PCI QSA

Trade Agreement: WTO-AGP/NAFTA/AIT/Canada FTAs with
Peru/Colombia/Panama
Tendering Procedures: All interested suppliers may submit a bid
Attachment: None
Competitive Procurement Strategy: N/A - P&A/LOI Only
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Nature of Requirements: 
THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION DOCUMENT
THIS IS A REQUEST FOR COMMENTS (RFC) FROM INDUSTRY
PCI QSA

The intent of this Request for Comments (RFC) is to solicit
feedback on the Draft Request For Proposal (RFP) and related
Annexes so as to enable Canada to evaluate the strategy to be
taken, if any, regarding further related activities.  

More specifically, feedback is sought regarding: 

The potential level of interest in providing services to address
the requirements of the attached Draft Statement of Work;
To obtain information and suggestions on other ways of
performing similar functionality or improving on what is being
presented; and
With respect to draft Annex C Information Technology Security
Requirements Technical Document, indicate if your organization's
implementation of the capability is the same as described for
that specific requirement.  If it is not, provide a description
of how your organization addressed the specific requirement.

SERVICE REQUIREMENTS

The Receiver General (RG) requires a Qualified Security Assessor
Company (QSAC) to assist departments in their yearly PCI
exercise. While individual requirements will be specified in any
resulting Task Authorization (TA), the RG requires qualified
resources to provide the following services on an "as and when
requested " basis:

conduct departmental PCI compliance assessments; 
validate and provide input for the SAQ;
provide full departmental PCI Report on Compliance (ROC) (i.e
Level 1), as deemed necessary by the RG; and
conduct quarterly vulnerability scans where required.

These services may be required for a period of five (5) years
commencing from date of Contract with an irrevocable option on
the part of Canada to extend the period of any resulting
Contract by two (2) additional one year periods. 

There is a security requirement associated with this
requirement.  Please refer to the draft Annex C, Security
Requirements Checklist (SRCL) and its associated attachments,
including the following clause which will form part of any
resulting Contract:

DRAFT SECURITY REQUIREMENT CLAUSE

1. 	The following security requirement (SRCL) and related
clauses applies and form part of the Contract: 

1.	The Contractor must, at all times during the performance of
the Contract, hold a valid Facility Security Clearance at the
level of SECRET, with approved Document Safeguarding at the
level of PROTECTED B, issued by the Canadian Industrial Security
Directorate (CISD), Public Works and Government Services Canada
(PWGSC).

2. 	The Contractor personnel requiring access to CLASSIFIED
information, assets or sensitive work site(s) must EACH hold a
valid personnel security screening at the level of SECRET,
granted or approved by the CISD, PWGSC.

3. 	The Contractor MUST NOT utilize its Information Technology
systems to electronically process, produce or store any
sensitive CLASSIFIED information until CISD/PWGSC has issued
written approval.  After approval has been granted, these tasks
may be performed at the level of PROTECTED B.

4. 	Subcontracts which contain security requirements are NOT to
be awarded without the prior written permission of CISD/PWGSC.

5. 	The Contractor must comply with the provisions of the:

	(a) 	Security Requirements Check List and security guide (if
applicable), attached at Annex C;
	(b) 	Industrial Security Manual (Latest Edition).

3.2	Contractor's Site or Premises Requiring Safeguard Measures

The Contractor must diligently maintain up-to-date, the
information related to the Contractor's site or premises, where
safeguard measures are required in the performance of the Work,
for the following addresses:

Address:
Street Number / Street Name, Unit / Suite / Apartment Number 
City, Province, Territory / State
Postal Code / Zip Code
Country

Potential service providers who currently DO NOT MEET the
facility security clearance requirements and (or) personnel
security clearance should initiate the security clearance
process by requesting sponsorship from the Contracting
Authority.  For any inquiries concerning any security
requirements, suppliers should contact CISD at 1-866-368-4646,
or (613) 948-4176 in the National Capital Region (NCR), CISD
Website: http://ssi-iss.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/.


NOTE TO POTENTIAL RESPONDENTS 

Responses

The material in this RFC package is for the solicitation of
feedback only.   Please do not complete the Pricing Schedule at
Attachment 1 to Part 3, nor the Basis of Payment at Annex B,
during this RFC Process.  Responding to this RFC is not a
prerequisite to receiving any Request for Proposal for the ABCB
requirement.  However, all Respondents are encouraged to
indicate their level of interest by responding to this RFC with
its comments in order to facilitate a better understanding of
requirements and Industry perspectives. 

The publication of this RFC must not be construed as a
commitment on Canada's part to issue a subsequent "Request for
Proposal" for ABCB's requirement and no contract or other form
of commitment will be entered into with any Respondent based on
responses to this RFC. This RFC must in no way be considered as
authorization by Canada for Respondents to undertake any work,
which would result in costs to Canada. 

Canada will not be liable for, nor will it reimburse any
Respondents for any costs, fees or expenses which any Respondent
incurs in the preparation or submission of its response to this
RFC. Canada will not be bound by anything stated herein. Canada
reserves the right to change, at any time, any or all parts of
the requirement as it renders necessary.  




Respondents are advised that any information submitted to PWGSC
in response to this RFC may be used in the development of a
subsequent RFP. Respondents will not be bound by any aspect of
their response to this RFC.  All responses to this RFC will be
held by Canada on a confidential basis (subject to applicable
legislation), and remain the property of Canada once they have
been received and may be used to support further development of
internal planning documents and decisions, and possibly an RFP. 
Note that responses to the RFC will not be returned.

Participation

The RFC is inclusive and flexible and is not intended to
pre-qualify Respondents for any stages of the project. An
interested Respondent who does not participate in the RFC
process is not precluded from participating in any subsequent
RFP process.

CLOSING DATE

Responses to this RFC will be accepted until 02:00 PM Eastern
Daylight Savings Time (EDT) on September 23, 2013.


Responses are to be submitted only electronically to the
Contracting Authority stated below.  The information received
after that date will be considered only to the extent
reasonable, in the sole opinion of Canada, given the progress of
the Work at the time of receipt of the said information.

ENQUIRIES

Any questions from Respondents concerning this RFC must be made
in writing to the Contracting Authority stated below, via e-mail
up to 10 days prior to closing date of this RFC.

Respondents are to assume all responsibility for the successful
delivery and receipt of all questions to the Contracting
Authority stated below.  Questions submitted to any other person
but the Contracting Authority, or in any other form, will not be
answered. Responses given in any other manner than that which is
outlined above will not be binding upon any party.

Canada reserves the right not to respond to questions received
after the closing date of this RFC, or to any question not
related to this RFC.  Enquiries that are of a proprietary nature
must be clearly marked "proprietary" at each relevant item. 
Items identified as "proprietary" will be treated as such except
where Canada determines that the enquiry is not of a proprietary
nature.  Canada may edit the questions or may request that the
respondent do so, so that the proprietary nature of the question
is eliminated, and the responses will be made publicly available
through MERX.  Enquiries not submitted in a form that can be
distributed to all Respondents may not be answered by Canada. If
a question is determined to be proprietary, in Canada's sole
discretion, Canada reserves the right to respond only to that
party.

CLARIFICATION

PWGSC may require clarification of written responses and/or
comments received as a result of the responses to this RFC.  If
required, any clarification will be requested by the Contracting
Authority after the closing date of the RFC.  Requests for
clarification will be submitted in writing (by email only) and a
response will be requested within two (2) working days of
transmission of the clarification questions.
Canada will not provide any guidance on how to prepare the
responses or of any acceptable response strategy.

FORMAT OF RESPONSE

Respondents should review the attached draft documents, respond
to the questions in Table 1 and provide comments on the Annexes
in Table 2, in the attached solicitation document.

RESPONSES REGARDING THIS REQUIREMENT ARE TO BE SUBMITTED TO THE
FOLLOWING PWGSC CONTRACTING AUTHORITY:

Ingrid Harrington, Supply Specialist
Public Works and Government Services Canada
Acquisitions Branch
Professional Services Procurement Directorate
Place du Portage, Phase III, 10C1
11 Laurier Street
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0S5

Tel: (819) 956-3201
Fax: (819) 956-2675
              Email:  ingrid.harrington@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca

FORMAT OF RESPONSE

Suppliers are requested to review the draft Request for Proposal
(RFP) and related Annexes and respond to the following questions
in the tables below.

Table 1 - Responses to Questions, and 
Table 2 - Comments on Annexes

 TABLE 1 - RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS				
QUESTIONS		RESPONSES		
1. Are the requirements as stated in the attached draft
Statement of Work (SOW) clear?		 		
2. Please identify any issues that would limit your ability to
perform the work outlined in the SOW.		 		
3. What additional information would you need to be able to
fully assess the whole project?				
4. Is your firm currently registered in the Industrial Security
Program (ISP) of PWGSC's Canadian Industrial Security
Directorate? If not, would your firm be interested in
registering?  If so, please send a request for sponsorship to
the Contracting Authority.				
5. Would your firm be able to submit a responsive bid based on
the Mandatory Technical Criteria in Attachment 1 to Part 4? If
not, please describe the reason(s) why.				
6. Would your firm be able to submit a responsive bid based on
the Point Rated Technical Criteria in Attachment 1 to Part 4?				
7. Would your firm be able to submit a responsive bid based on
the IT security requirements in Annex C?				
8. Would you bid on this requirement if it was tendered as
described herein?				
9. If you would not bid on this requirement, please describe the
reason(s) why.				
10. Are there any technical evaluation criteria that you think
should be added?  If yes, please explain what they are and why
they should be added?				
11. Do you have any other concerns that you would like to
address?				
12. Are there any changes that Canada should consider to ensure
that it obtain best value for money in this procurement?				



 TABLE 2 - COMMENTS ON DOCUMENTS 	
 LIST OF DOCUMENTS 	 COMMENTS 
 Draft RFP  Draft Annex A - Statement of Work  Draft Draft Annex
B - Basis of Payment  Draft Annex C - SRCL and attached IT
Technical Document  Draft Annex D - TA Form  Draft Annex E -
Sample Periodic Usage Report  Draft Annex F - Non-Disclosure
Agreement    	 

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.