THERE IS A SECURITY REQUIREMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS REQUIREMENT.

IMPORTANT NOTICES:

Please note that this RFSO includes procurement processes that are not usually used in a standard RFSO Requirement.

This Agile Procurement process is intended to foster competition among suppliers, provide a great opportunity to increase Canada’s scientific expertise by the addition of new way forward and also allow greater flexibility in updating or modifying the requirements and its procurement processes based on feedback received by suppliers from time to time.

If not already requested, Canada suggests that Offerors begin the security verification process in order to increase their certification to the TOP SECRET level. This includes the verification and certification for resources that are currently known by the Offeror. For unidentified resources, the Offerors will be able to submit a request for verification and certification once the resource is identified, before or after the issuance of the Standing Offer. For your information, the issuance of Call-Ups may not be delayed in case the proposed resource(s) do not hold the required security clearance level.

Offerors are requested to use the Excel Spreadsheet, available in the Attachments section of this notice, to submit their rates.

October 31, 2017:

Change in the work description for the EO Researcher (Chemistry) - Section 4.4.25 of the Statement of Requirements.

October 13, 2017:

Publication of the updated solicitation document and added Questions 21 to 25.

October 11, 2017:

Extension of the tender period to adjust an error in the numbering of the resource categories in the tendering documents and also the mailing address where to submit your offer. The new tender documents will be made available to offerors in the coming days. Thank you for your understanding.

September 12, 2017

Added Questions/Answers 1 to 20.

August 29, 2017:

If you haven’t participated into the Engagement process related to EO-IR Requirements, we encourage you to consult the following website for more information about that process:

https://buyandsell.gc.ca/procurement-data/tender-notice/PW-15-00691216

BACKGROUND:

Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) is mandated to support the Canadian Armed Forces in their electro-optical system acquisition process by translating their operational needs into technical data, evaluating sensor performance or evaluating the potential of emerging technologies. DRDC also intends to study electro-optical (EO) systems for the protection of military platforms (air, ground and sea) and their occupants. These electro-optical technologies require proximity electronics to be integrated into them in order to evaluate them or extend their range, and in order to integrate EO systems into these platforms.

The goal of this Request for Standing Offers is to issue standing offers to obtain qualified professional and scientific resources in the electro-optical and infrared (EO-IR) field, where necessary, to support DRDC research and development (R&D) activities. These services could cover the design, development or manufacture of specific elements, including characterization or software development.

Standing offers pursuant to this requirement will be made available to all DRDC Research Centres working with EO-IR technologies. For your information, the vast majority of the required professional and scientific services in R&D will be concentrated at the Valcartier Research Centre, in the Québec City area.

The requirement is subject to the provisions of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), formerly known as the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT).

The requirement is limited to Canadian goods and/or services.

This procurement is set aside from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) under Annex 1001.2b, Section B – Sub section A: Research and Development, All classes; and is not listed under Appendix 1, article 1(d ) of the World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP).

A portion of this requirement may be subject to the Controlled Goods Program.

The SO will be valid for a period of up to 10 years, consisting of one firm period of four years and up to three optional periods of two years each.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FROM THE SOLICITATION PROCESS:

Question1. What is the total estimated budget for this requirement for the 10-year period?

Answer 1. As stipulated in the Engagement process documents, the estimated budget for the work under the standing offers (SOs) and supply arrangements (SAs) is estimated at $100M over a 10-year period. Please note that the Request for Standing Offer (RFSA) will be issued in the near future.

Question 2. Rates are requested for a number of categories at a number of levels for a
10-year period, but it is noted that there will not be a financial evaluation at this phase of the procurement process. Can you explain the reason for this approach? Since they are not being evaluated, why can they not be provided later?

Answer 2. The rate(s) must be provided by offerors in order for Canada to conduct the mini-competitions identified in Section 7.8 of Part 7A of the tendering documents, after the SOs are issued. Note that there will in fact be an evaluation for each resource requested, which will be performed after the SOs are issued and before call-ups are issued.

Question 3. In your example of a company’s response to a Confirmation of Availability Form (CAF), the supplier responding must indicate the rates in the response. Why does the company have to provide them if they have already been submitted in this offer/prequalification?

Answer 3. This is to speed up the evaluation process of the resources requested under each CAF. The evaluators will simply have to confirm the supplier rates against their financial offers.

Question 4. Rates are requested in advance for 10 years. As you know, this employment group market/field is constantly evolving. Would it be possible to adjust these rates after a given period (for example, every three years)?

Answer 4. As specified in Attachment 1 to Part 3, Financial Presentation Sheet, suppliers will be able to adjust their rates each year during the SO refresh process.

Question 5. Do the rates for the five regions of Canada have to be provided?

Answer 5. As specified in Attachment 1 to Part 3, Financial Presentation Sheet (a), third paragraph, it is not necessary to provide the rates for each region.

Question 6. Once the first company prequalification step has been completed, will the list of qualified companies be available?

Answer 6. There is no intention to provide an official list of qualified companies. However, award information of contracts, including SOs/SAs done by the federal government is public in nature and available for consultation on the buyandsell.gc.ca site.

Question7. Is a company (that has already qualified for this offer) that will be invited to respond to a CAF required to provide a response? Are there consequences if the company does not respond to the CAF?

Answer 7. No, the supplier is not required to respond to a specific CAF. If a supplier does not respond to any CAF it receives in a given fiscal year, Canada will initiate discussions with the supplier to confirm its desire to hold an SO for the EO-IR requirements.

Question 8. A Project Authority category is not included, but periodic work (progress, etc.) reports are requested. Are these reports to be drafted as part of the mandate on billable hours or outside of these hours (if this is the case, should they be taken into consideration in the proposed rates)? 

Answer 8. Offerors must include these fees in their firm all-inclusive hourly rates.

Question 9. Can you confirm that an update/refresh will be possible every year (as indicated in Section 7.4.2)?

Answer 9. Yes, there will be a refresh of the standing offers each year.

Question 10. At the time of SOs refresh, can the rates for the remaining years only (independently of the rates for the years previously provided) be updated (increased or decreased)? For example, we provide the following rates at the beginning: Year 1: $100/hr, Year 2: $105/hr, Year 3: $110/hr,
Year 4: $115/hr, Option 1: $120/hr, Option 2: $125/hr, Option 3: $130/hr, which is in keeping with the +5% rule between two consecutive periods. In the updates for the third year, we would like to update the rates as follows:
Year 3: $130/hr, Year 4: $135/hr, Option 1: $140/hr, Option 2: $145/hr, Option 3: $150/hr. The +5% rule would also apply between the remaining consecutive years. Does the rule also apply between Year 2 (already passed) and Year 3 (new rate that we want to propose)?

Answer 10. In order to determine the rates for a given period in accordance with the +5% rule, suppliers must use the rates from the previous year as a basis, whether the year has ended or not.

Question 11. Consider a resource who moves to a new company who has worked in a given category for a number of years in the company he or she has just left. The new company that hires this resource is not prequalified for the resource’s category of work. Please confirm that the resource cannot work on this contract (through a competitive or non-competitive call-ups) as long as the new company does not prequalify (including prequalification of the category and/or prequalification of the company – if it has not been done previously).

Answer 11. This is correct. The resources provided must be employed by a supplier that is qualified for this resource category. That said, the resource’s new employer could prequalify for that category during the annual refresh of the SOs.

Question 12. For a competitive call-ups, will the number of hours indicated be an estimate and not necessarily firm (for evaluation purposes only) or will the number of hours be those actually allocated?

Answer 12. Depending on the DRDC’s requirements, some call-ups could include either an estimated or firm number of work hours. Each CAF will include this information. The estimated or firm number of work hours will be used to evaluate responses received under each CAF.

Question 13. For a competitive call-ups, in addition to the criteria listed for the employment fields in the RFSO document, will there be any additional or more specific criteria (e.g. specific skills with particular programming software – SIMULINK or LABVIEW)?

Answer 13. It is possible that certain point rated technical criteria, which have not yet been identified, will be used to meet DRDC’s specialized needs in scientific services. That said, the mandatory criteria will not change unless there is an update done to the SOs as part of an annual refresh.

Question 14. Since competitive call-ups can involve a number of people from different companies, will the work mainly be done at one location
(i.e. in the client’s building)?

Answer 14. Depending on the requirement, it is possible that the work be performed at DRDC’s facilities or simply divided up among a number of client and/or supplier sites.

Question 15. Is an Industry Day being planned to answer questions directly?

Answer 15. No. Questions will be answered directly through the Request for Standing Offer notice for EO-IR requirements, published on buyandsell.gc.ca.

Question 16. Can we include subcontractors in our proposal or do we absolutely have to form a "joint venture" to include business partners?

Answer 16. Yes, it is possible to include subcontractors as part of an offer. Please note that it is not necessary to indicate the name and contribution of subcontractors when submitting an offer.

 Question 17. After the award of Standing Offers under Phase 1, will call-ups likely to include point rated criteria similar or above those indicated in the criteria table of "Attachment 1 to the Part 4 "? If so, will the offeror be permitted to provide further information on their corporate past experience under each call-ups or will the evaluation conducted under Phase 2 only be based on the information provided in Phase 1?

Answer 17. No corporate (business) experience will be sought or evaluated under Phase 2 of this RFSO. Evaluation to be conducted in Phase 2 will only assess resources experience and qualifications requested by DRDC prior to the issuance of call-ups. Information on resources experience and qualifications are not required at the time of offer submission (Phase 1).

Question 18. The mandatory criterion M4 indicate the following:

“The Offeror must also provide a description of the type of service provided for each proposed category, the date the service was provided, the duration of the service, the name of the third party and the relationship between the service(s) provided and EO-IR technology.”

What do we mean by "the relationship between the service(s) provided and EO-IR technology."?

Answer 18. This statement indicate that in order to meet this criterion the Offeror must clearly demonstrate, in its offer, how its previous rendered services are intimately related to EO-IR technologies.

Question 19. The "Attachment 1 to Part 4" states the following:

“Offerors must provide additional information to indicate where, when and how they acquired their experience and demonstrate how they will meet the mandatory requirements by providing the necessary evidence, without which their offer will be declared non-responsive based on the evaluation.”

Given the verb tense ("how they will meet the mandatory requirements"), does it mean that we must demonstrate how we meet the mandatory criteria included at "Annex A", in addition to those indicated at "Attachment 1 to Part 4"?

Answer 19. The criteria identified in Attachment 1 to Part 4 are the only criteria to be met by bidders at bid closing time. The criteria identified in "Annex A" will be only used in Phase 2, for the evaluation of the requested resources, prior to the issuance of call-ups.

Question 20. If a company acquires new experience, enabling them to offer resources in categories other than those for which it has already qualified, will it be possible for that company to amend their proposal and add those new categories to their Standing Offer? If so, what will be the mechanism?

Answer 20. It will be possible for an Offeror to add or remove resource category(ies) at the time of the annual Standing offer refresh.

Question 21. As there is a significant amount of coordination to align resource categories with experience, and appropriate references – who need to be contacted, is there a possibility to have an extension on the due date?

Answer 21. Because this RFP process has mandatory evaluation criteria only and that those criteria do not require the provision of complex technical information, Canada does not see a need to extend its validity period. Mandatory evaluation criteria to be met at the time of bid submission are identified in Attachment 1 to Part 4 of the bid solicitation document.

Question 22. Can you indicate what is the likelihood / share of the tasks that will require a higher classification level (i.e. TS)?

Answer 22. At this present time, this information is not available. The majority of service requests (call-ups) should be at the Secret level. Please note that Offerors may ask the Standing Offer Authority to sponsor their candidacy to increase their security clearance to the level above their current level or make an initial designated organization screening (DOS) reliability clearance request. Such a sponsorship is only available to raise the security clearance by one level at a time.

Question 23. Can we propose resources with higher qualifications than described in MC1 ? For instance, EO RESEARCH TECHNICIAN IN PHYSICS requires a diploma in Engineering Physics Technology OR a post-secondary diploma in Science with an Attestation of Collegial Studies in the physics field. Can we propose a resource with a BSc, MSc, or PhD in the physics field for this resource category?

Answer 23. Supplier would be able to propose resources with higher qualification in the same academic field.

Question 24. Example of resource request: If the proposed resource must have a graduate degree or higher in a chemical field for EO RESEARCHER (CHEMISTRY), however as this involves atmospheric propagation, are resources with a physics degree also eligible?

Answer 24. This SO includes a wide selection of resource categories requiring various types of academic training. Our goal is to obtain competent resources in highly specialized fields. To achieve this, we are using specific mandatory criteria related to education to meet our needs. Please note that: 1- these mandatory criteria may be modified or updated at the time of the annual SO refresh; and 2- that it is not mandatory for an Offeror to have a resource currently in place to submit an offer to one or more resource categories. These resources will be evaluated at a later stage, following the issuance of the SOs.

Question 25. In the resource category "EO researcher (physics)", do we absolutely have to demonstrate experience with LIDARs or could other EO technologies be considered (e. g. passive imaging system)?

Answer 25. As specified in the Statement of requirements of this RFSO, it is not necessary to have experience with LIDAR systems, as this reference was given as an example only. Call-ups will indicate the specialties required and also include the Point Rated criteria associated with those specialties. This statement is also valid for the examples provided under all resource categories identified in the Statement of requirements.