Household Goods Removal Services

Table of Contents

• 1. Background/Introduction
• 2. Project Requirement
  • 2.1 RFI Stage - Activity Monitored
  • 2.2 RFP Stage up to Bid Closing - Activity Monitored
  • 2.3 Proposal Submission Stage - Activity Monitored
    • 2.3.1 Technical Proposal Evaluation
    • 2.3.2 Price Proposal
    • 2.3.3 Distribution of Business Volume
• 3. Attestation of Assurance
• 4. Methodology
• 5. Reference Documents

1. Background/Introduction

PPI Consulting Limited (PPI) was engaged as a Fairness Monitor (FM) Specialist to observe the procurement process related to the acquisition of Household Goods Removal Services for the Government of Canada. This report relates to the Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) as Solicitation No. E60LM-110012/H dated March 28, 2014.

PPI is an independent third party with respect to this activity. We reviewed all of the information provided and observed all relevant activities.

We hereby submit PPI's Final Report covering the activities of the FM, including the Request for Information (RFI) and vendor consultation process, and the subsequent RFP and evaluation process.

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

2. Project Requirement

The following is an overview of the activities monitored at each stage:

2.1 RFI Stage - Activity Monitored

The FM Specialist was engaged after the Industry Day held on January 29, 2013.

The FM Specialist attended the following meetings:

• Vendor one-on-one consultations with industry - Nine meetings were held in the period March 8, 2013 to March 13, 2013 with the respondents to a Letter of Interest (LOI) that was issued with a draft RFP for the supply of Household Goods Removal Services to the Government of Canada;
• Other project team meetings/discussions to review evaluation approach, issues resolution, evaluation criteria etc.

The following documents were provided to PPI for review prior to posting:

• LOI;
• Draft RFP (multiple iterations as the documents evolved based on feedback from the vendor one-on-one consultation stages);
• Question and Answer Logs for interested vendors.

2.2 RFP Stage up to Bid Closing - Activity Monitored

During the period from March 13, 2013 up to the RFP closing date of May 27, 2014, the Fairness Monitor Specialist observed the following meetings:

• Status Update Meetings. The FM Specialist was updated regularly with respect to the progress of the procurement.

During this period the following documents were provided to PPI for review:

• Comments Log resulting from RFI process. PPI reviewed the comments log which was consistent with the observations of the FM Specialist;
• Final solicitation document RFP # E60LM-110012/H dated March 28, 2014. PPI reviewed the RFP documents prior to posting and provided feedback to the Contracting Authority. All observations were addressed to the satisfaction of the FM Specialist;
• Proponent Clarification Question and Answers during bid open period / Amendments 1-11. PPI reviewed the questions and draft answers and provided feedback to the Contracting Authority. All observations were addressed to the satisfaction of the FM Specialist;
• Evaluation Directive and Evaluation Grids. PPI reviewed the evaluation documents including the proposed scoring methods and provided feedback to the Contracting Authority. All observations were addressed to the satisfaction of the FM Specialist.

2.3 Proposal Submission Stage – Activity Monitored

PWGSC received three (3) proposals by the revised submission date and time on May 27, 2014, which had been extended from the original submission date of May 8, 2014.

The FM Specialist attended the following meetings with respect to the evaluation of the proposals received in response to the Household Goods Removal Services RFP.

• Evaluator Training and Kick-off Meeting;
• Consensus Scoring of Technical Proposal;
• Meeting with Contracting Authority to review Proponent Rate Bid Forms and score calculations.

During this period the following documents were provided to PPI for review:

• Letters to the three bidders requesting the % of business they wanted based on their rank as a result of the technical and financial evaluations.

2.3.1 Technical Proposal Evaluation

The Fairness Monitor attended the Evaluator Briefing and distribution of evaluation documents. The evaluation team was briefed on all issues related to conducting the evaluation in accordance with the stipulated selection process, including roles and responsibilities, confidentiality, document control, evaluator conduct, independent assessment, consensus process, schedule, and an explanation of clarification versus bid repair. 

Five evaluators conducted the individual evaluations, however due to the delay caused by clarification questions, one evaluator had to recuse himself due to a medical appointment. Four evaluators therefore participated in the consensus scoring process.

The following process was undertaken to evaluate the proposal:

• Each evaluator conducted their own independent review and scoring of the proposal in their evaluator workbook;
• A clarification question was sent to all three Proponents to clarify the size and scope of a mandatory client reference. All Proponents confirmed compliance;
• Once the independent reviews were completed, the evaluators participated in consensus meetings to agree the score to be assigned to each rated requirement. The consensus scores and the rationale for the scores were recorded in the master record;
• Evaluators recorded any changes agreed to during consensus in their individual workbooks;
• At the conclusion of the consensus session, the Fairness Monitor asked and confirmed with each member of the evaluation team that they were in agreement with the final consensus scores;
• All evaluators confirmed their agreement verbally;
• All evaluators signed the consensus record acknowledging their agreement with the scores and rationale for the scores.

The Fairness Monitor witnessed the consensus sessions and confirms that the process was conducted appropriately in accordance with the process established in the RFP and in a fair, open and transparent manner.

2.3.2 Price Proposal

The results of the price proposal evaluation were provided to PPI for review. 

The Rate Bid Forms submitted by the three proponents were complete and complied with the requirements of the RFP. An Integrity Check and the Financial Capability Assessment were also completed satisfactorily.

2.3.3 Distribution of Business Volume

The scores from the technical and price proposals were totalled and the three proponents were ranked. In accordance with the RFP, letters were sent to the two highest scoring proponents asking them to identify the percentage of total annual business volume up to a maximum 45% for which they wished to enter into a contract. Both proponents requested the maximum 45%. Subsequently, a letter was sent to the third placed proponent informing them of the results of the evaluation process and advising them that they had been awarded 10% of the business volume.

3. Attestation of Assurance

The Fairness Monitor hereby provides the following unqualified assurance statement concerning the solicitation process for the acquisition of Household Goods Removal Services, PWGSC Solicitation No. E60LM-110012/H.

It is our professional opinion that the solicitation process, including the evaluation of the proposals received in response to the RFP for Household Goods Removal Services, that we observed, was carried out in a fair, open and transparent manner.

_______________________________________
John Davis, CEO, PPI Consulting Limited
Company Representative

_______________________________________
Ian Brennan, CSCMP, FM Team Leader

_______________________________________
Mairi Curran, FM Specialist

4. Methodology

PPI Consulting Limited was engaged as a Fairness Monitor (FM) to observe the procurement process for the Household Goods Removal Services for the Government of Canada, and to attest to the fairness, openness and transparency of this monitored activity.

In accordance with the terms of our engagement, we familiarized ourselves with the relevant documents, observed the RFI and RFP activities including the evaluation of proposals, identified fairness-related matters to the contracting and technical authorities and ensured that responses and actions were reasonable and appropriate.

It is our professional opinion that the solicitation processes, through to the evaluation of the proposals received in response to the RFP for Household Goods Removal Services, that we observed, were carried out in a fair, open and transparent manner.

5. Reference Documents

The following documents are referenced in this report and unless otherwise indicated, are available through PWGSC.

Table Summary

The following table includes a list of documents referred to in the report such as the Request for Proposal (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.

#	Document	Document Date
1	LOI/RFI issued under solicitation number E60LM-110012/C	Publication date June 5, 2013
2	LOI/RFI issued under solicitation number E60LM-110012/D	Publication date August 12, 2013
3	LOI/RFI issued under solicitation number E60LM-110012/E	Publication date October 18, 2013
4	LOI/RFI issued under solicitation number E60LM-110012/F	Publication date December 23, 2013
5	LOI/RFI issued under solicitation number E60LM-110012/G	Publication date February 24, 2014
6	Final RFP for Household Goods Removal Services and Notice of Proposed Procurement issued under solicitation number E60LM-110012/H	March 28, 2014 Publication date March 31, 2014.
7	Addendum 1	April 3, 2014
8	Addendum 2	April 8, 2014
9	Addendum 3	April 10, 2014
10	Addendum 4	April 15, 2014
11	Addendum 5	April 17, 2014
12	Addendum 6	April 24, 2014
13	Addendum 7	May 1, 2014
14	Addendum 8	May 2, 2014
15	Addendum 9	May 5, 2014
16	Addendum 10	May 7, 2014
17	Addendum 11	May 12, 2014

Addendum to the Final Report
October 29, 2014

Addendum to Fairness Monitor Final Report dated October 24, 2014, for the acquisition of Household Goods Removal Services.

This Addendum to the Fairness Monitor Final Report covers the period following the conclusion of the evaluation phase.

Contract Award, Communications and Debriefing

All three proposals were selected and contracts awarded on August 20, 2014. Along with the notification of award, information was provided to each proponent explaining the results of the evaluation of their proposal and their subsequent ranking. No debriefings were requested.

It is our professional opinion that the Household Goods Removal Services procurement we observed was carried out in a fair, open and transparent manner.

_______________________________________
John Davis, CEO, PPI Consulting Limited
Corporate Representative

_______________________________________
Ian Brennan, CSCMP, FM Team Leader

_______________________________________
Mairi Curran, FM Specialist