Please be advised that the original ACAN (24062-16-056) for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) was posted from October 28^th to November 12^th 2015. TBS is now posting ACAN (24062-16-056-A) which is meant as an extension to the original ACAN and will now close on November 20^th at 2:00pm Eastern Time.

ADVANCE CONTRACT AWARD NOTIFICATION (ACAN)

An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows departments and agencies to post a notice, for no less than fifteen calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that it intends to award a good, service or construction contract 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 competitive requirements of the government’s contracting policy have been met. Following notification to suppliers not successful in demonstrating that their statement of capabilities meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, the contract may then be awarded using the Treasury Board’s electronic bidding authorities.

If other potential suppliers submit statements of capabilities during the posting period, and meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, the department or agency must proceed to a full tendering process on either the government’s electronic tendering service or through traditional means, in order to award the contract.

DESCRIPTION OF WORK

Background

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) has a requirement to conduct a costing capability maturity assessment of the Government of Canada to assess the current status of the costing capability maturity level of the government as a whole and of selected departments and to compare the maturity level against benchmarks pertaining to international organizations with projects of a size, complexity and nature comparable to major Crown projects carried out by the Government of Canada. The objective is to allow TBS to set an action plan for building stronger costing capability within the federal government and to focus resources towards costing areas with identified gaps needing attention when developing new guidance and tools.

Scope

The work will involve three phases consisting of the following:

Phase 1:

An evidence gathering phase in which the supplier will review costing documentation of the Federal Government. The documentation will include information such as government-wide guidelines; departmental costing management plans including procedures; information on cost data, costing assumptions lists and databases; information on personnel qualifications in costing and training documentation.

Phase 2:

An information collection phase in which the supplier will conduct a workshop in collaboration with TBS and with the participation of representatives from four federal government departments. During the workshop, a robust information collection tool will be distributed to participants to collect information on costing parameters including tools, data, processes and staff qualifications which will be used to assess the costing capability maturity level. Open discussions will be held to validate answers gathered during this exercise. The deliverable for this phase is the successful conduct of the workshop.

Phase 3:

An evaluation phase in which the supplier will analyze the information collected in the previous phases in order to provide a report to TBS that will include the following deliverables:

• Evaluation of the costing capability maturity level of the Government of Canada through benchmark against comparable international organizations. This includes the determination of costing capability maturity level of specific federal government departments using a robust methodology that specifically assesses the range of elements involved in carrying out comprehensive costing activities (e.g. people system, processes, etc..);
• Identification of areas of weaknesses (gap analysis) and provision of recommendations to improve identified gaps;
• Estimation of level of difficulty to implement the recommendations and estimation of impact on costing capability following implementation.

It is expected that the costing capability maturity assessment report will flow logically and have sufficient details to enable TBS to establish an actionable plan to develop guidance and tools to build stronger costing capability within the Government of Canada.

The estimated contract duration is five months and the deliverable date for the costing capability maturity assessment final report is March 31, 2016.

REQUIREMENTS

Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities that it meets the following requirements:

• Experience in conducting at least three costing capability maturity assessments for international organizations with projects of a size, complexity and nature comparable to major Crown projects carried out by the Government of Canada, such as projects related to defence, federal infrastructure (e.g., real property, engineering assets such as major highways, bridges or ports) and/or marine, air and land transportation. The maturity assessments must have included determination of level of costing capability using benchmarks against best practices and industry standards, the identification of gaps and the provision of recommendations to improve organizational costing capability level;
• Experience in developing information collection tools and in conducting information collection sessions to gather evidence on costing capability level of an organization;
• Knowledge and understanding of cost estimating and analysis best practices and international industry standards;
• Knowledge of costing tools (i.e. software) and professional costing certification requirements;

Resources with professional accreditation with a recognized cost estimating and analysis organization (for ex: ICEAA, ACostE).

JUSTIFICATION FOR PRE-SELECTED SUPPLIER

As the objective of this requirement is to assess the costing capability maturity level of the Government of Canada, the supplier must have the necessary expertise to perform an assessment of the costing capability of a government organization at the national level, including its costing capability with respect to key major projects related to defence, infrastructure and transportation, through benchmark against best practices and international industry standards pertaining to comparable organizations. The supplier must also have significant experience in providing sound recommendations for improvements in assessed costing areas to allow the client organization to focus resources towards identified gaps.

The pre-selected supplier has a proprietary process consisting of a costing capability maturity assessment framework which has been used to assess the costing capability of private and public organizations in Europe and the United States in various sectors such as government organizations, aerospace, defense, information technology and services. Through these assessments, the pre-selected supplier has collected information from a wide variety of organizations which allows for the determination of costing best practice benchmarks and international industry standards. The costing capability maturity assessment framework and the costing benchmark database took years of research and development and, through this requirement, the Government of Canada can benefit from this expertise by obtaining an evidence based assessment of its current costing capability at the national level by comparing it against a cohort of comparable international organizations.

The pre-selected supplier has a team of costing specialists led by an accredited costing professional having more than 25 years of experience in cost forecasting theory and practice, an in-depth knowledge of Industry and Government and an internationally recognized expertise. The costing team has a wide experience in conducting costing capability maturity assessments in various domains (aerospace, defense, information technology, services, government) and has completed a variety of international assignments, including the conduct of independent cost estimates and cost reviews of key commonwealth projects as part of the Australian Government Department of Defence Force Structure Review.

Due to the considerable experience of the pre-selected supplier in the conduct of the costing capability maturity assessment of international private and public organizations with projects of a size, complexity and nature comparable to major Crown projects carried out by the Government of Canada, the considerable level of depth of costing benchmarks gathered through these assessments and level of professional costing expertise of the pre-selected supplier personnel, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat is of the view that the proposed supplier is the only one having the costing capability maturity assessment process sought in order to perform the required work and invoke the exception to soliciting bids under paragraph 6. (d) of the Government Contracts Regulations and the limited tendering provision under paragraph 1016.2(b) of the North American Free Trade Agreement).

TRADE AGREEMENTS AND COMPREHENSIVE LAND CLAIMS AGREEMENT

This proposed procurement is subject to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CColFTA), Canada - Panama Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) and Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA). This proposed procurement is not subject to any Comprehensive Land Claim Agreements.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. All Intellectual Property Rights in the Foreground Information belong to the Contractor as soon as they come into existence.

2. Despite the Contractor's ownership of all the Intellectual Property Rights in the Foreground Information, Canada has unrestricted ownership rights in any prototype, model, custom or customized system or equipment that is a deliverable under the Contract, including manuals and other operating and maintenance documents. This includes the right to make them available for public use, whether for a fee or otherwise, sell them or otherwise transfer ownership in them.

3. Any personal information, as defined in the Privacy Act, R.S., 1985, c. P-21, collected by the Contractor in the execution of the Work under the Contract becomes the property of Canada immediately upon collection and must be used only for the performance of the Work. The Contractor has no right in any such personal information.

4. If the Work under the Contract involves the preparation of a database or other compilation using information or data supplied by Canada and any personal information referred to above, the Intellectual Property Rights in the database or compilation containing such information will belong to Canada. The Contractor's Intellectual Property Rights in the Foreground Information are restricted to those capable of being exploited without the use of the information or data supplied by Canada and the personal information.

5. The Contractor must maintain the confidentiality of the information or data supplied by Canada and the personal information as required in the General Conditions. The Contractor must return all the information belonging to Canada on request or on completion or termination of the Contract. This includes returning all hard copies and electronic copies as well as any paper or electronic record that contains any part of the information or information derived from it.

CONTRACT PERIOD

The proposed contract award is estimated to be from date of contract award to March 31, 2016.

ESTIMATED VALUE

The value of the proposed contract is expected to be approximately $89,000 excluding any applicable taxes.

APPLICABLE STATUTORY AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS

Applicable Exceptions to Soliciting Bids under the Government Contracts Regulations (Section 6):

d. only one person is capable of performing the contract.

Applicable Limited Tendering Provision under the North American Free Trade Agreement (Article 1016.2)

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

Applicable Limited Tendering Provision under the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (Article 1409):

(b) Where the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute goods or services exist for any of the following reasons:

1. The requirement is for a work of art,
2. The protection of patents, copyrights or other exclusive rights, or
3. Due to an absence of competition for technical reasons;

   Applicable Limited Tendering Provision under the Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement (Article 16.10):

   b. the procurement can be carried out only by a particular supplier and a reasonable alternative or substitute does not exist because:

   i. the requirement is for a work of art,

   ii. a good or service being procured is protected by a patent, copyright or another exclusive right, or

   iii. of the absence of competition for technical reasons;

   Applicable Limited Tendering Provision under the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (Article Kbis-09):

   b. where, for works of art, or for reasons connected with the protection of patents, copyrights or other exclusive rights, or proprietary information or where there is an absence of competition for technical reasons, the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists;

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PROPOSED CONTRACTOR

QinetiQ Limited

Cody Technology Park

Ively Road

Farnborough, Hampshire

GU14 0LX

United Kingdom

SUBMISSION OF STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services/goods described herein, may submit a statement of capabilities in writing to the contact person 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 2 P.M. Eastern Time on November 12, 2015.

CONTACT PERSON

Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:

James Steedman

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

90 Elgin Street

Ottawa, Ontario

K1A 0R5

Canada

Telephone: 613-617-4287

E-mail: james.steedman@tbs-sct.gc.ca