SaaS Business to Business Marketplace for Food and Hospitality

Trade Agreement: CETA / WTO-AGP / CPTPP / CFTA / FTAs with Peru / Colombia / Panama / Korea
Tendering Procedures: Suppliers on permanent list or able to meet qualification requirements
Non-Competitive Procurement Strategy: Exclusive Rights
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Vendor Name and Address: 
Informa Markets Asia Limited
17/F China Resources Building
26 Harbour Road
Wanchai
China
Nature of Requirements: 

01044-210279/A
Guillot, Jacob
Telephone No. (343) 552-1378 


ADVANCED CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE (ACAN)
SaaS Business to Business Marketplace for Food and Hospitality


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

The Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Trade Show Strategy and Delivery team has a requirement for the provision of a virtual business-to-business (B2B) marketplace, delivered as a Software as a Service Solution, designed for food and hospitality professionals. AAFC is seeking a SaaS Solution that will provide access to an online marketplace to help agricultural industries reach global markets during this time of travel restrictions. The SaaS Solution is required to address the short-term need to deliver trade event experiences and access to verified buyers virtually while providing a promotional tool that can be used in the long-term to complement in-person trade events.

The requirement is for the procurement of a SaaS B2B marketplace, tailored to food and hospitality professionals, for a one-year period with options to extend by one additional one-year period, including the option to acquire additional subscriptions during the period of the Contract and any option periods.


3. Criteria for assessment of the Statement of Capabilities (Minimum Essential Requirements)

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

Technical Requirements

1. The Solution must be available through a Software as a Service delivery model.

2. The Solution must provide a ready-to-launch online marketplace that is focused on direct buyer marketing and connects Canadian export-ready companies to large buyer groups (30,000 or more verified buyers) in Asia’s food and hospitality industry.
  
a) Target buyer groups are verified attendees of events in the “Food and Hotel” event network.  Specifically Seoul Food and Hotel, Food and Hotel China and Food and Hotel Asia. 
  
b)    Buyer groups must represent decision makers from several key categories including importer/distributor, supermarket/retail, foodservice/hospitality, hotel/restaurant/cafe (“HoReCa”).

3. The Solution must have a search feature capable of organizing results by country, region, product category, and business nature.   

4. The Solution must have a demonstrated capability of making business connections (virtual and in-person).

5. The Solution must provide an opportunity for national branding, allowing for Canadian companies to be grouped under the same architecture/umbrella/landing page (i.e. the Solution must allow many multiples of companies (100+) to be grouped by country).

6. The Solution must be commercially available and must contain an existing company network including national groups.

7. The Solution must allow for the creation of individual company micro-sites (100+) for purposes of product promotion and B2B interactions.  Micro-sites may have standardized architecture but must be configurable based on the needs of individual companies and must allow unlimited individual product uploads.

8. The Supplier must be have resources available to assist in the creation and configuration of the micro-sites.  

9. The Solution must be capable of supporting 1000+ company micro-sites.  

10. The Solution must have demonstrated promotional and marketing capabilities and provide Canadian export ready companies as well as  AAFC with  a minimum of 5 options for virtual promotion of Canada and Canadian food across the Solution.  These virtual promotions may include, but are not limited to:

a) Month long national and product specific promotions;
b) Dedicated country webinars;
c) Live product demos;
d) Showcase features;
e) Banner promotion/advertisement features;
f) Intelligence led match making capabilities;
g) Company listings on WeChat platform EZBUY;
h) Virtual sourcing and food festivals; and,
i) In-person event platform linkages. 

11. The  Solution must provide a full suite metric package to both Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and individual company participants, including all of the following: 

a) Individual participant information/metrics in order to create "lead profiles";

b) Real time results for visitor data and buyer profiles;
c) Tracking conversations to allow leads to be cultivated at the individual company level; 

d) Detailed reports on visitor statistics (buyer profiles, time on site, page views, etc);

e) Metrics/stats/results, as described in “D” specific to individual from promotional campaigns as well as high level monthly, quarterly, annual results, and same individual business results. 

12. The Solution must provide access to a dedicated buyer network currently involved in Canada Pavilion Flagship events and other prominent events attended by industry partners (a list of events can be found here: https://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/international-trade/trade-show-service/?id=1410072148325).  

13. The Solution must be stable and available year-round. It must act as: 

a) a lead in to in-person events; 

b) a portal during in-person events;

c) a channel to interact with leads post shows; 

d) a supplier resource for companies that do not attend specific in-person events; and, 

e) a replacement for in-person events during periods of travel restrictions.

4. Security Requirements

The solution must be compliant with the following security certifications:

• SOC 2-Type 2 (Security, Availability, & Confidentiality)
• ISO 27001:2013


5. Applicability of the trade agreements to the procurement

This procurement is subject to the following trade agreements:
 
i. Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)

ii. World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP)

iii. Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)

iv. Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)

v. Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement

vi. Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement

vii. Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement

viii. Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement

ix. Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement

x. Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement

xi. Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement
 

6. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier

Informa Markets Asia Ltd. is the only known supplier of an online B2B marketplace for food and hospitality that meets all of the requirements listed in Section 3, above.


7. Government Contracts Regulations Exception

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


8. Exclusions and/or Limited Tendering Reasons

The following exclusions and/or limited tendering reasons are invoked under the section of the trade agreements specified:

i. Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) - Article 513, paragraph 1.(b) 

ii. World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP) - Article XIII, paragraph 1.(b)
 
iii. Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) - Article 15.10, paragraph 2.(b)

iv. Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) - Article 19.12.b.

9. Ownership of Intellectual Property

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


10. Period of the Proposed Contract and Deliverables

The proposed Contract is for a period of 1 year from date of Contract Award.

The proposed Contract includes an option to extend the contract period for one additional one-year period.

The proposed Contract includes an option to add additional subscriptions during the period of the initial Contract and any option periods. 

The Contractor will be required to deliver an Online B2B Marketplace for Food and Hospitality SaaS Solution meeting all of the requirements listed in Section 3 above, including associated Maintenance and Support Services.


11. Cost estimate of the proposed contract

The estimated value of the contract, including option(s), is $ 260,000.00 CAD (GST/HST extra).


12. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier

Informa Markets Asia Ltd.
Digital Business and Advanced Analytics Asia
17/F China Resources Building
26 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong


13. Suppliers' right to submit a statement of capabilities

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the goods, services or construction services described in the ACAN 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.


14. Closing date for a submission of a statement of capabilities

The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is February 12th,2021.


15. Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities

Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:

Jacob Guillot
Software and Shared Systems Procurement Directorate
Public Works and Government Services Canada
10 Wellington Street, Gatineau, Quebec, K1A 0S5
Telephone: (343) 552-1378
E-mail: Jacob.guillot@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca

Delivery Date: Above-mentioned

You are hereby notified that the government intends to negotiate with one firm only as identified above. Should you have any questions concerning this requirement, contact the contracting officer identified above.

An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows departments and agencies to post a notice, for no less than fifteen (15) calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that it intends to award a good, service or construction contract to a pre-identified contractor. If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a Statement of Capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, the contracting authority may then proceed with the award.  However, should a Statement of Capabilities be found to meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, then the contracting authority will proceed to a full tendering process.

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services/goods described herein, 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.

The PWGSC file number, the contracting officer's name and the closing date of the ACAN must appear on the outside of the envelope in block letters or, in the case of a facsimile transmission, on the covering page.

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

Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.