Evaluation of the Agency of Records Performance

ADVANCE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE

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 services 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.Definition of the requirement:

The Advertising Coordination and partnership Directorate (AACPD) of the Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) requires the services of a Contractor to conduct an independent evaluation of the performances of the cost benchmarking performance and media strategies of the Government of Canada's (GC) Agency of Record (AOR) in obtaining competitive advertising rates, maximum savings or added value when planning and purchasing media space and time for the GC.

The work will involve the following:

The work involves the review and validation of advertising rates negotiated by the AOR against rate cards and against similar media investments in the marketplace. The work also involves the review and validation of any other savings or added value negotiated by the AOR to increase the overall value of the media buys made on behalf of the GC. The work will also seek to identify factors related to cost efficiencies that impact on performance. The process should include two sections given the rise of digital media since the last evaluation, as different metrics will be required to be defined for digital that do not apply to traditional media, i.e. real-time bidding and negotiated costs.

In addition to establishing if the GC is obtaining best value this project must also assess the media planning services (new level of service under this contract) against the rates and in comparison with other advertising agencies of similar campaigns and identify factors related to cost efficiencies, strategic planning, impact on performance and results against objectives.

Finally, where possible, this project must also assess AOR progress by comparing results from this evaluation against those reported in a similar evaluations conducted in 2006 and 2012.

3. This procurement is subject to the following Trade Agreement(s):

Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) or Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)

4 Government Contracts Regulations Exception(s):

The following exception(s) to the Government Contracts Regulations is (are) invoked for this procurement under subsection 6 (d) – as only one person is capable of doing the work.

5 Justification for the pre-identified supplier:

Client submitted the name of the supplier they feel are the only qualified supplier to provide the following services as indicated.

6 Name and address of the pre-identified supplier:

Forde & Semple Media Works

4257 SHERWOODTOWNE Blvd. – Suite 300

Mississauga, Ontario

L4Z 1Y5

7. Ownership of Intellectual Property:

Ownership of any intellectual Property arising out of the proposed contract will vest with the Government of Canada.

8 Period of the Contract:

From date of award of contract to March 31, 2018

9 Cost estimate of the proposed contract:

The estimated value of the contract, including Option(s) is $50,000.00 CAD (GST/HST extra)

10 Suppliers right to submit a statement of capabilities

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the goods, services or construction 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.

11 Closing date and time for accepting submission of a statement of capabilities:

February 22, 2018 at 14:00 (EST).

12 The criteria for the assessment of the statement of capabilities:

Contractor Qualifications:

Demonstrated experience in the following:

Traditional Media:

• Review of post buy reports, deliveries and costs negotiated against cost guides and as outlined in plans.
• Review of campaign schedules and cost, including the buy profile (i.e. %specialty network, top 10/20 programming etc.) relative to cost.
• Validation of high and low demand pricing consistent with the marketplace
• Validation of the differential in cost structures by demographic target
• Validation using SMART Television Report benchmark data or the ability to provide an independent and confidential performance audit of GC media buys, strategic analysis and marketplace intelligence to improve future efficiency and effectiveness
• Review of Post-buy deliveries and costs against plans
• Comparison of the GC media buys to market average pricing in key spending markets
• Validation of planning guides’ demand pricing with the marketplace
• Validations based on a comparison to marketplace rate card structures for similar campaigns, target audience, spending levels and strategies

  Digital Analysis

• Validate the costs against plan, using metrics aligned to plan KPIs
• Benchmark actual plan costs against available data sets
• Provide analysis on the top-spending sites or vendors to determine if costs paid are within an acceptable range vs. that paid by other advertisers’ within our data pool, including top Social sites – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Capacity to review the costs and deliveries of all digital media purchased vs. the media plan.
• Experience review media plans against media outcomes and providing strategic analysis to ensure stewardship, value, appropriateness and efficiency compared to previous year’s results.

13 Inquiries and submissions of statement of capabilities are to be directed to:

Eric Beaudry

A/Supply Specialist, Finance and Administration Branch

Material Management Sector – Contracting and Procurement Division

Public Works and Government Services Canada/ Government of Canada

Eric.Beaudry@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca

Tel: 819-420-2795