Drinking Water & Wastewater Laboratory Services

Drinking Water & Wastewater Laboratory Services

This requirement is for: The Correctional Service of Canada, five operational Regions across Canada - Atlantic (New Brunswick and Nova Scotia), Quebec, Ontario, Prairie (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta), and Pacific (British Columbia).

Trade agreement:
• Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
• Canada–Chile Free Trade Agreement
• Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)
• Canada–Colombia Free Trade Agreement
• Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
• Canada–Honduras Free Trade Agreement
• Canada–Korea Free Trade Agreement
• Canada–Panama Free Trade Agreement
• Canada–Peru Free Trade Agreement
• Canada–Ukraine Free Trade Agreement
• Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement
• World Trade Organization–Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-GPA)

Tendering procedures: All interested suppliers may submit a bid.

Competitive Procurement Strategy: lowest priced compliant bid

Set-aside under the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business:

This procurement is open to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous businesses. All interested suppliers may participate. However, suppliers are to note that this requirement is subject to a preference for Indigenous suppliers and will be set-aside under the federal government Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (PSIB) if Canada receives two or more responsive bids from Indigenous businesses who meet the requirements of the PSIB.

Indigenous businesses that have not already registered in the Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) Indigenous Business Directory should do so. Additional information on the Indigenous Business Directory is available at the following link:

https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1100100033057/1610797769658#c3.

Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: This procurement is not subject to a Comprehensive Land Claims Agreement.

Security Requirements: This standing offer does not include security requirements.

Nature of Requirements:

The following is a summary of the statement of work for this requirement.

Correctional Service Canada (CSC) requires accredited laboratory services to analyse drinking water and wastewater samples. CSC has five operational Regions across Canada - Atlantic (New Brunswick and Nova Scotia), Quebec, Ontario, Prairie (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta), and Pacific (British Columbia). CSC has divided this requirement per operational Region. Bidders may submit an offer for one or more than one region. Bidders submitting an offer for more than one region must satisfy the drinking water (EP) or wastewater (EU) services, or both, for all regions for which they are submitting an offer. A proposal may be submitted for the provision of one (1) of the following services per operational Region:
For the Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, or Pacific Region:
- All DW services (1A and 1B) + all WW services (1C and 1D)
- All DW services (1A and 1B)
- All WW services (1C & 1D)

For the Prairie Region:
- All DW services (1A and 1B) + all WW services (1C and 1D)
- DW services (1A and 1B) excluding Service 1A for OOHL* + all WW services (1C and 1D)
- All DW service (1A and 1B)
- DW services (1A and 1B) excluding Service 1A for OOHL*
- All DW services for Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge (OOHL)* (1A and 1B)
- DW Service 1A for OOHL*
- All WW services (1C and 1D)

* Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge (OOHL): Priority shipping may be considered in this case due to geographic limitations.

Objectives: The Contractor must provide all laboratory services for the analysis of drinking water, or wastewater samples, or both from all facilities within one of the CSC Regions.

Offerors should refer to the request for standing offer (RFSO) document contains Appendixes for applicable institutions and type of services, a detailed list of the service packages and their parameters and the estimated annual utilization per service package.

Deliverables:

1.3.1 Sampling and Shipping Supplies

The Contractor must provide all sampling and shipping supplies required to carry out the work, including but not limited to the following:

1. Sampling bottles to allow the sampling as indicated in Appendix III to Annex A. The bottles the Contractor provides must be in accordance with the analyses requested and analytical method the Contractor must use. When applicable, the bottle(s) must contain the appropriate preservative, or solvent, or both.

2. Pre-filled labels. A CSC representative may request that the laboratory place the pre-filled labels on the bottles.

3. Sampling instructions (electronic, or paper format, or both) when requested.

4. Electronic Chain-of-custody (CoC) form in an editable electronic format to allow for CSC to customized it to the needs of each site.

5. CoC form in paper format form when requested.

6. Coolers and ice packs in sufficient quantities. The quality of the coolers and number of ice packs the Contractor provides must be suitable for the forecasted weather conditions to ensure samples are received at the laboratory within prescribed temperature for requested analyses.

7. Pre-filled shipping waybills and labels in sufficient quantities.

1.3.2 Shipping Arrangements

1. The Contractor must establish and maintain shipping arrangements for the following:

a) Delivery of sampling and shipping supplies to each institution a minimum of four (4) weeks prior to the day on which sampling is scheduled to occur.

b) Pickup of sample cooler(s) at the institution on the day of sampling and transportation to the laboratory for analysis. The Contractor must ensure that samples arrive at the laboratory in suitable condition, within the recommended hold times, or temperatures, or both for the requested analyses.

2. Address recurring shipping issues with the Contractor’s courier service provider to resolve them and if resolution is not possible, establish shipping arrangements with another service provider. Shipping issues include, but are not limited to, samples received exceeding the recommended holding time, above 10 oC, partially or completely frozen, or damaged.

1.3.3 Sample Reception

The Contractor must:

1. Upon arrival of sample(s) at the laboratory:

a) Record the internal cooler temperature and the time of reception.
b) Inspect the cooler and sampling bottles to ensure they are in good condition.
c) Verify that the information on each bottle label matches the information on the CoC form.

3. Store samples in accordance with the analytical method for the analyses requested.

1.3.4 Laboratory Accreditations

1. The Contractor must have and maintain all necessary accreditations to perform the required analytical testing for the duration of the contract including any option if and when exercised by CSC as outlined in Appendix III to Annex A. All accreditations must be from an acceptable accreditation body. Acceptable accreditation bodies are the Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation (CALA), the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) or other accreditation bodies recognized under Mutual Recognition Arrangements from the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) or the Programme d’accréditation des laboratoires analyse environnementales (PALAE) from the Province of Québec.

2. Advise the CSC’s Project Authority within 24 hours if an accreditation body revokes one of the required accreditations.

1.3.5 Analytical Testing

The Contractor must:

1. Use accredited methods to perform the requested analyses. For microbiological parameters, the colony forming unit (CFU) method is preferred if accreditation is available, but the most probable number (MPN) method is also acceptable.

2. Complete analytical testing within the prescribed turnaround time for the requested analysis.

3. Perform analysis of parameters included under Service 1B (drinking water chemical and physical parameters) with detection limits below the guidelines listed in the most recent version of the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality.

1.3.6 Reporting Results

The Contractor must:

1. Provide a Certificate of Analysis (COA) to the applicable CSC representative(s).

2. Notify CSC within one (1) hour of analysis completion for all drinking water adverse or rush analysis results. For parameters included under:

a) Service 1A, notify one of the designated CSC by phone followed by an email to applicable CSC representatives.
b) Service 1B, notify applicable CSC representatives by email.

3. Upload all drinking water and wastewater results (non-adverse and adverse) to Compliance365 (C365), or any other online database specified by CSC, within five (5) business days of analysis completion.

4. For each report, upload all required information in separated fields of the online database. The required information includes, but is not limited to the following:
a) Report ID. The Contractor must use the same ID number in all reporting formats (i.e., database, COA, and email(s)) as well as on the invoice.
b) Data upload date.
c) Sampling Point ID.
d) Sampling Point Name.
e) Sample collection date and time.
f) Sampler name or initials.
g) Sample comment(s). These include comments from chain of custody forms and laboratory observations.
h) Analyte(s). The Contractor must also upload field collected data (e.g., free chlorine, pH, turbidity, etc.) included on the CoC forms as an analyte to the database, free of charge, even in the instance that samples cannot be analysed. For each analyte the Contractor must include following information, as applicable:
i. Result and unit of measure.
ii. Method detection Limit.
iii. Analytical Method.
iv. Analysis date.
v. Analysis comment(s).

Any conditions for participation of suppliers not specified in solicitation documentation: none.

Estimated quantity of commodity: see solicitation document statement of work and basis of payment.

Duration of the Standing Offer and Time Frame for Delivery:

Period of the Standing Offer: The Work is to be performed during the period of Standing Offer Award to three (3) years later, with the option to renew for two (2) additional one-year periods.

File Number: 21120-24-4672190

Contracting Authority: Stéphanie Gigoux
E-mail: stephanie.gigoux@csc-scc.gc.ca

NOTE TO BIDDERS: Bidders can obtain the complete statement of work and evaluation criteria by downloading the solicitation document and associated documents from the Canada buys / tender opportunities website.

The Crown reserves the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement.

Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada (English or French).

After contract award, bidders may request a debriefing on the results of the bid solicitation process. Bidders should make the request to the Contracting Authority within fifteen (15) working days of receipt of the results of the bid solicitation process. The debriefing may be in writing, by telephone or in person.

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