and mitigation strategies
• Provide metadata, instrument versions, and enumerator manuals
• Attend weekly review meeting with the CCS team regarding the process of the survey and its completion within the stipulated time

4. Timeline

The proposed timeline for the project is as follows:

5. Eligibility Criteria

Agencies must meet the following criteria:

• Minimum 5 years of experience in conducting household and learning assessment surveys
• Understanding and experience of India’s education ecosystem
• Prior experience working with school-age children and parents
• Experience in conducting large-scale (>5000 respondents) studies in urban India in more than at least 5 states. 
• Team of enumerators with at least 1 year of experience in large-scale data collection.
• Team of supervisors with at least 3 years of experience in large-scale data collection and quality supervision.
• Experience with tablet-based data collection
• Strong data security and privacy protocols

6. Proposal Submission Requirements

Interested agencies are invited to submit a technical and financial proposal via two separate emails. The first email must contain the technical proposal, and the second email must contain the financial proposal. The emails must use the following subject lines:

6.1 Technical Proposal

Email 1 subject: Technical Proposal for ‘TWCF-CCS RTE 12.1.c study” - Name of Bidder

• Agency profile and experience 
• Methodology and approach (sampling, field plan, quality assurance)
• Staffing plan and roles
• Work plan and timeline
• Similar completed and/or ongoing projects (with references)
• Sample data collection tools (if available)

6.2 Financial Proposal

Email 2 subject: Financial Proposal for ‘TWCF-CCS RTE 12.1.c study” - Name of Bidder

• Detailed budget with breakdown by activity and team member
• Total aggregate professional costs with hourly/daily rates for each team member (category or individual)
• Unit costs per survey
• Taxes and overheads clearly stated
• Special discounts, if any, for NGOs. Considered and separately stated.
• Validity of the financial quote

6.3 Submission Guidelines

• The emails must be sent to bhupinder@ccs.in, anamika@ccs.in, marking nitesh@ccs.in. Proposals sent to any other email address will be disqualified.
• Our indicated date for submitting the proposal is “16th February 2026”. If the indicated date is not feasible, the bidder must suggest an alternate date within two business days of issuance of the RFP.
• Bidders must also confirm their interest/inability to participate in the bidding process within two business days of issuance of the RFP.
• Any queries/clarifications must ONLY be sent to the email ID mentioned above, within four business days of issuance of the RFP. Any query/clarification received after the said date will not be entertained.
• We will provide the responses to all queries within six business days of the issuance of the RFP.

7. Evaluation Criteria

A committee will evaluate the proposals based on the following criteria:

Only shortlisted agencies will be contacted for further discussions. The final decision with respect to your submission will be conveyed through electronic mail. We discourage any follow-up in this regard. Centre for Civil Society reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal without assigning reasons. 

8. Intellectual Property

CCS will have full intellectual property and usage rights of all the deliverables, collected data and instruments, products and case studies produced, as well as of the associated analysis and datasheets. CCS will be free to make these documents, and associated data generated under the project, public to enable government, academia and others to undertake further research.

9. Confidentiality

The service provider will be required to maintain confidentiality with regard to all information and data related to the agreement.

10. Contact for Queries

For any clarifications, please contact:

Bhupinder Singh

Centre for Civil Society

Email: bhupinder@ccs.in

Phone: +91 971773912