Prices and price agreements

The price of a fixed-price agreement is based on one or more of the following assignment elements. The below table shows the various elements of the assignment, which are charged on the basis of fixed-price agreements and associated time consumption.

Further, the assignment price consists of a fixed extra charge for additional services and consultancy of 20 per cent of the price of the assignment part elements, which are not necessarily in direct contact with you. Such part elements are, for example, participation in meetings etc., internal documentation, documentation requirements, invoicing etc.

Population creation and data extraction from registers include time consumption for e.g. programming, pseudonymisation and control of data extractions from Research Services databank of basic data. The population creation and the data extraction from registers may also include time consumption for control and pseudonymisation of a population submitted to Research Services from other sources than the Research Services databank of basic data.

When an assignment is particularly consultancy dominated or consists of data sources that are not a part of the Research Services databank of basic data (for example other statistical data from Statistics Denmark, data from Statistics Denmark Survey or data from external sources), you can get a framework agreement. You can also get a framework agreement once we have initially reviewed data incl. documentation with one or more of the following specifications:

• Data from statistical division or Survey in Statistics Denmark. This is charged via a framework agreement based on the actual time consumption. The service includes, for example, data extraction from register in the statistical division, pseudonymisation and direct communication and consultancy, back office activities and internal communication.
• Data submitted from sources outside Statistics Denmark. This is charged via a framework agreement based on the actual time consumption. The service includes control and pseudonymisation of the submitted data.

The population consists of all persons residing in Denmark at the end of the years 2015-2019 (extracted from BEF 201512-201912) aged 18 years or more at the statistical data period (AGE>=18). For these persons, data extractions must be made in the same period of their demographics (BEF, extraction from register), educational attainment (UDDA), their income and their family income (FAIK and IND) as well as employment information (DREAM).

Since Research Services rounds up to the nearest whole number due to the standardised price calculation method, the price is calculated according to the following table.

The population consists in persons with a consumption of some specific types of medicinal products found via variables in the Danish National Prescription Registry (LMDB2005-2015). These persons must not be registered as emigrated in the register ‘Historiske vandringer’ (VNDS), meaning that they must be marked INDUD_KODE=U. Furthermore, they must not be registered in ‘Døde i Danmark’ (DOD).

Relevant demographic conditions (found in the following registers: BEF, BEFADR, VNDS, DOD) are then linked to these persons, and so are their registrations in the National Patient Register (LPR_ADM, LPR_BES, LPR_DIAG, LPR_SKSUBE) both before and after the registration in the National Prescription Registry. Moreover, the population from Statistics Denmark is transferred to the Danish Health Data Authority for enrichment with data from the Danish Pathology Register. The processing and pseudonymisation of data from the Danish Health Data Authority are not included in the price.

Why does the price vary from one assignment to the next?

An assignment is composed of several part elements. The assignment is priced based on the part elements of the assignment. This is why the price may vary, for example depending on the number of registers used for population creation, populations from other data providers or the number of registers from which the project needs data extraction. The part elements of the assignment are described in the section “Part elements of an assignment”.

The hourly rate has changed over the years – why?

You can see the changes in the hourly rates of Research Services below.

Prices after 2014

There are various reasons for the price changes.

• Each year, we adjust the hourly rate for surcharge, which accumulates the surplus/deficit of previous years. Moreover, we include an income forecast for the current year, which can cause variations from one year to the next.
• Public institutions are not allowed to generate a profit. For that reason, Statistics Denmark regularly adjusts the hourly rates so that they reflect the actual costs and make the accounts balance.
• In 2014, a distinction was made between private and public institutions, when Research Services for the first time received a special contribution from the coordinating organ for register research, KOR, among others, supporting the hourly rate for public users. This accounts for the difference in price depending on whether a private or a public institution owns the project.

Why must I pay for other variables to be added to my project?

Changes in an already existing project must be described in the project proposal and/or the variables documentation. Furthermore, they must be documented and the approval must be renewed in Research Services.  The only exception that does not require renewed approval is an update of an already approved population or variable.

The approval requires a number of processes, which can be anything from dialogue between you and Research Services to a review of the project and its variables documentation for renewed approval of the project. The process can vary considerably depending on the project, and the time consumption up until the approval is in the range of 1-4 hours whether for new projects, updates or extensions. The price of processing a project proposal is therefore set at two hours. If the time consumption exceeds four hours, a supplementary agreement is made in the form of a framework agreement to cover the actual processing time.

We encourage you to make a professional assessment of when and how often you apply for approval of project changes, so that we can reduce the number of ongoing and minor changes.

For how long is a quotation valid?

A quotation is valid for 30 days starting from the date of the quotation. After that, we recalculate the quotation at the current hourly rate.

How we charge for a project database? 

The charge is based on an annual contract with a fixed-price agreement that includes update of agreed register data in the project database as well as a possible framework agreement for additional services, such as deliveries from the project database to sub-projects and consultancy according to the needs of the project database.

The establishment of a project database follows the same pricing guidelines as a new project. Since the project database has a longer time perspective than a project, an annual contract on updating is entered. Thus, the pricing is based on an expected average time consumption for the service.

The settlement period appears from the below table. The fixed-price agreement for updating of the project database is settled together with the Q2 settlement of ‘Additional services’. ‘Additional services’ are settled quarterly.

Why do prices of comparable services vary?

The price of services is based on past experience and averages. Comparable services may imply small differences in the various part elements that affect the price, for example, the price of processing external data (submitted from other data providers) compared to processing of standardised data extractions from registers in Statistics Denmark’s databank of basic data. If project changes appear later in the process, the price may change based on the changes. Furthermore, the hourly rate is calculated annually, which can also affect the assignment price.

What is the background for Statistics Denmark’s prices?

Statistics Denmark is the central producer of statistics in Denmark, and the costs of carrying this obligation as an authority are covered by the Danish Finance Act.

The data that we collect and store can be used for scientific and statistical surveys under Statistics Denmark’s researcher scheme. Only authorised research and analysis environments are granted access to data, and we charge for making data available for the surveys.

In principle, the price must cover the costs associated with performing the assignments from the initial dialogue to the final dialogue no later than 30 days after the assignment has been delivered.

The price must further contribute towards the costs associated with:

• Consultancy on the use of data in the individual project.
• Administration of the scheme, for example authorisation
• Data access rights
• Standardisation of register data
• Development of our user services
• Securing continued high data security and data confidentiality
• Overhead costs

Statistics Denmark’s pricing is subject to the rules on externally funded activities in the public sector and is checked by the National Audit Office of Denmark. Income and expenditure must balance, and the income from services must not be used to fund the obligations of the authority. The financial balance is continuously monitored across a ten-year average.