National Monument to Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan
Procurement process and Timelines
Design competition procurement process
| May 8, 2014 | The National Monument to Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan project is announced on the eve of the National Day of Honour recognizing the end of Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan. Unveiling is originally forecast for 2017. |
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| October 16, 2014 | A visioning workshop is held in Ottawa with the goal of beginning to articulate a common vision for the monument. Participating partners and mission stakeholders include Veterans, subject matter experts, and representatives of the Canadian Armed Forces, the RCMP, the Toronto Police Service, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, the National Capital Commission (NCC), Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), the Department of Canadian Heritage (PCH). Based on these discussions, PCH and VAC collaborate to draft the vision, objectives and key principles to be used in the design competition documents. |
| March 2019 | Following an extensive site review process, including consideration of two sites that were ultimately not retained (Richmond Landing and adjacent to the Canadian War Museum), VAC confirms its preferred site is on LeBreton Flats, north of the National Holocaust Monument on the east side of Booth Street, across from the CWM. It requests that PCH, the project manager, seek Federal Land Use Approval from the NCC Board of Directors. |
| May 17, 2019 | The LeBreton Flats site is recommended by the NCC Advisory Committee on Planning, Design and Realty. |
| June 20, 2019 | The NCC Board of Directors grants Federal Land Use Approval for the proposed LeBreton Flats location in Ottawa. |
| June 2019 | VAC confirms the project vision, which includes an overall vision statement, project goal, and specific objectives. The project vision informs the design requirements for the competition and the evaluation of the design proposals. |
| June/July 2019 | PCH drafts procurement process documents in consultation with VAC and with PCH Contracting and Materiel Management Directorate. |
| Jan/Feb 2020 | VAC leads consultations with Veterans, families and other stakeholders to inform the design guidelines being established for the second phase of the design competition. |
| February 2020 | Members of the competition jury are confirmed and shared with VAC and PCH Ministers for information. The jury includes members representing Veterans, families and Canada’s whole of government mission as well as individuals with artistic, historical and technical expertise. Their role is to select the design team finalists and the winning concept. In forming the jury, VAC nominated 4 jurors that reflect the subject matter and PCH nominated 3 jurors that reflect the fields of arts and design. These are: VAC
PCH
The jury is responsible for shortlisting the finalist teams and selecting the winning design. |
| June 5, 2020 | Results of the consultations on design guidelines are published on VAC’s Let’s Talk Veterans website. |
Design competition procurement process
| August 8, 2019 | PCH, with the support of VAC, launches the first phase of the Monument design competition, the Request for Qualifications. The Request for Qualifications is promoted on PCH and VAC websites and social media, Google ads, direct outreach to design associations, a direct email blast to design professionals, and a postings on design competition listing services. In the Request for Qualifications, design teams comprised of professional artists, architects, landscape architects and designers are invited to submit their credentials demonstrating their interest in and suitability for the project. The deadline for submissions was January 17, 2020. |
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| May 27, 2020 | The jury meets to evaluate the 24 eligible Request for Qualifications submissions and shortlists 5 teams to proceed to the second phase of the competition, the Request for Proposals. In selecting the finalist teams, the jury considers:
The jury’s selection is shared with the Ministers of VAC and PCH for information in July 2020 and the five teams are publicly announced on August 24,2020. The teams are:
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| October 21, 2020 | The 5 finalist design teams attend a virtual information session led by PCH and NCC during which all submissions requirements and deadlines are discussed with the teams. For the Request for Proposals, finalist teams are provided with a suite of documents including:
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| May 20, 2021 | The five finalist design teams present their concepts to the jury and members of the NCC’s ACPDR. |
| May/June 2021 | Canadian Heritage coordinates an online survey on the finalist design concepts. The objective of the exercise was to seek input from the public on how effectively the five designs responded to key monument objectives with questions aligned with the jury’s evaluation criteria. The survey is hosted on PCH’s website from 20 May to 9 June 2021, and promoted on social media, through the Canadian Armed Forces and via two letters sent directly families of those who died in service during the Afghanistan Mission. More than 10,000 responses are received. Respondents include Veterans, families, other stakeholders as well as the general public. |
| June 28, 2021 | The jury meets to select the winning concept, having already reviewed their submission packages and hearing the finalist teams’ presentations. The jury evaluated overall design excellence of the five finalist teams’ proposed concepts based on the following five criteria:
In their deliberations, the jury also took into account:
The jury was not able to conclude its deliberations as questions were raised about the cost estimates provided by the NCC’s Technical Committee, which required further follow-up. |
| November 5, 2021 | The jury reconvened and selected Team Daoust as the winning design. During these additional deliberations, VAC representatives also provided a briefing to the jury about the impact of the fall of Afghanistan. Jury members were informed that the vision and objectives of the Monument remain unchanged. |
| November 2021 | The jury’s decision is shared with the VAC and PCH Ministers for information along with a summary of the jury’s rationale. |