Advanced Contract Award Notice # 1000197572

ADVANCED CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE # 1000197572

Health Canada (HC) is proposing to require a Front-of-Pack (FOP) nutrition symbol to provide consumers with quick, easy, and credible guidance about foods high in sodium, sugars, or saturated fat. A behavioural research company with experience in conducting research in a food retail lab setting using eye tracking technology, is required to test the effectiveness of the proposed FOP nutrition symbols.

The purpose of this Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) is to signal the government’s intention to award a contract for these services to Explorer Research of Mississauga, Ontario.

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.

Background

The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a “High in” FOP nutrition symbols relative to current nutrition label information using methods that replicate the shopping experience. The secondary objective is to understand which symbol design elements are important contributors to symbol effectiveness. The time taken for participants to complete tasks will be recorded, as well as whether or not the task was completed accurately. Eye-tracking technology will be used to capture which aspects of the food packages consumers focused on while making their choice. Structured interviews will be conducted to gather additional consumer understanding into which design elements impacted participants’ choice. Data obtained from this behavioural research will help inform the development and refinement of HC’s proposed FOP nutrition symbol.

HC requires the services of a research group (RG) to design the randomly controlled experimental design using eye-tracking and structured interviews that allows for valuation of multi-attribute labelling strategies. The RG tasks shall include:

• overall research methodology and data analysis plan in tandem with HC study researchers;
• design and set-up the retail food environment including mock package stimuli, eye-tracking, interview guide and any other field instruments;
• conduct participant recruitment and data collection (in English and French);
• conduct appropriate quantitative and qualitative data analysis;
• prepare an Executive Summary as well as a full research report including both descriptive statistics and qualitative thematic analyses; and
• provide other technical and statistical analyses/assistance as needed.

The RG must also be able to supply HC researchers/statisticians with a clean version of all quantitative data collected along with the data code book, as excel, Statistical Analysis System (SAS) files, Comma-separated value (CSV) and/or Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) files.

Time constraints

This project is a component of Canada’s Healthy Eating Strategy that was launched October 24, 2016. The Strategy unites HC’s ongoing nutrition efforts and successes to date with new, complementary initiatives to help create a food environment that makes healthier eating choices easier for Canadians. It is also a part of implementing the Minister of Health’s mandate commitment to improving food labels. As a result, this contract has aggressive timelines and results from this behavioural research will complement our findings from other consultation/ engagement activities and research studies underway and will help inform our regulatory process for the FOP labelling approach.

The services of the Contractor will be required for a period of approximately (4 months) commencing on or about January 22, 2018. The expected completion date of this project is April 30, 2018.

The estimated value of the contract is $300,015.00 (applicable taxes included). 

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

Minimum Essential Requirements

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

MER 1

The research group (RG) must have the ability to accommodate large sample sizes (N>450) and conduct the research (recruitment, data collection and analysis) within a 3 month period of time beginning in January 2018.

MER 2

The RG must have the ability to recruit participants (n=450 total sample size) including a mix of Canadians from vulnerable groups. In the context of this research, vulnerable groups include: seniors, Indigenous people, multicultural communities, youth ≥16 years of age, and people with varying levels of health literacy.

MER 3

The RG must have the capacity to replicate a large retail food shopping experience in large urban centers in Canada such as the Greater Toronto Area (including typical retail grocery shelving, grocery chart, and check-out lanes) and digitally create mock packaging for food products.

MER 4

The RG must have the technology and research capacity to track, record and analyze each participant’s eye movements while they make general and nutrient-specific food choices.

MER 5

The RG must have researchers who have the requisite experience to develop and conduct structured interviews with each participant in the language of their choice, English or French and to analyze each participant’s decision making process for both general and nutrient specific food choices. 

Security Requirement for Canadian Supplier

1. The Contractor/Offeror must, at all times during the performance of the Contract/Standing Offer, hold a valid Designated Organization Screening (DOS) with approved Document Safeguarding at the level of PROTECTED A, issued by the Canadian Industrial Security Directorate (CISD), Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC).

2. The Contractor/Offeror personnel requiring access to PROTECTED information, assets or work site(s) must EACH hold a valid RELIABILITY STATUS, granted or approved by the CISD/PWGSC.

3. The Contractor MUST NOT utilize its Information Technology systems to electronically process, produce or store PROTECTED information until the CISD/PWGSC has issued written approval. After approval has been granted or approved, these tasks may be performed at the level of PROTECTED A.

4. Subcontracts which contain security requirements are NOT to be awarded without the prior written permission of CISD/PWGSC.

Policy Information

Under the Government Contracts Regulations, Section 6, a contracting authority may enter into a contract without soliciting bids where (d) only one person is capable of performing the contract.

This requirement is subject to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the World Trade Organization – Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-GPA) and the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA). The requirement is being directed to the proposed supplier as permitted under the following sections of the above trade agreements:

• Article 513 b) of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)

• Article 1016, 2(b) of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
• Article XV, 1b of the World Trade Organization – Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP)

Justification for the Pre-Selected Supplier

Explorer Research is a behavioural research company based in Toronto that replicates real grocery store environments using cutting-edge technology such as eye-tracking. This allows for an in-depth measurement and observation of every aspect of a shopping activity to gain a deeper understanding of how people interact with a FOP symbol within a grocery store setting and test the effectiveness of the proposed FOP nutrition symbols. As far as we are aware, Explorer Research is the only company in Canada that offers this approach and has the capacity to complete this research study within our required timelines.

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to meet the specified requirements may submit a statement of capabilities in writing to the Contracting Authority 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.

The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is on January 8^th, 2018 at 12 p.m. (noon) EST.

Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:

Jason Roberts

Manager, Procurement & Contracting

Materiel & Assets Management Division

Health Canada

Tel: 613-941-2026

Jason.Roberts5@canada.ca