No totals required.
For ease of response an MS document has been posted on the New Brunswick Opportunities Network(NBON)to be filled in and returned with your bid document.
For those companies that receive bid documents from MERX you will need to register on the NBON system at www.gnb.ca/tenders to download the MS document. You are however, cautioned not to make any changes to our wording or your response may be rejected.
Should you have any trouble registering on the system please contact the HELP Line at 1-800-561-1422 in Canada or 506-444-5636 outside Canada.
This procurement is subject to the provisions of the Quebec-New Brunswick Procurement Agreement, the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the Agreement on Government Procurement under the World Trade Organization and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Where the estimated value of the goods or services to be procured is below the lowest applicable threshold value of any relevant trade agreement, Service New Brunswick reserves the right to give preferential treatment to a prospective supplier from New Brunswick. Should this right be exercised, the following order of priority will apply: a) firstly, New Brunswick manufacturers if the goods to be procured are manufactured in New Brunswick; and b) secondly, New Brunswick vendors.
When bid submissions are evaluated on price:
- Applicability of the preferences will be determined based on the price differential between the lowest-priced acceptable bid and the bid receiving the preferential treatment.
- The price differential under which a NB supplier preference may be applied will be limited to 10%. When the lowest-priced acceptable bid before preferential treatment is applied is a New Brunswick vendor, the price differential under which a NB manufacturer preference will be applied will be limited to 5%.
- The preferential treatment will be applied by making the award to the NB supplier.
When bid submissions are evaluated on a point system:
- Applicability of the preferences will be determined based on the price differential between the pricing component of the highest scoring acceptable bid submission and the pricing component of the bid(s) receiving the preferential treatment.
- The price differential under which a NB supplier preference may be applied will be limited to 10%. When the highest scoring acceptable bid submission before preferential treatment is applied is a New Brunswick vendor, the price differential under which a NB manufacturer preference will be applied will be limited to 5%.
- The preferential treatment will be applied by allotting a maximum of an additional 5% of the total possible points to New Brunswick manufacturers' total scores and 4% to NB vendors' total scores. If no bid from a New Brunswick manufacturer has been retained for preferential treatment, New Brunswick vendors may receive a maximum of an additional 5% of the total possible points rather than 4%.
The decision to apply a preference will be at the sole discretion of Service New Brunswick. To be eligible, suppliers must meet the definition of NB supplier as identified by the regulation under the
Procurement Act. NB manufacturers should indicate in their bid that they are a NB manufacturer to be considered for the NB manufacturer preference.
Where permissible under the applicable trade agreements and the regulation under the
Procurement Act, Service New Brunswick reserves the right to give preferential treatment to a prospective supplier from New Brunswick. Should this right be exercised, the following order of priority will apply: a) firstly, New Brunswick manufacturers if the goods to be procured are manufactured in New Brunswick; and b) secondly, New Brunswick vendors.
When bid submissions are evaluated on price:
- Applicability of the preferences will be determined based on the price differential between the lowest-priced acceptable bid and the bid receiving the preferential treatment.
- The price differential under which a NB supplier preference may be applied will vary between 2.5% and 10% depending on the total estimated value of the procurement, in accordance with the ranges set out in the regulation under the
Procurement Act.
- The preferential treatment will be applied by making the award to the NB supplier.
When bid submissions are evaluated on a point system:
- Applicability of the preferences will be determined based on the price differential between the pricing component of the highest scoring acceptable bid submission and the pricing component of the bid(s) receiving the preferential treatment.
- The price differential under which a NB supplier preference may be applied will vary between 2.5% and 10% depending on the total estimated value of the procurement, in accordance with the ranges set out in the regulation under the
Procurement Act.
- The preferential treatment will be applied by allotting a maximum of an additional 5% of the total possible points to New Brunswick manufacturers' total scores and 4% to NB vendors' total scores. If no bid from a New Brunswick manufacturer has been retained for preferential treatment, New Brunswick vendors may receive a maximum of an additional 5% of the total possible points rather than 4%.
The decision to apply a preference will be at the sole discretion of Service New Brunswick. To be eligible, suppliers must meet the definition of NB supplier as identified by the regulation under the
Procurement Act. NB manufacturers should indicate in their bid that they are a NB manufacturer to be considered for the NB manufacturer preference.
New Brunswick Manufacturer Preference
By stating YES in the input box,
I confirm that I am a Manufacturer of goods
with a place of business in New Brunswick as defined below and am therefore eligible to be considered for the NB Manufacturer preference as defined in this solicitation document. If the input box is left incomplete the bid may be ineligible for the New Brunswick Manufacturer preference.
Place of business means an establishment where a manufacturer regularly conducts its activities on a permanent basis, is clearly identified by name and is accessible during normal business hours.
New Brunswick Vendor Preference
By stating YES in the input box,
I confirm that I am a Vendor of goods or services
with a place of business in New Brunswick as defined below and am therefore eligible to be considered for the NB Vendor preference as defined in this solicitation document. If the input box is left incomplete the bid may be ineligible for the New Brunswick Vendor preference.
Place of business means an establishment where a vendor regularly conducts its activities on a permanent basis, is clearly identified by name and is accessible during normal business hours.
ENGINEERING SERVICES
*****AMENDMENT #6*****
Please note the following Vendor questions and responses:
Q18.If applying for "Category 15 Architectural - Building Projects (average & complex)", the RFSO states that "Any vendor that qualifies for complex projects will automatically be qualified for average projects." Do we need to supply project examples from both tiers if we are intending to apply for both tiers, or do we only supply project examples from Tier 2 (Complex)?
R18.Proponents can submit proposals per category and complexity, each proposal will be evaluated and qualified accordingly.
Q19.Are we required to prepare and submit a separate "Company Organizational Chart" as referenced in 7.2.1 Corporate Information, or is this intended to be covered by the information included in Appendix A (submission form)?
R19.Proponents are required to provide one organizational chart per proposal as per 7.2.1
Q20.In the instructions for "Schedules C.2-X Project and Reference" it states Each 'Project and References' tab needs to include Project Reference contact information for possible follow-up questions to information provided. The references should be for work that is substantially completed and similar to work described in the Service Category. If your firm has completed previous similar work for the New Brunswick Department of Transportation & Infrastructure (DTI) it is recommended that
you utilize this experience. If your firm has not completed prior projects with DTI you will not be penalized. NOTE: Any references provided for work done at DTI will not qualify to be used for reference checks. If we use NBDTI projects as recommended, are we required to provide the contact name of individuals for other projects as the instruction states that "any references provided for work done at DTI will not qualify to be used for reference checks"? Where would we provide this information
in submission document?
R20.References for NBDTI projects are not required. Any other "non NBDTI" project require references. References can be provided for each project on the Appendix A "C.2C Project and Reference" tab at the bottom of the page
Q21.We want to apply for both of the sub-categories under the work category 15 "Architectural - Building Projects (average & complex)"; can we state three distinct, verifiable projects for 15-A (Average) and three other distinct, verifiable projects for 15-B (Complex)? Or is it a total of only three distinct, verifiable projects for the work category 15?
Q21. For Category 15, Proponents can submit three project per level of complexity (Average and Complex)
In accordance with Section 5 of the attached RSFO document, and based upon the Closing Date of March 1, 2022, the period for providing responses to vendor questions is
CLOSED. No further Amendments regarding vendor questions and responses will be published.
All other information remains the same.
*****AMENDMENT #5*****
Please note the following Vendor question and response:
Q17. Can you confirm if legal surveying is included in the surveying category?
R17. While this service is not explicitly stated in the RFSO, the RFSO states
"DTI reserves the right to amend the list to include additional work categories in the future to fulfill operational requirements"; should this service be required, additional information may be requested to support commissioning for that service.
All other information remains the same.
*****AMENDMENT #4*****
Please note the following Vendor questions and responses:
Q10. Proponents must provide hourly rates for the 2022-2025 Standing Offer. Since rates are assessed on a yearly basis, proponents would need to include separate hourly rate tables for years 2022, 2023,2024 & 2025, correct?
R10. Yes, proponents should provide hourly rates up to 2025.
Q11. I could not find the Appendix A - Terms of Reference, Article 5 Basis of Compensation. Was it omitted? There is Schedule A - Compensation and Resources, and this is the document that was used in the Framework agreement for the 2021 Construction Oversight Program on Capital Contracts.
R11. Appendix A--"Appendix A - RFSO Response Workbook"--is the attached Excel spreadsheet; "Terms of Reference, Article 5 Basis of Compensation" does not exist.
Q12. Under Category 1 Planning - Functional Highway Planning, we have completed such work in the past on behalf of NBDTI, but this experience is over five-year-old. Those request for such engineering service are not frequent by NBDTI. In this case, would you be prepared to waive the 5-year requirement and extend beyond. The people at NBDTI Design Branch know what services we have previously provided over the years. There is no new highway design being considered in the province, at
least is what we are being told.
R12. Suppliers are not required to have project examples that were completed within the last five years in order to apply for any work category. The recency of the project examples will form part of the proposal evaluation criteria, as per Section 7.2.3, with more recent project examples receiving higher points:
"Projects referenced as relevant experience should be no more than five years old. Higher scores will be given to will be given to projects from within the last five years,
and to projects that clearly demonstrate the Proponent's capabilities relevant to the work category for which the project is presented."
Q13. To follow up on Question 7 of Addendum 1: can we enter in all categories if we have a multidisciplinary team that qualifies for each category?
R13. Yes, proponents are invited to submit proposals for all categories in which they may qualify.
Q14. On the instructions tab of Appendix A, it states that SCHEDULE C.3 is for internal use. If we have no exceptions to any items, please confirm if this form needs to be included in our submission or if we can leave it out.
R14. Yes, the Appendix A is required to be included in your submission.
Q15. Section 7.2.3 requests that we use the Schedule C.2A, C.2B, and C.2C to provide our profile prolife and reference information, including providing names of key staff assigned to the Project (title, and role/duties of each, as related to the work category). Schedule C.2A, C.2B, and C.2C has a heading stating "Describe the role and responsibility of your key consultant on the project (prime or sub-consultant)." Please confirm if this is the section of the form where we are to present
the key staff assigned to the project.
R15. Yes, confirmed.
Q16. Section 7.3 requests that we are to complete Tab C.5 Rate table and include a list of the Proponent's staff is to be submitted, by name, Professional designation, Discipline, Level, Years of experience, and Charge out Rate. Please confirm if we are permitted to add the column "Discipline" to the Excel sheet in order to provide all the required content, as this column currently is not included in Appendix A.
Q16. An additional column--"Discipline / Category"--has been added to Tab C.5.
All other information remains the same.
*****AMENDMENT #3*****
Please note the following Vendor question and response:
Q9. How will firms on the pre-qualified list be selected for projects? Will DTI cycle down through list so that everyone gets equal portion of work, or is there is some other mechanism in place for selection?
R9. As per section 6.4.1 of the RFSO document, DTI will endeavor to provide an equitable distribution of opportunities for firms to respond to statements of work or solicitations. Selection of a firm for a specific statement of work will take into consideration a number of variables including, but not limited to, the number and value of previous statements of work related to this RFSO; a firm's geographic proximity to the project's location; a firm's ability/capacity to respond; the
relevant work category(ies), and whether or not work has been completed on a prior phase of the project.
All other information remains the same.
*****AMENDMENT #2*****
Amended to attach an alternate vesion of the Excel spreadsheet, in the '97-2003 .xls' format.
All other information remains the same.
*****AMENDMENT #1*****
Please note the following Vendor questions and responses:
Q1. Are all communications to be provided by our office in both official languages?
R1. Proponents may communicate in the language of their choice and any specific language requirements will be identified in the subsequent statements of work.
Q2. Are reports, drawings, specifications, and other products prepared by our office to be supplied in both official languages?
R2. No; generally speaking all statements of work, project specifications and contracts are prepared and signed in English. There may be times when specific job requirements call for bilingual capacity. These language requirements will be clearly outlined in all future solicitation documents. As per clause 3.11 of the RFSO, proponents are encourage to review the requirements of the Official Languages Act. All suppliers engaged to deliver services on behalf of the Government of New
Brunswick must ensure compliance with the Official Languages Act in the delivery of those services. For more information, please refer to the Official Languages Act.
Q3. In the field of buildings and architecture it is the building contractors who obtain permits rather than the consultants. Will this clause be amended?
R3.Building Permits are the responsibility of the General Contractor.
Q4. We would not necessarily agree to 'irrevocably undertake' work for all the entities listed in this section. For example, our firm is only registered to practice architecture in New Brunswick, and not the other provinces listed in this section. Will the paragraph be amended?
R4. Just NB.
Q5. Any service provider needs the right to make their own decisions about what opportunities to respond to be based on their opinion, experience, and workload. This RFP appears to take that ability out of their hands. Will the paragraph be amended?
R5. Proponents have the choice of which categories they wish to show interest in based on their opinion, experience, and workload , DTI will evaluate and award based on the same.
Q6. This clause appears to remove the private sector pricing ability of firms for a major part of the market for services in Atlantic Canada by imposing a uniform set of values based on response to this RFSO. This may be in effect be called price fixing? Will the paragraph be amended?
R6. No as rate tables is for DTI internal use only.
Q7. Our firm can provide Architectural services only. Do we include sub consultants onto our submission? Or are we only allowed to apply for the categories which we can fulfill in house?
R7. No you do not include sub-consultants. Since you state that your firm only provides architectural services, then you would apply for that category only.
Q8. How many firms do you select per category?
R8. All Proponent can submit proposals for the category / discipline of their choice. An evaluation of the proponent's proposal will be completed to determine if the proponent qualifies for the category. No specific quantities of qualified proponents have been established for each of the categories or disciplines.
All other information remains the same.
___________________________________________________________________________________
This is a tender notice only. In order to submit a bid, you must obtain official tender documents from the New Brunswick Opportunities Network, another authorized tendering service or as indicated in the tender notice.
Instructions for Bid Submission
1. Effective April 15, 2020, Service New Brunswick is no longer accepting paper bids,
and the Central Tendering Branch is closed to the public. Public tender openings are
no longer taking place; however, results continue to be posted on NBON.
2. Bids will only be accepted by electronic transmission as follows:
a. By e-bidding through NBON (when e-bidding is possible); OR
b. By fax to: (506) 444-4200 (fax to dedicated mailbox).
Note: Proposals in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP) will not be accepted by fax; OR
c. By email to NBBids@snb.ca or SoumissionsNB@snb.ca (do not submit bids to any other email).
Click here
Instructions for Bid Submission for important instructions on how to submit bids by email.
d. Please refrain from submitting your bid through multiple electronic channels
to avoid duplicate bids.
3. All bids must be properly signed by an authorized person.
a. For bids submitted by email or fax: typed signatures (in any font)
that are not on the bid itself (i.e. in the body of the email or on the
fax cover sheet) will NOT be accepted.
4. All bids must be legible, properly completed and contain the proper solicitation number.
5. The proponent is solely responsible for ensuring that the bid submission
in its entirety, including all attachments, is received before Closing Date and Time
as indicated on the solicitation documents.
a. The proponent bears all risk associated with delivering its bid by electronic
submission, including but not limited to delays in transmission between the Proponent's computer and the Province's Electronic Mail System, NBON or fax.
b. The date and time of official receipt of the bid will be the time of receipt
recorded in the NBON system (for e-bids) or the time of receipt in the Province's
Electronic Mail System (for fax and email bid submissions).
6. All bids must be stated in Canadian Funds. Sales taxes should not be included in
the unit, extended or total prices.
7. All tenders must be F.O.B. destination, freight prepaid.
8. This Invitation is being conducted under the provisions of the Procurement Act
and Regulation 2014-93 as of the date of the issuance of the Invitation.
Solicitation documents will be provided in either of the Province of New Brunswick's two official languages; English or French upon request.
A bidder must obtain official solicitation documents from a distribution service, authorized by the Minister of Service New Brunswick, in order to submit a bid. The current authorized distribution services are the
New Brunswick Opportunities Network (NBON) (operated by Service New Brunswick, Province of NB),
BIDSAlert (operated by Tendering Publications Ltd.) and
MERX (operated by Mediagrif Interactive Technologies). Bids should be submitted on the official bid documents
obtained from these authorized distribution services.
All suppliers engaged to deliver services on behalf of the Government of New Brunswick must ensure compliance with the
Official Languages Act in the delivery of those services. For more information, please refer to the
Official Languages Act.
COVID-19 Restrictions for Workers entering New Brunswick
All suppliers and workers entering the province of New Brunswick for work purposes must comply with the requirements established by WorkSafe NB and Public Health, including isolation requirements where applicable.
Click here for more information on these requirements.
The Atlantic Provinces Standard Terms & Conditions for Goods and Services apply to this procurement and are considered to be incorporated into this document. By submitting a bid, you agree and accept these terms and conditions. Current "Atlantic Provinces Standard Terms and Conditions" are available on the New Brunswick Opportunities Network, the Council of Atlantic Premiers' Website or from an authorized service provider.
COVID-19 Supplier Vaccination Policy
Suppliers must comply with all GNB health and safety policies and standards including, without limitation, all health and safety policies and standards related to COVID-19, as applicable. Go to www.gnb.ca/nbon to view the full policy and FAQs.
Under Canadian law (and international agreements), your Bid must arrive separately and independently, without conspiracy, collusion or fraud; see http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/home for further information.
QUESTIONS:
Written questions relating to this opportunity may be submitted to the address provided below via email by clicking on Questions. Please be sure to include the solicitation/tender number in the subject line.
EMAIL ADDRESS: bidquestionssoumissions@snb.ca
NOTE:
This email account is strictly for the receipt of questions on open opportunities. This email is not for the submission of bids.
All discounts quoted will be considered to be without limitations.
Award of contracts: no contract shall be awarded and no payment shall be made to a vendor unless authorized by the Minister or his delegates. The Minister may make an award to the preferred vendor conditional on the negotiation and acceptance of a detailed contract between the Province and the vendor. In such cases, should the detailed contract negotiations not be completed in a reasonable period of time, the Province reserves the right to discontinue negotiations with the vendor and
subsequently enter into negotiations with the second preferred vendor.
No right or duty, in whole or in part, of the vendor under a contract issued may be assigned or delegated without the prior consent of the Strategic Procurement Branch.
Unless indicated otherwise in this tender notice or attached documents, all prices must be extended and totalled.
The province of New Brunswick reserves the right to negotiate pricing, value added and other savings opportunities with the successful proponent at time of award and throughout the contract.
Pay Equity
Does your organization have 50 or more employees?
The Government of New Brunswick is committed to encouraging and incentivizing the adoption of pay equity by employers doing business with government.
Prior to the award of procurements for goods and services valued over $1,000,000, suppliers, with fifty (50) or more employees will be required to complete the Pay Equity Learning Module developed by the Women's Equality Branch. Suppliers should provide a copy of their certificate of completion with their bid submission.
To complete the online module and obtain your certificate, please visit www.gnb.ca/payequity. For questions, please contact the Pay Equity Bureau toll free: (877) 253-0266 or by Email: peb-bes@gnb.ca.
All Suppliers engaged to deliver goods or services to the Government of New Brunswick must ensure compliance with the Designated Materials Regulation in the provision or delivery of those goods obligated under that Regulation. Please refer to
Recycle NB's website and the
Designated Materials Regulation for specifics.
PAYMENT OF INVOICES
Payment of invoices is the responsibility of the department or organization to whom the goods are shipped or services are supplied.
Direct Deposit
The Province of New Brunswick is now using Direct Deposit as the standard method of issuing payments. Suppliers are required to provide bank account information and an email address for the notice of remittance. Please send the completed Direct Deposit Form to Service New Brunswick (e-mail address and mailing address are indicated on the form).
Please click on the link below to view the Direct Deposit Form.
https://www2.snb.ca/content/dam/snb/Procurement/DirectDepositVirementDirect.pdf
Where the estimated value of the goods or services to be procured is below the lowest applicable threshold value of any relevant trade agreement, Service New Brunswick reserves the right to give preferential treatment to a prospective supplier from New Brunswick. Should this right be exercised, the following order of priority will apply: a) firstly, New Brunswick manufacturers if the goods to be procured are manufactured in New Brunswick; and b) secondly, New Brunswick vendors.
When bid submissions are evaluated on price:
- Applicability of the preferences will be determined based on the price differential between the lowest-priced acceptable bid and the bid receiving the preferential treatment.
- The price differential under which a NB supplier preference may be applied will be limited to 10%. When the lowest-priced acceptable bid before preferential treatment is applied is a New Brunswick vendor, the price differential under which a NB manufacturer preference will be applied will be limited to 5%.
- The preferential treatment will be applied by making the award to the NB supplier.
When bid submissions are evaluated on a point system:
- Applicability of the preferences will be determined based on the price differential between the pricing component of the highest scoring acceptable bid submission and the pricing component of the bid(s) receiving the preferential treatment.
- The price differential under which a NB supplier preference may be applied will be limited to 10%. When the highest scoring acceptable bid submission before preferential treatment is applied is a New Brunswick vendor, the price differential under which a NB manufacturer preference will be applied will be limited to 5%.
- The preferential treatment will be applied by allotting a maximum of an additional 5% of the total possible points to New Brunswick manufacturers' total scores and 4% to NB vendors' total scores. If no bid from a New Brunswick manufacturer has been retained for preferential treatment, New Brunswick vendors may receive a maximum of an additional 5% of the total possible points rather than 4%.
The decision to apply a preference will be at the sole discretion of Service New Brunswick. To be eligible, suppliers must meet the definition of NB supplier as identified by the regulation under the
Procurement Act. NB manufacturers should indicate in their bid that they are a NB manufacturer to be considered for the NB manufacturer preference.
