Provincial Reimbursement Advisor (PRA), PharmaFocus (PF) and Canadian Drug Stores and Hospital Purchases Audit (CD&H)

1. 	The purpose and explanation of an ACAN

An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) contracting authorities to post a notice on MERX, for no less than fifteen (15) calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that a good, service or construction contract will be awarded to a pre-identified contractor. If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a Statement of Capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, the contracting authority may then proceed with the award. However, should a Statement of Capabilities be found to meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, then the contracting authority will proceed to a full tendering process.

2.	Rights of suppliers

Suppliers who believe that they are fully qualified and available to provide the services or goods described in this ACAN may submit a Statement of Capabilities clearly demonstrating how they meet the advertised requirement. This Statement of Capabilities must be provided via e-mail only to the contact person identified in Section 12 of the Notice on or before the closing date and time of the Notice. If there is a reasonable level of evidence regarding capability, the requirements will be opened to electronic or traditional bidding processes.

3.	Proposed Contractor

IMS Health Canada Inc. doing business as IMS Brogan Canadian HQ
16720 Trans-Canada Highway
Kirkland, Quebec
H9H 5M3

4.	Definition of Requirements or Expected Results

The PMPRB requires drug information respecting quantities and revenue of medicines sold in 
Canada. The information must be collected in a complete, objective and non-biased fashion by surveying hospitals, pharmacies and wholesalers across Canada.

The PMPRB also requires publications and associated subscription services that provide regular updates on federal and provincial/territorial policy changes related to pharmaceuticals, public drug plan design and coverage, prices and developments of the Common Drug Review and the recommendations of the Canadian Expert Drug Advisory Committee; as well as information on the latest Notice of Compliance as well as statistics and intelligence on the Canadian pharmaceutical market.


5.	Minimum requirements

Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a Statement of Capabilities that it meets the following minimum requirements: 

A) Deliverables 

1.	Two (2) print subscriptions to the quarterly Provincial Reimbursement Advisor (PRA) report (published in February, May, August and November of each calendar year), which shall contain provincial and federal drug reimbursement information which is publicly available; able to be used in PMPRB publications (e.g.. Annual reports, research studies, speeches, etc.); contain the latest information on provincial and federal coverage; contain information on prices and sales of new chemical entities and drug classes; contain information on recent developments of the Common Drug Review and the recommendations of the Canadian Expert Drug Advisory Committee; as well as contain information on the latest Notice of Compliance. 

2.	Two (2) subscriptions, in the format of a compact disk (CD), to the Formulary Acceptance: Monitoring and Evaluation (FAME) Database, updated on a quarterly basis, which shall provide an overview of major new pharmaceutical product and category listings across Canada and shall contain all recent product introductions and their listing status on each provincial formulary and the Non-Insured Health Benefits formulary. 

3.	Electronic subscriptions, delivered via e-mail, to the PRA Weekly publication, which shall provide weekly information updates on important developments, listings, or personnel changes that impact market access and reimbursement decisions in Canadian pharmaceutical management policy. 

4.	One (1) print subscription to the annual PRA Compendium publication, which is a source of information on provincial contacts, advisory committees, submission requirements and guidelines. 

5.	Internet-based access, to current and archived issues of the PRA quarterly report, the PRA Weekly report and related information products. 

6.	Two (2) print subscriptions to the annual in-depth PharmaFocus Ten providing a comprehensive, independent review of the Canadian pharmaceutical marketplace, including a semi-annual update.

7.	Electronic subscriptions, delivered via e-mail, to the Pharma Focus Monthly Market Monitor which provides the most current statistics and intelligence on the performance of the Canadian pharmaceutical market, as well as quantitative and qualitative analysis of the most important market trends and strategic insights. 

8.	Electronic subscriptions, delivered via email, to the PharmaFocus weekly email updates on health reform developments and pharmaceutical news in Canada.

9.	Monthly national and regional subscriptions in the form of a CD to the Canadian Drug Store and Hospital Audit (CDH), which shall contain comprehensive information on brand name and generic drug product sales by manufacturers to hospitals and drugstores in Canada. The information on sales data shall be based on surveys conducted on samples of drug stores and hospitals to reflect purchases throughout Canada. The subscription data shall be publicly available; able to be used in PMPRB publications (e.g. Annual reports, summary reports on individual drug products, price review process, speeches, etc.); contain the product name, manufacturer name, product dosage form, product strength, sales and quantity sold for each brand name and generic product (this information is to be used for the verification of the price and sales information filed by the pharmaceutical company to the PMPRB as well as source of publicly available ex-factory prices for the price review process and for inclusion in published summary reports); contain the aggregate sales for each individual brand name and generic drug product [to allow the calculation of market share by therapeutic class, the calculation of market share by individual medicine, the calculation of the non-patented sales portion of total sales for all provinces for a given year and the use of the information for verification purposes (e.g. sales at aggregate level and by class of customer; of quantities sold; for calculation of R&D ratios)]. The June CD must contain the total sales for the first six months of the year (i.e. January to June) and the December CD must contain sales for the previous twelve months (i.e. January to December).

B) Information type and its method of collection 

The PMPRB requires drug information respecting quantities and revenue of medicines sold in 
Canada. The information must be collected in a complete, objective and non-biased fashion by surveying hospitals, pharmacies and wholesalers across Canada.

6.	Reason for non-competitive award

In accordance with the Government Contracts Regulations (GCR) of the Financial Administration Act, the following request falls under exception 6d of the GCR, which stipulates that only one person or contractor is capable of performing the contract.

IMS Health Canada is the only company to collect the required information in the required complete, objective and non-biased fashion, by surveying hospitals, pharmacies as well as wholesalers across Canada. No other data supplier can provide the type of information that would be sufficient to our needs.

IMS Health Canada is the only company to provide the PRA quarterly and the PRA weekly which provides the most comprehensive summary of federal and provincial/territorial policy changes related to pharmaceuticals, public drug plan design and coverage, prices and developments of the Common Drug Review and the recommendations of the Canadian Expert Drug Advisory Committee; as well as information on the latest Notice of Compliance.

7. 	Applicable trade agreements and justification for limited tendering or the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business

This procurement is subject to the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Agreement-Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP)

NAFTA- Limited tendering reason; the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists, As per Article 1016.2(B) O- Limited tendering reason; the products or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists, As per Article XV (15), Paragraph 1 (b) AIT- Limited tendering reason; where there is an absence of competition for technical reasons and the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no alternative or substitute exists, As per Article  506 Paragraph12 (b)

8.	Ownership of Intellectual Property

Ownership of any Foreground Intellectual Property arising out of the proposed contract will vest with the Contractor.

9.	Period of the proposed contract

The proposed contract is for a period of one (1) year, from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016 with an irrevocable option on the part of Canada to extend the period of any resulting contract by up to four (4) additional one (1) year periods.

10.	Estimated value of the proposed contract

The total estimated value of the proposed contract should not exceed $736,698.98 including all option periods, travel and living expenses (if applicable), and all applicable taxes.

 
11.	Closing date and time 

The closing date and time for accepting Statements of Capabilities is: April 7, 2015 14:00 Eastern Daylight time (EDT)

12.	Contact Person

All inquiries with regard to this Notice must be addressed by e-mail to:

Name:		Nadia Laneve
E-Mail: 	nadia.laneve@pmprb-cepmb.gc.ca