Purchase of Market Sales Data and Item Rankings

Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN)

Title: Purchase of Market Sales Data and Item Rankings

Solicitation Number: 1000176937

1. The Purpose and Explanation of an ACAN

An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows Health Canada to post a notice for no less than fifteen (15) calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that a goods, services 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 minimum requirements identified in the ACAN, the Contracting Authority may then proceed to award a contract to the pre-identified contractor.

2. Rights of Suppliers

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services or goods described in this ACAN may submit a Statement of Capabilities 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 the Bidder can clearly demonstrate they possess the required capabilities, the requirement will be opened to electronic or traditional bidding processes.

3. Proposed Contractor

ACNielsen Company of Canada

160 McNabb Street

Markham, Ontario

L3R 4B8

4. Definition of Requirements or Expected Results

AC Nielsen retail sales and volume data will provide Health Canada with the insights on trends in food availability and purchase and consumer food choice decisions. These data will allow more comprehensive monitoring of trends given the breadth of the coverage from the agricultural commodity provided in the food supply data to the food product in its purchased form from the AC Nielsen data.

In 2015 Statistics Canada is collecting detailed data on the consumption of foods and dietary supplements among a representative sample of Canadians at national and provincial levels. This data is used to estimate the distribution of usual dietary intake in terms of nutrients from foods, food groups, dietary supplements and eating patterns. Health Canada provides Statistics Canada with a food and recipe database to appropriately code foods reported into nutrients. In order to deliver on that commitment, Health Canada requires Nielsen retail sales and market share data to assess volume of sale of multiple foods to create food composites that reflect the Canadian market at a time as close as possible to the data collection period in order to deliver an update the food and recipe database.

The market share information will also be used to inform policy-makers of estimate differences in sales patterns in the market and will equally be useful in informing decision making related to other food matters at Health Canada, like the foods at the food-NHP interface that have transitioned to the food regulatory system, and the monitoring of sodium intake of Canadians. Market share information can also be used to inform health risk assessments and inform risk management decisions by providing Canadian specific context on the availability of a given food in a certain time period. This is important for understanding the potential exposure to pathogens should a given food be contaminated with a microbial hazard. The data purchase will equally be useful in monitoring consumer trends as they relate to other matters under consideration within the Food Directorate and the Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion. This information is required by the Ministry to support its sodium reduction efforts. The data will be used to monitor the progress of sodium reduction strategies under voluntary guidelines to bring the average daily sodium intake of Canadians to 2300 mg/day by 2017. ONPP will also be using the data in the review of Canada’s Food Guide for Healthy Eating and its dietary guidance.

5. Minimum Requirements

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

The Bureau of Food Surveillance and Science Integration require national retail sales data and item rankings for grocery food items in select food categories. For the purpose of this initiative, Health Canada requires the following information.

• 52 week sales volumes and values for all prepackaged, name brand grocery food items:

• Complete product description of each item linked to the product category to which it belongs;

• National only, category item rankings for all prepackaged and national brand items on file

• Channels; National all channels (GB+DR+MM+GM+WC), category item rankings for all prepackaged, national brand items on file;

• Sales in dollars and tonnage of all name-brand items in the ranking along with the value and volume of the total 100% category;

• Average 4-weekly All Commodity Distribution of Branded items from the Grocery Banner + Mass Merchandiser + Drug channel;

• Total value of all Control Label items in category shared to the 100% category for which national brand item ranking is provided;

• For each 100% category, a separate listing of the Control Label items in the category, in relative order of sales importance, with the caveat that no sales data of any sort will be provided for these Control Label items.

The above information is required for 313 food and non-food categories processed by Nielsen. See appendix A.

With each category item-ranking, the following information will be provided.

• Universal Product Code (UPC) and full item description of the product linked to that UPC. (At a minimum, the description includes the product brand name, flavour and/or package size);

• Name of the product’s manufacturer or distributor;

• Value and volume (in equiv. kilos) of retail sales generated during the latest 52 weeks timeframe, along with the item’s share of sales to the 100% of each category’s sales totals;

• The size (sales value and volume) of the total category, representing 100% of category sales;

• The aggregate sales value and volume of all Control Label (i.e., store brand) items in the category;

• An indication of year-over-year change in the sales value and volume for each 100% category total, for the total of Control Label items in each category and for each individual name-brand item in each category;

• The average 4-weekly all-commodity distribution of each branded items from the Grocery banner + Mass Merchandiser + Drug channel each listed in the ranking;

• The average retail unit price for each item listed in the ranking;

• For each 100% category, a separate listing of the Control Label items in the category, in relative order of sales importance, with the caveat that no sales data of any sort will be provided for these Control Label items. Nielsen provides total category rankings only and does not provide rankings within segments;

• For extreme energy drinks and flat water category, the all channel definition will include the Gas & Convenience Banners Channel

Deliverables: All sales data and category item rankings will be supplied in statistical tables in Microsoft Excel. The information will be delivered electronically via email or on CD.

6. Reason for Non-Competitive Award

Section 6 of the Government Contracts Regulations contains four exceptions that permit the contracting authority to set aside the requirement to solicit bids. These are:

(d) Only One Person or Firm is capable of performing the contract.

10.2.5 Exception (d) sets competitive bidding aside when only one person or firm can do the job. This exception is quite definitive and should be invoked only where patent or copyright requirements, or technical compatibility factors and technological expertise suggest that only one contractor exists. This exception should not be invoked simply because a proposed contractor is the only one known to management.

7. Applicable trade Agreements and Justification for Limited Tendering or the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business

Article 506 Paragraph 12 (a) of the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) : to ensure compatibility with existing products, to recognize exclusive rights, such as exclusive licences, copyright and patent rights, or to maintain specialized products that must be maintained by the manufacturer or its representative;

Article 506 Paragraph 12 (b) of the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT): 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;

Article 1016 2 (b) of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): 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;

Article 1016 (d) of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): for additional deliveries by the original supplier that are intended either as replacement parts or continuing services for existing supplies, services or installations, or as the extension of existing supplies, services or installations, where a change of supplier would compel the entity to procure equipment or services not meeting requirements of interchangeability with already existing equipment or services, including software.

ArticleXV (b) of the World Trade Organization/Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO/AGP):when, for works of art or for reasons connected with protection of exclusive rights, such as patents or copyrights, or in the absence of competition for technical reasons, the products or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists;

ArticleXV (d) of the World Trade Organization/Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO/AGP): for additional deliveries by the original supplier which are intended either as parts replacement for existing supplies, or installations, or as the extension of existing supplies, services, or installations where a change of supplier would compel the entity to procure equipment or services not meeting requirements of interchangeability with already existing equipment or services

8. Ownership of Intellectual Property

The Contractor will own the IP.

9. Period of the Proposed Contract

The contract period shall be from date of contract award to March 31, 2016 with the option to renew for two (2) additional periods of one (1) year each.

10. Estimated Value of the Proposed Contract

The total value of any contract emanating from this Advanced Contract Award Notice (ACAN) shall not exceed $1,726,141.67, including all option years and all applicable taxes

Initial Contract $564,024.81

Option Period 1 $575,305.60

Option Period 2 $586,811.26

11. Closing Date and Time

The Closing Date and Time for accepting Statements of Capabilities is December 31, 2015 at 2 p.m. EST.

12. Contact Person

All enquiries must be addressed by e-mail to:

Yvonne Murphy

Senior Procurement and Contracting Officer

Email: yvonne.murphy@hc-sc.gc.ca