Secretariat Support Services to the Arctic Council's Sustainable Development Working Group

Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Secretariat Support Services to the Arctic Council's Sustainable Development Working Group
Solicitation # 20-13-0155

BACKGROUND
The Arctic Council is comprised of Canada, Finland, Iceland, the Kingdom of Denmark, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States as well as six international indigenous/Aboriginal peoples’ organizations recognized at the Arctic Council as Permanent Participants. Canada is chairing the Arctic Council for the second time since its inception in 1996. The current Canadian Chairmanship commenced in May 2013 and will be for the duration of two years. 
During that period, Canada is also chairing the Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG). The SDWG works on initiatives that provide practical knowledge and contribute to building the capacity of Indigenous Peoples and Arctic communities to respond to challenges and benefit from the opportunities emerging in the Arctic. As with the Arctic Council, the SDWG is focused on continuing to strengthen its work and impact. This requires a continued focus on improving effectiveness and efficiency. 
On a strategic level, the SDWG Secretariat provides the Chair with support and advice to ensure timely completion of SDWG activities and initiatives. The Secretariat collaborates with the Chair to promote the involvement of all SDWG participants and facilitates relations with other Arctic Council working groups/external stakeholders.
On a practical level, the Secretariat provides logistical, administrative and technological support to all SDWG participants, including project leads. The Secretariat’s role also includes ensuring and enabling collaboration with other Arctic Council Working Group Secretariats on the integration of sustainable development content into cross-cutting activities. The SDWG Secretariat has established a website, the content and technical issues of which are managed entirely by the Secretariat. 
The Secretariat plays a vital role in maintaining the SDWG’s professionalism and rigour by upholding high standards of writing, administration, logistics and technology. The Secretariat requires extensive project management skills in order to optimize the SDWG’s work processes. In addition, the Secretariat marshals technology to increase the SDWG’s efficiency and improve its workflow, while simultaneously reducing logistical and administrative inefficiencies.  

OBJECTIVE(S)
To secure one resource to provide secretariat support services to the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) and fulfill the responsibilities of the Executive Secretary of the SDWG Chair. 







MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS

Bidders’ proposals must meet all Mandatory Requirements for the proposal to be considered for further evaluation. Failure on the part of the Bidder to meet any one (1) of these requirements will results in their proposal being deemed non-compliant, with the proposal being given no further consideration.  Each mandatory technical criterion must be addressed separately.

Bidders must complete, sign and submit, as part of their technical proposal package the following:

The Department require only one resource to perform the work.
MANDATORY CRITERIA
M1. The proposed resource Must demonstrate experience facilitating groups of at least 10 people to build voting consensus on a minimum of three (3) separate projects within the last five (5) years.
M2. The proposed resource Must demonstrate three (3) or more years of experience in the past ten (10) years working with indigenous/Aboriginal organizations.
M3. Proposed Resource has earned a Bachelor’s degree from a recognized university. A copy of the university degree or an official transcript with the university seal Must be provided.
M4. Proposed Resources Must include within their bid one (1) completed M4 Reference Form, with affirmative responses, completed by the proposed resource. 
M5. Proposed Resources Must include within their bid two (2) M5 Reference Forms, completed by two (2) different, impartial references. The M5 Reference Form Must affirm that the Proposed Resource satisfactorily managed a project of at least six (6) months in duration, within the last five (5) years, with “yes” answers to each and every question. The Reference Forms Must be for two separate projects.

BASIS OF SELECTION
Only compliant Proposals will be considered.

Only Proposals that have met all Mandatory Requirements, and have achieved or exceeded the minimum required pass marks for the Point-Rated Criteria will be considered.  All Proposals will be rated on technical acceptability before the price is considered.

Contract will be awarded based on a determination of Best Value taking into account both the technical merit of the Proposals and the Financial Evaluation. To arrive at an overall score achieved by a Bidder, a weighting has been established whereby technical merit will be valued at 90% of the Proposal and price will be valued at 10% of the Proposal.  The Bidder will be selected on the basis of the highest combined rating of technical merit and price.

DIAND intends to award one (1) contract a result of this solicitation to the Bidder(s) representing Best Value, as determined in accordance with the Selection and Evaluation Criteria of this RFP.  Best Value shall be defined as the highest Total Scores.



FINANCIAL EVALUATION
The maximum budget available for the Contract resulting from the bid solicitation is as follow:
 A maximum per diem of $580.00/day. (exclusive of applicable taxes)
		
(Goods and Services Tax or Harmonized Sales Tax extra, as appropriate). Bids valued in excess of this amount will be considered non-responsive. This disclosure does not commit Canada to pay the maximum funding available.

The Department intends to award one (1) contract as a result of this proposal call.

This procurement is subject to the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP), the Canada - Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) or the Canada – Peru Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA). 

Contracting Officer:
Véronique Larose
Telephone: 819-934-2031