Recruitment of participants for qualitative research

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

This Request for Proposal (RFP) is being issued following solicitation number J024632 as this process did not yield the desired results of obtaining two (2) suppliers for each of the five (5) Regions listed below.

One (1) successful bid was received for the Atlantic Region as a result of above noted solicitation and therefore a maximum of one (1) contract for this Region will be awarded as a result of this process. Up to two (2) contracts will be awarded for the four (4) remaining Regions.

Contracts resulting from both solicitations will be managed in accordance with the proportional distribution of work described in Section E of 7.1.2.1 Task Authorization Process.

REQUIREMENT

The Questionnaire Design Resource Centre (QDRC) of Statistics Canada requires the recruitment of participants for qualitative research to be conducted on their behalf across Canada.  The work will be carried out at the Contractor’s premises and delivered to Statistics Canada.

This requirement has been broken down into five (5) Regions as defined below:

• The Atlantic Provinces (Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick)
• Québec (except for the National Capital Region (NCR))
• The National Capital Region (NCR)
• Ontario (except for the NCR)
• The Western Provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia)

Up one (1) contract will be awarded for the Atlantic Region but up to two (2) contracts will be awarded for all other Regions. The amount of work per year per Region will be distributed between each resulting contracts as per Section E of 7.1.2.1 Task Authorization Process.

LANGUAGE

This Statistics Canada office provides procurement services to the public in their official languages.

CONDITIONS OF THE REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)

There shall be no direct payment by Statistics Canada for costs incurred for the presentation and submission of proposals in response to this RFP.

Bidders must submit one (1) separate bid per Region. Canada requests that the Bidder clearly identifies in the first pages of its bid which Region it is bidding on. 

ESTIMATED CONTRACT PERIOD

The period for each resulting contract will be from contract award to March 31, 2021.

OPTION TO EXTEND CONTRACT

The Contractor grants to Canada the irrevocable option to extend the term of the Contract by up to two (2) additional two (2) year periods under the same conditions. The Contractor agrees that, during the extended period of the Contract, it will be paid in accordance with the applicable provisions as set out in the Basis of Payment.

Canada may exercise this option at any time by sending a written notice to the Contractor at least two (2) calendar days before the expiry date of the Contract. The option may only be exercised by the Contracting Authority, and will be evidenced for administrative purposes only, through a contract amendment.

TRADE AGREEMENTS

The requirement is subject to the provisions of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA).

SOLICITATION/BID CLOSING DATE AND SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

Interested suppliers should express their interest in the procurement to the following;

Name: Courtney Dauphinee

Title: Coordinator

E-Mail: statcan.macs-bids-smc-soumissions.statcan@canada.ca

The deadline for submissions of bids in response to this RFP is November 18, 2019 @ 2:00pm EST. Any and all bids received after this date and time will be returned unopened to the Bidder. As per Treasury Board Contracting Policy the onus is on the Bidder to ensure that all solicitation documents reach the stipulated destination before the closing date and time of the RFP.

Bids must be submitted only to Statistics Canada by the date, time and place indicated on page 1 of the bid solicitation

Due to the nature of the bid solicitation, bids transmitted by facsimile or epost will not be accepted.

StatCan will not assume responsibility for proposals directed to any other location. Proposals not received in the Bid Receiving Unit by the closing time, will be returned to the Bidder unopened.

ENQUIRIES- BID SOLICITATION

All enquiries must be submitted in writing to the Contracting Authority no later than five (5) calendar days before the bid closing date. Enquiries received after that time may not be answered.

Bidders should reference as accurately as possible the numbered item of the bid solicitation to which the enquiry relates. Care should be taken by Bidders to explain each question in sufficient detail in order to enable Canada to provide an accurate answer. Technical enquiries that are of a proprietary nature must be clearly marked "proprietary" at each relevant item. Items identified as “proprietary” will be treated as such except where Canada determines that the enquiry is not of a proprietary nature. Canada may edit the question(s) or may request that the Bidder do so, so that the proprietary nature of the question(s) is eliminated and the enquiry can be answered to all Bidders. Enquiries not submitted in a form that can be distributed to all Bidders may not be answered by Canada.

MANDATORY CRITERIA

All Bidders submitting a bid for any Region must address the following mandatory criteria:

MTC 1 to 4

In addition to addressing MTC 1 to 4, Bidders submitting a bid for the Regions specified in MTC 5 and MTC 6 must specifically address these criteria as well.

Experience must have been gained within the Region for which the Bidder is bidding.

Mandatory Technical Criteria (MTC)

MTC1

Corporate Profile

The Bidder must include a description of the bidding organization.

The description must include:

• Date established;
• An overview of the business and the services offered to the private or public sector;
• Number of years of experience providing recruitment services;
• Location and contact information of the head office;
• Location and contact information of a Canadian office, if applicable.

MTC2

Business Continuity

The Bidder must demonstrate that that the bidding organization has a business continuity strategy in place to ensure the availability of appropriate resources to conduct recruitment activities and associated deliverables.

The Bidder must provide a strategy that addresses the following elements;

1. Strategy for re-allocation of resources, if necessary;
2. Resourcing methods to recruit additional expertise, if necessary;
3. A written example of no more than one (1) page detailing a time when the bidding organization was required to perform the actions detailed in 1 and 2 described in this criteria.

MTC3

Bidders Experience

Bidders must demonstrate that they have a minimum of five (5) years of experience recruiting participants for focus groups and conducting one-on-one interviews in the Region(s) for which they are bidding. 

To demonstrate this criteria, the Bidder must provide the following information:

• Clear timelines indicating the duration of referenced experience (i.e. month/year);
• Description of work conducted including the number of participants that were recruited and the strategies used for recruitment;
• The Region for which the experience applies.

MTC4

The Bidder must identify in their proposal the name of the Manager of recruiting projects who will be the contact person for projects with Statistics Canada. 

The Bidder must clearly demonstrate in the Manager’s resume that the Manager has a minimum of two (2) years of experience in managing recruiting projects.

The resume must contain, at a minimum, the following information:

• Name of the organization where the experience was gained;
• Job title and,
• Description of management duties carried out for a minimum of twenty-four (24) months. Clear timelines indicating the duration of referenced experience must be included (i.e. month/year).

MTC5

Bidders for Quebec or the National Capital Region (NCR) Regions, must demonstrate experience in recruiting both English and French speaking participants for focus groups and conducting one-on-one interviews. 

The Bidder must provide a minimum of ten (10) projects carried out over the past five (5) years in recruiting English and French speaking participants, in Quebec or the NCR. The projects must be spread over the five (5) year period.

To demonstrate this criteria, the Bidder must provide the following information for each project:

• Name or the organization for which the work was carried out;
• Brief description of the project (no more than one (1) page)
• Estimated number of English and French participants
• Start and end date of the project (i.e. month/year)

MTC6

Bidders for Quebec, Ontario or the National Capital Region (NCR) Regions, must demonstrate experience in at least one (1) previous business engagement of similar size and nature. The example must include the following:

• Conducting a minimum of three (3) recruitment processes, with no less than 10 participants in each process, that were carried out simultaneously.
• The experience must have been completed within the last five (5) years and must be substantiated by timelines including month/year.

SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

There are no security requirements associated with this requirement.

Debriefings

Bidders may request a debriefing on the results of the bid solicitation process. Bidders should make the request to the Contracting Authority within 15 working days from receipt of the results of the bid solicitation process. The debriefing may be in writing, by telephone or in person.

The office of the Procurement Ombudsman (OPO) was established by the Government of Canada to provide an independent venue for Canadian bidders to raise complaints regarding the award of federal contracts under $25,300 for goods and under $101,100 for services. Should you have any issues or concerns regarding the award of a federal contract below these dollar amounts, contact OPO by email at boa.opo@boa-opo.gc.ca, by telephone at 1-866-734-5169, or by web www.opo-boa.gc.ca. For more information about OPO, including the available services, please visit the OPO website.