Local Access Service Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island - Core

Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN)

Local Access Service (Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island - Core)

Shared Services Canada (SSC)

1. What is an 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 for in the ACAN, the contracting officer may then proceed with the award of a contract.

    

   This ACAN relates to a contract proposed to be awarded to a pre-identified contractor.

2. Definition of requirement: Shared Services Canada (SSC) has a requirement for the provision of Local Access Service to the Government of Canada with offices located across parts of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

   This ACAN is being issued by Shared Services Canada (SSC). SSC is a federal government department that acts as a shared services organization. Any resulting Contract will be used by SSC to provide shared services to one or more of its Clients. SSC’s “Clients” include SSC itself, those government institutions for whom SSC’s services are mandatory at any point during the life of any resulting Contract, and those other organizations for whom SSC’s services are optional at any point during the life of any resulting Contract and that choose to use those services from time to time. In addition to the Government of Canada, SSC may also serve a government of a province or municipality in Canada, a Canadian aid agency, a public health organization, an intergovernmental organization or a foreign government.

   LAS is currently provided using legacy copper-based services such as Centrex Service and basic business lines. There are currently approximately 2,300 in NS and 5,600 LAS lines in PEI, and both decreasing as SSC proceeds with a fixed-line reduction program. It is SSC’s intention to migrate existing LAS lines to wireless and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions during the period of this contract that have been competed separately by SSC. This migration has already begun and will take several years to complete. 

   If the current service(s) becomes end-of-life during the term of the contract, SSC will allow a substitute service to be provided (under the same terms and conditions), in order to maintain service until migration to the alternate SSC procured service has been completed. The substitute service must be a wireline service that does not require any connection to the SSC data networks. 

   The requirement is for a single supplier for the listed geographic area listed above, commencing on December 31, 2023.

   The Local Access Services proposed by the supplier must ensure that the directory numbers for the existing lines in the geographic areas where they must be operating remain unchanged. As well, any proposed service must not utilize the Client’s data Local Access Network (LAN), i.e., phones may not be connected to a network utilized by any other SSC/Client service or application. There are detailed requirements regarding the dialing plan, Classes of Service, and line features. As part of this service, the Local Access Services provider must also install, maintain and update all infra-structure associated with delivering the service to ensure that the service consistently meets detailed services level requirements.

   The entire value for this requirement consists of Telecommunication Services (FSC D304) and therefore this procurement is excluded from the application of the international trade agreements to which Canada is a party.

   Only the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) applies.

The services and/or goods to be provided are as stated in a draft Statement of Work which can be provided upon request for the locations stated.

3. Government Contracts Regulations Exception and Limited Tendering Reason: This requirement is proposed to be directed to the vendor shown in this ACAN for the operating areas identified in the SOW, in accordance with exception Section 6 (d) of the Government Contracts Regulations that states that only one person or firm is capable of performing this contract. To SSC’s knowledge, no supplier other than the one specified in this ACAN has the experience or necessary infrastructure to deliver the required services to the required locations.

4. Period of the proposed contract and required delivery: The proposed contract is to be awarded on or before December 31, 2023 with delivery of services to commence immediately upon notification of contract award. The initial contract period shall start on December 31, 2023, and, with option periods, will be for up to ten years.

5. For the Geographic Area, the Proposed Contractor is as follows:

a) Geographic Area where Services Required: Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island - Core

Proposed Contractor:

 Bragg Communications Incorporated

Eastlink Communications

PO Box 8600

Halifax, NS

B3K 5M2

Canada

6. Suppliers' right to submit a statement of capabilities: Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services described in this ACAN may submit a Statement of Capabilities in writing to the contact person identified below on or before the closing date of this notice. The statement of capabilities must clearly demonstrate how the supplier meets the advertised requirements described below. Interested suppliers are required to submit a statement of capabilities during the 15-calendar-day posting period.

If a potential supplier submits a statement of capabilities during the posting period that meets the requirements set out in this ACAN, the government will proceed to a full tendering process on either the government's electronic tendering system 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 this ACAN, a contract will be awarded to the pre-selected supplier.

Minimum Essential Requirements: Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a Statement of Capabilities that it can fulfill the following requirements as of the date this ACAN is posted:

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in delivering complex, feature-rich local access services to large-scale customers with multiple locations within the last 15 years;

• At least 5 years of experience in delivering local access services within the last 10 years for the given geographic areas; and

• The supplier must have at least 5 years of experience in supporting at least 50% of the volume of total approximate local access lines across the applicable geographic region (this experience can be gained serving one or a combination of two customers).

  To demonstrate that the supplier has this experience, please provide the name of the customer(s) who can confirm that you have provided them with the required services, together with contact information and the relevant geographic area.

  7. Security requirement: This ACAN contains a requirement for vendor and personnel security screening. (Copies provided upon request)

8. The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is:

December 27, 2022 @ 02:00 PM Eastern Standard Time EST

9. Submission of statements of capabilities: Suppliers may inquire or submit a statement of capabilities to:

Jean-Charles St-Onge 

Procurement Team Leader

Shared Services Canada

Enterprise IT Procurement (EITP) |Approvisionnement en TI pour l'entreprise (ATIE)

Telephone No.: (613)-618-0167

Email: Jean-Charles.St-Onge@ssc-spc.gc.ca

10. Policy Information: The resulting contract can be used to provide service at locations within the settlement areas of the Comprehensive Land Claims Agreements (CLCAs).