Security Guard Services: Quebec Region

Attestation of assurance

The fairness monitor (FM) hereby provides the unqualified assurance statement below concerning the Security Guard Services Quebec Region procurement process up to and including the request for proposal (RFP) phase.

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

Original signed by:

Activity requirement

P1 Consulting Inc. was engaged on January 9, 2023, as a FM to observe the procurement process for the Security Guard Services Quebec Region issued by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) on behalf of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) under solicitation WS3866550805. P1 Consulting Inc. is an independent third party with respect to this activity.

We hereby submit the final report, covering the activities of the FM, commencing from the start of our engagement continuing to the completion of the verification of proposals on April 3, 2023. We reviewed all of the information provided and observed all relevant activities as described herein.

The CBSA requires security guard services in Quebec. The guard personnel must provide:

• care and control of immigration detainees
• safe and secure transport of detainees
• verification of departure of persons from Canada who are under a removal order pursuant to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or who are otherwise required to leave Canada
• perform other duties as described within the statement of work

This report includes:

• our attestation of assurance
• a summary of the scope and objectives of our assignment
• the 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 RFP activities
• identified fairness-related matters to the contracting and technical authorities if applicable
• ensured 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.

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

In this section

• Review of the request for proposal
• Review of evaluation criteria and procedures
• Review of amendments
• Bidder interaction
• Review of request for proposal closing
• Evaluation preparation
• Monitoring of evaluation of the bids
• Financial evaluation and final ranking
• Verification of proposal

Review of the request for proposal

The FM reviewed the draft RFP from a fairness perspective upon its receipt on February 13, 2023. Any concerns were adequately addressed by the contracting authority (CA) prior to public posting on February 16, 2023.

Review of evaluation criteria and procedures

The FM 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 amendments

There were no amendments related to the procurement process issued during the RFP open period.

Bidder interaction

The FM reviewed, attended and monitored the mandatory site visits held on February 28, 2023. Representatives from 3 bidders attended the mandatory site visits.

Review of request for proposal closing

P1 Consulting received confirmation from the CA that no late submissions were received following the closing deadline of March 13, 2023 at 2 pm Eastern daylight time. The CA provided confirmation that there were 2 bids received and handled in accordance with the closing requirements and deadline as stated in the RFP.

Evaluation preparation

On March 14, 2023, the CA sent an email to the evaluation team providing an overview of their obligations for evaluation, confidentiality and conflict of interest forms and the evaluation criteria. The FM was also included in this communication. Prior to undertaking the evaluation, all members of the evaluation team signed off on the confidentiality and conflict-of-interest declaration.

Monitoring of evaluation of the bids

The technical evaluation began with each evaluator undertaking their individual evaluation of the mandatory and rated criteria for both of the bids. Clarifications were issued to both of the bidders, and the clarification along with the response was reviewed by the FM after receipt by the CA. The consensus meeting took place on March 22, 2023 and was attended by the FM. As an outcome of the technical evaluation, both bids met the mandatory technical criteria and bidders were notified on March 24, 2023 via a compliance assessment report in accordance with the phased bid compliance process in the RFP. On March 24, 2023 the CA provided the final consensus spreadsheet containing the technical evaluation results which were reviewed by the FM. The FM observed that the technical evaluation was conducted in a fair and consistent manner.

Financial evaluation and final ranking

On March 24, 2023 the financial evaluation team completed the financial evaluation and the CA provided the final ranking of the 2 bids in accordance with the RFP, providing the spreadsheet for FM review on March 28, 2023. The FM reviewed the documents related to the financial evaluation and final rankings, which were observed to be consistent with the RFP.

Verification of proposal

On April 3, 2023 the top-ranked bidder was invited to attend a presentation to address questions from the evaluation team regarding their proposal. The FM reviewed the questions posed in advance of the presentation and attended and monitored the meeting, which took place in accordance with the RFP.

Reference documents

Documents related to the solicitation number WS3866550805 are available on CanadaBuys or through the project office.

Addendum to the final report

August 24, 2023

Addendum to the final report dated June 27, 2023, for the Security Guard Services Quebec Region procurement process.

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

On March 28, 2023 a meeting was held with the highest-scoring bidder for the verification of proposal in accordance with the RFP. Representatives from the client authority and CA were in attendance along with the FM. On June 26, 2023, the FM reviewed the award and regret letters which were subsequently sent to the bidders. The bidders' evaluation scores were included with each letter. The FM found the letters to be acceptable from a fairness perspective.

A debriefing meeting was held with the unsuccessful bidder which was conducted virtually on July 14, 2023. The meeting was carried out by the CA and the client authority with the FM in attendance.

There were no issues raised by any bidder which impacted our attestation as the FM for this project that the procurement was conducted in an open fair and transparent manner.

Attestation of assurance

The FM hereby provides the unqualified assurance statement below concerning the Security Guard Services Quebec Region procurement process up to and including the conclusion of contract award and debriefing activities.

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: