Printing, Warehousing, Order Fulfillment and Distribution of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Secure Documents

1. Introduction

P1 Consulting Inc. (P1 Consulting or Fairness Monitor) was engaged on November 29, 2019, as a Fairness Monitor (FM) to observe the procurement process for the Printing, Warehousing, Order Fulfillment and Distribution of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Secure Documents, issued by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) on behalf of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) as a result of Solicitation Number: B8297-200035/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 FM, commencing from the start of our engagement on November 29, 2019, with the review of the November 21, 2019, posting of the Request for Proposal (RFP) on buyandsell.gc.ca and continuing through to the end of the Financial Evaluation received on April 15, 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 Printing, Warehousing, Order Fulfillment and Distribution of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Secure Documents Request for Proposal. It is our professional opinion that the Request for Proposal process that we observed was carried out in a fair, open, and transparent manner.

3. Project requirement

IRCC required a contractor to provide offset printing incorporating security printing techniques including rainbow printing, optically variable inks, chemically variable inks, Intaglio printing, hot foil stamping, serial numbering and others, warehousing, distribution, inventory control, order processing, invoicing, order fulfillment, tracking, reporting, and destruction, and delivery services via armoured vehicle of two key controlled forms. The two key controlled forms involved in this contract are the IMM 1346 B and the IMM 1442 B. These forms are used for the immigration product lines.

4. Fairness monitoring engagement and observations

P1 Consulting was engaged as an FM to observe the Printing, Warehousing, Order Fulfillment and Distribution of IRCC Secure Documents 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 RFP 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 Proposals B8297-200035/B

To date, in our role as FM, 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 Printing, Warehousing, Order Fulfillment and Distribution of IRCC Secure Documents related to RFP B8297-200035/B issued by PSPC.

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

• Review of the RFP and Addenda
  P1 Consulting reviewed the RFP posted on buyandsell.gc.ca prior to our engagement and addenda related to the procurement process during the period from November 29 2019 to January 3 2020
• Review of Evaluation Criteria and Procedures
  P1 Consulting reviewed the evaluation criteria and procedures for the RFP to ensure that the evaluation would be completed in a manner that was fair open and transparent
• Review of RFP closing
  P1 Consulting received confirmation from PSPC that no late submissions were received following the closing deadline of January 3 2020, at 2:00 pm EST
• Review of Phase I Financial Bid
  Upon PSPCs review of the submission received it was determined that the submission had been evaluated as compliant. P1 Consulting received notification from PSPC that the Bidder 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
  Phase II began with each Evaluator undertaking their individual review prior to the consensus meetings. The Phase II evaluation of the Rated Requirements took place on January 21, 2020. The evaluation team meetings attendance included the evaluation team, 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, Bidders must meet all mandatory criteria, obtain a minimum of 50% for the point rated criteria R.2, and R.4, a minimum of 75% for point rated criterion R.1 and a minimum of 60% for point rated criterion R.3 and obtain a minimum of 75% overall for all of the point rated criteria. Only those submissions deemed responsive to the requirements would proceed to Phase III—Final Evaluation of the Bid.
• Review of Phase III Final Evaluation of the Bid
  Phase III included the Financial Evaluation. This phase was undertaken by the PSPC Contracting Authority and provided to the FM for review upon its completion.
• Basis of Selection
  The PSPC Contracting Authority inserted the Technical Rating and the Pricing Rating into the evaluation record following the process outlined in the RFP. This was undertaken by the PSPC Contracting Authority and provided to the FM for review upon its completion.

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 that were taken were fair, open and transparent. All comments provided by FM related to fairness were adequately addressed by PSPC.

6. Reference documents

Documents related to the solicitation B8297-200035/B are available on CanadaBuys.

7. Addendum to final report, May 19, 2020

Addendum to the final report dated April 20, 2020, for the procurement process for the Printing, Warehousing, Order Fulfillment and Distribution of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Secure Documents.

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

As part of our engagement, on May 5, 2020, the Contracting Authority confirmed by email to the Fairness Monitor that the contract was awarded on May 4, 2020.

On May 14, 2020, the Fairness Monitor received a communication from the Contracting Authority indicating that the sole bidder has declined the opportunity for a debrief.

Attestation of Assurance

The Fairness Monitor hereby provides the following unqualified assurance statement concerning the Printing, Warehousing, Order Fulfillment and Distribution of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Secure Documents procurement process. It is our professional opinion that the procurement process that we observed was carried out in a fair, open, and transparent manner.