ISC - Backup Nursing Services

Trade Agreement: NONE
Tendering Procedures: If 2+ bids offer Canadian goods/services other bids will not be considered
Competitive Procurement Strategy: Best Overall  Proposal
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Nature of Requirements: 

Request for Standing Offers (RFSO) for Backup Nursing Services to Remote, Isolated, and Semi-Isolated First Nations (FN) Communities.

BACKGROUND:
The Department of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) currently funds and/or delivers primary care services, accessible on a twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week basis in over 79 health facilities serving 111,000 FN clients in Remote, Isolated and Semi-Isolated FN communities, where access to provincial services is limited or non-existent. 

ISC employs Registered Nurses (RN) and Nurse Practitioners (NP) to provide the health services in 21 FN communities in Manitoba, 24 FN communities in Ontario, 2 FN communities in Quebec, 4 FN communities in Alberta, plus 2 hospitals in Manitoba.  ISC currently has primary contracts in each aforementioned province to obtain Contract Nurses on a temporary basis to backfill for vacant positions, vacation and sick leave. 

REQUIREMENT:
ISC has a requirement for Offerors to provide temporary nursing services through Standing Offers (SO) in the Regions of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec to supplement delivery of primary and public health nursing services at different Remote, Isolated, and Semi-Isolated First Nations (FN) communities. 

Services provided through the resulting Standing Offers will act as a backup instrument to supplement the services received under the primary contracts for each Region.

CATEGORIES:
This RFSO covers the following two categories:

Category 1: Registered Nurse
Category 2: Nurse Practitioner

REGIONS:
The following Regions may receive services under the SOs that result from this RFSO:

Alberta; Manitoba; Ontario; and Quebec.

MULTIPLE SOs:
Canada intends on issuing up to ten Standing Offers per Region and Category as a result of this RFSO.

SO PERIOD:
The period of any resulting Standing Offer will be for one year from the date of SO issuance and will include four irrevocable one-year option periods to extend the terms and conditions of each Standing Offer.

APPLICABLE POLICIES:
The services are categorized as "Nursing Care Services" under the GSIN G001A and as such the procurement is excluded from the International Trade Agreements and the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA).
The procurement is not subject to Comprehensive Land Claims Agreements as the final delivery points of the services are outside the Comprehensive Land Claims Settlements Areas. 

This procurement is not set aside under the federal government Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business (PSAB), but is subject to a preference for services from Aboriginal Businesses. Non-Aboriginal businesses may submit an offer in response to this solicitation, but priority will be given to Aboriginal Businesses when forming the SO Ranking Scores.

The requirement is subject to a preference for Canadian services.

Contractors that were awarded a contract under Request for Proposal HT426-172611/C are precluded from being issued a Standing Offer, under this RFSO, to back up the delivery of nursing services to the specific Region in which they were awarded a contract.

Offers from Joint Ventures are not permitted under this RFSO. 

SECURITY REQUIREMENT:
Before issuance of a SO the Offeror must hold a valid Designated Organization Screening (DOS) issued by the Canadian Industrial Security Directorate (CISD), Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). 

Offerors that require security sponsorship are to submit their request for sponsorship to the Standing Offer Authority identified below.

ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF OFFERS:
Offerors must submit their offers electronically.  Canada requests that offers are submitted using the epost Connect service provided by Canada Post Corporation. Refer to Part 2 of the RFSO entitled Offeror Instructions and Part 3 of the RFSO entitled Offer Preparation Instructions for further information on using this method.

ENQURIES:
All enquiries related to this RFSO should be directed, by email, to the Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) Standing Offer Authority named below no later than 10 calendar days before the Request for Standing Offers (RFSO) closing date. Enquiries received after that time may not be answered:

Jeremy Chapple
PSPC Standing Offer Authority
E-mail Address: TPSGC.PASACOCSI-APISCNSSO.PWGSC@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
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.