External Auditing Services

Notice of Intended Procurement
Name of Procuring Entity
Toronto Metropolitan University (the “University”)

Contact Person and Contract Person Coordinates
Tim Sage, 1 Dundas St West, 16th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5B 2H1, 416-979-5000 ext. 557243


Procurement Documents
The procurement documents are available at www.merx.com.
  
Note that obtaining access to the procurement documents will require prospective suppliers to register and pay a registration fee.  Pricing and Payment Terms are available on the MERX website.


Description of Procurement
The University is conducting a Request for Proposal (“RFP”) for External Audit Services.

The procurement is anticipated to involve negotiation.  An electronic auction is not anticipated. 


Address and Final Date for Submissions
Submissions must be submitted electronically at https://tmu.bonfirehub.ca on or before On or Before September 25, 2024, 11:00:00 AM EDT.

The submissions will not be opened publicly.

Conditions for Participation
The procurement is subject to the following conditions for participation:

Insurance Requirements
 

1. Commercial General Liability Insurance against third party bodily injury (including death), personal injury and broad form property damage (including loss of use) and including products and completed operations liability and blanket contractual liability for an amount of not less than five million dollars ($5,000,000.00) per occurrence.  Such insurance shall include a cross liability and severability of interests clause and an endorsement naming the University, its governors, trustees, officers and employees as an Additional Insured;

b)           Standard automobile insurance for all vehicles owned, licensed or leased by the Supplier and non-owned automobile insurance, where required, for an amount of not less than two million dollars ($2,000,000.00), per occurrence for each type of coverage. Where the non-owned automobile insurance coverage is provided within a general liability policy, a separate policy is not required;
c)           Professional liability insurance for an amount of not less than two million dollars ($2,000,000.00) per occurrence, if applicable to the type of Services offered under this Agreement. This insurance policy is required to be maintained throughout the Term of the Agreement and for a period of twenty-four (24) months after the completion of the Services;
d)           Cyber Risk Insurance covering liabilities resulting or arising from data damage, destruction, corruption, including without limitation, failure to protect privacy, unauthorized access, unauthorized use, virus transmission, denial of service and loss of income from network security failures in connection with the Services provided under this agreement with a minimum limit of two million dollars ($2,000,000) each claim and annual aggregate. Such insurance will also include coverage for notification costs and credit monitoring services. Such insurance will be maintained on a continuous basis for two (2) years subsequent to termination of this Agreement; a standalone Cyber and Privacy policy is not required if this coverage is included under a Technology Errors & Omissions Policy.

WSIB

A valid WSIB Clearance Certificate or alternatively Private Employer’s Liability in the amount of $2MM.
Security Assessment

Successful completion of a security risk assessment and compliance with the University's security recommendations
Privacy Assessment

  Successful completion of a privacy risk assessment and privacy impact assessment and compliance with the University's security and privacy recommendations

Minimum Passing Score
For File # 2- RFP Privacy, Security Requirements, Proponents must pass both requirements.
    The Minimum Passing Score for Stage 2- Technical Evaluated Criteria is 70% or 49 out of 70 points.
    The Minimum Passing Score for Stage 3- Short-Listed Proponent Presentations is 70% or 7 out of 10 points

Applicable Trade Agreements
This procurement is subject to the following trade agreement(s):

The Canadian Free Trade Agreement, Chapter Five
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, Chapter 19
The Ontario-Quebec Trade and Cooperation Agreement, Chapter 9

Contract Details
The term of the agreement is five (5) years.


The University will base its selection of qualified suppliers on the following criteria:

Stage 1 - Mandatory Evaluation Criteria:

CRITERIA                                                                                                                               WEIGHTING (POINTS)
File #1 – Proposal Acknowledgement Form                                                                                          Pass/Fail
File #2 – RFP Privacy Requirements- Mandatory                                                                                 Pass/Fail
File #2 – RFP Security Requirements- Mandatory                                                                                Pass/Fail

Stage 2- Technical Evaluation Criteria:

CRITERIA                                                                                                                               WEIGHTING (POINTS)
File # 3 – Company Information                                                                                                                  5
File # 4 – Relevant Experience                                                                                                                   20
File # 5 – Other Items                                                                                                                                  5
File # 6 – Understanding the Services                                                                                                        25
File # 7 – Project Team Members                                                                                                               10
File # 8 – Social Practices                                                                                                                            5
                                                                                                                                 Subtotal                     70
Minimum Passing Score – Stage 2                                                                                                           49.0

Stage 3- Presentation

CRITERIA                                                                                                                               WEIGHTING (POINTS)
Presentation                                                                                                                                                10
Minimum Passing Score – Stage 3                                                                                                              7

It is the University’s intention to interview the top 2 scoring Proponents following the evaluation of the Technical Evaluation Criteria in Stage (2).  However, the University reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to invite additional Proponents to advance to the Interview in Stage (3) of the evaluation based on the next highest rated criteria scores following the original top 2 scoring Proponents.  For clarity, the University may elect to invite the 3rd highest scoring Proponent to the Interview Stage and then the 4th highest scoring Proponent to the Interview Stage, and so on, provided all such additional Proponents invited to the Interview Stage have scored at or above the minimum threshold of the Technical Evaluation Criteria Stage.

Stage 4- Financial Evaluation Criteria:

CRITERIA                                                                                                                                  WEIGHTING (POINTS)
Pricing Part I - Table 1 - Defined Hourly Resource Rates
– Line-Item Average Hourly Rate Years 1 to 5 by Role, consisting of:
•  Key Assigned Lead Partner /Account Executive assigned to TMU or equivalent                                       1
•  Secondary assigned Partner/Account Executive to TMU or equivalent                                                      1
•  Key Audit Lead Manager or equivalent                                                                                                        1
•  Lead Senior Staff assigned to TMU or equivalent                                                                                       1
•  Senior Associate or equivalent                                                                                                                    1
•  Quality Control Partner or equivalent                                                                                                           1
•  Support Staff or equivalent - Accountant 1                                                                                                  1
•  Support Staff or equivalent - Accountant 2                                                                                                 1

Pricing Part II - Scenarios consisting of:
Table 3 - Scenario 1 – Annual Consolidated Financial Statement Audit
•  Total Fixed Fee                                                                                                                                            4
Table 4 - Scenario 2 – Enrollment Audit
•  Total Fixed Fee                                                                                                                                            4
Table 5 - Scenario 3 – Pension Plan Audit
•  Total Fixed Fee                                                                                                                                            4
                                                                                                                                               Subtotal          20

                                                                                                                             Total Evaluated Score      100




Notes
Suppliers should note that information contained within this notice is subject to change. Suppliers are encouraged to obtain the procurement documents which contain the most current information.  If there is a conflict between the procurement documents and this notice, the procurement documents will take precedence.
 

Bidding and Documents are available on http://www.merx.com. Fees may apply; See https://www.merx.com/public/pricing for more information.