GCIMS MAINTENANCE & SUPPORT

Trade Agreement: NAFTA/AIT/Canada-Peru FTA/Canada-Colombia FTA
Tendering Procedures: Generally only one firm has been invited
to bid
Attachment: None
Non-Competitive Procurement Strategy: Exclusive Rights
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Vendor Name and Address: 
Online Enterprises Inc.
200-115 Bannatyne Avenue
Winnipeg Manitoba
Canada
R3B0R3
Nature of Requirements: 
ADVANCE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE (ACAN)

Purpose of 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 in the ACAN, the contracting officer may then proceed
with the award to the pre-identified supplier.
Definition of requirement: 
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has a requirement for
informatics professional services to provide multi-tiered
maintenance and technical support for their existing Grants and
Contributions Information Management Systems (GCIMS)
application. 

Contractor tasks include:

Maintaining a development and testing environment for the GCIMS
application, including any necessary hardware and software;
Providing multi-tiered maintenance and technical support
services;
Maintaining a workforce capable of handling application problems
in a timely manner;
Responding to maintenance and technical support requests via
telephone and email;
Providing, when requested, faster response times through the use
of multiple resources;
Investigating application problems;
Devising workarounds to resolve application problems;
Providing development services, data corrections and/or
application releases to resolve application problems; and
Testing all workarounds, development, data corrections and
application releases.

Constraints:

The GCIMS application was developed using Microsoft's
programming language Visual Basic 6.0 (VB6). VB6 is no longer
supported by Microsoft.

Maintenance and Support Services Requirements:

Maintenance and support must be available from 8:00 a.m. until
4:30 p.m., Central Standard Time, Monday through Friday,
exclusive of statutory holidays observed by the DOJ; and
A live maintenance and/or technical support agent must respond
to any maintenance and/or technical support requests within 60
minutes of the initial communication.

Criteria for assessment of the Statement of Capabilities
Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement
of capabilities that it meets the following requirements: 
Experience:
A minimum of 5 years of experience in each of the following
areas:

Maintaining the Government of Canada's GCIMS application;
Providing development services and data corrections for the
Government of Canada's GCIMS application;
Implementing the integration of financial and regulatory
compliance into a system to ensure operational efficiency and
compliance; and 
Visual Basic 6.0 (VB6), SQL Server, Crystal Reports, HTML and
COM Components.

Knowledge:
Knowledge of the following areas as part of its core
competencies: 

Object Oriented Programming using the VB6 platform;
SQL server;
Crystal Reports;
HTML;
COM Components; and
Agile Project Management.

Academic Qualifications:
Dedicated maintenance and support resources must have a minimum
of 2 years of post-secondary education in Computer Science or a
related field(s). 

Professional designation, accreditation, and/or certification:
Dedicated maintenance and support resources must have a
Microsoft Certification.

Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement 
This procurement is subject to the following trade agreement(s): 

Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT); and
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier
Online Business Systems (OBS) developed the GCIMS using VB6, a
legacy programming language no longer supported by Microsoft.
OBS created and has been maintaining a VB6 GCIMS development
environment since its creation. Consequently, Canada believes
that OBS is the only firm capable of providing the most
effective and immediate maintenance and support services for the
GCIMS application.

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

Exclusions and/or Limited Tendering Reasons
The following exclusion(s) and/or limited tendering reasons are
invoked under the section of the trade agreements specified:

Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) - Article 506, section 12 (a);
and
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) - Articles 1016.2
(b) and (d).

Ownership of Intellectual Property
Canada intends to retain ownership of any Foreground
Intellectual Property arising out of the proposed contract on
the basis that statutes, regulations, or prior obligations of
the Crown to a third party or parties preclude Contractor
ownership of the Foreground.

The period of the proposed contract
The period of the proposed contract is from contract award date
for one year, with the irrevocable option to extend the contract
by two additional one-year periods.

Name and address of the pre-identified supplier
Name: Online Enterprises Inc., Operating as: Online Business
Systems
Address: 200-115 Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B0R3,
Canada

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.

The closing date for a submission of a statement of capabilities
The closing date and time for accepting statements of
capabilities is May 16, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. EST.

Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities
Inquiries and Statements of Capabilities must be submitted to
the PWGSC Contracting Authority only. Inquiries and Statements
of Capabilities may be submitted by e-mail, facsimile, or mail
to:

Name:	Jonah Dubé, PWGSC Contracting Authority
E-mail:	jonah.dube@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
Telephone:	(819) 956-0712
Facsimile:	(819) 956-1156
Address:	Portage III, 4C2
		11 Laurier Street, 
		Gatineau, Québec
		K1A 0S5

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.