Prequalification Challenge-Based Solicitation (CBS) – IaaS and Native PaaS

ATTENTION *** AMENDMENT 009 ***
The purpose of this amendment is to:
1 - Provide answers to questions received as detailed in section A.
2 - Provide the latest version Attachment 1 - Prequalification Evaluation Grid, which includes any changes that have been made as detailed in section B.

AMENDMENT 008
The purpose of this amendment is to:
1 - Provide answers to questions received as detailed in section A.
2 - Modify the Prequalification CBS as detailed in section B.
3 - Extend the closing date to June 5, 2024, 2:00 p.m. EDT

AMENDMENT 007
The purpose of this amendment is to:
1- Provide answers to questions received as detailed in section A.
2 - Modify the Prequalification CBS as detailed in section B, as well as the Prequalification Bidding Form.
Bidders who have submitted a pre-bid by date and time will have the choice to keep their pre-bid as is for criterion M2 or to submit a revised one by 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21.

AMENDMENT 006
The purpose of this amendment is to inform Bidders that Criterion M2 will be modified in the next few days.
Bidders who have submitted a pre-bid by date and time will have the choice to keep their pre-bid as is for criterion M2 or to submit a revised one with modifications to criterion M2 to the second Pre-bid closure date to be defined later.

AMENDMENT 005
1 - Provide answers to questions received as detailed in section A.
2 - Modify the Prequalification CBS as detailed in section B, as well as the Prequalification Bidding Form.

AMENDMENT 004
The purpose of this amendment is to modify the Prequalification Bidding Form.

AMENDMENT 003
The purpose of this amendment is to:
1 - Provide answers to questions received as detailed in section A.
2 - Modify the Prequalification CBS as detailed in section B.

AMENDMENT 002
The purpose of this amendment is to:
1 - Provide answers to questions received at the webinar as detailed in section A.
2 - Modify the Prequalification CBS as detailed in section B.

AMENDMENT 001
- The Prequalification CBS closing date has been extended to May 28, 2024.
- The deadline to submit the Pre-bid is now May 15, 2024.

PREQUALIFICATION STAGE

The Prequalification stage of this Challenge-Based Solicitation process will result in the establishment of a qualified pool of Bidders. Only those Bidders who qualify at the end of this stage, in accordance with the requirements of this Prequalification solicitation, will be eligible to participate in subsequent phases of this procurement process, including the receipt of final solicitation documentation. While notices of contracts awarded as a result of this procurement will be published on CanadaBuys, only prequalified suppliers will receive further procurement notices related to this sollicitation. Resulting contracts are intended to enable long term stability, and could potentially be used for 20 years or more.

DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT

The Government of Canada (GC) has a requirement for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Native Platform as a Service (PaaS) Commercially Available Public Cloud Services to meet its business needs across a broad spectrum of government organizations.
In order to assist organizations in meeting Canadians’ expectations and delivering government services and benefits simply, securely and efficiently, Canada is seeking the access and delivery of Commercially Available Public Cloud Services at various data classification levels.

The GC must create a secure and resilient enterprise digital security ecosystem to continue to deliver the services that Canadians rely on today while accelerating Canada’s move to modern services that are secure, reliable, user-centric and barrier-free, and meet the need for both privacy and transparency. This is essential to maintaining trust in Canada’s institutions.

PROCUREMENT PROCESS

SSC will leverage Agile Procurement Process 3.0 (APP3.0) that is an innovative procurement framework to improve the ability of Shared Services Canada (SSC) to move quicker and produce better results.

Evolving solicitation document

The solicitation document will evolve during the solicitation period. Below shows the various forms it will take:
1. Challenge-Based Solicitation (CBS) – Initial (posted 02/10/2024)
2. CBS for Prequalification (current opportunity)
3. Final Draft CBS
4. Final CBS

This procurement process involves the following stages:

• Stage 1: CBS – Initial (complete)
• Stage 2: Information Webinar (complete)
• Stage 3: Invitation to Refine (ItR) – Wave 1 – Consultation on prequalification criteria (complete)
• Stage 4: Posting of CBS Prequalification (current stage)
• Stage 5: Invitation to Refine – Waves 2 and subsequent waves – Consultation of prequalified bidders on various components of solicitation
• Stage 6: Release of DRAFT Final CBS – Last chance for prequalified bidders to provide feedback
• Stage 7: Release of Final CBS – prequalified bidders may submit bids
• Stage 8: Demonstration and Feedback – Virtual bid
• Stage 9: Evaluation and selection
• Stage 10: Pre-award
• Stage 11: Incremental Contract Award
• Stage 12: Task Authorization

INFORMATION WEBINAR

An Informational Webinar was held on the following dates and times:
 THE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE WEBINAR WILL BE HELD ON APRIL 24, 2024, AT 1:00 P.M. EDT
 THE FRENCH-LANGUAGE WEBINAR WILL BE HELD ON APRIL 24, 2024, AT 10:00 A.M. EDT
The deck is available in the "Bidding Details" tab.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PREQUALIFICATION BIDDING FORM

Bidders are requested to download and save the Prequalification Bidding Form. It is important to use Adobe Reader to open the form, as opening the form directly through an internet browser or with another PDF reader may result in compatibility issues or errors.

FUTURE COMMUNICATION

After the prequalification stage, communications will be limited exclusively to those who have successfully prequalified, and further details will no longer be shared publicly on CanadaBuys, until contracts award.

SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

At the contracting stage, the Contractor will need to fully satisfy requirements up to and including Protected B / High Value Asset (HVA) as defined in Canadian Center for Cyber Security (CCCS) guidance , unless otherwise specified. The language and full list of requirements will be further refined during one of the Invitation to Refine (stage 5).

COMPREHENSIVE LAND CLAIM AGREEMENTS (CLCA)

The requirement is not subject to the Comprehensive Land Claims Agreements (CLCAs), as none of the locations proposed services will be provided are located within any of the Land Claim Settlement Areas.

LANGUAGE

Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.

ENQUIRIES

Enquiries regarding this solicitation are to be submitted to the email below:
PVRCloudServicesRCRs.DCCServicesinfonuagiquesARF@ssc-spc.gc.ca.