Quantitative Research

Trade Agreement: Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
Tendering Procedures: The bidder must supply Canadian goods and/or services
Competitive Procurement Strategy: Best Overall  Proposal
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Nature of Requirements: 

Quantitative Research

35035-182384/A
Amaral, Paola
Telephone No. - (613) 998-8588


The information contained in this notice is a summary of the requirement. Bidders must refer to the solicitation documents for a full description of the requirement and instructions.


NATURE OF REQUIREMENT

Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), on behalf of the Privy Council Office (PCO), has a requirement to conduct on-going quantitative public opinion research data collection to ensure up-to-date and accurate representations of Canadian opinion on various issues, notably as they relate to Government of Canada priorities.


PERIOD OF THE CONTRACT

The period of the contract will be from the effective date to April 30, 2020, with the possibility of two (2) additional one (1) year option periods. 


ENQUIRIES

All enquiries must be directed to the Contracting Authority at the contact details identified within this tender notice no later than the deadline indicated in the RFP. 


SOURCING

The requirement is subject to the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA).

The requirement is limited to Canadian services.

The Federal Contractors Program (FCP) for employment equity applies to this procurement; refer to Part 5 - Certifications and Additional Information, Part 6 - Resulting Contract Clauses and the annex titled Federal Contractors Program for Employment Equity - Certification.

This bid solicitation allows bidders to use the epost Connect service provided by Canada Post Corporation to transmit their bid electronically.  Bidders must refer to Part 2 entitled Bidder Instructions, and Part 3 entitled Bid Preparation Instructions, of the bid solicitation, for further information.

The Phased Bid Compliance Process (PBCP) applies to this requirement.


EVALUATION CRITERIA

MANDATORY EVALUATION CRITERIA

M.1  FIELDWORK MANAGER

The bidder must identify one (1) fieldwork manager who is able to communicate with the project authority in English and one (1) fieldwork manager who is able to communicate with the project authority in French. The individual identified for each language can be the same person. The bidder must provide the curriculum vitae of the proposed fieldwork manager. The curriculum vitae should include: 

a) the candidate’s professional experience;
b) the candidate’s employment history, starting with the present (in months/years), and including a brief description of each role;
c) the candidate’s education, including the field of study, memberships, publications, certification and training;
d) the candidate’s language capabilities or proficiency for each of the two (2) official languages of Canada (i.e. English and French).


M.2  FIELDWORK MANAGER - SAMPLE PROJECTS

The bidder must demonstrate the experience of each of the proposed fieldwork managers in the following way. The bidder must submit two (2) quantitative telephone surveys that each fieldwork manager has produced and completed* in Canada in the two (2) years preceding the bid closing date. The samples submitted will be evaluated in the Point Rated Technical Evaluation R.4 - Fieldwork Manager - Sample Projects. Please use the sample project format in R.4 to submit sample projects. 

*Completed is defined as when the final data was submitted to the client.

At least one (1) of the two (2) projects submitted must include a tracking telephone survey**, with multiple waves (minimum two (2)) in which a minimum of 500 respondents were contacted per wave.

**A tracking survey is defined as asking a randomly selected sample (target population) the same set of questions at different time intervals to measure changes in responses over time. The sample (target population) for each time interval (i.e. wave) does not need to consist of the same respondents.

At least one (1) of the two (2) projects submitted must be national*** in scope, and must demonstrate that a final sample is representative**** of the target population in terms of age, gender, and region/province, based on Statistics Canada data at the time of study. 

***National is defined as a project being delivered in at least four (4) regions of Canada. One (1) of these regions must be Quebec. The regions are: 
- British Columbia; 
- Prairies (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba); 
- Ontario; 
- Quebec;
- Atlantic (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador); and
- The Territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut).

**** Representative is defined as a final sample that is composed of individuals who have been randomly selected from the adult Canadian population, and thus the sample is an accurate reflection of the adult Canadian population. The final sample proportion must be within +/-2% of the population proportion.


M.3  FIELDWORK FIRM / SUB- CONTRACTORS

All fieldwork must be completed in Canada. The bidder must identify whether all fieldwork will be conducted with either: 

- in-house resources; 
- a sub-contractor; or 
- a combination of in-house resources and a sub-contractor. 

If a firm is using in-house resources, the firm will be required to complete all projects for the duration of the contract using these in-house resources unless authorized in writing by Public Works and Government Services Canada.

If a sub-contractor is involved, the same sub-contractor will be required to complete all projects for the duration of the contract unless authorized in writing by Public Works and Government Services Canada. 

In the case of the use of a sub-contractor, the bidder must provide: 

- the name of the sub-contractor;
- the number of years in business; and
- the research components for which they will be responsible.


M.4  FIELDWORK FIRM / SUB- CONTRACTOR - PROJECT SAMPLES

The bidder must submit a minimum of three (3) but no more than five (5) quantitative telephone surveys completed in Canada by the fieldwork firm / sub-contractor identified in M.3. At a minimum, one (1) project must be a tracking survey, with at least two (2) waves in which a minimum of 500 respondents were contacted per wave. The samples will be evaluated in the Point Rated Technical Evaluation R.5 - Fieldwork Firm / Sub-Contractor’s Experience. 


M.5  FINANCIAL PROPOSAL / BASIS OF PAYMENT 

The bidder must provide rates for the initial contract period and each of the option periods in accordance with Annex "B2" - Basis of Payment, Pricing - Quantitative Surveys.


POINT RATED EVALUATION CRITERIA

R.1  UNDERSTANDING THE REQUIREMENT 

The response should include a narrative summary that reflects the understanding of the Statement of Work. Simply repeating the Statement of Work, in whole or in part, does not indicate an understanding of the project’s aims and objectives or the ability to carry it out. Understanding of the requirement should include:
a) Understanding the purpose of the research and how it applies to the roles and responsibilities of PCO. The summary includes an understanding of the purpose of the research, and how it applies to the roles and responsibilities of PCO as it relates to this project.


R.2  METHODOLOGY

The response should include a complete description of the methodology and research procedures, including data collection techniques; response should demonstrate how they will achieve the completions required by describing the size of the eligible population, the methodology by which they will locate eligible respondents, the expected response rates and how they will be achieved, and the procedures they intend to follow to obtain the required number of completions. 

Section I: Methodology and Research Procedures 

The degree to which the response describes a suitable methodology, including the size of the eligible population, the methodology by which they will locate eligible respondents, the expected response rates and how they will be achieved. The response should also demonstrate how their sample is representative of the population.

Section II: Data Collection Procedures 

The degree to which the response describes suitable data collection procedures as it relates to the Data Collection section in the SOW.

Section III: Data Collection Capability and Quality Control

The degree to which the response describes a suitable data collection capability and all quality control mechanisms that will be in place to ensure the reliability and validity of the results. 
The degree to which the response indicates the anticipated response rate and detail the steps that will be taken to achieve the probability-based sample and response rate.

Section IV: Addressing Methodological Requirements

The degree to which the response describes a suitable rationale for the approach and a description for each of the following:  
- Margin of error, 
- non-response bias, 
- urban/rural/provincial coverage, 
- sampling issues, 
- extrapolation to the population, 
- response rates,
- ensuring there is no overlap between cell and landline sample for each wave, each month.

Section V: Addressing Issues and Challenges

The degree to which the response addresses issues and challenges and proposed solutions for each of the following stages of a data collection period, including:
- survey programming, 
- pre-testing, 
- data collection, 
- coding, 
- weighting, 
- final data,
- reporting, and 
- overall scheduling and project management.


R.3  FIELDWORK MANAGER - QUALIFICATIONS:

The curriculum vitae of each fieldwork manager proposed in M.1 will be evaluated as follows: 

a) Academic qualifications / training / certifications / publications / awards and memberships relevant to public opinion research fieldwork management, including communication of survey pre-test and results. 

*Relevant = specialization/major in disciplines such as: social sciences, economics, and statistics.

a) Work experience - the proposal should state the total number of months and years (ie: 6 years and 4 months of relevant experience for each proposed fieldwork manager.

If more than one (1) senior researcher is included, the points will be averaged across all of them to form a final score. However, the proposed resources that do not meet the minimum points will not be named in the contract.

R.4  FIELDWORK MANAGER - SAMPLE PROJECTS 

The two (2) projects submitted under mandatory requirement M.2 will be evaluated under this point rated evaluation. Bidders are requested to use the following PROJECT SAMPLE FORMAT for each project submitted: 

Projects can include any target audience (e.g. Indigenous, ethno-cultural groups, seniors, youth, general population, etc), as long as the project was conducted in Canada with Canadians.

PROJECT SAMPLE FORMAT 

SECTION I: BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Project Title:
Client Name:
Delivery Dates of Final Data/Report:
Fieldwork Location(s):
Sample Size per Wave:

Attestation: The proposal should include a brief attestation of performance signed by the client for each project submitted. The attestations should clearly reference the specific project and state that the work was conducted to the satisfaction of the client. A client attestation template is included as Annex "I". 

SECTION II: PROJECT BACKGROUND
Describe your client's requirement, challenge, or opportunity and what your company was hired to do. Include a description of the product/service/social issue and the target audience(s).

SECTION III: METHODOLOGY
Provide a summary of the methodology and describe how it responded to your client's objectives. 

If more than one (1) fieldwork manager is included, the points will be averaged across all of them to form a final score. However, the proposed resources that do not meet the minimum points will not be named in the contract.


R.5  FIELDWORK FIRM / SUB-CONTRACTORS - EXPERIENCE
 
The proposal should identify and describe in detail a minimum of three (3) but no more than five (5) quantitative telephone surveys completed in Canada by the fieldwork firm / sub-contractors identified in M.3. Each project should have been completed in Canada with a minimum of one thousand (1000) survey completions using random digit dialing and should involve a minimum survey duration of five (5) minutes. The projects cited in M.2 and M.4 can be resubmitted for this rated criterion provided they meet all the elements required in R.5. Relevant projects conducted for clients in or outside the Government of Canada will be given equal weight in the evaluation process. 

Projects can include any target audience (e.g. Indigenous, ethno cultural groups, seniors, youth, general population, etc.), as long as the project was conducted in Canada with Canadians.

The proposal should use the following layout to describe each project: 

- Project title; 
- Fieldwork start and end dates (Month/Year). For tracking projects, this should include the start and end dates of each wave; 
- Client name and telephone number; 
- Methodology including: 
--  the number of survey completions and characteristics of respondents; 
--  questionnaire duration; 
--  sample design; and 
--  the number of overall completions, and completions per wave.

Project experience will be evaluated based on the following criteria: 

a) Recency of the Project: The project fieldwork was completed in the two (2) years preceding the bid closing date by the bidder’s proposed fieldwork firm.

b) Sample Size and Questionnaire Duration: There were a) at least one thousand (1000) survey completions using probability sampling and b) involving minimum survey duration of at least five (5) minutes.

c) Sampling Distribution: a) national in scope as defined in M2 and b) the final sample is representative of the target population as defined in M2 by region/province


BASIS OF SELECTION

Highest Combined Rating of Technical Merit and Price 

1.  To be declared responsive, a bid must: 

a) comply with all the requirements of the bid solicitation; and 
b) meet all mandatory criteria; and 
c) obtain the required minimum points specified for each criterion for the technical evaluation, and 
d) obtain the required minimum of 810 points overall for the technical evaluation criteria which are subject to point rating. The rating is performed on a scale of 1350 points. 

Bids not meeting (a) or (b) or (c) and (d) will be declared non-responsive. 

2. The selection will be based on the highest responsive combined rating of technical merit and price. The ratio will be 70% for the technical merit and 30% for the price. 

3. To establish the technical merit score, the overall technical score for each responsive bid will be determined as follows: total number of points obtained divided by maximum number of points available multiplied by the ratio of 70%. 

4. To establish the pricing score, each ceiling price or rate will be prorated against the lowest ceiling price or rate for each individual category of service. The ratio of 30% will be calculated as follows: Lowest Average Contract Ceiling Price for Initial and Optional Contract Periods multiplied by 30 points divided by Bidder’s Average Contract Ceiling Price = Weighted Financial Score for Contract Ceiling Price. 

5. For each responsive bid, the technical merit score and the pricing score will be added to determine its combined rating. 

6. Neither the responsive bid obtaining the highest technical score nor the one with the lowest evaluated price will necessarily be accepted. The responsive bid with the highest combined rating of technical merit and price will be recommended for award of a contract. 


All solicitation documents must be obtained through http://buyandsell.gc.ca/tenders


Delivery Date: Above-mentioned

The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement.

Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.