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For the baseline survey in 2012, the two focus groups were hosted at Pleasanton-based Amplify Research; this location will likely be used again. The representatives will be recruited using the City's business license listing and will be from a variety of business types among small (fewer than 21 employees) to medium-sized (21 to 99 employees) companies, as these represent more than 99% of the City's business population. The focus groups will again explore such topics as reasons for locating in Pleasanton, assessment of Pleasanton as a place to do business, perspectives on conducting business in Pleasanton and what the City might do to help, as well as inquiry around Pleasanton's broadband offerings. The feedback from the focus groups is then used as a basis for update to the survey instrument. While it is expected that most of the questions on the survey instrument will remain unchanged, several questions from the baseline survey did not produce results that were valuable to staff and the EVC. Those questions will be replaced with questions regarding businesses' perceptions about broadband, particularly related to the bandwidth and speed of service needed now and anticipated in the future, accessibility to infrastructure and price sensitivity. Jennifer Franz, President of the consulting firm with whom we would be working, has previously shown herself to have expertise in guiding staff and EVC members toward developing survey questions that will produce important and usable data. Using the same City business license listing, the survey will be conducted via telephone with careful attention to reaching desired response rates and maintaining statistical validity by random selection across a range of companies that reflect the Pleasanton business community. Particular emphasis is placed on conducting the survey with company decision-makers to further ensure the accuracy and value of the results. When the survey process is complete, JD Franz Research, Inc. will prepare a report detailing the results for Economic Development staff to share with the City Council. As before, that report will assist Economic Development staff, the EVC, and local business organizations in defining and developing business support programs and projects to further position Pleasanton as an excellent location in which to do business. The survey will continue to build a set of data points that, along with periodic future surveys, identify new and changing trends in the Pleasanton business community. More specifically, the data relative to businesses feedback regarding broadband connectivity will be used to complete an infrastructure assessment — a project that is on the City Council's current Work Plan. The expenditure for this project is $41,000 and is included in the Economic Development Department budget. A draft agreement with JD Franz Research, Inc. is included as Attachment 1. Page 3 of 4