Tactical control radar systems project

1. Introduction

Hallux Consulting Inc. was engaged as a fairness monitor (FM) to observe January 6, 2016 the procurement process associated with the Tactical Control Radar (TCR) Systems Project, issued by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) on behalf of the Department of National Defence (DND) as a result of Solicitation # W8475-155257. Hallux Consulting Inc. is an independent third party with respect to this activity.

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

We hereby submit the Final Report, covering the activities of the FM, commencing with the Industry Engagement phase on February 9, 2016, and continuing through the Request for Proposal (RFP), consensus evaluation meetings and review of correspondence with the bidder up to March 5, 2019. The demonstration of the proposed equipment during the week of January 27th, 2020 was not observed by the FM. Since there was only one bidder who has been advised of the results, Hallux will not be involved any further in observing activities associated with this procurement process.

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 concerning the Tactical Control Radar Systems project procurement process: It is our professional opinion that the competitive procurement process we observed was carried out in a fair, open and transparent manner.

3. Project requirement

DND has a requirement to procure, install, and integrate up to three (3) transportable 3D Long-Range Air Defence TCR systems to be located at Cold Lake, Alberta and Bagotville, Quebec. The procurement also includes infrastructure site design services, In-Service Support (ISS) for a five year period with two optional one year periods, initial provisioning of spares for each radar system, operator and maintainer training, and bilingual publications.

The successful contractor must also support the long-term sustainability and growth of Canadian industry by fostering knowledge and technology transfer for military radar systems, in order to enhance existing industrial capability, thereby enabling access to global radar market value chains and contribute to the growth of the Canadian defence sector.

4. Fairness monitoring engagement and observations

Hallux Consulting Inc. was engaged as a FM to observe the competitive procurement process for the TCR Systems Project, 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 industry engagement, request for proposal, and evaluation related activities identifying fairness-related matters to the appropriate parties, for example, contracting and technical authorities, and ensuring that responses and actions were reasonable and appropriate.

4.1 Industry engagement phase

Key activities during the industry engagement phase of the procurement included:

• LOI #1:
  • Review of Letter of Interest #1 (LOI #1) published on buyandsell.gc.ca on August 19, 2016 which included a draft RFP and draft Statement of Work (SOW)
  • Review of amendments 1 to 10 to LOI #1. Amendment 10 provided responses to the 58 questions submitted during and after the LOI #1 Industry Day and One-on-one Sessions
  • Observation of Industry Day on September 19, 2016
  • Observation of one-on-one meetings with representatives from seven interested parties, September 20 to 21, 2016
• LOI #2:
  • Review of Letter of Interest #2 (LOI #2) published on buyandsell.gc.ca on February 23, 2017 which included a draft Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB) RFP, consisting of bidder instructions, value proposition evaluation plan, and terms and conditions
  • Review of amendments 1 to 2 to LOI #2
• LOI #3:
  • Review of Letter of Interest #3 (LOI #3) published on buyandsell.gc.ca on May 29, 2018 which included a draft ISS SOW; an updated procurement schedule; draft evaluation methodology; and questions related to specific areas Canada was seeking industry input
  • Review of amendment 1 to LOI #3

All observations on potential fairness issues identified by the FM were properly addressed during the industry engagement phase.

4.2 Request for proposal phase

Key activities during this phase of the procurement included:

• Reviewing the draft RFP
• Reviewing the final RFP
• Reviewing questions posed by potential bidders and the responses provided by the contracting authority via amendments to the RFP; and
• Observing the optional site visits that occurred February 19 to 20, 2019 at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Bagotville and February 26 to 27, 2019 at CFB Cold Lake

The bid procedure was open to all interested suppliers. The Notice of Proposed Procurement (NPP) was published on buyandsell.gc.ca on December 18, 2018. The RFP had an initial closing date of March 18, 2019 which was extended six times with a final closing date of November 29, 2019. Two hundred and eighteen questions were received from potential bidders and responses to the questions were provided by way of the twenty-three amendments issued to the RFP. One bid was received in response to the RFP.

All observations on potential fairness issues identified by the FM were properly addressed during the RFP phase.

4.3 Evaluation phase

Key activities during the evaluation phase included:

• Participation in the orientation provided to bid evaluators from DND, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISEDC), Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), Canada Economic Development for Quebec regions (CED), Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, and Western Economic Diversification Canada on December 3 and 9, 2019
• Review of the spreadsheets to be used by DND and ISEDC to record results from the bid evaluation
• Observation of the consensus meeting held for the industrial and technological benefits and value proposition sections of the bid December 13, 2019
• Observation of the consensus meetings held for the management and technical sections of the bid December 17, 2019
• Review of the consensus evaluation sheets used by each of the evaluation teams; and review of the correspondence sent to the sole bidder to advise them that they were compliant and to request a full cost breakdown (labour, materials, overhead, markups, etc.) and a clarification of the rates provided

The FM Specialist observed that the evaluation processes and instructions published in the Final RFP, the RFP amendments and the Evaluation Plan and Guidelines were followed during the evaluation phase. Comments were provided by the FM Specialist as required throughout the evaluation process to the Technical Team and the Contracting Authority. All comments were addressed appropriately by project officials.

No potential fairness issues were noted by the FM during the evaluation phase.

5. Reference documents

Documents related to the Request for Proposal Solicitation Number (W8475-155257/D) are available on CanadaBuys and/or through the project office.