Community Information Database (CID) Hosting Services

1.0 PURPOSE

The department of Industry Canada requires services to maintain and further develop the Community Information Database (CID) and the connected website. This includes site hosting and maintenance, as well as the addition of datasets and the improvement of features. The services will be required for a period commencing from contract award to March 31, 2018, plus two (2) options of one year each to be exercised at Industry Canada’s discretion ending March 31, 2020.

2.0 TITLE OF PROJECT

Community Information Database (CID) Hosting Services

3.0 BACKGROUND

The Community Information Database (CID) was established by the Rural Secretariat at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in 2006 to provide non-governmental organizations (including official language minority communities (OLMCs), academic experts and all levels of governments with free, online access to socio-economic and demographic data on rural and urban communities.

In March 2014, AAFC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to transfer the database to Industry Canada (IC). Since IC’s Strategic Policy Sector (SPS) is responsible for the administration, management and control of all assets identified with the database including data from various sources for various years. Web-server hosting services for CID have been provided by Beyond 20/20 Inc., a private company, since its inception in 2006. This relationship continued following the transfer to ensure continuity of service.

Although several local data sources exist in Canada, data on communities remain inaccessible and complex. Statistics Canada provides a wealth of information on various topics for free, but often the format does not allow a local division. For more detailed information organizations or entrepreneurs must purchase the necessary data and processed it which can be costly and time consuming. The advantage of the CID is its flexibility and its ability to map specific communities (rural or urban) which can be very useful for its operators.

Maintaining public access to the database is consistent with government priorities in Canada's Action Plan for Open Government (Open Data), the Canada's Economic Action Plan and IC priorities under Part VII of the Official Languages Act (supporting the economic development of OLMCs and promoting linguistic duality). Furthermore, IC’s priorities support economic growth and digital technology which are directly linked to the purpose of this database. In addition, the Economic Development Initiative (EDI) under the new Roadmap for Official Languages 2013-2018 is implementing a research component that also goes hand in hand with CID.

The site is user friendly and by keeping it updated, it will continue to produce useful data to support economic development, decision making in government and communities, increase the capacity of the economic sector and communities to better explore ideas and opportunities for economic growth.

4.0 PROJECT REQUIREMENTS/OBJECTIVES

The objective of the requirement is to maintain and further develop the Community Information Database (CID) and the connected website which will include site hosting and maintenance, as well as the addition of datasets and improve features.

5.0 SCOPE OF WORK

Industry Canada has a requirement for the acquisition of secure hosting and maintenance services for data and for feature improvements to the Community Information Database (CID). The work will consist of the following:

A) Updating Maps and Analysis Platform

A map of Canada showing different levels of geography (communities; administrative, economic and health regions; and provinces/territories); geographic overlays; the ability to map numeric indicators by colour or by symbol; ability to select geographies, compile, and retrieve data for more detailed analysis; ability to retrieve graphs, tables, snapshot and detailed reports; ability to import and map external data. The mapping device needs constant upgrading in order to remain useful.

B) Updating Community Profiles

Community Profile reports available for all communities across Canada showing key economic, social, and demographic trends over 1996 to 2006, with tables, graphs, and links to maps comparing the community to its region and province or territory.

With more than 1000 economic, demographic, and social indicators and indices, the CID is one of the most innovative rural development tools in Canada and the world. The CID is the only application to offer a broad range of community-level data and information for all communities across Canada.

CID indicators include agriculture, population, employment, labour force, income, housing, health, and co-operatives in the form of downloadable and interactive maps, tables, and charts and community and regional profiles and community profiles and needs to be updated with current source of data in order to remain relevant.

Sources of data in the CID include: Census of Population; Census of Agriculture, Canadian Community Health Survey; Labour Force Survey, Canadian Business Patterns/Register and Federal/Provincial Register on Canadian Co-operatives.

C) Feature improvements

Some feature improvements may be required and new data may be incorporated into the Community Information Database. As an example, SPS is presently working with Employment and Social Development Canada to include the Labour Market Area (LMA) lens (roughly 329 areas) with indicators broken down by Official Language Minority and Non-Official Language Minority population to the database using 2011 Census. This will add a new geography level to CID and provide new sets of data to users. Work will be completed by March 2016.

Technical Specifications:

• Server capacity

  • Front-end server that hosts the content management system (Drupal-based):

    • OS Ubuntu Linux 64-bit

    • CPU 4 cores

    • RAM 2GB

    • STORAGE 20GB

  • Server that hosts WDS and the Geoclip software:

    • OS Windows server 2008 R2

    • CPU 4 cores

    • RAM 2GB

    • STORAGE 40GB

• Security capabilities (for example :secure area which requires identification and an eye scan before entering)

The site consists of three main components:

1. The Beyond 20/20 Web Data Server software is used to store, index and present the socioeconomic data.

b. The eMc3 CartoVista software and associated database drives the maps for highlighting data differences and trends.

c. The front-end of the site is built in the Drupal content management system.

• The first two run on a MS-Windows based server and the third runs on a Linux system. The company providing the service must have the ability to run/manage both Windows-based and Linux-based systems. This includes installing updates, managing security, backups, and monitoring of the system. In addition, we install updates to all three components as they are made available, manage user accounts (for administration), track usage, and offer the other services you describe in your document.

• CID data must be prepared in the Beyond 20/20 IVT format, or in a compatible format therefore the Contractor is required to acquire similar know-how in order to provide the required service.