No totals required.
This procurement is subject to the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement.
This procurement is subject to the provisions of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, the Atlantic Procurement Agreement and the Quebec-New Brunswick Procurement Agreement.
This procurement is subject to the provisions of the Atlantic Procurement Agreement. Vendors are advised to read the Atlantic Provinces Standard Terms and Conditions for Goods and Services Invitations carefully before submitting a bid.
DATA CENTRE SERVICES
OTHER ARCHITECT AND ENGINEERING SERVICES
INFORMATICS PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
COMMERCIAL SECURITY AND RELATED SERVICES
COMMUNICATIONS SECURITY EQUIPMENT AND COMPONENTS
OTHER CRYPTOLOGIC EQUIPMENT AND COMPONENTS
COMPUTER SOFTWARE,DATA COMMUNICATIONS, INCLUDING MODEM/LINE CONTROL,PROTOCOL, CONVERSION,TERMINAL EMULATION,VOICE, DATA NETWORK MGN,EXCEPT MICROCOMPUTERS
LOCAL AREA NETWORKS, SYSTEMS AND COMPONENTS
COMPUTER SOFTWARE,OFFICE AUTOMATION, WORD PROCESS.,ELECT.MAIL,NETWORKS,SPRE ADSHEETS,MULTI-PURPOSE INTREGRATED PK. PUBLISH.,TYPESET.-EXCEPT MICROCOMPUTER
*****Amendment #5*****
This tender has been amended to address the following vendor questions. All other information remains the same.
Q1. Section 7.2.2 "Company Approach" of the RFP lists four (4) requirements (approach to project management, quality of deliverables, risk management, CEC+), none of which specify a requirement for the proponent's management consulting methodology/approach used to develop the business model, operating model, etc. Does CyberNB require end product approach information as part of the RFP response, or does it only require approach information related to those four requirements (project management,
quality of deliverables, risk management and CEC+)?
R1. We only require the information related to the four requirements. Information on your approach to the project can be included but it will not scored in evaluation.
Note the Section 7.3.5 Project Team References where project approach for previous projects is reviewed.
Q2. To ensure we build an appropriate team with the appropriate roles and skill levels, what is the scope of work to be delegated to another vender under separate contract for engaging stakeholders? For example, will this vendor be responsible for engaging (i.e., communicating with) stakeholders for the scheduling of workshops to be conducted by our team? And, given the RFP profile, what are the categories/types of stakeholders (e.g., provincial government, federal government, municipal
government, academia, private sector businesses) for which this vendor will be responsible for engaging?
R2. The Vendor responsible for engaging and communicating with the stakeholders is aimed at the wider ecosystem rather than the specific project team organizations. They will organize workshops for fostering collaboration and transformation that will include the direct project partners. They will not be responsible for scheduling the workshops to be conducted by the RFP vendor's team. As apart of the wider project team it is expected that the two teams will work together to achieve project
success.
*****Amendment #4*****
This tender has been amended to address the following vendor questions. All other information remains the same.
Q1. At the bottom of section 6.5 in the RFP document, there is a statement indicating that "Stakeholder Engagement will be under another contract". Are additional details available regarding this statement?
For example, stakeholder engagement will be an important component of developing some of the key project deliverables such as the CI-SOC business model (consideration for partners, suppliers etc.), the future operating model and the organization structure (from a partners and peers perspective), so the timing of and availability of the stakeholder engagement partner will be material to the execution of this work . Will the stakeholder engagement proponent be named before the awarding of this
contract? It is expected that the winning proponent help select the stakeholder engagement partner? etc.
R1. No the winning proponent will not help select the Stakeholder Engagement Partner - this will be done by CyberNB before the final award of the contract.
Q2. Intellectual Property
The RFP section 6.2 and Amendment 1 Answer 2 suggested that all new Intellectual Property will be owned by CyberNB and shared across a community of "project partners and participants". Vendors may leverage proprietary techniques, methodologies and frameworks (respondent Intellectual Property) as part of the engagement. Most new or developed IP arising under an IT consulting contract will by its nature be supplemental, or constitute a derivative of, the vendor's existing IP rights. In order to
protect the vendor's ability to continue providing such services in the course of its business, vendors must retain the ownership of the derivatives, enhancements, modifications, etc. to existing IP and any new IP created by the vendor during the performance of the work. Granting IP ownership to Cyber NB under the contract (other than copyright on document deliverables) is likely problematic for many vendors. Could CyberNB please provide further explanation as requested below:
- Who the project partners and participants are? Are they limited to the public sector? Will they be bound to confidentiality?
- Will project partners and participants be able to commercialize the new IP in developing new products and services or is the development of such new products and services limited to their internal purposes?
- Is the ownership of new IP (ie. methodologies, tools, techniques, etc.) a mandatory requirement or does CyberNB reserve the right to negotiate appropriate IP rights with the selected vendor?
R2.The project partners are not limited to public sector. Yes they will be bound by confidentiality.
The project partners and participants will be able to commercialize the new IP in developing new products and services.
The IP ownership will be open to negotiation, we are well aware of the issues of background IP.
Note: typically in a Public Sector Project any specified deliverables developed are owned by the public sector body who paid for the services of their creation.
Q3. Travel
Section 6.6 states that the Vendor is responsible to pay for travel costs to and from Fredericton, while section 7.3 states that pricing must be inclusive of out-of-pocket expenses (which we would understand to include travel expenses).
- Respondents may bring in resources from out-of-province or out-of-country. Is it the expectation that costs associated with travel to Fredericton from their work or home out-of-province/out-of-country are to be excluded from the proposed pricing information?
- Will the clauses on travel expenses from section 6.6 take priority over section 7.3?
- Should the quoted per diem rate include out-of-pocket expenses or will these expenses be incurred separately and reimbursed in accordance with the government's policy?
- Could a copy of the applicable expense reimbursement policy be provided to proponents so that they may familiarize themselves with any applicable limitations?
Will vendors also be responsible for travel costs to locations outside Fredericton for the purpose referred to in section 6.6: "Vendor project team may travel throughout the province to meet with key project stakeholders in person."?
R3. Vendors must include all travel and out-of-pocket costs as part of their Per Diem rates for the proposed resources. Should the successful vendor be asked to travel to other areas of the Province, meals and mileage will be reimbursed at standard GNB rates. See new attachment titled GNB Travel Allowances for full details. Note: It is unlikely that there will be province travel beyond the Fredericton area.
Q4. Section 4.3 : This section seems to indicate that the deliveries must be made by hand (4 copies). Alternatively, could the proposal be sent via email to the procurement office?
R4. Electronic bidding is not available for this tender. Hard copies of the proposals are to be delivered to the address listed in the RFP.
Q5. Section 6.1: "The CI-SOC project will create the first "proof of concept" integrated security operations centre that will protect New Brunswick's critical infrastructure, coordinating..." Is the long-term goal to offer the services to all Canadian critical infrastructure, or to limit it to New Brunswick?
R5. The initial objective is to develop a capability to improve the integration of different SOC's to significantly improve Critical Infrastructure Protection in New Brunswick. The potential for exporting the services is one for the commerical CI-SOC partners to take.
Q6. Section 6.5: Our understanding from the scope of work is that there is an existing SOC/NOC and the aim of the services listed in Section 6.5 is to provide guidance to transform the existing infrastructure and related governance to a CI-SOC that will meet CyberNB's strategic objectives, i.e., the successful bidder will not be expected to install/configure equipment and monitor systems. Is our understanding correct? If not, please clarify.
R6. The CI-SOC space will contain three existing SOC functions from different industries, the objective is to develop new ways of working and new protocols for sharing information across SOC's to significantly improve the security for Critical Infrastructure. The successful bidder is not expected to install and configure equipment and monitor systems. There may be work to integrate different vendor tools to provide better intelligence and information for the integrated SOC.
*****Amendment #3*****
This tender has been amended to extend the closing date to November 13, 2018. Proponents are asked to disregard Question #1 of Amendment #2. All other information remains the same.
*****Amendment #2*****
This tender has been amended to address the following vendor question. All other information remains the same.
Q1. We would like to request an extension of the due date of RFP # 3959030-19 to Tuesday November 13 @ 13:30 PM (Atlantic).
R1. Unfortunately, due to the timing of this project, an extension will not be granted and the closing date remains November 5, 2018.
Q2. In section 6.4 of the RFP document, CEC+ certification is listed as a "Must" requirement for all proponents and supply chain partners (either at time of bidding or within 12 weeks of an awarded contract). My question is whether or not ISO 27001 certification would be considered an acceptable substitution for CEC+ certification?
R2. No, ISO 27001 is not considered a suitable substitute. CEC+ certification can be restricted to the office where the team are being provided from. If a vendor has ISO 27001 and all sites follow the controls then achieving CEC+ should be fairly simple.
*****Amendment #1*****
This tender has been amended to upload an attachment titled "Amendment #1" which addresses questions from the Vendor Meeting that took place on October 15, 2018. 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.
RETURN TO:
Note change to mailing address:
Central Tendering Branch
Fredericton Regional Centre
Suite 2300, 300 St. Mary's Street,
Fredericton, N.B.
E3A 2S4
Fax: (506) 444-4200
Public opening of bids will take place on closing day at 14:00 Atlantic Time, in Fredericton Regional Centre, Suite 2300, 300 St. Mary's Street, Fredericton, N.B. E3A 2S4.
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All bids must be stated in Canadian Funds.
All tenders must be F.O.B. destination, freight prepaid.
Sales taxes should not be included in the unit, extended or total prices.
This Invitation is being conducted under the provisions of the Procurement Act and Regulation as of the date of the issuance of the Invitation. Bidders may obtain a copy of the Act and Regulation on-line free of charge Procurement Act, Regulation or a paper copy may be purchased from the Queen's Printer, Province of N.B., P.O. Box 6000,Fredericton, N.B. E3B 5H1.
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 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.
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.
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.
A bidder must obtain official bid 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),
BIDS (operated by Tendering Publications Ltd.) and
MERX (operated by Mediagrif Interactive Technologies). Failure to submit the official bid documents or provide proof that the
official bid documents were properly obtained will result in rejection of the bid. In order to facilitate the evaluation process, Bidders are requested to respond in the same format as the official bid documents.
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 or the Atlantic Region. 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; b) secondly, New Brunswick vendors; and c) thirdly, Atlantic Suppliers. The preference will be applied based
on the price differential
between the lowest acceptable bid and the bid receiving preferential treatment. Unless otherwise indicated, there shall be no limit on the price differential under which a preference may be applied. The decision to apply a preference will be at the sole discretion of Service New Brunswick.
All discounts quoted will be considered to be without limitations.
Payment of invoices is the responsibility of the department or organization to whom the goods are shipped or services are supplied.
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 the Strategic Procurement Branch has determined otherwise prior to tender closing, all prices must be extended and totaled.
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.
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.
http://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/gs-sg/pdf/Procurement/DirectDepositVirementDirect.pdf
Solicitation documents will be provided in either of the Province of New Brunswick's two official languages; English or French upon request.
