Contract for the delivery of financial literacy for the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).contract for the delivery of financial literacy for the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada has a requirement for the provision of a contract for the delivery of financial literacy for the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).

The purpose of this Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) is to signal the government's intention to award a contract for these services to the pre-selected supplier:

The Corporation of the Council of the Ministers of Education, Canada

95 St. Clair Ave West, Suite 1106

Toronto, Ontario M4V 1N6

Before awarding a contract, however, the government would like to provide other suppliers with the opportunity to demonstrate that they are capable of satisfying the requirements set out in this Notice, by submitting a statement of capabilities during the 15 calendar day posting period.

If other potential suppliers submit a statement of capabilities during the 15 calendar day posting period that meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, the government will proceed to a full tendering process on either the government's electronic tendering service or through traditional means, in order to award the contract.

If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a statement of capabilities meeting the requirements set out in the ACAN, a contract will be awarded to the pre-selected supplier, as referenced above.

BACKGROUND

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international assessment of the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students that provides information on a range of factors that contribute to the success of students, schools, and education systems. PISA is a collaborative effort among member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that first started in 2000. Canada has participated in PISA since its inception through a partnership among the Council of the Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC), Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), and Statistics Canada (STC) until 2014. Since then, CMEC has been responsible for the implementation of PISA in Canada through a partnership with ESDC. The assessment takes place every three years and covers three domains: reading, mathematics, and science. Although each assessment includes questions from all three domains, the primary focus shifts from one cycle to the next.

PISA 2018 will have reading as the major domain, and science, mathematics and global competence as the minor domains. It is expected that over 80 countries and economies will be participating in PISA 2018. In Canada, students in all 10 provinces will participate, including about 20,000 English-speaking and French-speaking students randomly selected from approximately 1,000 schools. This large sample size allows results to be reported for each province, as well as for both the French- and English-language school systems. As well, contextual questionnaires will be administered to students and school principals.

Financial Literacy component of PISA 2018

As was the case in 2015, financial literacy is an additional domain that will also be assessed in seven provinces. As such, a separate module is to be developed by the OECD based on the previous PISA cycles. As is the case for the core component of PISA 2018, CMEC will manage the administration of the financial literacy component in the participating provinces. Although all details regarding the administration of this component have not been finalized by the OECD, the following assumptions have been used for this agreement:

1. According to the PISA 2018 preliminary specifications, financial literacy (FL) will be administered to an extra sample of PISA-eligible students who will take a combination of reading, mathematical, and financial literacy tasks. The integrated FL and regular sample will consist of 77 students per school for the field test and 42 students per school for the main study.

2. According to PISA 2018 requirements, it is expected the FL option will be implemented in all schools in provinces participating in PISA (excluding Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Alberta) regardless of the school sample size.

3. In Canada, approximately 1,000 schools are expected to participate in the PISA 2018 main study, including approximately 650 schools from the seven provinces participating in the FL option.

4. Unlike PISA 2015, the inclusion of the financial literacy option will not require an additional test session. However, the FL assessment will be integrated in the regular test design as an additional test form.

5. Source material for the FL option will be based on the 2015 assessment. Additional adaptation and translation will be required for the new 2018 items.

The key deliverables under this agreement include the finalization of instruments, delivery of the financial literacy module as part of the administration of the field trial and the main study for PISA 2018, scoring, data processing and cleaning. The Canadian financial literacy data file, in addition to subsequent updates by OECD, will be delivered to FCAC after completion of the required confidentiality forms by all those working the data while it is under embargo.

CMEC will publish a national report on the financial literacy module. The report will be prepared and validated jointly by CMEC, ESDC, and FCAC. The review process will involve CMEC, ESDC, FCAC, and experts from contributing jurisdictions.

CURRENT REQUIREMENTS

The contractor must be an established organization with experience in administering surveys, on behalf of the OECD, to 15-year-old students in Canadian schools. In its capacity as Canada’s official representative on the OECD’s PISA Governing Board, the contractor must be an authoritative body with the capacity of conveying the views of ministries of education from all jurisdictions in Canada. The Contractor must have the authority to collect and control access to confidential data, as per OECD’s confidentiality policies and procedures.

The contractor is required to provide the following: 

Work with the OECD towards the finalization of assessment instruments, deliver the financial literacy module as part of the administration of the field trial and the main study for PISA 2018, collect, clean, process and analyse data, calculate students’ scores and report on findings. The final Canadian financial literacy data file, in addition to subsequent updates by OECD, will be delivered to FCAC after completion of the required confidentiality forms by all those working the data while it is under embargo.

The contractor will publish a national report on the financial literacy module. The report will be prepared and validated jointly by the contractor, ESDC, and FCAC.

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

1. The potential supplier must have significant experience in fielding and analysing student assessment of PISA’s magnitude.
2. The supplier must be able to conduct an assessment of 15-year-old students’ financial literacy capabilities, as part of the PISA assessment, in more than 1000 schools across Canada;
3. The potential supplier must be an authoritative body with the capacity and authority to convey the views of ministries of education from all jurisdictions in Canada in meetings of the PISA Governing Board;

CONTRACT PERIOD

The resulting contract will be valid from date of award to December 31, 2019, and FCAC will have the option to extend the validity of the contract by up to two (2) one-year option periods. 

GOVERNMENT OF CANADA REGULATIONS EXCEPTION

The Treasury Board’s Government Contract Regulations, Part 10.2.1 Section 6 states there are four exceptions that permit the contracting authority to set aside the requirement to solicit bids. This includes:

d. “only one supplier person or firm is capable of performing the contract.”

This requirement is only available from The Corporation of the Council of the Ministers of Education, Canada.

ESTIMATE OF COSTS

Original contract period: $542,500 plus taxes

SUPPLIER NAME AND ADDRESS

The Corporation of the Council of the Ministers of Education, Canada

95 St. Clair Ave West, Suite 1106

Toronto, Ontario M4V 1N6

Canada

Phone: 416-962-8100, ext./poste 258

E mail: k.ogrady@cmec.ca

CONTRACTING AUTHORITY

Patrick Lemieux Procurement and Contracting Officer

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC)

Administrative Services

427 Laurier West, suite 600

Ottawa, Ontario K1R 1B9

Email:  Patrick.lemieux@fcac-acfc.gc.ca

SUPPLIERS RIGHT TO SUBMIT A 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 address identified below.

Statements of Capabilities must be delivered to and received by the Contracting Authority on or before the closing date of July 18, 2017 (noon Ottawa time) to the Contracting Authority

The statement of capabilities must clearly demonstrate how the supplier meets the advertised requirements.

Statements of capabilities must be emailed to the contracting officer on or before the closing date/time. Statement of capabilities received on or before the closing date will be considered solely for the purpose of deciding whether or not to conduct a more extensive tendering process. Information provided will be used by the Crown for technical evaluation purposes only with respect to a decision to proceed to a further competitive process.

Suppliers that have submitted a statement of capabilities will be notified in writing of FCAC decision to proceed to award the contract without a further additional tendering process.

Should you have any questions concerning this requirement, contact the contracting officer identified above. The FCAC file number, the contracting officer's name and the closing date of the ACAN must appear on the outside of the envelope in block letters or, in the case of facsimile transmission, on the covering page.

The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement. Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.