Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) Facility Management Services

Trade Agreement: CETA / WTO-AGP / CPTPP / NAFTA / CFTA / FTAs with Peru / Colombia / Panama / Korea
Tendering Procedures: All interested suppliers may submit a bid
Competitive Procurement Strategy: N/A - P&A/LOI Only
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: Yes
Nature of Requirements: 

ET025-202063/A
Fagan, Mike
Telephone No. - (204) 296-5375
Fax No. - (204) 983-7796

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

FOR

Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) Facility Management Services at the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut

FOR

The Department of Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC)
 

NATURE OF REQUIREMENTS

This is not a bid solicitation. This Request for Information (RFI) will not result in the award of any contract; therefore, potential suppliers of any goods or services described in this RFI should not earmark stock or facilities, nor allocate resources, as a result of any information contained in this RFI. This RFI will not result in the creation of any source list; therefore, whether or not any potential supplier responds to this RFI will not preclude that supplier from participating in any future procurement. Also, the procurement of any of the goods and services described in this RFI will not necessarily follow this RFI. This RFI is simply intended to solicit feedback from industry and other stakeholders with respect to the contents of this RFI.  This RFI has excerpts that may or may not be used in the Request for Proposal (RFP) at a future date. The Government of Canada will not reimburse any respondent for expenses incurred in responding to this RFI.

BACKGROUND

PSPC is preparing to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for Facility Management (FM) Services at the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. 

The new Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) facility provides POLAR Knowledge Canada (POLAR) with a headquarters for their Departmental Corporation, an office area, various science laboratories for both POLAR and visiting scientists from around the world, field support storage and service locations, and a multipurpose public space for external stakeholders and other parties. CHARS is occupied by POLAR, a federal organization, established in 2015 with a mandate to advance Canada’s knowledge of the Arctic, strengthening Canadian leadership in polar science and technology.

The CHARS facility is comprised of a Main Research Building (MRB), a Field Maintenance Building (FMB) and two accommodation triplexes. Construction of the triplexes and FMB was completed December 01, 2017. Due to remaining construction deficiencies, substantial completion for the MRB HVAC system has not yet been issued and remains under the responsibility of the Construction Contractor. A Facility Management (FM) contract for CHARS has been in place since August 18, 2017 and expires September 30, 2020, at which time a new FM contract is required. There is a requirement for a four month operational transition period prior to completion of the current FM contract. 

The number of POLAR staff is consistent throughout the year, however in summer the overall population of CHARS increases due to an increase in visiting international scientists making use of the facility. 

Spaces within the MRB are made available for use by external stakeholders.  These activities include community meetings, discussions with elders, tours of the facility, science camps with students and other activities. These activities typically occur 2-3 times per month and may occur during evenings or weekends and this frequency is expected to increase over the term of the contract. 

The FM Service Provider will be required to plan, operate, and maintain the facility using their own forces and sub-contracts so that POLAR can focus on its mandate to deliver cutting-edge science and technology research in Canada’s north. The FM Service Provider shall ensure the facility is maintained to a high standard, provides a healthy and safe working environment, and is in line with Treasury Board Policies applicable to the facility and government operations. The specific Treasury Board Policies will be listed in the future RFP. 

The Service Provider will deliver a range of services while being flexible and adaptable as POLAR continues to grow in staffing, activities and moves towards full operating capacity. As per the new Directive on Government Contracts, Including Real Property Leases in the Nunavut Settlement Area, services have been unbundled from the Statement of Work and therefore are not included in the list of potential services below:
• General facility management services; health and safety, communications, record-keeping, etc. 
• Operational transition
• Building operations and maintenance 
• Managing of service calls and incidents
• Emergency work services
• Management of utilities
• Cleaning services
• Hoteling services
• Maintenance of scientific laboratory equipment such as but not limited to fume hoods.
• Environmental management services
• Inventory management services
• Building management planning
• Building performance reviews
• Performance measurement regime services
• Task authorizations for “as and when” required work and client direct project delivery services 
The RFI could result in additional unbundling of the services related to this requirement. Any potential for further unbundling would be subject to an operation risk and efficiency assessment as it relates to the overall project delivery along with a capacity assessment/review of the Inuit Firm Registry (IFR).

SECURITY REQUIREMENTS 

At the date of bid closing the following conditions must be met:

• The Contractor/Offeror must, at all times during the performance of the Contract/Standing Offer, hold a valid Designated Organization Screening (DOS), issued by the Canadian Industrial Security Directorate (CISD), Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC).

• The Contractor/Offeror personnel requiring access to sensitive work site(s) must EACH hold a valid RELIABILITY STATUS, granted or approved by CISD/PSPC.

In addition, subcontracts which contain security requirements are NOT to be awarded without the prior written permission of CISD/PSPC.

CONTEMPLATED PROCUREMENT STRATEGY 

This procurement is subject to the Agreement between the Inuit of the Nunavut Settlement Area and Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada (the Nunavut Agreement).

Article 24 of the Nunavut Agreement contains a provision requiring the inclusion of socio-economic bid criteria in the solicitation document, when practicable and consistent with sound procurement management principles. The new Directive on Government Contracts, Including Real Property Leases, in the Nunavut Settlement Area (the Directive) comes into effect December 20, 2019, and further clarifies the obligations in the Agreement.

As this requirement is to take place within the Nunavut Settlement Area (NSA), the Nunavut Agreement and the Directive both apply.

An assessment of the Inuit Firm Registry has been completed and verified. It has been determined that this will be an open tender not limited to Inuit Firms.

The Directive requires that bid evaluation criteria include Inuit Benefits Criteria (IBC) and Nunavut Benefits Criteria (NBC), alongside other criteria (e.g. technical, administrative, price, etc.). The weighting of these two criteria are prescribed, and are expected to be the basis for a minimum of 35% of the bid evaluation points available. The remaining 65% will be assigned to other weighted criteria established by Canada (technical, administrative, price, etc.).

As part of their bids, bidders are requested to include an Inuit Benefits Plan, detailing how they will provide benefits related to the IBC and NBC (to be detailed in the Request for Proposal).

• See attached Inuit Benefits Plan engagement document with further information regarding the IBC/NBC criteria.

OBJECTIVE OF RFI

• Gather information and interest in this planned procurement from the Inuit business community and industry as a whole.
• Provide awareness of this planned procurement to the Inuit business community and industry as it relates to the Directive.
• Gather information regarding the capacity of the Inuit business community in regards to labour/sub-contracting for this requirement.
• Gather information on the IBC/NBC criteria in the attachment provided. 
• Initiate an industry and community consultative process    
• To further facilitate this information-gathering exercise, Community/Industry Engagement events may be scheduled in the future.  

INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT QUESTIONS

For the purpose of this procurement, Canada is interested in determining the current and future capacity for the provision of services as previously identified herein.

Please consider the following questions in your response to this RFI.

1) Do you own or operate an Inuit business/company that may be interested in providing services (in whole or in part) for this requirement?  If so, please provide a list of the skills and equipment you offer, location of your business and a brief summary of work and/or projects completed within the last five years.

2) To the Inuit Business Community, what is the capacity to provide Inuit labour and/or sub-contractors for this requirement?

3) The Inuit and Nunavut Benefit Criteria in the attached document contain examples of potential sub-criteria that may be contained within each. Do the sub-criteria reflect what would best benefit the Inuit Community? Are there sub-criteria missing that could be included? Could some be removed? Which ones would be of a higher importance?

4) If you qualify as an Inuit firm according to the NTI Inuit Firm Registry (IFR), have you registered and included the services that your firm is able to deliver? If not registered, is there a reason why you are not?

5) For prime contractors considering this opportunity, how would you work with sub-contractors, labour (including training, e.g. apprenticeships), material, and equipment available from the Inuit of the Nunavut Settlement Area? How would your company organize and manage this?

Please identify any other issues, concerns, or recommendations not addressed above.

Important Note to Respondents:

Respondents may submit their responses to the PSPC Contracting Authority, identified below, preferably via email.
Mike Fagan
Supply Specialist, Real Property Contracting
Public Services and Procurement Canada 
E-mail address/ Telephone/ Facsimile: Mike.Fagan@pwgsc.gc.ca/204-296-5375/204-983-7796

A point of contact for the Respondent should be included in the package.

Respondents are requested to provide their comments, concerns, and, where applicable, alternative recommendations regarding how the requirements or objectives described in this RFI could be satisfied. Respondents should explain any assumptions they make in their responses.

There is no formal structure or format that a response to this RFI should meet. The respondent should feel free to submit whatever information it feels would make a useful and relevant contribution to PSPC in the analysis of this procurement and the development of solicitation documents to procure a solution to fulfill its requirements.

Canada may, in its sole discretion, contact any respondents to follow up with additional questions or for clarification of any aspect of a response.

All responses will be treated as confidential, subject to the provisions of the Access to Information Act (R.S. 1985, c. A-1) and the Privacy Act (R.S., 1985, c. P-21).

PSPC will in no way make any direct attribution of any information obtained from respondents that has been identified by respondents as confidential or proprietary within their responses. 

Responses will not be formally evaluated. However, PSPC will review all responses received by the RFI closing date. PSPC may, at their discretion, review responses received after the RFI closing date. 

A review team composed of representatives of PSPC will review the responses received. PSPC reserves the right to hire any independent consultant or use any resources that it considers necessary to review any response, in part or in its entirety. Not all members of the review team will necessarily review all responses. 

In addition to any other expressed or implied rights, PSPC reserves the right to: 
.1  Cancel this RFI process at any time; 
.2  Cancel this RFI process at any time and issue a new RFI for the same or similar information; 
.3  Make amendments to the timing and/or structure of this RFI process, including the closing date of the RFI, at its exclusive discretion; 
.4  Request additional supporting information or clarification from any or all respondents, and/or provide to respondents additional clarification and information pertinent to this RFI; 
.5  Contact any customer or reference provided within a respondent’s submission; and 
.6  Not consider any response, in its entirety, containing information which PSPC in its opinion, believes to contain misrepresentations or any other inaccurate, suspicious or misleading information. 

Questions regarding this RFI must be submitted to the contracting representative named above. Questions must be received no later than December 02, 2019 in order to allow sufficient time to provide a response. Enquiries received after that time may result in an answer NOT being provided. 

Feedback and responses related to this RFI are requested no later than December 05, 2019 in order to allow for its review.  Feedback and responses received after this date may not be considered.

Changes to the RFI may occur and will be advertised on the Government Electronic Tendering System (buyandsell.gc.ca). PSPC may provide written answers to questions received on or before the RFI closing date by means of RFI addenda and or Questions and Answers Posted on Buyandsell.gc.ca. Canada asks Respondents to visit Buyandsell.gc.ca regularly to check for changes, if any. 

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.



















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.