Westat’s Communication to Clients on Continued Project Operations During Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic (March 12, 2020)

Westat is closely monitoring developments related to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) to ensure the safety of our staff, their families, and communities. We are also taking concrete steps to meet our commitments to clients and partners and to provide the high-quality and timely solutions that you expect from Westat.

Our cross-functional Business Continuity Working Group, including our own experts in public health and epidemiology, meets regularly given the ever-changing nature of this threat. Based on their guidance, we have a wide range of prevention and contingency plans in place. The following summarizes where we are to date:

All of Westat’s U.S. offices are open with normal operations. We are regularly communicating with our workforce on prevention strategies, encouraging and supporting telework, limiting travel, and training of backups for various functions.

We also have a series of protocols to ensure the safety of our field staff and their ability to meet project commitments. Because our field staff are dispersed throughout the U.S., we are closely monitoring the progression of this virus and will modify our guidance to these staff accordingly.

Westat operates a robust and secure configuration to support teleworking, and we routinely support a large number of remote staff and Westat site employees outside of regular working hours.  This allows employees full access to network resources, applications, and support, including communication tools to provide seamless transition from the office to a telework environment.  When needed, Westat has operated with the majority of its employees connected remotely with no performance degradation and can do so for an extended period of time.

Please be assured that regardless of how the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, there will be no reduction in our availability and commitment to your success. Given the capabilities that we utilize daily to support normal operations, we are confident that we can protect the health and well-being of our people and complete our work.

Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. We stand ready to assist you however we can.