Second Official Language Development Pilot (SOLDP)

Amendment 6: This amendment extends the closing date to February 17, 2023. All other aspects remain the same.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amendment 5: This amendment extends the closing date to January 13, 2023. All other aspects remain the same.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amendment 4: This amendment extends the closing date to December 2, 2022. All other aspects remain the same.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amendment 3: To change Eastern Standard Time to Eastern Daylight Time. All other aspects remain the same.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amendment 2: This amendment is extending the closing date to Nov 18th and add a second Webinar on Thursday October 27th @ 2 PM EDT. Register for the webinar by clicking on the following: Registration Link

All other aspects of the solicitation remain the same.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shared Services Canada (SSC) is looking to improve the use of both official languages in its workplace by reaching out to innovative companies that are willing to think outside of the box with solutions that will help us support linguistic duality in the workplace.

As part of an SSC Scale Up initiative, this procurement is a set-aside for micro and small businesses that are either businesses owned or led by under-represented groups or indigenous businesses. ScaleUp is a social procurement initiative led by Shared Services Canada, in collaboration with TECHNATION, to increase the diversity of bidders on government contracts.

Given the innovative nature of this requirement, the solicitation documents (Bid Solicitation Form, Statement of Challenge, Evaluation Criteria, and Financial Bid Form) are currently in draft form. SSC plans to collaborate with the supplier community to finalize the requirement and solicitation documents to ensure the resulting solution(s) address its Problem Statement. As such, this solicitation process comprises 2 phases:

Phase 1: Draft solicitation with Invitation to Refine process

Phase 2: Final solicitation with bid submission

This Notice of Planned Procurement will be updated once Phase 1 is over to provide additional information and instructions to the suppliers to prepare and submit their bids. To participant in Phase 1, please follow the instructions below:

Step 1

Download all documents associated with the draft solicitation, which are available in both official languages. Although SSC invites comments on all the documents, those marked as Draft will specifically be discussed during Phase 1.

To access the Bid Solicitation form please ensure that you have first downloaded the file directly to your local computer. Do not try to access it directly from the BuyandSell website as it will attempt to open in your browser and will not work properly. After you have downloaded the file, please make sure that you have installed Adobe Acrobat reader. Once you have done that you will be able to open up the fillable form.

For clarity purposes, we suggest that the documents are read in the following order:

1. ScaleUp Standard Instructions – read-only pdf document
2. Draft Bid Solicitation Form – interactive pdf document
3. Draft Statement of Challenge - read-only PDF document. This document also includes Annex B – Project Timeline
4. Appendix A – Your Voice Matters - read-only PDF document provided for context
5. Appendix B - Official Language Personas - read-only PDF document provided for context
6. Draft Evaluation Criteria - read-only PDF document
7. Draft Financial Bid Form – fillable excel spreadsheet (.xlsx) document
8. Appendix C - Invitation to Refine Rules of Engagement - read-only PDF document
9. Resulting Contract sample– read-only PDF document that will be updated at contract award
10. Annex A - Security Requirements Checklist - read-only PDF document
11. Annex X - Information & Communication Technology (ICT) Accessibility Requirements - read-only PDF document that will be discussed more fully during the ITR process.

Step 2

A bilingual webinar will be held October 5 2022 from 2 pm to 3 pm ET. You can register for the webinar by clicking on this Registration Link or contact the contracting authority listed herein for more additional information.

Although the webinar is not mandatory, it is highly recommended that you attend because we will be offering a more detailed explanation of the requirement and the steps to submit a bid and it will also be a great opportunity for you to ask us any questions. 

Step 3

SSC will commence the Invitation to Refine (ITR) process immediately after the bilingual webinar, and the ITR will last several weeks as we engage with the supplier community to finalize the requirement. Organizers interested in taking part of the ITR process should download the document 8 - Appendix C - Invitation to Refine Rules of Engagement and register via the link provided.

Once the ITR is complete and SSC has finalized its requirement, the solicitation process will enter the second phase. SSC will provide more information on the next steps once Phase 2 commences.

Other steps you may start right away: Registering as a supplier in the SRI system, Registering as a supplier in the Procure-to-Pay system, and on Canada's digital marketplace powered by TECHNATION to increase your visibility and access even more future opportunities.

If you require assistance or have any questions please reach out the Contracting Authority.