Innovapost Inc. (Innovapost), on behalf of Canada Post Group of Companies (Canada Post), is seeking a partner capable of delivering world-class B2B integration managed services that will work alongside our team to provide a high-quality service to our staff and clients.
Like any large business, Canada Post currently has several electronic business-to-business (B2B)) managed integrations with customers and partners (e.g. billing and invoicing, managing pickups, communicating parcel status, etc) Of those, only one integration is handled by a third party Value-Added-Network (VAN) vendor. All of the other integrations are based on “home-grown” solutions, managed and supported in-house.
The B2B integrations will leverage mainstream (e.g. EDI) and emerging (e.g. cloud storage, messaging) technologies to provide highly effective, secure, reliable, and cost effective integrations between Canada Post and their business partners.
The expectations of a managed service include:
- Providing the platform, capabilities, and security to build, maintain, and evolve the interactions between Canada Post and trading partners for the identified processes
- Day to day infrastructure and solution monitoring and management
- Providing ongoing reporting and auditing visibility to Innovapost and Canada Post on the usage of the platform
- Managing the onboarding and offboarding of Canada Post trading partners
The number of independent integration processes is expected to start small initially and grow over time. It is highly probable that two or three of the existing integration solutions would migrate as quickly as feasible to the new B2B integration managed service. But, in all likelihood there will be more over time. As any large organization, these processes will vary in terms of complexity, data volumes, and number of trading partners involved.
As such, it is expected that the successful vendor will also be able to provide professional services to aid in all aspects of building new integration solution as well as migrating the identified existing integration processes. This would include planning and project management, architecture and design guidance, as well as development and testing.
In responding to this RFP, the Proponent(s) will be expected to demonstrate their capabilities and conceptual approach to delivering the required services. We expect that any arrangement that results from this process will be part of a close relationship with the parties working together within a spirit of innovation, excellence and efficiency through market-leading practices, processes, and technology.
As mentioned, through both a current incumbent and internal Innovapost resourcing accommodates the scope currently being solicited. Part of the intention of the requirements herein and this RFP is to consolidate and work with a single supplier for the full scope.
