4th Canadian Division Training Centre: Meaford Site Support Services

1. Introduction

P1 Consulting Inc. (P1 Consulting or Fairness Monitor) was engaged on June 29, 2018, as a Fairness Monitor (FM) to observe the procurement process for the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre—Meaford Site Support Services (Meaford), issued by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) on behalf of Department of National Defence (DND) as a result of Solicitation Number: W6369-170008/B.

P1 Consulting is an independent third party with respect to this activity. We reviewed all of the information provided and observed all the relevant activities.

We hereby submit the Final Report, covering the activities of the Fairness Monitor, commencing from the start of our engagement on June 29, 2018, with the review of the Request for Information (RFI) and continuing through the Request for Proposals (RFP) evaluation up to the identification of the highest-ranked responsive bid as of March 23, 2020. This report includes our attestation of assurance, a summary of the scope and objectives of our assignment, and relevant observations from the activities undertaken.

2. Attestation of assurance

The Fairness Monitor hereby provides the following unqualified assurance statement that concerns the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre—Meaford Site Support Services procurement. It is our professional opinion that the procurement process which we observed was carried out in a fair, open and transparent manner.

3. Project requirements

4th Canadian Division Training Centre (4 CDTC) is a military training establishment for Regular and Reserve Force collective and individual training. The site provides a full range of support to Canadian Armed Forces training, including extensive ranges and training area, accommodations, food services, transport, heavy equipment, vehicle and facilities maintenance, material and equipment storage, fuel storage, water supply and waste management.

The Contractor will be required to perform the following services: (a) Management and administration; (b) Facilities operations and maintenance; (c) Supply; (d) Front Desk and Accommodations; (e) Information Systems; (f) Food services; (g) Vehicle and equipment maintenance; (h) Transport; (i) Roads and grounds; (j) Power supply and distribution; (k) Water supply and distribution; (l) Waste management; and (m) Fire services.

4. Fairness monitoring engagement and observations

P1 Consulting was engaged as an FM to observe the Meaford procurement 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 (RFI W6369-17008/A) and the subsequent RFP (RFP W6369-170008/B) bid solicitation activities, identifying fairness-related matters to the contracting and technical authorities if/when applicable and ensuring that responses and actions were reasonable, appropriate and fair. We reviewed all of the information provided and observed all relevant activities from our engagement date onwards.

5. Request for information w6369-170008/a

The following documents referenced by number in this report and unless otherwise indicated, are all available through PSPC.

As part of our engagement, we monitored the following

• Reviewed the draft prior to posting (July 20 2018—August 10 2018) and the final RFI (Engagement Phase 3) posted online at buyandsell.gc.ca (August 21 2018)
• Reviewed the posted amendments to the RFI-on buyandsell.gc.ca
• Monitored the Industry Engagement (January 21 2019)
• Monitored the one-on-one meetings with interested stakeholders (January 22-25 2019)
• Reviewed the Industry Engagement Phase 4 Summary of Feedback and Outcomes report (March 12 2019)
• Monitored the Optional Site Visit (April 17 2019)

6. Request for proposals w6369-170008/b

To date, in our role as Fairness Monitor, P1 Consulting observed that the following was implemented:

• Clarity of the procurement documents and processes
• Avoidance of conflicts of interests through the implementation of mechanisms
• Proper processes related to the protection of the bidders confidential information
• Application of diligence throughout the procurement and evaluation processes
• Adherence to the procurement documents

P1 Consulting observed the procurement process for Meaford related to request for proposal w6369-17008/b issued by public services and procurement canada.

As part of our engagement, we have undertaken the following:

Review of the request for proposal and addenda

P1 consulting reviewed the request for proposal and addenda related to the procurement process during the period from May 17 2019 to September 30 2019

Bidder interaction

P1 Consulting attended and monitored the Bidders Conference on June 19 2019

P1 Consulting attended and monitored the Optional site visits on June 19 and June 20, 2019

Review of evaluation criteria and procedures

P1 Consulting reviewed the evaluation criteria and procedures for the request for proposal to ensure that the evaluation would be completed in a manner that was fair open and transparent

Review of request for proposal closing

P1 Consulting received confirmation from PSPC that no late submissions were received following the closing deadline of September 30 2019 at 2:00 pm EST

Monitor evaluator training

P1 Consulting monitored the evaluator training (Meaford Eval Training) provided by PSPC on September 25 2019 Prior to the meeting P1 Consulting reviewed the evaluation tools

Review of phase I—financial bid

Upon PSPCs review of the submissions received it was determined that all four submissions had been evaluated as compliant P1 Consulting received notification from PSPC that all Bidders met the mandatory requirements Only those submissions deemed responsive to the requirements would proceed to Phase II—Technical Bid

Review of phase II technical bid (mandatory) and phase III final evaluation of the bid (rated requirements)

Phase II Technical Bid and Phase III Final Evaluation of the Bid occurred simultaneously Both Phases began with each Evaluator undertaking their individual review prior to the consensus meetings

The consensus meeting for Phase II—Technical Bid occurred at the same time as Phase III—Final Evaluation of the Bid. The Phase II and Phase III evaluation of the Mandatory and Rated Requirements took place during the weeks of November 18, 2019 and December 2, 2019. The evaluation team meetings attendance included the evaluation teams, a PSPC Contracting Authority representative and the FM. The consensus meetings followed the process outlined in the RFP for the evaluation.

To be considered further, Proponents must achieve a minimum Technical Rating for the following:

• Rated Criteria 2.1 560 out of a maximum of 800
• Rated Criteria 2.3 a 490 out of a maximum of 700
• Rated Criteria 2.3 1470 out of a maximum of 2100 and
• Minimum of 2800  points overall for the technical evaluation criteria out of a maximum of 4000 points

Only those submissions deemed responsive to the requirements would proceed to the Financial Evaluation.

Financial evaluation of the bids (price of services)

This phase was undertaken by the PSPC Contracting Authority, with oversight from PSPC Legal and a Cost Analysis Team. The results were provided to the Fairness Monitor for review upon its completion

Final evaluation of the bid (total score)

The PSPC Contracting Authority inputed the Technical Rating (pro-rated to 70%) and the Pricing Rating (pro-rated to 30%) into the evaluation record following the process outlined in the request for proposal

Basis of selection

Only those submissions deemed responsive to the requirements of Phase I-III that comply with all the requirements of the bid solicitation including the mandatory requirements and the technical rated thresholds would be ranked. The responsive bid obtaining the highest combined rating of technical merit and price will be recommended negotiation of an award of a contract

Through our engagement, our activities related to identifying fairness matters to the contracting authority at PSPC and ensuring that the responses provided and any actions taken were fair, open and transparent. All comments provided by FM related to fairness were adequately addressed by PSPC.

7. Reference documents

• Documents related to the Request for Information solicitation W6369-170008/A
• Documents related to the Request for Proposals solicitation W6369-170008/B

8. Addendum to final report, May 22, 2020

Addendum to the final report dated March 24, 2020, for the procurement process for the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre—Meaford Site Support Services.

This addendum to the final report covers the period following the conclusion of the evaluation phase including contract award and debriefings.

On April 10, 2020, we received notice that the successful Bidder will be notified on April 15th, 2020. On April 13, 2020, we reviewed the draft notification of the contract award letters (regret letters) to be issued to the unsuccessful Bidders. A summary of the technical bid evaluation was included with each letter. On April 14, 2020, we reviewed the final version of the notification of contract award letters to be issued to the unsuccessful Bidders. On April 15, 2020, the letters to the unsuccessful Bidders were issued by email. The Fairness Monitor reviewed the letters prior to their issuance and found no fairness issues with the letters.

All Bidders were provided the opportunity to attend a debriefing. Two Bidders requested debrief meetings. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the debrief meetings were conducted by teleconference. The Fairness Monitor attended the requested debriefings meetings with the Bidders. The debriefings were carried out by the Public Services and Procurement Canada Contracting Authority and the Client Authority. No issues or comments were made by any Bidder which impacted our attestation as the Fairness Monitor for this project that the procurement was conducted in an open fair and transparent manner.

Attestation of assurance

The Fairness Monitor hereby provides the following unqualified assurance statement that concerns the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre—Meaford Site Support Services procurement. It is our professional opinion that the procurement process that we observed was carried out in a fair, open and transparent manner.