TRAINING CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT

Trade Agreement: NONE
Tendering Procedures: The bidder must supply Canadian goods and/or services
Competitive Procurement Strategy: Best Overall  Proposal
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Nature of Requirements: 

W8486-163226/D

TITLE: TRAINING AND CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT SERVICES FOR CANADIAN ARMED FORCES LAND OPERATION

The Department of Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), on behalf of the Department of the National Defence is seeking to establish a contract for the provision of professional services of Training and Capability Development Support Services as defined in Annex A, Statement of Work. 
                                                                                                                                        
BACKGROUND:

The DND commanders and their staff train in the planning and execution of complex combat operations in a cost-effective and environmentally sound synthetic environment using a variety of Canada-owned computer simulation systems at various simulation centres and sites across Canada and from time to time, internationally.  These same simulations are used in experiments that provide statistically valid data to Army senior management, which can be used in determining future Army structures and related equipment requirements.

The Contractor will be required to provide an integrated resource team to conduct planning, design, training and experimentation activities as well as the operation and maintenance of various Canada-owned computer simulations and networks used in support of these activities.  

The nature of the services will require two types of Contractor Resources: 

1. Core Resources: The Contractor will be required to provide a team of 76 full time Core Resources on a continuing basis and Specific Activity Support Resources.  Core Resources provide the expertise for the planning and conducting of the training and experimentation activities as well as organizational and technical support. They also arrange for and administer the services of the Non-Core Resources.

2.Non-Core Resources: The Contractor will be required to provide Non-Core Resources on an "as and when required" basis through the issuance of DND 626 Task Authorizations (TAs). The total number of Non-Core Resources required to support all possible simultaneous specific activities will vary. The Contractor should expect to maintain a pool of approximately four hundred and fifty (450) Non-Core Resources to fulfill training requirements.  

The work location for the majority of the Core Resources will be at the Canadian Army Simulation Centre (CASC ) site located at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Kingston, Ontario.  However, some of the Core Resources will be located at the Division Simulation Centres (DSCs) located at CFB Edmonton, Alberta; CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick; CFB Petawawa, Ontario; CFB Valcartier, Quebec; and the Canadian Army Command and Staff College (CACSC) in Kingston, Ontario. Occasionally Core Resources will be required in remote areas of Canada, and in foreign countries.

NATIONAL SECURITY EXCEPTIONS AND CANADIAN EYES RESTRICTIONS

The national security exemption and Canadian Eyes Only restriction provided for in the trade agreements have been invoked; therefore, this procurement is excluded from all of the obligations of all the trade agreements. Competition will be restricted to Canadian companies who satisfy the security requirements described in this bid solicitation.  "Canadian companies" refers to Canada-based companies, operating in Canada, and incorporated, registered, or recognized as such, under federal or provincial legislation and which carry out activities in Canada.

SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

At bid closing, the following conditions must be met:

(a) the Bidder AND Core Resources identified in Table 1 - Initial Core Resources Team of the Statement of Work must hold a valid organization security clearance and as indicated in Part 7 - Resulting Contract Clauses and;
(b) Resources that require training identified in Table 2 - Training Required for Core and Non-Core Resources during Transition Phase of the Statement of Work, must hold as a minimum Enhanced Reliability security clearance prior taking any specific training required during the transition period;

At contract award, the following conditions must be met:

(a) 30 days prior the commencement of the Work (handover), the Bidder's proposed individuals requiring access to classified or protected information, assets or sensitive work site(s) must meet the security requirements as indicated in Part 7 - Resulting Contract Clauses; and
(b) the Bidder must provide the names of all Core and Non-Core resources who will require access to classified or protected information, assets or sensitive work sites.

If the information is not provided in or with the bid, the Contracting Authority will so inform the Bidder and provide the Bidder with a time frame within which to meet the requirement.  Failure to comply with the request of the Contracting Authority and meet the requirement within that time period will render the bid non-responsive.

Bidders are reminded to obtain the required security clearance promptly. Any delay in the award of a contract to allow the successful Bidder to obtain the required clearance will be at the entire discretion of the Contracting Authority.

For additional information on security requirements, Bidders should refer to the Contract Security Programof Public Works and Government Services Canada (http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/esc-src/introduction-eng.html ) website.

PERIOD OF CONTRACT:
The period of the resulting contract will be from contract award to March 31, 2024, with an irrevocable option to extend the period of the contract by two (2) additional two (2) year periods under the same terms and conditions. In order to ensure continuity, a transition period of up to twelve (12) months may be required under the same terms and conditions.

EVALUATION PROCEDURES
Phased Bid Compliance Process (PBCP)
Phase I: Compliance Assessment: Required Financial Information

i. After the closing date and time of the RFP, PWGSC procurement officers will: 

a. examine all bids to ensure that they contain a financial submission and that the submission is not missing financial information;  

b. notify bidders of missing financial information and give them a specific time period to provide it; and

c. not provide any details concerning the bidder’s financial submission to any member of the evaluation team.

ii. If a bid is missing the entire financial submission, it will be considered non-compliant and will be given no further consideration. 

Bids that continue to have missing financial information after the allotted time given to bidders to provide this information will be considered non-compliant and will not be given further consideration. 

Phase II: Compliance Assessment: All Eligible Mandatory Requirements

i. The evaluation team will assess only the bids with all required financial information as established in Phase I, to determine if they demonstrate compliance with all eligible mandatory requirements as outlined in the RFP. Upon completion of this assessment, the PWGSC procurement officer will issue a Compliance Assessment Report (CAR) to all bidders. This report will inform bidders either that PWGSC is continuing to consider their bid or identify any eligible mandatory requirement for which the bid does not as yet demonstrate compliance; 

ii. Bidders whose bids do not as yet demonstrate compliance with one or more of the eligible mandatory requirements will be invited to submit additional or different information, only for the purpose of rendering the re-evaluation of the eligible mandatory requirements identified in the CAR as compliant. 

iii. All bidders invited to submit additional or different information will receive the same length of time in which to respond to their CAR;  

iv. An acceptable response to the CAR must:

a. address only the eligible mandatory criteria identified in the CAR; 
b. clearly identify any additional or different information, as well as the precise location in the bid where this information applies;
c. subject to a. above, identify any other changes to the original bid that are necessitated by the additional or different information the bidder provides in response to the CAR; and
d. otherwise follow the Bid Preparation Instructions in the RFP document. 

v. The decision to respond to the CAR is at the complete discretion of the bidder. If a bidder does not respond to the CAR within the allotted time, PWGSC will consider this to be a no change response.

vi. Any response to the CAR that is received after the required time and date will not be given any consideration.

vii. The evaluation team will review the additional or different information provided by the bidder to determine whether the bid now demonstrates compliance with the eligible mandatory requirements identified in the CAR. Bids that do not demonstrate compliance with all eligible mandatory requirements at the completion of Phase II will be considered non-compliant and will be given no further consideration.

Phase III: Completion of the Evaluation Process

In this phase, the evaluation process as set out below will continue with bids that demonstrate compliance with all eligible mandatory requirements

BASIS OF SELECTION

Basis of Selection - Highest Combined Rating of Technical Merit [60 %] and Price [40%]

To be declared responsive, a bid must:

(a) comply with all the requirements of the bid solicitation; 
(b) meet all Mandatory Technical Criteria; and
(c) obtain the required minimum pass marks specified in Attachment 1 to Part 4 for the Point-Rated Technical Criteria.

The responsive bid with the highest combined rating of technical merit and price will be recommended for award of a contract. In the event two or more responsive bids have the same highest combined rating of technical merit and price, the responsive bid that obtained the highest overall score for all the point rated technical criteria detailed in Attachment 1 to Part 4 will be recommended for award of a contract. 

CONTRACTING AUTHORITY:

Martin Lalonde
Supply Team Leader
Public Works and Government Services Canada
Acquisition Branch
Business Management and Consulting Services Division
11 Laurier Street, Portage III, Gatineau Quebec, K1A 0S5
Telephone: (873)469-3958
Fax: (819) 956-2674
E-mail: Martin.Lalonde@pwgsc-tpsgc.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.