Indigenous Cultural Literacy and Intercultural Intelligence Training/Workshop Services

ADVANCE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE

AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD CANADA – No. 01B68-20-0089

The Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) has a requirement for the delivery of a series of training workshops by the end of the fiscal year, to train 80 federal scientists and science professionals on cultural literacy and intercultural intelligence when engaging with Indigenous Peoples in the co-development of scientific research projects. The contract will be primarily to deliver training and a combination of training and facilitation as the course progresses towards the engagement module. The purpose of this Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) is to signal the government's intention to award a contract for these services to:

NVision Insight Group Inc.

488 Gladstone Avenue

Ottawa, ON

K1R 5N8

Before awarding the 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, the contract will be awarded to the pre-selected supplier, as referenced above.

Project Title:

Indigenous Cultural Literacy and Intercultural Intelligence Training/Workshop Services

Background:

It is essential for researchers from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and other federal science-based departments and agencies who work with Indigenous partners to receive intercultural intelligence and engagement training to ensure that any engagement and science collaboration is done in a culturally appropriate manner. As part of the AAFC-led I-STEM (Indigenous - Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Cluster, a training program for educating scientists working with Indigenous partners is required on a government-wide scale. AAFC is leading the piloting and development of learning approaches for federal scientists within the I-STEM Cluster. AAFC requires external support and expertise to co-develop and test cultural literacy/intercultural intelligence learning approaches specific to scientific cooperation that will be appropriate and cost-effective. Since many researchers are already engaging with or plan to be co-developing research projects with Indigenous partners in 2021, there is an time-sensitive need for the 80 scientists and science professionals identified by the I-STEM Cluster to be trained prior to the upcoming field season (Spring 2021).

This is a new contract, and the proposed work (use of a proprietary learning module with facilitated virtual classroom sessions) has not been done before with this type of content. As this is a pilot, there is the possibility of subsequent contracting in the future, but this is unconfirmed.

Objective:

The objectives of the contract are as follows:

1) Services from NVision Insight Group Inc. will allow AAFC to pilot/test and evaluate course materials over four cohorts of 20 learners each in science-specific training workshops and materials for partnering with Indigenous communities. The four cohorts will test the effectiveness of using different approaches and cohort combinations (e.g. regional; interdepartmental; multidisciplinary) and will be offered in different combinations of official languages (English-only, French-only, bilingual). 

2) Services from NVision Insight Group Inc. will help to build capacity within AAFC and other departments to support Indigenous aspirations in agriculture and natural resource stewardship.

I-STEM will survey the four cohorts to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of the training services. Upon completing the training, learners will be able to apply the content to existing and future federal science projects with Indigenous partners to ensure long term, sustainable partnerships.

Scope of Work:

NVision Insight Group Inc. will provide and deliver a 3-part training course called “The Path” that progresses through 3 modules: (1) Your Journey Through Indigenous Canada (Indigenous awareness and literacy – self-paced online module), (2) Indigenous Inter-Cultural Intelligence (facilitated virtual classroom session), and (3) Indigenous engagement (facilitated virtual classroom session). This aligns with and will be further adapted to the principles, format and success factors identified in two previous AAFC/I-STEM Cluster-led scientist training workshops held in 2019 and 2020. Content will be delivered in a remote work setting.

While the training material has been developed already and is proprietary to NVision, there is flexibility in module 3 as it deals with engagement planning which is context specific. In this case, module 3 (Indigenous Engagement) will be adapted to be relevant to science cooperation with Indigenous partners for the specific purposes of the natural resource-based science departments involved in the interdepartmental I-STEM Cluster (as outlined in Objective 1). NVision Insight Group Inc. will deliver online self-paced training (module #1) and will work with the I-STEM Cluster to ensure federal science-specific context and considerations are woven throughout the delivery of the virtual classroom sessions (modules #2 and #3). NVision Insight Group Inc. program will provide learners with a module completion certification and will provide I-STEM with ongoing progress reports to allow learners and managers to track course completion progress for learning plans.

Eighty (80) learners (scientists and science professionals) will be led through the full course (3 Modules) by end of the fiscal year 2020-21, in 4 cohorts of 20 learners each.

Each learner will receive:

• MODULE 1: Your Journey through Indigenous Canada – access to five online modules
• MODULE 2: Indigenous Intercultural Intelligence – 4 x 90-minute facilitated virtual classroom sessions
• MODULE 3: Indigenous Engagement – 4 x 90-min facilitated virtual classroom sessions

Deliverables And Schedule:

1) NVIsion Insight Inc. will have on-line self directed course material available for learners immediately upon signing of the contract, and extend until March31, 2021. 

2) On-line classroom sessions will be held and completed ideally before March 31, 2021. 

If there are delays due to scheduling issues of the learning cohorts, this contract may be extended to final delivery by June 30, 2021 (e.g., COVID-19 may delay availability of Indigenous and non-Indigenous facilitators). Payment will occur upon completion of the Deliverables, upon receipt of the invoice.

Location of Work: 

The work for this contract will occur at the Contractor’s location. All learners will remain at their work locations. All material will be delivered in online/virtual format and no travel will be required.

Minimum Essential Qualifications:

To fulfill the requirements of the contract, any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities that it has the capacity to provide the same information that is listed above.

Government of Canada Regulations Exception:

The Treasury Board’s Government Contract Regulations, Part 10.2.1 Section 6 states there are four exceptions that permit the contracting authority to set aside the requirement to solicit bids. The exception for related to this ACAN includes:

d. “only one supplier person or firm is capable of performing the contract.”

Limited Tendering Provisions In Accordance With The Trade Agreements:

The North American Free Trade Agreement, the World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement, and the Agreement on Internal Trade permit the contracting authority to set aside the requirement to solicit bids under the following condition:

b) “For works of art, reasons connected with protecting patents, copyrights, other exclusive rights, or proprietary information or where there is an absence for technical reasons, the goods or services can be supplied by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists”

Justification for the Pre-Selected Supplier:

This is a highly specialized training program that NVision has co-developed and delivered to other Government Departments. They provide Indigenous literacy training in the context of science cooperation and bridging Indigenous and western science knowledge systems. It is believed that no other organizations have the experience delivering this type of training and content to science-based departments. The contractor is a majority Indigenous-owned and operated business and this is a Requirement.

Contract Period:

The resulting contract will be valid from date of contract award extending to March 31, 2021.

Estimate of Costs:

It is intended to award a service contract to the supplier for an amount of $32,668.00 CAD plus applicable taxes.

Project Authority:

Emily McAuley

Senior Indigenous Science Liaison Officer

Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

960 Carling Avenue

Ottawa, ON K1A 0C5

Telephone: (613) 220-2978

Email: emily.mcauley@canada.ca

Contracting Authority:

 Rhonda DiMarco

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Professional Services Contracting Unit

1341 Baseline Road, Tower 5, Floor 2,

Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C5

Tel: (613) 773-0934

Email: rhonda.dimarco@canada.ca 

Suppliers Right to Submit a Statement of Capabilities:

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: Monday January 18, 2021 at 12:00 P.M. (EST, Ottawa time). Inquiries and Statements of Capabilities are to be delivered via email to:

Email: rhonda.dimarco@canada.ca

Requisition Number: ACAN no. 01B68-20-0089

Statements of Capabilities must be sent on or before the closing date. Statement of Capabilities received on or before the closing date will be considered solely for the purpose of deciding whether or not to conduct a more extensive tendering process. Information provided will be used by the Crown for technical evaluation purposes only with respect to a decision to proceed to a further competitive process. Suppliers that have submitted a Statement of Capabilities will be notified in writing of AAFC's decision to proceed to award the contract without a further additional tendering process.

Should you have any questions concerning this requirement, contact the Contracting Officer identified above stating the AAFC Solicitation Number (01B68-20-0089) and the closing date of the ACAN.

The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement. Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.