RESEARCH & INVESTIGATION SERVICES

Trade Agreement: NAFTA/AIT/Canada FTAs with Peru/Colombia/Panama
Tendering Procedures: All interested suppliers may submit a bid
Attachment: None
Competitive Procurement Strategy: Lowest/Lower Bid
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Nature of Requirements: 
PROJECT TITLE

Research and Investigation Services

OBJECTIVE

The Office of the Veterans Ombudsman requires qualified
resources to:

·	Conduct research, analysis and writing to identify and present
systemic issues relevant to programs and services provided by or
administered by Veterans Affairs;
·	Plan and conduct investigations, further investigations and
case management activities for complaints by Canada's Veterans
and their representatives to ensure that a complete factual
situation is presented.

SCOPE 

Types of Services

The Office of the Veterans Ombudsman must acquire the following
Research and Investigation Services with qualified resources on
an as and when requested basis:

·	Research Analysis Services: compare and analyze complaints
documents, policies and procedures, conduct research to support
identification of systemic issues, and prepare analytical
reports to assist in understanding the context, statutory
framework, and development of systemic issues relevant to
programs and services provided by or administered by Veterans
Affairs;
·	Investigation Services: research specific topics and provide
advice and/or conduct fact finding activities and examinations,
determine fairness of process/policy, conduct interviews, manage
files and prepare preliminary and final reports on specifically
identified issues.

	Within the provision of research and investigation services,
the Contractor must take into 			consideration, the expertise
provided by subject matter experts, in relation to any one (1)
or 		more of the following areas:

·	Business Practices - the review and analysis of existing work
processes, organizational structure and business functional
requirements;
·	Health Care Claims - the application of Department specific
criteria and policy;
·	Mental Health - the assessment of treatment plans and health
programs and services management;
·	Geriatric Care - the assessment of treatment plans and health
programs and services management for geriatric or aged
individuals;
·	Rehabilitation - the assessment of rehabilitation programs and
therapies management;
·	Ergonomics - the assessment of adapting work processes and
conditions in the work environment;
·	Legal and Regulatory Advice - the identification of legal and
regulatory risks and opportunities in project and program
objectives and priorities;
·	Pensions/Awards and Insurance - the review of plans or claims
for entitlement or assessments awarded for pensioned conditions;
·	Aboriginal Veterans Affairs - the review and analysis of
compensation and services within the cultural context; and
·	Industry Standard Practices - the identification and
comparison of domestic and international standard practices
within the private sector or other organizations in contrast to
the range and level of services provided by VAC.


Tasks

While individual requirements will be specified in each task
authorization, on an as when requested basis, the Contractor
must carry out the work outlined below, and provide the required
deliverable(s), in accordance with section 6 of the statement of
work, to the satisfaction of the Project Authority.
	
All work is to be done in conformity with the instructions
issued by the Project Authority.

Research and Analysis Services

The Contractor must, on an as and when requested basis, carry
out the Research and Analysis activities described below:

·	Review and analyze complaints documents, statistical data,
policies and procedures to identify all factual and systemic
issues relevant to programs and services provided by or
administered by VAC;
·	Prepare a Research Design Plan for review and acceptance by
the Project Authority. The Research Design Plan shall identify
the methodology (tool and method) used to collect data, the  key
information repositories and the primary and secondary sources, 
their expected relevance to the requested item(s) of research,
the expected time required to review  and analyze the sources,
and where applicable, suggest additional or alternative sources
or repositories that should be considered, along with the time
required to review  and analyze these additional sources;
·	Prepare a Research Work Plan for research related projects,
breaking down the research major activities, including work to
be done by others (research analysts, etc.), and estimating the
time (effort) spent to complete each activity;
·	Prepare a paragraph by paragraph analysis of the documents
setting out a factual analysis of each issue raised, providing
document citations supporting the facts and analysis relied upon;
·	Prepare analytical research reports and analysis of the facts,
based on analysis of the collected documents, an any other
criteria/methodologies required by the Project Authority;
·	Prepare briefing materials on issues related to the requested
item(s) of research for the Project Authority;
·	Support others (research analysts, etc.) in the planning,
management and quality assurance of research;
·	Prepare regular status/progress reports on resource work done
to date, the progress and milestones of the work;
·	Answer questions and suggest further sources and avenues for
all research activities; and,
·	Participate in regularly scheduled Review Boards; and,
·     Perform other Research Analysis functions, as requested by
the Project Authority.

Investigation Services
The Contractor must, on an as and when requested basis, carry
out the Investigation activities described below, in support of
the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman:

·	Provide support and assistance in planning and conducting
investigations for complaints by VAC applicants or clients and
their representatives; 
·	Interpret applicable legislation (for example, the Veterans
Bill of Rights), case law, jurisprudence and precedents, and
compare previous decisions of the Ombudsman and recent policy
positions, announcements and statement by the Ombudsman for
consistency;
·	Meet with and interview the complainant, any witnesses related
to the complaint, and VAC officials up to the senior levels of
involved programs/services;
·	Write Investigation Reports;
·	Participate in case review and strategy meeting with the
Ombudsman Executive Committee;
·	Research and analyze the allegation and circumstances of the
complaint(s);
·	Gather,  analyze and store the data, information and evidence,
in a confidential and protected manner;
·	Collaborate and consult with the Office of the Veterans
Ombudsman to discuss and review legal issues, to advise them of
developments or events with respect to investigations, to share
expertise and experience, and to collaborate on shared tasks or
ventures; and
·	Provide other related investigations functions, as requested
by the Project Authority

PERIOD OF CONTRACT

The period of the Contract will be from date of Contract to
November 15, 2017 and the date of commencement of services must
be November 16, 2014 to November 15, 2017 with an irrevocable
option to extend the contract period by up to three (3)
additional one (1) year periods under the same terms and
conditions.

SECURITY REQUIREMENT

1. 	The Contractor must, at all times during the performance of
the Contract/Standing Offer, 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.

2. 	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).

3. 	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
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)

MANDATORY CRITERIA

Experience of the Bidder:

MT1: At bid closing, the Bidder must have acquired, within the
last 3 years, experience in providing resources, to clients
exterior to the Bidder's own organization, that have experience
in conducting:
 -Research Analysis related activities, as defined in the
Statement of Work, in the area of legislation, policy/procedure
or program/service review and analysis, as well as one or more
of the following :

 -Investigation related activities, as defined in the Statement
of Work, in the practice of law or counseling or investigation
prosecution of cases or hearings of administrative/ criminal
cases or legal research.

Proposed Resources:

For the purpose of resource qualifications, experience gained
during formal education will not be considered work experience. 
All requirements for work experience must be obtained in a
legitimate work environment as opposed to an educational
setting.  Co-op terms are considered work experience provided
that they are related to the required services.  Listing
experience without providing any supporting information
describing where, when and how such experience was obtained will
result in the experience not being included for evaluation
purposes.

For evaluation purposes:

-Where means the name of the employer as well as the
position/title held by the individual;
-When means the start date and end date (e.g. from January 2010
to March 2012) of the period during which the individual
acquired the qualification/experience; and
-How means a clear description of the activities performed and
the responsibilities assigned to the individual under this
position and during this period.

Bidders are advised that the month(s) of experience listed for a
project in which the time frame overlaps that of another
referenced project for the same named Resource will only be
counted once.

For example: Project #1 time frame is July 2013 to December
2013; Project #2 time frame is October 2013 to January 2014; the
total months of experience for these two project references is
seven (7) months.

MT2: The Bidder must provide two Research Analysts.
MT3: At bid closing, each proposed Research Analyst must have
acquired three (3) years of full-time professional work
experience, within the last 10 years, conducting Research
Analysis related activities, as defined in the Statement of
Work, in the area of legislation, policy/procedure or
program/service review and analysis, precedent cases, or
statistical research, or Ombudsman related research activities.
MT4: Each proposed Research Analyst must have completed a
bachelor's degree in the field of Administration, Social
Sciences, Criminology, Law or equivalent.
Or

If the proposed Research Analysts did not complete a bachelor's
degree, they must have two additional years of experience (total
5 years) as described above.
MT5: The Bidder must provide two Investigators.
MT6: At bid closing, each proposed Investigators must have
acquired five (5) years of full-time professional work
experience, within the last 10 years, conducting Investigation
related activities, as defined in the Statement of Work, in the
practice of law, counseling, investigation/ prosecution of
cases, hearings of administrative/ criminal cases, legal
research or Ombudsman or related operational activities.
MT7: At bid closing, the proposed Investigator must have
completed a bachelor's degree in the field of Administration,
Social Sciences, Criminology, Law or equivalent.
Or

If the proposed Investigators did not complete a bachelor's
degree, they must  have two additional years of experience
(total 7 years) as described above.
BASIS OF SELECTION  

Lowest Evaluated Price	

A bid must comply with the requirements of the bid solicitation
and meet all mandatory evaluation criteria to be declared
responsive.  

The responsive bid with the lowest evaluated price will be
recommended for award of a contract.

CONTRACTING AUTHORITY

Name:  Jocelyne C Gagnon
	Title:  Supply Specialist
	Public Works and Government Services Canada
	Acquisitions Branch
	Directorate: Business Management and Consulting Services
Division 
	Address:11 Laurier Street, Portage III, 10C1, Ottawa, Ontario,
K1A 0S5

Telephone: (819) 956-0575
Facsimile:  (819) 956-2675
	E-mail address:  jocelyne.c.gagnon@tpsgc-pwgsc.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.