Volunteer Management Solution
Solicitation number 5P041-120584/A
Publication date
Closing date and time 2013/05/07 14:00 EDT
Description
Trade Agreement: WTO-AGP/NAFTA/AIT/Canada-Peru FTA/Canada-Colombia FTA Tendering Procedures: All interested suppliers may submit a bid Attachment: None Non-Competitive Procurement Strategy: Exclusive Rights Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No Vendor Name and Address: Affirmative Communications Inc 108-3325 North Service Road Burlington Ontario Canada L7N3G2 Nature of Requirements: 5P041-120584/A Wong, Vincent Telephone No. - (819) 956-3769 Fax No. - (819) 953-3703 ADVANCED CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE (ACAN) VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT SOLUTION 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 Parks Canada Agency (Parks Canada) has a requirement for the supply of an online volunteer management solution with an electronic database to support their National Volunteer Program. The solution and all its components must be available in both official languages (English and French), unless otherwise specified, in accordance with the Official Languages Act; must meet all mandatory performance and minimum essential requirements stated below; and include initial set-up and training. This requirement also includes optional services: programming for bilingual language requirements and Government of Canada Credential Federation (GCCF) integration, ongoing maintenance and support services for optional periods, and other customization programming on an as and when required basis. 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: 3.1 General Requirements The solution must conform to and be compliant with the current Government of Canada Standard on Web Accessibility; Any Public Facing Website of the solution must conform to and be compliant with the current Government of Canada Standard on Web Usability; All products and services delivered must be in both Official Languages (English and French), unless otherwise specified, in accordance with the Official Languages Act; The Contractor must ensure that all databases and servers containing any information related to the Work are located in Canada. The Contractor must not be subject to any laws that allow a government or any other entity or person to seek or to obtain the right to view or copy any information relating to the Contract without first obtaining the Contracting Authority's written consent; The Contractor must control access to all databases and servers on which any data relating to the Contract is stored so that only individuals with the appropriate security clearance are able to access the database, either by using a password or other form of access control (such as biometric controls); The Contractor must ensure that all databases and servers on which any data relating to the Contract is stored are physically and logically independent (meaning there is no direct or indirect connection of any kind) from all other databases or servers; The Contractor must ensure that all data relating to the Contract is processed only in Canada; The Contractor must ensure that all domestic network traffic (meaning traffic or transmissions initiated in one part of Canada to a destination or individual located in another part of Canada) is routed exclusively through Canada; and Despite any section of the General Conditions relating to subcontracting, the Contractor must not subcontract (including to an affiliate) any function that involves providing a subcontractor with access to any data relating to the Contract unless the Contracting Authority first consents in writing. 3.2 Technical Requirements - Training Environment For the period of the Contract, access to a Training Environment for the entire solution must be provided to Parks Canada for staff training purposes. The Training Environment must be delivered no later than 30 days prior to scheduled commencement of User Acceptance Testing (UAT); The Training Environment must have an uptime of 99 % calculated monthly excluding maintenance windows; The Training Environment must support a minimum of 20 Concurrent Users; The Training Environment must not contain any designated data from Production (i.e., volunteer data); The Training Environment must include any required fictitious volunteer data; and The Training Environment must remain current with the Production version of the solution, unless upon request from Parks Canada when providing training prior to the release of a newer version of the solution. 3.3 Technical Requirements - Production Environment A Production Environment for the entire solution must be provided for the period of the Contract to Parks Canada and the public. The Production Environment must be delivered no later than 30 days prior to scheduled Production Launch; The Production Environment must have an uptime of 99.9% calculated monthly excluding maintenance windows; and The Production Environment must support a minimum of 100 Concurrent Users. 3.4 Technical Requirements - Support A Help Desk service must be provided for the period of the Contract to Parks Canada users. The help desk must be the first point of contact for reporting solution bugs and issues. The help desk must be reachable by telephone and e-mail; An Electronic Ticketing/Issue Tracking System for tracking issues reported to the Help Desk and for providing technical web support services must be provided for the period of the contract to Parks Canada users; Access to the Help Desk ticketing/issue tracking system must be provided to approved Parks Canada users. Parks Canada users must have the ability to enter, view, update and close any and all tickets related to the provided solution via the web; and Help Desk services must be accessible by phone and e-mail and be in operation from 7:00am to 7:00pm EST/EDT, 7 days a week. 3.5 Technical Requirements - Web Browser Support For the period of the Contract, the solution must be fully compatible and interoperate with the latest version the following web browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome. 3.6 Technical Requirements - Electronic Credential Management Services The solution must integrate and use GC Access Key and the Commercial Credential Broker as the only Electronic Credential Management services and must ensure compliance with the requirements of Shared Services Canada when transitioning to Production; and For the period of the Contract, a Chooser Screen must be created and maintained for use with the solution. 3.7 Compatibility with Parks Canada's Technical Environment The solution must, at a minimum, be interoperable and compatible with the Parks Canada technical environment of desktops and laptops: Intel P4 1.5Mhz 1GB RAM (minimum) Windows XP - SP3 McAfee VirusScan 8.5 Internet Explorer 7.0 Microsoft Office Professional 2007 Lotus Notes Client 8.5 Adobe Reader 9.0 3.8 Solution Features The solution must: Allow for the design and use of online forms to collect information from users; Allow for the design and administrator assignment of user-based roles, profiles and access rights; Allow users the option to make changes to their profile information, preferences and to sign-up, as an individual or as a group, to listed events or projects; Allow user profiles and records to be generated in an online report, including tracking of all user statistics, their input information and preferences; Include a querying and reporting wizard/function for ad hoc and canned reports. The solution must be able to match volunteers with criteria about skills and availability; Allow for the creation of events and projects to be listed and available for user sign-up. Event and project information must be alterable based on user-roles and access rights; Allow for the uploading and download documents of any type and size; Include e-mail notification services and the option of signing-up or opting out; and Have bilingual labels (not a single label that has bilingual text). 3.9 Solution Report Generation The solution must include reporting capability to compute: Number of unique volunteers per year; Number of volunteers compiled from volunteer projects; Number of year/hours volunteered per year; Number of volunteers per age categories; Number of hours volunteered per year compiled from volunteer projects; Number of hours volunteered per year in high-risk activities compiled from volunteer projects; Risk management assessment and procedures in place; Postal codes - list volunteers by postal code; Type of volunteer projects undertaken at the parks and sites across Canada (from the drop list); Agreement for use of images and photos of volunteers for Parks Canada communication purpose; and Mailing list and labels for opinion research. 4. Security Requirements The Contractor must, at all times during the performance of the Contract, hold a valid Designated Organization Screening (DOS) with approved Document Safeguarding at the level of PROTECTED B, issued by the Canadian Industrial Security Directorate, Public Works and Government Services Canada. The Contractor personnel requiring access to PROTECTED information, assets or work site(s) must each hold a valid RELIABILITY STATUS, granted or approved by the Canadian Industrial Security Directorate (CISD), Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). The Contractor must not utilize its Information Technology systems to electronically process, produce or store PROTECTED information until the CISD/PWGSC has issued written approval. After approval has been granted or approved, these tasks may be per-formed at the level of PROTECTED B. Subcontracts which contain security requirements are not to be awarded without the prior written permission of CISD/PWGSC. The Contractor must comply with the provisions of the: (a) Security Requirements Check List and security guide (if applicable); (b) Industrial Security Manual (Latest Edition) 5. Applicability of the trade agreements to the procurement This procurement is subject to the following trade agreements: Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP) 6. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier Affirmative Communications Inc. (operating as "Volunteer Squared") is the only known supplier of an online software solution (Volunteer Impact) that is available in both official languages (English and French) and meets all mandatory performance and minimum essential requirements. 7. Government Contracts Regulations Exception The following exception to the Government Contracts Regulations is invoked for this procurement under subsection 6(d) - "only one person is capable of performing the work". 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: Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) - Article 506 paragraph 12 (b) "where there is an absence of competition for technical reasons and the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no alternative or substitute exists" North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) - Article 1016.2(b) "where, for works of art, or for reasons connected with the protection of patents, copyrights or other exclusive rights, or proprietary information or where there is an absence of competition for technical reasons, the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists" World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP) - Article XV 1.(b) "when, for works of art or for reasons connected with protection of exclusive rights, such as patents or copyrights, or in the absence of competition for technical reasons, the products or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists" 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 options to extend the contract period for up to an additional seven, one-year periods. 10.1 Mandatory Deliverables Complete installation of the solution and the training environment ready for internal, non-public use must occur within 30 days of the date of Contract Award. Personalization and branding of all Parks Canada corporate logos, Common Look standards into the solution, meeting all minimum language and technical standards, must occur within 45 days of the date of Contract Award. Maintenance and support services for the duration of the contract period 10.2 Optional Deliverables This requirement also includes optional services: programming for bilingual language requirements and Government of Canada Credential Federation (GCCF) integration, ongoing maintenance and support services for optional periods, and other customization programming on an as and when required basis. 11. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier Affirmative Communications Inc., operating as Volunteer Squared 108-3325 North Service Road Burlington, Ontario L7N 3G2 12. 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. 13. Closing date for a submission of a statement of capabilities The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is May 7, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. EDT. 14. Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to: Vincent Wong Software and Shared Systems Procurement Directorate Public Works and Government Services Canada Place du Portage III, 4C1 11 rue Laurier, Gatineau (Québec) K1A 0S5 Telephone: (819) 956-3769 Facsimile: (819) 953-3703 E-mail: Vincent.Wong@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.
Contract duration
Refer to the description above for full details.
Trade agreements
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World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO GPA)
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Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)
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Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
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Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA)
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North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
Contact information
Contracting organization
- Organization
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Public Works and Government Services Canada
- Address
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11 Laurier St, Phase III, Place du PortageGatineau, Quebec, K1A 0S5Canada
- Contracting authority
- Wong, Vincent
- Phone
- (819) 956-3769 ( )
- Fax
- (819) 953-3703
- Address
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4C1, Place du Portage Phase III
11 Laurier St./11, rue LaurierGatineau, Québec, K1A 0S5
Buying organization(s)
- Organization
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Parks Canada
- Address
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30 Victoria StreetGatineau, Quebec, J8X 0B3Canada
Bidding details
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