This committee, to be chaired by you, should consist of representatives of all organizations and staff associations based at the duty station. Members of this committee should be survey coordinators within their respective organizations. They are expected to assist you with every aspect of the administration of the survey, including the development of the lists of staff and outlets, and the implementation of strategies to improve staff participation in the survey.

Compile a complete list of e-mails of all professional staff members of the United Nations common system organizations based at the duty station, in collaboration with the local survey committee. The list should be provided to the ICSC well in advance of the survey month. The emails on the list should be the official email addresses assigned by the respective organizations, as they will be used to disseminate the online questionnaire to all eligible staff members when launching on the first day of the survey month. You may use the Personnel List Template that is provided in the 'Survey documents' section of this webpage.

Compile and submit to the ICSC the initial list of outlets (i.e., shops, stores, supermarkets, etc.) to be used for price data collection) This list should consist only of outlets that are likely to be patronized by international officials or expatriates at the duty station. Therefore, the outlets should cover all the items of the ICSC basket of goods and services including items in the RTPC Pricing Form and the Survey Coordinator’s list. To improve the coverage of the list, the survey coordinator should encourage the involvement, in the finalization of the list of outlets, of the administration, staff representatives and other interested parties, such as spouse associations and individuals that are known to be knowledgeable about the local market and the expenditure patterns of international staff. You may use the Outlets List Template that is provided in the 'Survey documents' section of this website.

Identify candidates for Pricing Agent (see Recommended profile of a Pricing Agent) that will carry out the price data collection, and send the curriculum vitae of at least three candidates for final selection by the ICSC. When the selection is made, the coordinator should secure the signature of the selected Pricing Agent on a Contract for the Pricing Agent.

Prepare a letter to retail outlets that briefly explains the purpose of the price collection and introduces the Pricing Agent to facilitate future access to the stores. A template of the Outlet Recruitment Letter Template is available on this webpage. You may adapt the template, as appropriate, for your duty station. The letter may be sent to the Company’s Corporate Office address with a copy to the branch to be visited. It would also be very helpful to identify a contact person at the branch itself and communicate directly with him/her prior to the price survey.

Prepare a cover letter for the Pricing Agent as an introduction to the store managers. A template of the Introduction Letter for the Pricing Agent is also available in the Documents section of this website. You may adapt the template, as appropriate, for your duty station.

Provide the following documents to the Pricing Agent and review them together:

• Instructions for Pricing Agent Instructions on how to carry out the price data collection;
• The list of Instructions for Pricing Agent-Target Brands Target Brands ;
• The complete list of outlets;
• Two copies the Pricing Form for the Pricing Agent Pricing Form ;
• The Questionnaire for the Pricing Agent Pricing Agent questionnaire;
• At least 3 copies of the Prescription drugs drop off sheet;
• At least 5 copies of the Introductory Letter

Publicize the survey to staff at large. You may use the Broadcast Message about Survey to Staff Members provided is the Documents section of this website, which you can adapt to the specific circumstances of your duty station(organization), or develop one of your own.

Encourage the involvement of all interested parties, in launching and maintaining the publicity campaign to solicit maximum staff participation.

Test the final drafts of the survey questionnaires, templates and other survey tools, and provide feedback to the ICSC.

Monitor staff participation during the course of the survey and take measures as may be necessary to achieve maximum staff participation. This may include follow-up activities, such as issuing periodic reminders, organizing information sessions, etc. Prior to the survey, the ICSC secretariat will provide you with log-in credentials to access the tool for monitoring staff participation.

Complete the Survey Coordinator's Questionnaire, which provides, among other things, basic information about local conditions affecting the cost of living experienced by international staff. The questionnaire elicits information on housing, staff entitlement to duty free importation and tax free privileges.

The Survey Coordinator's Pricing Book is used to collect prices for a number of items outside the pricing agent’s scope, covering services for household maintenance, utilities, medical services, car insurance, transportation and communication services and tuition.

Transmit the form to the ICSC as soon as it is completed, and, in any case by the end of the second week of the survey month.

Upon completion of the whole survey, the survey coordinator should collect all survey materials and send them back to ICSC as soon as possible. These survey materials include:

1. Completed pricing forms submitted by the pricing agent;
2. Completed Pricing Agent questionnaire on market conditions;
3. Any completed hard-copy Household Expenditure questionnaire from staff members;
4. and the completed Survey Coordinator's Pricing Book