ACAN FOR AN EMERGENCY NOTIFICATIONS OFF-PREMISE SOFTWARE
SOLUTION (ENOSS)

Trade Agreement: NAFTA/AIT/Canada FTAs with Peru/Colombia/Panama
Tendering Procedures: All interested suppliers may submit a bid
Non-Competitive Procurement Strategy: Exclusive Rights
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Vendor Name and Address: 
ERMS Solutions Limited
2916 South Sheridan Way
Suite 200
Oakville Ontario
Canada
L6J7J8
Nature of Requirements: 
ADVANCE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE (ACAN) - EMERGENCY NOTIFICATIONS
OFF-PREMISE SOFTWARE SOLUTION (ENOSS)

Please Note, for any additional information regarding this ACAN
or to obtain copy of the criteria for assessment of the
statement of capabilities, please contact the following
Contracting Authority:
Jonathan Vinet
819-956-2940
Jonathan.vinet@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca

EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION OFF-PREMISE SOFTWARE SOLUTION (ENOSS) -
ERMS ADVANTAGE PLATFORM

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 - FOR AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD CANADA

The Department of Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) is
responsible for many sites across the country and as such there
is a requirement to effectively communicate with key contacts
during an Emergency/Business Continuity Planning (BCP) event.
There is a risk that AAFC's capacity to respond to catastrophic
crises, including those related to natural and accidental
hazards (e.g. disease, weather, etc.) may have consequences for
the agriculture, agri-based and agri-food sector and/or to
Canadians.  AAFC must implement an ENOSS in order to broadcast
notifications of such threats or events.
The ENOSS provided by the Service Provider must deliver, support
and allow the broadcast notifications of threats or
Emergency/BCP Events to at least 6,000 different stakeholders
within AAFC. The ENOSS will be used within AAFC as a
notification instrument for their own employees, students,
contractors and for business continuity purposes.

AAFC intends to enter into a sole source contract with ERMS
Solutions Limited for the purpose of procuring the ERMS
Advantage Platform suite including associating maintenance and
support service, training and professional services.


CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT OF THE STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES

Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement
of capabilities that their product and services meet the
following requirements:


MANDATORY  REQUIREMENTS:

M1. 
The software proposed to meet this requirement must be
"off-the-shelf", meaning that each component of software is
commercially available and requires no further research and
development and is part of an existing product line with a
field-proven operational history (that is, it has not simply
been tested in a laboratory or experimental environment).

M2. 
The contractor agrees to supply Canada with an Emergency
Notification Off-Premise Software Solution (ENOSS); that
delivers, allows and supports a secure, authenticated and
trusted computing environment located in Canada at all times;
and that has, all pre-production, production and post
production, in Canada, in a Protected A environment; for at
least a three years period of time.  


SERVICE ARCHITECTURE REQUIREMENTS:

M3.  
Service Design: The ENOSS must be designed specifically for
emergency notifications with the capability of broadcasting mass
notifications via multiple methods either simultaneously or in a
cascading sequence to multiple contacts within 5 minutes.

M4. 
Service Design: The ENOSS must include the ability to send
routine messages that are clearly distinct from any emergency
messages.

M5. 
Call Throttling: The ENOSS must have the ability to control the
number of calls into an organization to avoid flooding the lines
during a mass notification.

M6.  
Proprietorship: All hardware, software and data (apart from
Client's owned systems) must be hosted at facilities owned or
leased, operated and secured by the Supplier in Canada.

M7. 
Requirements for Client Operation: The Client must not be
required to install any hardware or software to operate any
facets of the ENOSS. Database capacity, data channels and phone
ports are not purchased by the Client.


SECURITY REQUIREMENTS:

M8. 
Industrial Security Standards: The selected Supplier must have
the ability to handle and secure information up to and including
PROTECTED A in accordance with Public Works and Government
Services Canada's Industrial Security Standards. These standards
apply to all facilities, subcontractors and equipment used to
store and process Administrator, User and Contact information
and all messages.

M9. 
Access Privileges: The ENOSS must enable Administrators to
control access privileges, such as access requests, requests for
changes to personal information, and changes to passwords,
provided that they have appropriate access control permissions.

M10. 
Password Change: The ENOSS must permit each Administrator, User
and Contact to change their password at any time.

M11. 
Password Strength: The ENOSS must force each Administrator, User
and Contact to configure a password in a predetermined manner
with a minimum number of characters, including capitals, numbers
and symbols.


RESILIENCY REQUIREMENTS:

M12. 
Recovery: Client data must be hosted in high-availability
facilities with zero failover time and automatic recovery.

M13. 
Disaster Recovery: If a Disaster, Emergency or Hazard renders
the Supplier's primary data centre inoperable, Client data must
be dynamically rerouted so that it functions without
interruption.

M14. 
Back-Up Facilities and Services: The ENOSS must have a
multi-tier, multi-server fault tolerant architecture with full
redundancy whereby the primary Contacts database server and all
ENOSS functions are housed in Canada and their back-up
capability is housed in separate locations in Canada separated
by a provincial boundary (at least 200 km) so that an Emergency
that affects one facility will not affect the others.

M15. 
Location of Data Servers: The ENOSS must ensure that the
Client's database never resides outside of Canada's land
boundaries.

M16. 
Permissions and Access Controls: The ENOSS must enable and
support the designation of a minimum of 10 Master Administrators
with full access and Regional Administrators with limited access.


GENERAL OPERATION REQUIREMENTS:

M17. 
User Interfaces: The Supplier must ensure that the ENOSS
provides graphical user interfaces (GUIs) in both English and
French for Administrators and Users.

M18. 
Browsers: The ENOSS must be accessible to Administrators and
Users on web browsers including Internet Explorer (min version
9.0), Apple Safari (min version 5.1), Google Chrome (min version
17.0) and Mozilla Firefox (min version 10.0) for Windows - and
compatible with 128-bit encryption.

M19. 
Quick Launch: The ENOSS must have a quick-launch feature that
allows an Administrator to initiate a Message from a single
screen after logging in to the ENOSS.

M20. 
Practice Modes: The ENOSS must have practice modes (i.e., a test
environment) that allow the Administrators and Users to use any
facet of the ENOSS without affecting real-time content or
capabilities of the ENOSS and the database (i.e., the production
environment).

M21.  
Self-Registration: The ENOSS must allow users to self-register
and update their own profile information at any time.

M22. 
Mapping: The ENOSS Application must have a "map" function that
allows selection of a selected radius surrounding an event which
allows notifications sent to only the selected geographic area.


OUTPUT

M23. 
Voice Messages: The ENOSS must send local or long-distance voice
Messages of up to 1 minute in duration (exclusive of dialing
time, ringing time and voice-mail response time) to at least
6,000 registered Contacts within 5 minutes of being sent. 

M24. 
Voice Message Language: Voice messages must be delivered in
French and English with voices using contemporary Canadian
accents.

M25. 
Text-based Messages: The ENOSS must send text-based SMS Messages
of a minimum of 140 characters or e-mail messages of up to 500
words to at least 6,000 registered Contacts within 5 minutes of
being sent.

M26. 
Reliability: The ENOSS must be fully functional and operational
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with at least 99.99% availability
throughout the Contract period. In the event of an outage, the
Supplier will advise the client of the outage and the impacts on
the ENOSS. In the event of a scheduled outage, the Supplier will
advise the Client well in advance of the outage.

M27. 
Native SMS in Canada: The ENOSS must use short code in order to
allow for the sending of true SMS versus email-to-SMS.


DATABASE

M28. 
Data Recovery: The ENOSS must enable Administrators to recover a
Contact record that has been deleted for up to 5 days after
deletion

M29. 
Database Backup: The ENOSS must generate automatic database
backups to one or more other locations in Canada at least once
every 24 hours.


ADMINISTRATOR, USER AND CONTACT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT 

M30. 
Administrator and User Profiles: The ENOSS must allow for the
establishment and maintenance of a database of Administrator and
User Profiles that include the following:
(i). Full name
(ii). Position
(iii). Region
(iv). Branch
(v). An individual ID number
(vi). Primary 24 hour emergency coordinates
(vii). Secondary 24 hour emergency coordinates
(viii). Cell phone number
(ix). Business Fax number
(x). Pager number
(xi). E-mail address
(xii). Designated alternate
(xiii). Blackberry number
(xiv). Permissions assigned.
(xv). The ENOSS must allow Master Administrators to have full
access permissions and to perform all functions of the ENOSS.

M31. 
Import Formats for Contact Information: The ENOSS must securely
import Contact information from existing databases (delivered to
the Supplier in one or more electronic files) such as Microsoft
Active Directory, PeopleSoft/Oracle HR, BCP Software, SQL, MS
SQL Server, NetHris, HRIS database, and CSV (e.g. Excel), XML,
MS Outlook and MDB files - without requiring manual (human)
intervention - at intervals prescribed by the Client or as
required. The Client must have the ability to import Contact
information manually if so desired. This process is to be
delivered through a web services Application Programming
Interface using a standards-based Service-Oriented Architecture.

M32. 
Contact Data Fields: The ENOSS must accommodate the creation of
45 data fields per record.

M33. 
Data Revision: The ENOSS must enable Administrators, Users and
Contacts to view and manually edit the information in their own
profiles, directly within the ENOSS, provided they have
appropriate access control permissions.

M34. 
Data Revision: The ENOSS must enable Administrators and Users to
add, modify, and delete Contacts and Contact information,
directly within the ENOSS, provided they have appropriate access
control permissions.

M35. 
Log-in Data: The ENOSS must automatically assign a unique user
ID for each Administrator and User. The Administrator must then
be allowed to set a temporary password which can later be
modified by the account holder.  


CONTACT GROUPS 

M36. 
Creation: The ENOSS must enable Administrators and Users to
create groups of Contacts based on variables such as Mode,
Group, Region or other criteria identified in the data fields of
each Contact's record.

M37. 
Hierarchical Groups: The ENOSS must enable Administrators and
Users to create hierarchical groupings so that groups include up
to 50 levels of sub-groups in order to appropriately reflect an
organization's structure.

M38. 
Number of Groups: The ENOSS must allow Administrators and Users
to define a Contact to be a member of up to 50 groups.

M39. 
Search feature: The ENOSS must allow Administrators and Users to
conduct a search or filter Contacts based on criteria identified
in the data fields of each Contact's record. The ENOSS must also
have the capability to quickly create unique Groups using the
results of the search function.

M40. 
Sort features: The ENOSS must allow Administrators and Users to
sort Contact lists alphabetically or, using any other criteria
identified in the data fields of each Contact's record. The
ENOSS must also have the capability to quickly create unique
Groups using the results of the sort function.

M41. 
Sorting Stakeholders' by Language: The ENOSS must have the
capability to list stakeholders by language of correspondence in
order to allow the sending of only French messages to French
speaking stakeholders and English to English speaking
stakeholders.


MESSAGE INITIATION

M42. 
Service Access: The ENOSS must enable Administrators and Users
to access the service for Contact management , message creation
(voice or text-based) or message transmission purposes via the
following methods and Devices:
(i). Computer (via the internet either through cable or WI-FI);
(ii). Landline telephone;
(iii). Cellular telephone;
(iv). Smartphone;
(v). Personal digital assistant;
(vi). Telecommunications device for the deaf;
(vii). Voice over Internet protocol; and
(viii). Satellite telephone.

M43. 
Message Creation: The ENOSS must enable Administrators and Users
to create and record voice and text-based messages in French and
English for present or future use.

M44. 
Customizing Messages: The ENOSS must enable Administrators and
Users to customize pre-recorded messages by adding introductory
and/or closing statements.

M45. 
Message verification: The ENOSS must allow Administrators and
Users to hear the voice message and/or to read the text-based
message before it is sent.

M46. 
Time Zone Recognition: The ENOSS must have the capability to
recognize and understand time zones.


MESSAGE TRANSMISSION

M47. 
Media: The ENOSS must send messages to Contacts via the
following media:
(i). Landline telephone;
(ii). Cellular telephone;
(iii). Smartphone, including telephone, text and e-mail
communications;
(iv). Personal Digital Assistant;
(v). SMS text message;
(vi). E-mail;
(vii). Facsimile;
(viii). Pager;
(ix). Telecommunication Device for the Deaf; and
(x). Satellite telephone.

M48. 
Safeguards: The ENOSS must have an effective safeguard (such as
a prompt message) that prevents routine messages from being sent
out as emergency notifications and requests if the
Administrators or Users has sought approval prior to sending a
notification.

M49. 
Phone Number Types: The ENOSS must have the ability to make
local and long distance calls within Canada and the United
States. The ENOSS must also have the ability to dial
international numbers and phone numbers with extensions.

M50. 
Order of Contact Methods: The ENOSS must allow Administrators
and Users to set the default order of devices used to notify
Contacts but also allow Users and Contacts to override the order
if they have the appropriate permissions to do so.

M51. 
Language of Message and Contacts: The ENOSS must allow
Administrators and Users to select Messages in either French or
English and to automatically transmit them in the Contact's
pre-selected corresponding language.

M52. 
Simultaneous Transmission: The ENOSS must allow Users to send a
recorded voice message and a text message in a single
notification to all selected Contacts for delivery through the 
media listed in M47.

M53. 
Caller ID: Either globally or on a message-by-message basis, the
ENOSS must allow Administrators and Users initiating a message
to customize the telephone number displayed (caller ID) for
voice Messages and the e-mail addresses for text-based Messages.

M54. 
Escalation: The ENOSS must escalate messages when the intended
Contact has not confirmed receipt of the correspondence (with 3
levels of person-to-person escalation) within a given period of
time. If no confirmation of receipt is received within a given
period of time, then the message will be redirected to an
alternate point of contact if one has been designated see M58.

M55.  
Delivery Attempts: The ENOSS must allow Users and Administrators
to select the number of delivery attempts through all Contact
paths.

M56. 
E-mail Attachments: The ENOSS must allow e-mails to attach
multiple files (e.g. text, spreadsheet and images) and send them
to an e-mail device.  

M57. 
Message Control: The ENOSS must allow an Administrator or User
to stop, recall or replace a Message initiated by them or
another Administrator or User with the same level of permissions
at any time during the Message sending process. 

M58. 
Back-Up Contacts: The ENOSS must automatically send messages to
a back-up Contact if a primary Contact does not acknowledge
receipt of the initial message within a period of time defined
by the sender. 

M59. 
First to Respond: The ENOSS must have the capability to send
notifications systematically until a predetermined number of
affirmative responses are received.

M60. 
Roll Call: The ENOSS must have the capability to send
notifications for the purpose of soliciting a positive or
negative acknowledgement from the recipient, such as "are you
OK", "Not OK".


MESSAGE DELIVERY FEATURES

M61. 
Voice Message Repeat: The ENOSS must allow Contacts to listen to
a voice Message as often as desired with a single key press.

M62. 
Acknowledgements: The ENOSS must seek and receive
acknowledgements of Messages through the device types identified
in M47, with the exception of facsimile and pager and SMS
transmissions.

M63. 
Re-send: The ENOSS must allow Administrators and Users to
re-send a notification to only those Contacts who did not
respond to the original notification.

M64.  
Voice-Mail: The ENOSS must leave a Message when a
voice-delivered message reaches an answering machine or
voice-mail. If a message is left, the ENOSS must also contact
the back-up Contact if the message was left on the primary
Contact's voice mail box.

M65. 
Electronic Voice: The electronic voice transmitter must use
Canadian (English and French) accents.

M66. 
Custom Response: The ENOSS must allow Contacts to send custom
text-based messages in response to messages.


MESSAGE MANAGEMENT

M67. 
Recurring Messages: The ENOSS must allow Administrators and
Users to set up recurring Messages. 

M68. 
Scheduling: The ENOSS must allow Administrators and Users to
schedule a notification to be sent at a future date and time.

M69. 
Voice-Mail: The ENOSS must distinguish when a live Contact is
reached versus when an answering machine or voicemail has been
reached on voice-delivered devices.


REPORTING

M70. 
Dashboard: The ENOSS must provide a real-time dashboard for each
active notification broadcast allowing Administrators and Users
to view broadcast parameters (e.g. devices, start time, duration
and number of cycles) and see status of broadcast results (e.g.
confirmation and responses).

M71. 
History: The ENOSS must allow Administrators and Users to view a
history of Message results for the entire period of the contract.

M72. 
Audit Trail: The ENOSS must produce real-time Message broadcast
result reports using all application data which contains, but is
not limited to, all of the following information:
(i). Name, date and time of the Message;
(ii). Name of the Administrator or User who initiated the
broadcast;
(iii). Number of redial attempts requested by initiator;
(iv). Summary statistics, including total notified Contacts,
total confirming receipt/not confirming receipt, percentage
confirming receipt/not confirming receipt. If a polling Message,
a total for each response. This information must be collated for
individual messages and  cumulatively; and
(v). Detailed calling information, including call-result of each
attempt within the broadcast, the addresses and associated phone
numbers attempted, the attempt number and the result (e.g.,
confirmed with date and time, busy, no answer or voicemail).

M73. 
Export: The ENOSS must export all types of report data in CSV,
XLS, HTML, or PDF formats, as defined by an Administrator or
User. 

M74. 
Printing: The ENOSS must allow Administrators and Users to print
real-time reports of any data or statistics directly from the
GUI.

M75. 
Reports: Upon request, the Service Provider must search and
generate reports based on user-defined criteria and/or key words
including wild card searches. In addition, the Service Provider
must retain a permanent record of all reports.


APPLICABILITY OF THE TRADE AGREEMENT(S) TO THE PROCUREMENT

- Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)
- North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)


JUSTIFICATION FOR THE PRE-IDENTIFIED SUPPLIER

ERMS Advantage is a fully hosted, off-the-shelf, web-based
emergency notification and management solution that is used by
organizations for the purpose of managing their vital emergency
processes, enabling effective communications and management of
crisis situations and incidents. ERMS Advantage supports
Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada's emergency notification
requirements without any additional configuration to our IT
infrastructure.

ERMS Advantage will allow Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada to
effectively manage and maintain its self-registered contact data
and issue security threat notifications in fully redundant and
secure hosting facilities. 

ERMS Advantage fully satisfies AAFC's requirements for a
Bilingual (English/French) Emergency Mass Notification System as
per the criteria identified.

ERMS Advantage fully satisfies AAFC's security requirements for
a hosted Protected "A" solution. 


GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS REGULATIONS EXCEPTION(S)

Section 6 of the Government Contract Regulations is being
invoked in this procurement as only one person or firm is
capable of performing the contract.


EXCLUSIONS AND/OR LIMITED TENDERING REASONS

Annex 4.4 article 506.12(b) of the AIT is applicable on the
basis of limited tendering 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, respectively.

Article 1016.2(b) of NAFTA is applicable on the basis of limited
tendering due to reasons 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.


OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

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


THE PERIOD OF THE PROPOSED CONTRACT OR THE DELIVERY DATE(S)

The proposed contract is for a period of 1 year that includes 4
additional 1-year options. All delivery mentioned in the
requirement shall be delivered within 10 days of Contract award.


NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE PRE-IDENTIFIED SUPPLIER:

ERMS Solutions Limited
2916 S Sheridan Way #300
Oakville, Ontario
L6J 7J8


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 conditions of the developer's shrink-wrap license are not
acceptable to the Crown. This software is proprietary, and the
proposed Contractor must have the authority to negotiate the
terms and conditions of the contract and the related software
licensing terms including, but not limited to; limitation of
liability, indemnification, transferability of license,
termination/refund to the Crown. Documents may be submitted in
either official language of Canada


INQUIRIES AND SUBMISSION OF STATEMENTS OF CAPABILITIES

Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:

Jonathan Vinet
Contracting Authority
Public Works and Government Services Canada
Gatineau, Québec, Canada  K1A 0S5
Jonathan.vinet@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
Telephone 819-956-2940
Government of Canada


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.