RCMP Pension Benchmarking Services

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has a requirement for the provision of benchmarking services to capture performance measures relevant to its pension administration processes, systems and organization structure in order to make better business decisions relating to pension administration service improvements. 

The purpose of this Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) is to signal the government's intention to award a contract for these services to 
	
Cost Effectiveness Measurements Benchmarking Inc. (CEM)
372 Bay Street, Suite 1000
Toronto, Ontario 
M5H ZW9
Canada 

Before awarding a contract, however, the government would like to provide other suppliers with the opportunity to demonstrate that they are capable of satisfying the requirements set out in this Notice, by submitting a statement of capabilities during the 15 calendar day posting period.

If other potential suppliers submit a statement of capabilities during the 15 calendar day posting period that meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, the government will proceed to a full tendering process on either the government's electronic tendering service or through traditional means, in order to award the contract.

If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a statement of capabilities meeting the requirements set out in the ACAN, a contract will be awarded to the pre-selected supplier.

Background
Public Sector Pension Reform and the Government of Canada's program of "Modern Comptrollership" (a reform focused on the sound management of public resources and effective decision making) have identified benchmarking for the purposes of comparative evaluation of pension administration services in similar Canadian and American (primary public) pension administration organizations on the basis of costs, service levels and, industry standards including best business practices of participating organizations. Benchmarking services include the provision of an independent and objective report for plan sponsors and fiduciaries comprised of the following elements:

- Performance Insights
- Detailed Costs Analysis
- Best Practices Benchmarking
- Strategic Governance and Management Information

A key component of benchmarking services is the focus on understanding and quantifying how services to members and organizational constraints impact system costs, for example how volumes and relative workloads for core administrative activities such as paying pensions and communicating with members compare with similar plans.

CEM has a proprietary methodology for gathering standardized data and benchmarking key pension administration activities and metrics that meet RCMP needs.  Their benchmarking service provides a unique picture of the total administration costs per member, based on the following key factors: total volume, service levels, work (type and volume) member to staff ratio, and complexity of the rules and regulations of our plan to systems.

The RCMP plans to evaluate pension administration services and overall pension administration costs against similar Canadian and American public sector pension administration organizations, by examining relative costs, service standards, industry standards and business practices. The objective is to obtain an overall picture of pension administration costs and service standards.  This work should also provide an opportunity to network with peer colleagues in pension administration, particularly with the Canadian Forces Pension Plan (CFPP) and the Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) and access best practices utilized in pension administration.  

The contractor will provide a pension benchmarking service as a tool to assist in the delivery of improved pension administration services to contributors and pensioners of the RCMP pension plan.  The RCMP will continue to monitor the cost and service levels provided to plan members during the transitional period to a new delivery model, and continue to gather information leading to an overall picture of our pension administration costs and service levels.

The work will involve providing the following services for each year of the contract (including any exercised optional periods):

- Provide to the RCMP for completion, a detailed benchmarking questionnaire examining all aspects of pension administration including call centers, front-line and pension processes, and information technology.  Based on the information gathered (questionnaire responses), the Contractor will analyze all aspects of pension service provided, service costs, service levels, measures of work complexity and volumes.  The Contractor will provide an appropriate peer group, with which the RCMP can be suitably compared.  
- By February 1, provide a preliminary report displaying RCMP, peer group and overall industry averages for all service levels, volumes and cost measures reviewed.
- By March 1, provide an analysis of the benchmarking survey that addresses pension service levels and the relative complexity of RCMP pension administration business activities for review by management.
- By March 1, provide an assessment of some common aspect of all respondents. For example, a review of communication tools, web site or call centre operations to assist in developing best practices for pension business processes.
- By March 31, provide one (1) electronic (in portable document format) and four (4) printed copies of the final annual report in English. The deadline for completion of the final benchmarking report is March 31, contingent upon receipt of all final data from RCMP.  The annual report must contain available final data from as many peers as possible.
- Subsequent to final report, deliver a presentation to RCMP management and/or pension committee on the results of its annual benchmarking report within the current calendar year, highlighting differences between RCMP and its peers. The Contractor will also provide explanations demonstrating why levels of service and complexity of work vary amongst peers as well as provide an analysis of individual plan processes and address each participant plan regarding its achievements and ranking while guarding the anonymity of information of members within the peer group.
- Provide an ongoing opportunity during the contract life for peer networking to inquire about and survey peer participants on aspects of pension administration in order to determine standards utilized amongst the Contractor’s total client base. 

The proposed contract is from date of Contract to March 31, 2014 inclusive with the irrevocable option to extend the term of the Contract by up to four (4) additional one (1) year periods under the same conditions. The Contractor agrees that, during the extended period of the Contract, it will be paid in accordance with the applicable provisions as set out in the Basis of Payment.

The estimated value of the contract, including option periods, is $200,000.00 (HST extra).

Minimum Essential Requirements
Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities that it meets the following requirements: 

1. The supplier must have conducted at least two (2) benchmarking projects for the public sector related to pension administration in the last five (5) years;
2. The member organizations for comparison in the benchmarking projects above must include a minimum mixture of twenty (20) Canadian and International organizations;
3. The supplier must have a database that includes pension information from the twenty (20) Canadian and International organizations identified above for comparison;
4. The supplier must have a peer network for their members to share information related to pension administration
5. The proposed project manager must have experience managing and leading two (2) pension benchmarking projects in the last five (years); and
6. The supplier must have a documented methodology to collect and benchmark the pension service level and the administration costs.

The statement of capability should address clearly and in sufficient depth the requirements that are listed.  Simply repeating the statements contained in this section will not be considered sufficient.  

Justification for the Pre-Selected Supplier
CEM has a proprietary methodology for gathering standardized data and benchmarking key pension administration activities and metrics that meets the RCMP's needs.  Their unique benchmarking service provides an overview of the total administration costs per member, based on the following key factors: total volume, service levels, work (type & volume); member to staff ratio; and complexity of the rules and regulations of RCMP's plan and systems. In addition, the supplier has a database that includes more than 60 public retirement plans. Also, among the participants are American and Canadian plans that are necessary comparators for the RCMP pension plan.  It is believed that the proposed Contractor is the only firm that meets the essential minimum requirements listed above and that participation in the supplier's methodology is the only way to obtain this unique comparability.

Ownership of any Foreground Intellectual Property arising out of the proposed contract will vest in the Contractor.

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to meet the specified requirements may submit a statement of capabilities in writing to the Contracting Authority identified in this Notice on or before the closing date of this Notice. The statement of capabilities must clearly demonstrate how the supplier meets the advertised requirements.

The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is September 13 2013 at 2:00 p.m. EDT.

Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed by email only to:

Markos Vennos
Senior Procurement Officer
Procurement and Contracting Branch
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
E-mail: markos.vennos@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Policy Information

__X__ Government Contracts Regulations (GCRs) [4] – 6d
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