ADVANCE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE (ACAN): 20170558

1. Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN)

 An ACAN is a public notice indicating to the supplier community that a department or agency intends to award a contract for goods, services or construction to a pre-identified supplier, thereby allowing other suppliers to signal their interest in bidding, by submitting a statement of capabilities. If no supplier submits a statement of capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, on or before the closing date stated in the ACAN, the contracting officer may then proceed with the award to the pre-identified supplier.

 2. Background

 On November 1, 2014, the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada (ATSSC) was created, following government legislation to enable the centralization and coordination of the provision of support services, including procurement, to eleven administrative tribunals, through a single, integrated organization. The Social Security Tribunal is one of the eleven tribunals supported by the ATSSC.

 The mandate of the Social Security Tribunal is to hear and make decisions on appeals of reconsideration decisions that were made by the Canada Employment Insurance Commission (in respect of Employment Insurance matters); and reconsideration decisions that were made by Employment and Social Development Canada (in respect of Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security matters). Principles of administrative law and part 5 of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act provide that members of the Social Security Tribunal issue quasi-judicial decisions.

 As such, the Social Security Tribunal offers advanced training to members, on an on-going, as-needed basis, within the context of its role in hearing appeals and issuing decisions in respect of the Canada Pension Plan, the Old Age Security Act and the Employment Insurance Act.

3. Definition of the requirement

The ATSSC has a requirement for two (2) levels of advanced quasi-judicial decision-writing training to be provided, on an as and when required basis, to current and newly appointed members of the Social Security Tribunal. Training to be provided must distinguish between the types and styles of quasi-judicial decisions made by the two Divisions at the Social Security Tribunal, that is, the General Division and the Appeal Division and must be delivered within tight time frames respectful of workload and Social Security Tribunal member scheduling. The training packages must be commercially available with some customization to meet the specific needs for the level of training to be delivered.

The first level of advanced training must be provided to members of the General Division of the Social Security Tribunal. These members are expected to prepare decisions using templates that were developed for specific scenarios arising out of the application of the Canada Pension Plan, the Old Age Security Act and the Employment Insurance Act. Trainers must therefore explain how to prepare better quasi-judicial decisions using the techniques that are taught to federally appointed judges but within the context of these templates. The second level of advanced training must be provided to members of the Appeal Division and possibly a limited number of members of the General Division who have received the first level of advanced training. These members do not have to use the templates developed for Appeal Division or General Division members. The training is therefore similar to the training provided to federally appointed judges except that it is focussed on the application of the Canada Pension Plan, the Old Age Security Act and the Employment Insurance Act. The work must include:

• Organising and delivering in-person group training sessions on quasi-judicial decision writing within the legislative context of the Canada Pension Plan, the Old Age Security Act and the Employment Insurance Act, as required, to members of the General and Appeal Divisions of the Social Security Tribunal
• The training must be delivered by current or retired law professors or practicing lawyers who have at least 2 years of experience providing training on quasi-judicial or judicial decision writing,
• Two plenary sessions for each training session must be delivered by two different judges of a provincial Superior or Appeal Court or the Federal Court or the Federal Court of Appeal
• Organizing and delivering plenary sessions to explain the general requirements and principles associated with writing quasi-judicial decisions
• Delivering English, French and bilingual, as required, training and plenary sessions
• Provision of English and French training material for each participating member
• Providing analysis and guidance on issues that arise when writing quasi-judicial decisions using decision examples that the members provide and leading discussions during the training sessions
• Providing commercially available pre-developed training material that is to be tailored to address the issues that the members of the Social Security Tribunal encounter on a daily basis.

4. Criteria for assessment of the Statement of Capabilities: Minimum Essential Requirements

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

• Supplier must have commercially available training material on quasi-judicial decision writing related to Canadian social security legislation;
• All proposed trainers must be current or retired law professors or practicing lawyers who have at least 2 years of experience providing training on quasi-judicial or judicial decision writing;

• All proposed plenary session speakers must be current judges of a provincial Superior or Appeal Court or of the Federal Court or the Federal Court of Appeal;

• Supplier must have experience and capability to deliver the training in English, French and bilingual (English and French) formats.

5. Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement

This procurement is subject to the following trade agreement(s):

Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

6. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier

The Canadian Institution for the Administration of Justice (CIAJ) is the only organisation that currently offers bilingual (English and French) off-the-shelf training on writing quasi-judicial decisions based on Canadian legislation, and provides training participant material based on client's mandated requirements. CIAJ is the owner of the intellectual property rights to the training material.

Training in quasi-judicial decision writing specific to the requirements of the members of the Social Security Tribunal is highly specialized and must be carried out by qualified resources (highly experienced and specialized lawyers, judges). CIAJ has the resources and capacity to meet this requirement and to deliver within the Tribunal’s tight timeframes.

7. Government Contracts Regulations Exception(s)

The following exception to the Government Contracts Regulations is invoked for this procurement under subsection 6(d): only one person is capable of performing the work.

8. Exclusions and/or Limited Tendering Reasons

The following exclusion(s) and/or limited tendering reasons are invoked under the section of the trade agreement(s) specified:
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – Article(s) 1016.2 (b)

9. Ownership of Intellectual Property

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

10. Period of the proposed contract

The proposed contract period is from August 1, 2017 to March 31, 2020.

Training shall be provided on an "as and when requested" basis during the contract period.

11. Cost estimate of the proposed contract

 The estimated value of the contract, including options, is between $230,000.00 and $300,000.00 (GST/HST extra).

 12. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier:

Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice - Institut canadien d'administration de la justice
3101 Ch. De la Tour, Bureau 3421

Faculté droit, Univ. De Montréal

C.P. 6128, Succ. ‘’Centre-ville’’

Montréal, Québec

H3C 3J7

13. Suppliers' right to submit a statement of capabilities

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services described in the ACAN, 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.

Statements of Capabilities must be delivered by email to the following address:

procurements-achats@tribunal.gc.ca

 and must include the following solicitation number in the subject line:

ACAN (20170558)

 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.

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

 Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.

14. Closing date for a submission of a statement of capabilities.

The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is July 27, 2017 at 2:00 pm (EST)

15. Inquiries

Inquiries are to be directed to:

Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada

E-mail: procurements-achats@tribunal.gc.ca