Accommodations and Traveller Support Services Project

Attestation of assurance

The fairness monitor (FM) hereby provides the following unqualified assurance statement concerning the Accommodations and Traveller Support Services procurement process.

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

Original signed by:

Project requirement

Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Consulting Inc. (RCGT) was engaged on February 5, 2021 as a FM to observe the procurement process for the Accommodations and Traveller Support Services Project, issued by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) under bid solicitation WS2866193026. RCGT is an independent third party with respect to this activity.

This report covers the activities of the FM, during the entire procurement process from February 5, 2021 to August 12, 2021. RCGT reserves the right, but will be under no obligation, to review or revise the report if further information that may impact our observations becomes known to us after the date of this report.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) had a requirement for up to 5 service providers to provide:

• accommodation
• intake and discharge
• site management
• transportation
• meals
• incidentals
• cleaning and sanitation
• garbage and laundry

Nursing services related to the operation of the PHAC operated Designated Quarantine Facility (DQF) in 5 streams/regions:

• Stream 1: Pacific region to include the DQFs in Vancouver, Kelowna; Calgary and Edmonton
• Stream 2: Prairie and North region to include the DQFs in Whitehorse, Regina and Winnipeg
• Stream 3: Ontario region to include the DQFs in Toronto and Ottawa
• Stream 4: Quebec region to include the DQFs in Montreal and Quebec City
• Stream 5: Atlantic region to include the DQFs in Fredericton, Halifax and St-John’s

In addition, within each of the 5 streams/regions, if required, the contractor would have had to provide associated transportation from other locations such as the ports of entry to 1 of the DQF sites in the respective stream/region.

In addition, on an optional basis, the contractor may have had to add or remove DQF sites in different cities in each of the streams/regions as the need arises and as defined, scheduled and negotiated with PHAC project authority and the PWGSC contracting authority.

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

This report includes:

• our attestation of assurance
• a summary of the scope and objectives of our assignment
• relevant observations from the activities undertaken

Fairness monitoring engagement and observations

In accordance with the terms of our engagement, we familiarized ourselves with the relevant documents, observed the entire procurement process (procurement planning and pre-issue, posting period, solicitation closing and bid evaluations), identifying fairness-related matters to the contracting authority and ensuring that responses and actions were reasonable and appropriate.

Request for proposal phase

The following activities were performed during this phase:

• from February 8, 2021 to April 28, 2021, 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 February 8, 2021
• the RFP was posted on buyandsell.gc.ca on April 30, 2021
• 7 amendments to the RFP were issued, from May 4, 2021 to May 27, 2021, respectively
• a review of all questions and answers, and the corresponding RFP amendments was conducted

The RFP closed on May 31, 2021 at 2 pm Eastern daylight time.

In accordance with the terms of our engagement, we:

• familiarized ourselves with the relevant documents
• observed the activities above, identifying fairness-related matters to the contracting authority
• ensured that responses and actions were reasonable and appropriate

The FM provided to the contracting authority minor comments to the proposed RFP document and related amendments which were appropriately resolved by the contracting authority. There are no unresolved matters related to the RFP phase, nor any observations to report which would impact our attestation.

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 and selection document
• attended the evaluation kick-off meeting on June 10, 2021, and observed the following:
  • orientation and instructions provided to evaluators
  • evaluation grids provided to evaluators
• attended the technical evaluation consensus meeting on June 21, 2021 and observed the following:
  • the application of the evaluation process including observing the consensus meetings of the evaluation team related to the mandatory requirements
  • the review of the roll-up of evaluation results

Twelve 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 criteria. The meeting was mediated by the technical authority.

None of the bids met the mandatory criteria; accordingly, no rated criteria were assessed. The consensus meeting concluded, and the evaluators reviewed and signed off on the consensus evaluation.

The FM did not identify any issues with the evaluation phase, and no comments were provided to the contracting authority.

Procurement process close

On August 12, 2021, the contracting authority informed the FM that no subsequent RFP would be issued. No further activities are expected to occur for this solicitation.

Reference documents

Documents related to solicitation number WS2866193026 are available on CanadaBuys or through the project office.

Addendum to the final report

October 28, 2021

Addendum to the FM final report dated August 17, 2021 with respect to the Accommodations and Traveller Support Services Project, issued by PWGSC on behalf of the PHAC, as a result of bid solicitation WS2866193026.

This addendum covers the period following the conclusion of the evaluation phase including the decision to not reissue the request for proposal as a result of no qualified bidders.

Contract award, communications and debrief

The following activities took place:

• contracting authority issued regret letters on July 7, 2021
• all bidders received an email stating that their bids did not meet the mandatory criteria; the e-mails included a detailed description of which criteria were not met
• the FM reviewed the draft communications referred to above

There were no fairness issues identified during these activities.

The FM hereby provides the following unqualified assurance statement concerning the Accommodations and Traveller Support Services Project procurement process.

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

Original signed by: