Scene Security and Emergent Event Security Services in the districts of Vancouver Island, North, Southeast and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia

Introduction

Deloitte LLP (Deloitte) was engaged as a fairness monitor (FM) on May 6, 2020 to observe the competitive procurement process for Scene Security and Emergent Event Security Services in the districts of Vancouver Island, North, Southeast and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia (Scene Security and Emergent Event Security Services). This procurement process was undertaken by Public Works and Government Services Canada on behalf of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as a result of Request for Proposal (RFP) M2989-202968/A.

Deloitte is an independent third party with respect to this activity.

We reviewed all of the information provided and observed all relevant activities conducted to date.

We hereby submit the Final Report covering the activities of the FM to date, commencing with a review of the draft RFP on May 14, 2020, continuing through the RFP issuance including the related RFP amendments, the bidders’ conference, the evaluation of bids and the selection of the highest ranked responsive bidder.

This report includes our attestation of assurance related to the competitive procurement process to date, a summary of the scope and objectives of our assignment, and relevant observations from the activities undertaken.

Attestation of assurance

The fairness monitor hereby provides the following unqualified assurance statement concerning the competitive procurement process to date of Scene Security and Emergent Event Security Services in the districts of Vancouver Island, North, Southeast and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

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

Project requirement

Overview of the Project

Background

As outlined in the Statement of Work contained in the RFP, the RCMP is the National Police Force in Canada. Its Mission is to preserve the peace, uphold the law and provide quality service in partnership with their communities. The “E” Division (British Columbia) is the largest RCMP Division in Canada with over 9,500 employees. The RCMP in British Columbia provides municipal, provincial and federal policing in areas that range from isolated Aboriginal communities and coastal villages to major cities.

According to the RCMP, due to the broad requirements of the RCMP in the province of British Columbia, there is a lack of capacity of officers to perform scene security at potential crime scenes and emergent events. In particular, the RCMP cited bush fire season as a particularly busy season where the current number of officers is insufficient to cover demand.

Requirement

As the need arises, the RCMP has a requirement for the provision of scene security at potential crime scenes and emergent events such as natural disasters including, but not limited to, wildfires, floods, landslides and asset security for large scale police operations at various locations in the Vancouver Island District, North District, Southeast District, and Lower Mainland.

Objectives of the fairness monitoring assignment and methodology

The Fairness Monitoring Program of Public Services and Procurement Canada engaged the services of an FM to monitor the RCMP’s Scene Security and Emergent Event Security Services procurement process. The overall objective of the assignment was to provide an independent observation of the process and to provide fairness-related comments to the Contracting Authority, as early as possible, so that appropriate action could be taken before fairness was impacted.

To accomplish the objective, we undertook the following activities and, where applicable, provided fairness-related comments to the Contracting Authority:

• Familiarized ourselves with the project governance structure and relevant background information
• Reviewed the draft RFP documents including Annexes
• Observed the bidder conference conducted as an webinar/telephone meeting
• Reviewed the final RFP documents including Annexes, Appendices and Attachments
• Reviewed the RFP’s 3 amendments which included answers to questions from potential bidders prior to issuance
• Reviewed instructions and declarations provided to RFP evaluators prior to the consensus evaluation meeting
• Observed the application of the RFP evaluation process including observing consensus meetings of evaluation teams, reviewed draft and final Compliance Assessment Reports (CAR), reviewed proposed clarification questions and other correspondence prior to submission to bidders

Fairness monitoring engagement and observations

Deloitte was engaged as an FM to observe the competitive procurement process for Scene Security and Emergent Event Security Services, 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, and observed the competitive procurement process, identifying fairness-related matters to the contracting and technical authorities and ensured that responses and actions were reasonable and appropriate.

The following describes the FM activities undertaken during the course of the engagement related to the competitive procurement process, and our related observations.

Request for proposal release

From May 14 to May 20, 2020, we reviewed the RFP documents including Annexes and no fairness deficiencies were identified.

Questions and answers process

From May 20, 2020 to June 8, 2020, we reviewed the RFP’s 3 amendments including answers to questions from interested parties and provided fairness-related comments to the Contracting Authority as required. Appropriate action was taken by the Contracting Authority and no fairness deficiencies were identified.

The RFP was posted on buyandsell.gc.ca on May 20, 2020, and closed on June 11, 2020. Proposals were received from two bidders.

Evaluation and selection process

From June 11 to June 12, 2020, we reviewed plans for evaluation of RFP responses and instructions to RFP evaluators and provided fairness-related comments to the Contracting Authority as required. Appropriate action was taken by the Contracting Authority and no fairness deficiencies were identified.

From June 17 to July 22, 2020, we observed the application of the RFP evaluation process including observing consensus meetings of evaluation teams, reviewed draft and final CAR documents, and reviewed proposed clarification questions and other correspondence prior to submission to bidders. We provided fairness-related comments to the Contracting Authority as required. Appropriate action was taken by the Contracting Authority. Two CARs were issued.

No fairness deficiencies were identified in the evaluation and selection process as of the date of this report.

Reference documents

Documents related to solicitation number M2989-202968/A are available on CanadaBuys and/or through the project office.

Addendum to the final report

Addendum to the Final Report dated July 29, 2020 for the procurement of Scene Security and Emergent Event Security Services.

September 23, 2020

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

On July 9, 2020, we reviewed the contract award letter and the regret letter to the one unsuccessful bidder and no fairness deficiencies were identified. The regret letter provided information regarding the successful bid, including the name of the winning bidder and the value of the contract award. The regret letter also provided the bidder’s technical and financial scores as compared to the winning bid.

The successful bidder was notified on July 24, 2020.

The unsuccessful bidder requested a debrief on July 30, 2020. We reviewed the written debrief, which was provided on August 13, 2020, and no fairness deficiencies were identified.

Fairness monitor attestation of assurance

The Fairness Monitor hereby provides the following unqualified assurance statement concerning the procurement of Scene Security and Emergency Event Security Services.

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