Title: Data Disclosure Services
1. Advance 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 the requirement
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) collects financial data from Federally Regulated Institutions (FRIs) via quarterly and annual returns. Both quarterly and annual data include financial statements and Capital Adequacy statements, which OSFI discloses on its external website (www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca) in compliance with the legislation referenced below.
Most of the large volume of data that OSFI collects, and that is authorized by the Minister for disclosure, is not disclosed on OSFI’s website, for business as well as technical reasons. OSFI requires a private sector commercial database company (a “Contractor”) to make the authorized annual financial data available to the public.
The data to be disclosed is filed by approximately 250 FRIs, in six industry groups (Canadian and foreign Life, Canadian and foreign Property & Casualty, Canadian and foreign Fraternal Benefit Societies). Each FRI files an average of 4,000 datapoints (that are authorized for disclosure), which are transferred quarterly (approximately end May, end Aug, end Nov, end March) by OSFI to the database company. Templates of the quarterly and annual returns may be accessed on OSFI’s website (in Excel format).
OSFI has a requirement to continue the process of using a private sector commercial database company (the “Contractor”) to make authorized annual financial data filed by FRIs available to the public (the “Requestor”).
The purpose of this Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) is to signal the government's intention to award a contract for these services to Beyond 20/20. Before awarding a contract, however, the government would like to provide other suppliers with the opportunity to demonstrate that they are capable of satisfying the requirements set out in this Notice, by submitting a statement of capabilities during the 15 calendar day posting period.
If other potential suppliers submit a statement of capabilities during the 15 calendar day posting period that meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, the government will proceed to a full tendering process on either the government's electronic tendering service or through traditional means, in order to award the contract.
If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a statement of capabilities meeting the requirements set out in the ACAN, a contract will be awarded to the pre-selected supplier.
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:
• Ability to make the financial data available on the website within ten working days after data has been received from OSFI.
• Ability to provide support on their website by a toll-free number of which service must be provided between 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST., i.e. during normal business hours.
• Ability to communicate with the Requestor in the official language of their choice (English/French).
• Ability to provide a bilingual public web interface by which:
o The Requestor may download the data they choose. Accommodations must be made to minimize download time (e.g. zip files).
o The Requestor may request instructions as to how to navigate the OSFI data, with explanations on how to find the data and how to download files.
o The Requestor may request assistance / ask questions, which must be answered within 2 business days.
o The Requestor may obtain background information on the record layout of the return, the provided metadata on the company name, and the blank return.
o The Requestor may link to the public OSFI website (www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca).
• Ability to provide the Requestor, free of charge, an electronic transfer of financial data in the same format as it was provided to the Contractor by OSFI.
• Ability to provide an annual report on May 30th to OSFI, at no extra cost, which indicates the number and nature of requests received annually.
4. Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement
This procurement is not subject to any trade agreement.
5. Justification for the Pre-Selected Supplier
Beyond 20/20 has been publishing insurance data on OSFI’s behalf since 1996. Since then, they have become an integral service provider to Canadian data stakeholders who have come to rely on them for access to OSFI data. Many users have established automated feeds and processes to ingest data from Beyond 20/20, and alterations to the delivery of data could cause significant disruption to our stakeholders. OSFI intends to modernize its online data distribution abilities to host this data centrally in the relatively near future. Until this can be accomplished, it is our hope to limit disruption to our stakeholders by maintaining our current operations.
6. Government Contracts Regulations Exception(s)
The following exception to the Government Contracts Regulations is invoked for this procurement under subsection 6(d) – “only one person is capable of performing the work”.
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 June 10, 2024, to June 9, 2025, with two (2) options to extend the contract for up to a period of 1 year each.
9. Cost estimate of the proposed contract
The estimated value of the contract, including the option periods, is $ 56,896.63 CDN (HST incl).
10. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier
Beyond 20/20
PO Box 45564 Nepean RPO
Chapman Mills, Ontario K2J OP9
11. Suppliers' right to submit a statement of capabilities
Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to meet the specified requirements may submit a statement of capabilities in writing to the Contracting Authority 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 acceptance of Statements of Capabilities is May 31, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. (EDT).
13. Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities
Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:
Jade Bédard
Senior Contracting Officer
e-mail: contracting-approvisionnement@osfi-bsif.gc.ca
