Oracle Expertise Required to Support the Old Age Security Service Improvement Strategy

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. Definition of the Requirement

Employment and Social Development Canada has a requirement for the provision of informatics services to conduct a review of the current development, implementation and use of the Oracle Business Rules Engine (BRE) which will support the Old Age Security/Guaranteed Income Supplement Service Improvement Strategy (OAS/GIS SIS) project adjudication process. A review of the current design and implementation plan for the use of the Oracle BRE is required by the Oracle BRE authoritative source in order validate the current approach and make recommendations on how to improve it to best support the successful delivery of the project. The project depends on successful delivery of the adjudication functionality and it is imperative that the approach underway is reviewed to obtain authoritative recommendations in order to support successful project delivery. 

The work required consists of evaluating the components which comprise each system and includes:

1. System architecture review of the Oracle BRE-Service Oriented Architecture implementation within OAS SIS project against established Oracle BRE recommended architecture:
   1. Infrastructure (e.g. environments, configuration),
   2. Platform topology,
2. Reviewing detailed technical and high-level business requirements in accordance with Oracle best practices;
3. Reviewing artifacts for technical Architecture (including reference architecture and infrastructure architecture), Use-case documents, and high-level design documents, as well as project roles and processes being used, with focus on development and testing processes;
4. Determining gaps of those artifacts and processes, and changes needed. Recommending and documenting a plan with tasks and priorities;
5. Evaluating design documents and best practices/coding standards being used;
6. Determining gaps and documenting recommendations for improvements, including tasks and effort required to implement recommendations;
7. Establishing optimal capability profile for development tasks for the Oracle BRE and assess gaps;
8. Documenting a roadmap and planning with tasks and priorities to implement changes;
9. Recommending specific standards for BRE Development based on Oracle BRE best practices;
10. Assessing capabilities of and provide guidance to development staff for ongoing development tasks for the Oracle BRE:
    1. Establishing optimal capability profile for development tasks for the Oracle BRE and assess gaps,
11. Providing technical guidance to development staff for ongoing development tasks, and work side-by-side with ESDC staff to implement changes;
12. Providing recommendations for the ongoing management of the product suite including the process for maintaining the product suite at a supported version and ensuring the migration of the existing business rules to the latest version implemented within the department. Confirming the applicability of the product suite and new design to be suitable, scalable and implementable for managing the business rules expected for Old Age Security, as defined in the Old Age Security Business Rules and Calculation Guide; and
13. Providing recommendations to establish a sustainable SOA/BRE practice in the department’s existing processes for Governance, Design & Deployment, Operations & Support, and Continual Process Improvement compliant to the product vendor’s proprietary methodology.

3. Criteria for Assessment of the Statement of Capabilities

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

1. Experience (5 years within the last 10 years) as an Oracle Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) / Business Rules Engine (BRE) product and service provider to other large-scale client SOA/BRE implementations across North America;
2. Access to the internal design of the Oracle SOA / BRE product and a North American public sector client base to facilitate and leverage other Oracle SOA / BRE public sector solutions;
3. Knowledge of the Oracle SOA/BRE platform and technical architecture, and the roadmap of Oracle SOA / BRE product development, to be able to provide recommendations on short, medium and long-term systems solutions in consideration of the Oracle SOA/BRE future platform or functionality releases; and
4. Professional resources with Oracle Unified Methodology certification and experience in the Oracle SOA / BRE domain and are solely focused on development of Oracle SOA / BRE product solutions.

4. Applicability of the Trade Agreement(s)

This procurement is not subject to any trade agreements.

5. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier

The supplier has internal design knowledge of the Oracle Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) system including Business Rules Engine (BRE), its architecture and inner workings, as well as the roadmap of this product set.

The supplier has direct access to the Product Management and Engineering teams responsible for this product set. This knowledge is critical to making recommendations on improving the alignment, efficiency and optimization of the government’s SOA / BRE based implementation in the OAS SIS application in the short, medium and long term given the SOA and BRE product development roadmap.

The supplier has access to the complete SOA / BRE product knowledge base and a North American public sector client base that will allow it to leverage other proven SOA / BRE public sector solutions. This access, knowledge and experience are required to mitigate risks and adopt best practices in defining a comprehensive remedial implementation plan.

The supplier has more than 10 years’ experience as a SOA software product and service provider to a an array of public and private sector clients across North American clients.

The supplier’s resources have experience in SOA / BRE system and technical architecture, the proprietary knowledge of the SOA / BRE product development roadmap and ready access to the extensive SOA / BRE data base on North American public sector application installations. The pre-selected supplier will not require a substantive learning curve to undertake the requirement and complete it within the identified timeframe. The supplier’s experience will ensure the required level of knowledge transfer to Crown resources for the operations of the OAS SIS SOA / BRE applications, and the development of recommendations on certification and training of Government of Canada resources involved in the maintenance of OAS SIS SOA / BRE applications.

6. Government Contract Regulations

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

7. Exclusions and/or Limited Tendering Reasons

The following exclusion(s) and/or limited tendering reasons are invoked under the:

1. Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) – Article 513, Section 1(b), sub-point (iii) is being invoked in this procurements, as there is an absence of competition for technical reasons;
2. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) –Article 1016, Section 2, point (b) is being invoked in this procurement, as there is an absence of competition for technical reasons.
3. World Trade Organization – Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP) – Article XII , Section 1, point (b), sub-point (iii) is being invoked in this procurement, as there is an absence of competition for technical reasons .

8. Ownership of Intellectual Property

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

9. Period of the Contract

The proposed contract is for a period of five weeks, from July 24 to August 28, 2018.

10. Cost Estimate of the Proposed Contract

The estimated value of the contract is $260,000 (13% HST included).

11. Name and Address of the Pre-Identified Supplier

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

Oracle Canada

45 O’Connor Street

Suite 400

Ottawa, ON

K1P 1A4

Canada

12. Supplier’s Right to Submit a Statement of Capabilities

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to meet the specified requirements 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.

13. Closing date for a Submission of a Statement of Capabilities

July 18, 2018 at 14:00 EST

14. Inquiries and Statements of Capabilities

Name: Andrew McMillan

Title: Contracting Specialist

Organization: Employment and Social Development Canada

Address: 140 prom. du Portage, Gatineau, QC, J8X 4B1

E-mail address: andrew.mcmillan@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca

Telephone: 819.654.1922