ORAL PROFICIENCY INTERVIEWS

Solicitation number W4938-15019S/A

Publication date

Closing date and time 2015/06/05 14:00 EDT


    Description
    Trade Agreement: WTO-AGP/NAFTA/AIT/Canada FTAs with
    Peru/Colombia/Panama
    Tendering Procedures: All interested suppliers may submit a bid
    Attachment: None
    Non-Competitive Procurement Strategy: Government Objectives
    Representing Best Interests/Value to Govt
    Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
    Vendor Name and Address: 
    American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
    1001 N. Fairfax St.
    Suite 200
    Alexandria Virginia
    United States
    22314
    Nature of Requirements: 
    Advance Contract Award Notice
    For terminology (description of acronyms) see Annex 2.
    
    1. Advances 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 requirement 
    	The Canadian Defense Academy (CDA) of the National Defense
    Department requires approximately 200 Oral Proficiency
    Interviews (OPIs) per year, on a "when requested basis" in a
    minimum of 70 languages listed in Annex 1.
    
    These interviews (tests) must:
    
    - be based on the language proficiency level descriptors set
    forth in the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) descriptors
    (http://www.govtilr.org/Skills/ILRscale1.htm ) and/or NATO
    STANAG 6001 Ed.4 (http://www.natobilc.org/STANAG6001.html);
    
    - be administered by telephone to Canadian Armed Forces (CAF)
    members and Canadian Forces Language School graduates;
    
    - follow the OPI format defined further in Annex 3; and
    
    - be recorded in order to enable CDA to conduct a random quality
    control of the OPI administered.
    
    Once the evaluation is completed, the Contractor must publish
    OPI tests results on the CDS's secure site within 3 working days.
    
    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 it meets the following requirements: 
    
    A)	Ability to administer and double-rate (by another tester) the
    Oral Proficiency Interviews on a "when requested basis", within
    at least a 5 day advance notice or for urgent operational
    requirement, a 2 day advance notice. Interviews will be in a
    minimum of 70languages (refer to Annex 1), based on the language
    proficiency level descriptors set forth in the Interagency
    Language Roundtable (ILR) descriptors and/or NATO STANAG 6001,
    Ed.4. The tests must be administered by telephone in Canada and
    be recorded for quality control.
    B)	 Ability to administer the Oral Proficiency Interviews
    according to the format prescribed by DND, as defined in annex 3.
    4.	Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement
    This procurement is subject to the following trade agreements: 
    ·	Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) 
    ·	World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement
    (WTO-AGP) 
    ·	North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)	 
    5.	Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier 
    
    The pre-defined supplier was selected based on the following
    capabilities:
    
    American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) is
    the only known supplier capable of offering OPIs administered by
    trained and certified testers in over 70 foreign languages in
    accordance with ILR/STANAG 6001 and the format prescribed by
    CDA. For this reason it is proposed that this requirement be
    directed to ACTFL. 
    
    6.	Exclusions and Limited Tendering Reasons
    
    Subsection 6 (d) of the Government Contracts Regulations is
    being invoked in this procurement as only one person or firm is
    believed capable of performing the work. 
    
    Agreement of Internal Trade (AIT): Articles 506.12 (a) and
    506.12 (b) under Annex4.4.
    
    North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): Articles 1016.2 (b)
    and 1016.2 (d);
    
    World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement
    (WTO-AGP) Article XV (b). 
    7.	Ownership of Intellectual Property 
    
    Ownership of any Foreground Intellectual Property arising out of
    the proposed contract will vest in the Contractor. 
    8. 	Period of the proposed contract or delivery date
    The proposed contract is for a period of one (1) year, from
    October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016. The contract includes an
    irrevocable option to extend the contract period by four (4)
    additional periods of one (1) year, under the same conditions.
    9.	Cost estimate of the proposed contract 
    The estimated value of the contract, including option(s), is
    174,000.00$(GST/HSTextra). 
    10.	Name and address of the pre-identified supplier: 
    
    American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
     1001 N. Fairfax Street, Suite 200
    Alexandria, Virginia 22314
    United States
    11.	Suppliers' right to submit a statement of capabilities 
    Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available
    to provide the 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.
    12.	Closing date for a submission of a statement of capabilities.
    The closing date and time for accepting statements of
    capabilities is June 5, 2015 at 2:00p.m. EST
    13.	Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities 
    Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to: 
    
    Contracting Authority:
    Chantal Charette 
    Supply Officer
    Portage III 10C1 - 11 Laurier Street
    Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0S5
    Canada 
    Telephone: 819-956-1376
    Facsimile: 819-956-2675
    E-mail: chantal.charette@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
    ANNEX 1
    NON-EXHAUSTIVE LIST OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN WHICH OPIs MAY BE
    REQUESTED
    Afrikaans
    Akan-Twi 
    Albanian 
    Amharic 
    Arabic - MS
    Arabic-Algerian
    Arabic-Jordanian
    Arabic-Lebanese
    Arabic-Libyan
    Arabic-Moroccan
    Arabic-Sudanese
    Arabic-Syrian
    Arabic-Tunisian
    Arabic-UAE
    Arabic-Yemeni
    Armenian 
    Azerbaijani 
    Baluchi
    Bengali 
    Bosnian
    Bulgarian 
    Burmese 
    Cambodian 
    Cantonese
    Cebuano 
    Chavacano
    Czech
    Dari
    Dutch
    English
    French
    Georgian
    German
    Greek
    Gujarati
    Haitian Creole
    Hausa
    Hebrew
    Hindi
    Hmong
    Hungarian
    Igbo
    Ilocano
    Indonesian
    Iraqi
    Italian
    Japanese
    Kashmiri
    Kazakh
    Korean
    Kurdish-Kurmanji
    Lao
    Malay
    Malayalam
    Mandarin
    Levantine
    Malay
    Malayalam
    Nepali
    Norwegian
    Pashto
    Persian-Farsi
    Polish
    Portuguese
    Punjabi
    Romanian
    Russian
    Serbian-Croatian
    Sindhi
    Sinhalese
    Slovak
    Somali
    Spanish
    Swahili
    Swedish
    Tagalog
    Tajik
    Tamil
    Tausug
    Telugu
    Thai
    Tigrynia
    Turkish
    Turkmen
    Turkish
    Turkmen
    Uighur
    Ukrainian
    Urdu
    Uzbek
    Vietnamese
    Wolof
    Wu 
    Yoruba
    
    
    
    ANNEX 2
    TERMINOLOGY
    ACTFL:	American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
    
    CFLS:	Canadian Forces Language School
    
    CDA:	Canadian Defence Academy
    
    DET:	Detachment
    
    ILR:	Interagency Language Roundtable
    
    NATO STANAG 6001:	NATO Standardization Agreement 6001
    
    OPI:	Oral Proficiency Interview
    
    TCO:	Test Control Officer
    
    Tester:	Qualified person who administers and rates OPIs
    
    Rater:	Qualified person who rates the speech sample elicited by
    a tester during an OPI
    
    ANNEX 3
    
    The Oral Proficiency Interviews format:
    The Contractor must respect the following mandatory phases:
    A warm-up, a core comprised of level-checks and probes, and a
    wind-down. The testers must establish the floor and ceiling of
    performance for each test-taker. The minimum number of probes
    will be two, and a minimum of three probes must be elicited if
    the final rating is to be a plus level. The number of
    level-checks depends on the level tested (two for level 0+,
    three for level 1, seven for level 2, four for level 3, five for
    level 4 and 5. Role-play situations are used either as tasks or
    probes. Two role-plays are mandatory for level 4. A plus rating
    will be considered invalid if it is based only on the partially
    successful probes, that is, if clear instances of the prescribed
    number of level checks are not present in the OPI. In other
    words, ratings must NOT be derived from partially successful
    probes only. All OPIs must be double rated.
    
    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

    • World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO GPA)
    • Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement
    • Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)
    • Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
    • Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA)
    • North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
    Contact information

    Contracting organization

    Organization
    Public Works and Government Services Canada
    Address
    11 Laurier St, Phase III, Place du Portage
    Gatineau, Quebec, K1A 0S5
    Canada
    Contracting authority
    Charette, Chantal
    Phone
    (819) 956-1376 ( )
    Fax
    (819) 956-2675
    Address
    PSBID, PWGSC / DIASP,TPSGC
    11 Laurier St. / 11, rue Laurier
    10C1/Place du Portage, Phase III
    Gatineau, Québec, K1A 0S5

    Buying organization(s)

    Organization
    Department of National Defence
    Address
    101 Colonel By Dr
    Ottawa, Ontario, K1A0K2
    Canada
    Bidding details

    Summary information

    Notice type
    Advance Contract Award Notice
    Language(s)
    English, French
    Region(s) of delivery
    National Capital Region (NCR)
    Procurement method
    Competitive – Open Bidding
    Selection criteria
    Consulting Services Regarding Matters of a Confidential Nature
    Commodity - GSIN
    Click the links below to see a list of notices associated with the GSIN codes.