1-800 O-Canada Telephone Referral Services Procurement Project

Table of Contents

• Background and Introduction
• Project Requirement
• Attestation of Assurance
• Objectives of the Fairness Monitor Assignment and Methodology
• Fairness Monitor Specific Activities and Findings
• Reference Documents

Background and Introduction

Knowles Consultancy Services Inc. and Hill International Inc. in Joint Venture was engaged as the Fairness Monitor (FM) to observe the competitive procurement process for the 1-800 O-Canada Telephone Referral Services for Service Canada undertaken by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) through Solicitation Number G9420-120003/B. Knowles Consultancy Services Inc. and Hill International Inc. in Joint Venture is an independent third party with respect to this activity.

We hereby submit the Final Report covering our activities commencing with the review of a Request for Information (RFI) and the review of a Request for Proposal (RFP), the evaluation of proposals and the selection of the recommended bidder.

This report includes our attestation of assurance, a summary of the scope and objectives of our assignment, the methodologies applied, and specific activities and relevant findings.

Project Requirement

The Government of Canada identified a requirement for the services of a contractor to provide and manage a completely self-contained and integrated team of fluently bilingual information centre specialists for the 1-800 O-Canada Telephone Referral Services provided by Service Canada. The team works within an infrastructure provided and managed by Service Canada to provide the following for current and future business needs:

1. Professional, knowledgeable, and bilingual information officers to respond to enquiries for 1-800 O-Canada and to respond to calls and emails for project specific customized information solutions on behalf of other Government of Canada organizations and programs; and
2. Information management specialists to manage and update knowledge repositories used by front line staff.

Attestation of Assurance

The FM hereby provides the following unqualified assurance statement concerning the procurement process to select a contractor to provide 1-800 O-Canada Telephone Referral Services required by Service Canada.

It is our professional opinion that the competitive process we observed was carried out in a fair, open and transparent manner.

Note: For all references in this report concerning fairness related comments being provided to project officials, it is confirmed that, as necessary, project officials provided clarification to the FM or took appropriate action to address the comments, and as a result no fairness deficiencies were recorded. 

___________________
Bruce Maynard P. Eng.
FM Specialist

Objectives of the Fairness Monitor Assignment and Methodology

The overall objective was as follows: provide PWGSC with independent observation of project procurement activities; provide fairness related comments to project officials as early as possible so that appropriate action could be taken to resolve the concerns before fairness was impacted; bring any potential fairness concerns to the attention of the Operational Integrity Sector if there is no timely resolution with project officials; and attest as to the fairness of the procurement process, including its execution.

To accomplish the objective we undertook the following activities:

• became familiar with the project governance structure;

• reviewed the Request for Information (RFI);

• reviewed the Request for Proposal (RFP);

• reviewed all amendments and addenda to the RFP including questions submitted by bidders and answers provided;

• reviewed the procedures to be used for the evaluation of responses and the guidance provided to the evaluation team;

• observed the evaluation of responses to the RFP to ensure that the specified evaluation and contractor selection procedures and departmental policy were followed and consistently applied during the evaluation and selection process; and

• observed the debriefing of unsuccessful bidders. (This activity will be reported on in an addendum to this report after any debriefings.)

Fairness Monitor Specific Activities and Findings

FM Activities and Specific Findings Concerning the RFI and RFP Phases

On January 31, 2013 we reviewed the RFI and RFP that had been posted on MERX (Documents 1 and 2) and provided fairness related comments. All comments were addressed appropriately by project officials.

During the period January 31, 2013 to March 18, 2013, we reviewed Amendments 1 to 6 (Documents 3 to 8) in draft and final form including questions from interested suppliers and answers provided.  Fairness related comments were provided and appropriate action was taken by project officials. We observed the Bidders' Conference on February 5, 2013 and no fairness deficiencies were identified.

The RFP closed on March 18, 2013.

FM Activities and Findings Concerning the Evaluation Phase

During the period February 28, 2013 to March 5, 2013, we reviewed and provided fairness related comments on the consensus evaluation process and the Evaluation Guide and observed a briefing of the evaluation team. Appropriate action was taken by project officials concerning our comments. During the period March 25, 2013 to April 19, 2013, we observed consensus evaluation meetings on the technical requirements and provided fairness related comments. Appropriate action was taken by project officials. The evaluation of one proposal that had earlier been found non-compliant in several areas was completed on April 19, 2013. 

On March 28, 2013 we reviewed the results of the evaluation of proposals and the selection of the recommended bidder as specified in the RFP. We were advised that the calculations and results had been double checked through an independent peer review. No fairness deficiencies were identified.

Reference Documents

The following documents are referenced by number in the attached report.  Unless otherwise indicated, these documents are available through the 1-800 O-Canada project office.  

Table Summary

The following table includes a list of documents referred to in the report such as the RFP, amendments, clarification letters, debriefing letters, etc. Each row is numbered, followed by the document title, then a document identifier such as a date or document number.

No.	Document	Additional information
1	Request for Information (RFI)	Published on MERX on November 27, 2012
2	Request for Proposal (RFP)	Published on MERX on January 28, 2013
3	Amendment 1 to RFP	Published on MERX on February 12, 2013
4	Amendment 2 to RFP	Published on MERX on February 13, 2013
5	Amendment 3 to RFP	Published on MERX on February 25, 2013
6	Amendment 4 to RFP	Published on MERX on February 28, 2013
7	Amendment 5 to RFP	Published on MERX on March 6, 2013
8	Amendment 6 to RFP	Published on MERX on March 12, 2013

Addendum to the Final Report
September 15, 2013

Addendum to Fairness Monitor Contractor's Final Report dated May 8, 2013 concerning 1-800 O-Canada Telephone Referral Services Procurement Project

This Addendum to the Fairness Monitor Contractor's Final Report covers the period following the conclusion of the evaluation phase and includes the debriefings of bidders.

The 1-800 O Canada Telephone Referral Services Contracting Authority advised us on July 12, 2013 that a contract had been awarded to the successful bidder. During the period July 12, 2013 to August 21, 2013 we reviewed written debriefings and observed verbal debriefings by telephone of the unsuccessful bidders.  The debriefings provided information to assist each bidder in responding to new opportunities as well as explaining the evaluation results. No fairness deficiencies were identified.

Fairness Monitor Attestation of Assurance

It is the opinion of the Fairness Monitor that the post evaluation activities, including the debriefings, were carried out in a fair manner. In this context, fairness is defined as decisions made objectively, free from personal favouritism and political influence, and encompasses the elements of openness, competitiveness, transparency and compliance.

___________________
Bruce Maynard P. Eng.
FM Specialist