Project Management Support Services—Parliamentary Precinct West Sector Area Program

Introduction

Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Consulting Inc. (RCGT) was engaged on December 1, 2017 as a Fairness Monitor (FM) to observe the procurement process for the Project Management Support Services (PMSS)—Parliamentary Precinct West Sector Area Program, issued by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) as a result of bid solicitation #EP788-181086/B. RCGT is an independent third party with respect to this activity.

RCGT reviewed all the information provided and observed all relevant activities, as identified in sections 4 and 5 of this report. We hereby submit the FM Final Report, covering the activities of the FM, from September 26, 2019, continuing through the conclusion of the Evaluation Phase on August 13, 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.

Attestation of assurance

Based on the activities performed and described in this report, the Fairness Monitor hereby provides the following unqualified assurance statement concerning the procurement process for the Project Management Support Services—Parliamentary Precinct West Sector Area Program project:

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

Project requirement

PSPC requires Real Property Project Management support services to be provided by a highly experienced service provider in the field of project leadership, project management, and project administration. The Contractor’s mandate will be to assist PSPC with day-to-day project management duties during the planning, design, and implementation stages of the Parliamentary Precinct West Sector Area Program (Program of Work).

The Contractor’s services will support the responsibilities of the PSPC Project Director and his/her project management staff. Together, the Contractor and PSPC project management staff will function as an integrated project management team for this Program of Work. The Contractor will also be required to provide its services in coordination with those of other consultants and contractors hired separately by PSPC.

The Contractor must provide a full range of administrative, managerial, professional project management, project leadership, and technical expertise required to deliver this Program of Work. The level of effort for service requirements may vary in accordance with the needs of PSPC as the Program of Work progresses.

Fairness monitoring engagement and methodology

RCGT was engaged as an FM to observe the procurement process for the PMSS – Parliamentary Precinct West Sector Area Program, and to attest to the fairness, openness and transparency of this monitored activity.

In accordance with the terms of our engagement, we:

• Reviewed documents provided by the Contracting Authority (CA)
• Monitored communications with proponents provided by the CA
• Attended meetings that the CA, Technical Authority (TA) or Project Authority requested our presence at
• Identified fairness-related matters to the CA
• Ensured that responses and actions were reasonable and appropriate

This report is based on information made available to us by the Contracting Authority during the procurement process from September 26, 2019, to August 13, 2020. RCGT reserves the right, but will be under no obligation, to review and/or revise the report if further information that may impact our observations becomes known to us after the date of this report.

Activities and observations

Request for proposal phase

The following activities were performed during this phase:

• From November 7, 2019 to November 26, 2019, a review of the Request for Proposal (RFP) was performed and questions, comments and identified issues were discussed. RCGT received the first draft of the RFP on November 7, 2019. The RFP was posted on Buyandsell.gc.ca on December 2, 2019
• Four amendments to the RFP were issued, from December 13, 2019 to January 23, 2020. RCGT reviewed the contents of the amendments and did not identify any fairness concerns with the content of the amendments

The RFP closed on February 14, 2020 at 14:00 Eastern Standard Time.

In accordance with the terms of our engagement, we familiarized ourselves with the relevant documents, observed the RFP Phase identifying fairness-related matters to the CA, and ensured that responses and actions were reasonable and appropriate.

All comments identified by RCGT throughout the RFP Phase were resolved by the Contracting Authority.

Evaluation phase

The following activities were performed:

• Reviewed the following documents:
  • Evaluation Criteria
  • Technical evaluation plan
  • Technical evaluation grids
  • Bidders’ responses
  • Financial evaluation worksheets
  • Price certification
  • Final evaluation/selection document
• Attended the evaluation kick-off meeting on February 19, 2020, and observed the following:
  • Orientation/instructions provided to evaluators
  • Evaluation grids provided to evaluators
• Attended the technical evaluation consensus meeting on March 25, 2020 and observed the following:
  • The application of the evaluation process including observing the consensus meetings of evaluation teams related to the mandatory and rated requirements
  • The review of the roll-up of evaluation results

Two bids were received, for which an evaluation was performed. The evaluators performed individual evaluations first and then conducted a meeting to come to a consensus score for the mandatory and technical criteria. The meeting was mediated by the TA.

One of the two received bids met the mandatory and minimum rated requirements. As only one responsive bid was received, the PSPC CA referred to section 14 of the Standard Instructions – Goods or Services – Competitive Requirements, which states that “The Bidder must provide, at Canada’s request, one or more of the following price justification:

1. a current published price list indicating the percentage discount available to Canada
2. a copy of paid invoices for the like quality and quantity of the goods, services or both sold to other customers
3. a price breakdown showing the cost of direct labour, direct materials, purchased items, engineering and plant overheads, general and administrative overhead, transportation, etc., and profit
4. price or rate certifications
5. any other supporting documentation as requested by Canada”

The CA requested from the responsive bidder information supporting the price certification. The FM reviewed documentation related to the financial evaluation (including the price certification) from March 25, 2020 to August 13, 2020 and observed the following:

• Price certification activities undertaken by PSPC
• Related communications between PSPC and the Bidder

The FM also attended conference calls between PSPC and the Bidder on July 14, 2020 and July 22, 2020, which were held to discuss the required and outstanding information.

Subsequent to the activities related to the price certification sub-phase, the CA informed us that the TA and CA discussed within PSPC, including its legal services, its options related to the solicitation. PSPC elected on August 13, 2020 to cancel the solicitation.

All comments or issues identified by RCGT throughout the Evaluation Phase were resolved by the CA.

Reference documents

The documents related to solicitation number #EP788-181086/B are available on Buyandsell.gc.ca and/or through the project office.

The roles and responsibilities for the FM Team Leader, FM Specialist and FM Contractor’s Representative have been defined in our contract with PSPC. For more information on these roles and responsibilities, please contact PSPC.

Addendum to the final report, September 3, 2020

Addendum to the FM Final Report dated August 17, 2020 with respect to the (PMSS) – Parliamentary Precinct West Sector Area Program, issued by PSPC, as a result of bid solicitation # EP788-181086/B.

This addendum to the final report covers the period following the evaluation phase.

Contract Award, Communications, Debrief

The following activities took place:

• CA issued the notice of cancellation—August 13 and 14, 2020
• Debrief meeting conducted with a bidder—August 26, 2020

The CA informed the bidders via e-mail that the bid solicitation has been cancelled. The FM reviewed a draft copy of the proposed communication to the bidders prior to being sent; there were no fairness issues in the documentation provided.

One bidder subsequently sought additional information related to its scoring as well as information related to the bid cancellation. The CA provided this information to the bidder on August 26, 2020 and subsequently through e-mail correspondence. There were no fairness issues identified during these activities.

Based on the activities performed and described in this addendum, the FM hereby provides the following unqualified assurance statement concerning the procurement process for the PMSS – Parliamentary Precinct West Sector Area Program.

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