On a competitive bid, Mitra and Associates was awarded the contract to carry out the CPS by the USAID, Dhaka. The 1983 CPS was the third CPS undertaken in Bangladesh. It had a complex design and an extremely voluminous workload involving interviews of about 20,000 respondents, with three different samples—the sample of ever-married women under 50 years of age, the sample of husbands of currently married women under 50 years of age, and the sample of couples with the wives under 50 years of age.

On the excellence of Mitra and Associates in conducting the 1983 CPS, Mr. A.B.M. Gulam Mostafa, the then Secretary, Ministry of Health and Population Control, Government of Bangladesh, in his preface to the `Key Results’ report mentioned: 

“… I am very happy to note that Mitra and Associates has made the best use of this opportunity to establish the credibility of private research work in this country.  They conducted the survey very efficiently, accomplishing every task on schedule with professional excellence. This speaks eloquently of the professional expertise and attainment of Bangladeshi researchers…”

Also, he mentioned in the preface of the Final Report of the 1983 CPS:                                                          

“… I am highly confident and optimistic that these results shall be of great use to the policy makers and program managers in the projection and expansion of future program activities. Demographers, social researchers and scholars, at home and abroad, may find these results equally valuable for pursuing their research interest…” 

Further, in recognition of the excellent performance of Mitra and Associates, Ms. Suzanne Olds, Chief, Population and Health Division, USAID/Dhaka in her letter to the Secretary, Ministry of Health and Population Control wrote:  

“… The fieldwork for this survey commenced in October 1983 and was completed the end of January 1984. To our knowledge the speed of data processing for such a large survey undertaking (15,000 households, including nearly 17,500 respondents) is unprecedented…”

The results of the 1983 CPS were as well covered as comparable data by Population Reports (Series M, Number 8, 1985), the renowned Population Information Program of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, saying:

“…In Bangladesh, Mitra and Associates, a private Bangladesh research firm…”, conducted a Contraceptive Prevalence Survey in 1983 patterned after earlier CPSs.  The 1983 survey found that 99 percent of ever-married women under age 50 knew at least one method of family planning.  Use of contraception had risen since 1979 CPS; in 1983, 19 percent of currently married women under age 50 using contraception…”