Trade Agreement: NAFTA/AIT/Canada-Peru FTA/Canada-Colombia FTA Tendering Procedures: Generally only one firm has been invited to bid Attachment: None Non-Competitive Procurement Strategy: Exclusive Rights Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No Vendor Name and Address:
ERMS Solutions Limited 2916 South Sheridan Way Suite 200 Oakville Ontario Canada L6J7J8 Nature of Requirements:
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO SUPPLIERS
Government of Canada is moving its Government Electronic Tendering Service from MERX to Buyandsell.gc.ca/tenders on June 1, 2013
Starting June 1, 2013, federal government tenders (tender notices and bid solicitation documents) will be published and available free of charge on a Government of Canada Web site on Buyandsell.gc.ca/tenders.
The Government Electronic Tendering Service on Buyandsell.gc.ca/tenders will be the sole authoritative source for Government of Canada tenders that are subject to trade agreements or subject to departmental policies that require public advertising of tenders.
Get more details in the Frequently Asked Questions section of Buyandsell.gc.ca/tenders.
After June 1, 2013, all tenders and related documents and amendments will be on Buyandsell.gc.ca/tenders.
On June 1, 2013, suppliers must go to Buyandsell.gc.ca/tenders to check for amendments to any tender opportunities that they have been following on MERX prior to June 1.
Bookmark Buyandsell.gc.ca/tenders now to be ready for June 1!
Emergency Notification Service
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.
Definition of the Requirement
The Department of National Defence requires a reliable, secure and automated web-based notification service. The service must leverage multiple means of communications such as phone numbers and email addresses to provide rapid notifications to a large user base.
DND intends to enter into a sole source contract with ERMS Corporation for the purpose of procuring the ERMS Advantage Platform suite including associating maintenance and support service,training and professional services.
Criteria for Assessment of the Statement of Capabilities
Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities that it meets the following requirements:
Overview
The Contractor must host a service that allows Department of National Defence (DND) to initiate a sequence which utilizes user-populated contact information to automatically send a notification to users or specific user groups, as created by DND, and receive corresponding responses from users. The service must be hosted by the Contractor at the Contractor facility and remotely accessible to the user(s).
Availability
The Contractor must:
A. Provide a service that is available 24/7, 365 days a year though a secure web service; B. Provide notification to the Technical Authority and provide an estimated time of system restoration no later than 72 hours before a planned system outage; and C. Immediately notify the Technical Authority and provide an estimated time of system restoration before an unplanned outage.
User Accounts
The Contractor must provide:
A. Support for 2000 user accounts accessed by individual username/password; B. An option to increase by increments of 200 up to a maximum total of 4000.
User Groups
The system must allow:
a. For user account to be divided into an unlimited number of groups; b. Each group to have one or more Group Leader(s); and c. The ability to create nested groups. They must provide a minimum of 10 levels for this
requirement.
User Classes
The system must be designed to accommodate multiple levels of permission to establish a Basic User, Group Leader, and Administrator. These levels are defined below:
a. A Basic User must: i. have access to the system to edit their personal contact information;
ii. be able to initiate a notification only to their own account for verification purposes; and iii. be able to set status to unavailable which tells the system to exclude them from
notification.
b. A Group Leader must have all abilities of a Basic User and have the additional ability to: i. initiate notification to their entire group or to select members of their group; ii. be able to view reports of notifications sent and acknowledgements received to and from
users in their group; and iii. add or remove users from their group.
c. System Administrator must have all the abilities of the Group Leader and have the
additional ability to: i. create / delete user accounts; ii. create/ delete groups; iii. assign permissions to users; iv. change user names and reset passwords; and v. perform bulk data manipulation.
Bulk Data Manipulation
The system must allow System Administrators to perform bulk data manipulation of the database of, at a minimum the following information:
a. All tombstone data including username, password, positive identification number(PIN); b. All user contact data; and c. All groups to which users belong.
User Populated Information
The system must allow:
a. Usernames that are made up of alphanumeric characters and definable by the user at the
time of account registration; b. Users to create a personal password with six (6) or more alphanumeric characters; c. A user to create a Personal Identification Number (PIN) used for positive identification
during a notification. d. Users to have access to create their own PIN; e. Users to change their password every ninety (90) days; f. The system must allow a user to create a Personal Identification Number (PIN) used for
positive identification during a notification. The PIN is another security measure used in
conjunction with a password.
g. Users to input at least four (4) out of the eight ( 8 ) unique means (listed below) of
receiving a notification. These means are, at a minimum, as follows:
i. Landline phone number;
ii. Cellular phone number - at a minimum, must support providers such as: Rogers,
Telus and Bell;
iii. Satellite Phone;
iv. SMS text - must support providers such as Rogers, Telus and Bell; up to quantity
140 characters required per text message. The system must use short code in order
to allow for the sending of true SMS versus email-to-SMS;
v. Email address - must support up to 500 words;
vi. One - way pager;
vii. Two - way pager; and
viii. Satellite Pager.
h. A user to select the same means multiple times such as two (2) different cell phones
numbers or two (2) different email addresses for the same person.
Web Portal
The service must be available through a secure web site (https) with a minimum of 128bit encryption using a personal computer or smart mobile device. The website should be optimized for smart mobile device including Blackberry, iPhone and Android. A user should be able to initiate recall through a personal computer or a smart mobile device.
Automated Phone Service
The system must:
a. The system must be available through an interactive voice response system or a live
operator; and b. The system must positively identify user-by-user name and PIN.
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
The user must be capable of performing all tasks as associated with their allotted user permissions by using a GUI which is accessed by logging into the web portal. The service must be accessible on web browsers including Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. These tasks at a minimum provide the ability for:
a. A Basic User to:
i. change personal contact information and notification priority; and
ii. initiate a notification to themselves and set status
b.
Group Leader to:
i. initiate a customizable notification to their group or selected members within their
group;
ii. cancel a notification process;
iii. view status after a notification has been initiated; and
iv. view the status of an initiated notification.
c. System Administrator to:
i. view real time status of an initiated notification; and
ii. access previous Notification Reports
GUI Manipulation
The fields and corresponding parameters used in the GUI system must be customizable by System Administrators using the GUI or via a request to the Contractor. These are at a minimum:
a. User fields:
i. what contact means are available;
ii.
in what order they are displayed;
iii.
title of the fields; and
iv.
Comments or help text to provide users additional information for each field.
b. Initiating Party fields:
i.
means of communications to be targeted;
ii.
whether positive identification is required;
iii.
how long before the system tries the next priority means of communication; and
iv.
how long a notification is active. Long Distance/Roaming
The system must be capable of receiving calls from and contacting international phone numbers, as well as Canadian numbers while roaming internationally.
Notification Initiation
At any time, a System Administrator must be able to initiate a notification to the entire user base, groups, sub-groups or basic users and a group leader to their group, nested sub group, or basic users within their group.
Methods of Initiation
The system must allow the Initiating Party:
a. A personal computer connected to the internet via GUI; b. A web-enabled mobile device via GUI; and
c. A telephone (landline or cellular).
Notification Content
The system must:
a. Allow the Initiating Party to be able to customize both the content of the notification
message and the parameters used to distribute it; and b. Transmit the message in text or convert text to speech for non-text based contact
methods.
Notification Flow
Once a notification is initiated, the system must:
a. Once a notification is initiated, the system must automatically contact all users receiving
notification as chosen by the Initiating Party, regardless of location; b. Wait the period of time selected by the Initiating party, then automatically contact the
next priority on that user's list if no acknowledgement is received
by the system on the
previous means of contact; c. Go back to the top of the priority list and repeat the process if no acknowledgement is
received at the end of the user's priority list.
d. Stop sending notifications as soon as:
i. acknowledgement is received on any means contacted;
ii. when the notification expires; or
iii. if the Initiating Party cancels the notification.
Notification Expiry
A notification must be active for, at a maximum, one hour or another period as determined by the Initiating Party in the GUI.
User Acknowledgement
If the Initiating Party requests positive identification, the system shall not accept an acknowledgement without having positive identification of the user providing the acknowledgement.
The system must be capable of:
a. Receiving text or voice responses referred to as acknowledgements; and
b. Allowing Users responses to be either pre-defined or customizable text or voice
messages.
The System must not:
c. Accept an e-mail "out of office" reply or any other automatic reply including voicemail as
an acknowledgement; d. The system must not use active web links in e-mails in order to prevent hackers from
trying to access the service.
Live Notification Status
Once a notification is sent, the Initiating Party as well as the Group and Sub-Group Leaders of notified groups
must have access to a near real time Notification Status Report, with a refresh rate of every 2 minutes or shorter, for any notification that has been initiated.
Notification Cancellation
The system must allow the Initiating Party to cancel a notification and to customize a cancellation message.
Notification Reports
For every notification that is initiated, a status report must be accessible to the System Administrator and Group Leaders involved in a file MS Office compatible format or .PDF file.
a. A notification report must include at a minimum the following information:
i. when the notification was sent;
ii. the Initiating Party's user name;
iii. the notification message that was sent;
iv. how many unique users were targeted;
v. users that acknowledged;
vi. when users acknowledged;
vii. users that had selected "unavailable"; and
viii. users that did not acknowledge.
Training Materials
The Contractor must:
a.
Provide a User Manual which is made available to all users in a MS Office file or .PDF
format through the web portal. User Manual must be in English. b.
Ensure user manual include all functionalities of the service available that will be
available to the users and administrators.
Security Requirements
The Contractor must:
a. Have an internal physical and information security policy in place; b. Act in accordance with the Government of Canada Personal Information Protection and
Electronics Document Act (PIPEDA)
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/P-8.6/page-1.html
; c. The Contractor must have the ability to handle and secure information up to and
including PROTECTED A in accordance with Public Works and Government Services
Canada's Industrial Security Standards. These standards apply to all facilities and
equipment used to store and process Administrator. User and Contact information and all
messages. d. The contractor must enable Administrators to control access privileges, such as access
requests, requests for changes to personal information, and changes to passwords
provided that they have appropriate access control permissions. e. The Contractor must ensure that all information registered in the system is not available
to any other client group or individual outside of the DND's user group. This information
includes user contact information, usage statistics, audit logs, and configurations. The
Contractor is liable for the protection of all private and government information from
disclosure and for the actions of employees and/or sub-Contractors.;
f. The Contractor must ensure information is protected from other customers as well as
cyber attacks, computer-to-computer attack that undermines the confidentiality, integrity
and availability of a computer or the information that resides on it. g. The Contractor must control and limit the access to the DND database through password
protection to only employees that are providing customer support to DND; and h. The Contractor must provide a list of employees with access to the information.
Customer Support
The Contractor must ensure customer support representatives are:
a.
Accessible by telephone number and email; b.
Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; c.
Capable of providing support in the English language; d.
Knowledgeable of the technical aspects and operation of the system and able to
troubleshoot or assist user through potential problems that may arise.
Compromise of Information
The Contractor must immediately report any known potential loss of information, including unauthorized physical access to the Contractor's facility or knowledge of cyber attack to the DND technical authority.
Redundancy
The Contractor must:
a. Have at a minimum two redundant data-centers at a separate location where all
information in the database is backed-up.
b. The Client data must be hosted in high-availability facilities with zero failover time and
automatic recovery. c. In the event of a Disaster, Emergency or Hazard renders the Contractor's primary data
centre inoperable, Client data must be dynamically rerouted so that it functions without
interruption. d. Have a multi-tier, multi-server fault tolerant architecture whit full redundancy whereby
the primary Contacts database server and all functions are housed in Canada and their
back-up capability is housed in separate locations in Canada separated by a provincial
boundary (at least 200 km) so that an Emergency that affects one facility will not affect
the others. e. Ensure that the Client's database never resides outside of Canada's land boundaries. f. Generate automatic database backups to one or more other locations in Canada at least
once every 24 hours.
g. Must enable Administrators to recover a Contract record that has been deleted for up to 5
days after deletion. h. Each location must be able to independently provide the same service as described in this
SOW and the Technical Specification.
Government Contracts Regulations Exception(s)
Section 6 of the Government Contract Regulations is being invoked in this procurement as only one person or firm is capable of performing the contract.
Exclusions and/or Limited Tendering Reasons
Annex 4.4 article 506.12(b) of the AIT is applicable on the basis of limited tendering where there is an absence of competition for technical reasons and the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no alternative or substitute exists, respectively.
Article 1016.2(b) of NAFTA is applicable on the basis of limited tendering due to reasons where, for works of art, or for reasons connected with the protection of patents, copyrights or other exclusive rights, or proprietary information or where there is an absence of competition for technical reasons, the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists. Article XV(b) of the WTO-AGP is applicable on the basis of limited tendering due to reasons when, for works of art or for reasons connected with protection of exclusive rights, such as patents or copyrights, or in the absence of competition for technical reasons, the products or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists.
Ownership of Intellectual Property.
Ownership of any Foreground Intellectual Property arising out of the proposed contract will vest in the Contractor.
The period of the proposed contract or the delivery date(s)
The proposed contract is for a period of 5 years that includes 4 additonal 1-year options. All delivery mentioned in the requirement must be delivered within 10 days of Contract award.
Name and address of the pre-identified supplier: ERMS Solutions Limited, Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Suppliers' right to submit a statement of capabilities Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the goods, services or construction services described in the ACAN, may submit a statement of capabilities in writing to the contact person 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.
The conditions of the developer's shrink-wrap license are not acceptable to the Crown. This software is proprietary, and the proposed Contractor must have the authority to negotiate the terms and conditions of the contract and the related software licensing terms including, but not limited to; limitation of liability,indemnification, transferability of license, termination/refund to the Crown.
Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada
Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:
Kelly McGilvery Supply Specialist Public Works and Government Services Canada Gatineau, Québec, Canada (K1A 0S5) Kelly.McGilvery@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca Telephone 819-956-0316 Facsimile 819-953-3703 Government of Canada
Delivery Date: Above-mentioned
You are hereby notified that the government intends to negotiate with one firm only as identified above. Should you have any questions concerning this requirement, contact the contracting officer identified above.
An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows departments and agencies to post a notice, for no less than fifteen (15) calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that it intends to award a good, service or construction contract to a pre-identified contractor. If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a Statement of Capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, the contracting authority may then proceed with the award.
However, should a Statement of Capabilities be found to meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, then the contracting authority will proceed to a full tendering process.
Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services/goods described herein, may submit a statement of capabilities in writing to the contact person 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.
The PWGSC file number, the contracting officer's name and the closing date of the ACAN must appear on the outside of the envelope in block letters or, in the case of a facsimile transmission, on the covering page.
The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement.
Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.
