Firms - Research Services: Analysis & Writing AND Research Support

Set Aside - Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business (PSAB)

TITLE

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC), Specific Claims Branch (SCB) – Research Services – Standing Offer Agreement – Firms.

SUMMARY

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC), Resolution and Partnerships (R&P), the Specific Claims Branch (SCB) reviews past wrongs that relate to the administration of land and other First Nation assets and to the fulfillment of historic treaties and other agreements.

First Nations research their own claims and submit them to the Government of Canada where the submissions are assessed against the minimum standard. If the submissions meet the minimum standard, they are filed with the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and proceed to the Assessment Period where there are three steps: research, legal review, and assessment. This Request for Standing Offers (RFSO) is concerned with the research step. A review of the claim is performed to identify any possible research gaps. If any gaps are identified, research is conducted to try to fill these gaps. First Nations submit many submissions to the Government of Canada for assessment. For this reason, SCB outsources research to Contractors who have shown to have a set of specialized skills meeting SCB’s Research Unit’s requirements as described in the statement of work below.

Contractor research focused services will support SCB’s research step during the Specific Claims process as noted above, or SCB’s research concerning litigation of Specific Claims.

OBJECTIVE

To provide CIRNAC with Research Services in the following two categories: Analysis & Writing and Research Support.

Firms shall be legally structured as a corporation, partnership or joint venture.

CIRNAC seeks Firms located throughout Canada that are capable of:

Providing Research Services to ensure that a complete evidentiary record is compiled for use in Specific Claim negotiation activities;

Planning, managing and directing research projects and teams;

Conducting primary and secondary research to identify, collect, summarize and extract information from documents related to CIRNAC Specific Claims research and negotiations and to create document collections, reports, file summaries, map/survey collections, bibliographies, and to provide other related research services, including historical, anthropological, ethnographic, and genealogical research; and

Firms must be capable of providing services in the following two categories of Research Services:

a) Analysis & Writing; and

b) Research Support

PROCUREMENT STRATEGY FOR ABORIGINAL BUSINESS

This procurement is set aside under the federal government Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business. For more information on Aboriginal business requirements of the Set-aside Program for Aboriginal Business, refer to Annex 9.4 of the Supply Manual.

SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

There are security requirements associated with the requirement of the Standing Offer. For additional information, see Part 6 - Security, Financial and Insurance Requirements, and Part 7 - Standing Offer and Resulting Contract Clauses. For more information on personnel and organization security screening or security clauses, offerors should refer to the Contract Security Program of Public Works and Government Services Canada (http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/esc-src/introduction-eng.html) website.

PERIOD OF THE RESULTING STANDING OFFER AGREEMENTS (SOA)

The Standing Offer Agreements (SOAs) resulting from this RFSO process will be from SOA award date to March 31, 2024 with two (2) additional one (1) year option period.

For more information on this Request for Standing Offers (RFSO), please consult the Solicitation Document below.

QUESTIONS

All questions regarding this RFSO must be submitted in writing to:

Christine Madore

Senior Procurement Officer

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC)

E-mail address: christine.madore@canada.ca