Company profiles and fact sheets: Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates—June 2, 2021
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VaccineConnect
As part of the Government of Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Deloitte Inc. was awarded a competitive contract in January 2021 for $16,138,945.90 (inclusive of taxes) for a national vaccine management information technology (IT) platform. The contract, as amended, is currently $32,788,502.00 (inclusive of taxes).
VaccineConnect, formerly known as the National Vaccine Management IT Platform (NVMIP), builds further functionality into the Public Health Agency of Canada’s (PHAC) current operational and well-developed surveillance and coverage IT systems to help manage vaccine distribution, administration and reporting.
VaccineConnect consists of 3 modules that are implemented in phased releases to address the immediate need to manage COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration. The 3 modules are:
- Intelligent supply chain (ISC): provides a vaccine requesting web portal for the provinces and territories
- Immunization information system (IIS): delivers national immunization effectiveness, safety and coverage analysis and reporting functionality
- Immunization program management (IPM): delivers end-to-end administration of vaccines (such as vaccination centres, clinics, pharmacies, doctor’s offices), with tools to support scheduling appointments, scheduling second doses and issuing reminders. It also delivers in-clinic functionality including screening, check-in, clinical assessment, informed consent, vaccine administration, adverse event reporting, and record of immunization
Provinces and territories are required to use the intelligent supply chain (ISC) module to order vaccines; use of the other modules are optional.
Baseline functionality for the ISC and IIS modules were both implemented in February 2021. In addition to the baseline release, a full cloud-based go-live release of the IIS module was delivered in late March 2021. An anticipated operational release of the ISC module with a full range of features available to provincial and territorial users is scheduled for late May 2021.
At this time, 2 provinces (British Columbia and Alberta) are deploying the immunization program management module. British Columbia was provided access to IPM in March 2021 directly from Deloitte, and will soon transition under the federal government’s contract and licensing agreement. Alberta is expected to go live in early June 2021.
Provinces and territories that choose not to adopt the immunization information system or the immunization program management solution will still be able to share important vaccination data via existing systems. The benefit of increased uptake of the VaccineConnect platform is more seamless integration and information sharing across federal, provincial and territorial systems.
Deloitte is employing a product management methodology for feature release management of VaccineConnect, working in an agile development manner with PHAC and provincial and territorial partners.
Personal protective equipment logistics fact sheet
Transportation services
Cargojet
On April 2, 2020, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) entered into a task-based emergency services contract with Cargojet for charter airline services. The contract provides for the transport of personal protective equipment (PPE) and related supplies to Canada from Asia.
As of May 14, 2021, Cargojet has flown a total of 95 chartered flights carrying PPE to Canada.
Cargojet offers reliable, regular flights and good value in comparison to prices available from international carriers. The Cargojet contract has a term to October 31, 2021, and could be used for approximately 12 more flights within its current limitation of expenditure.
Air Canada
On April 2, 2020, PSPC entered into a task-based emergency services contract with Air Canada for charter airline services. The contract provides for the transport of PPE and related supplies to Canada from Asia.
As of May 14, 2021, Air Canada has flown 23 chartered flights carrying PPE to Canada.
Air Canada continues to offer a consistent and reliable source of supply and good value in comparison to prices available from international carriers. The Air Canada contract has a term to October 31, 2021, and could be used for approximately 10 more flights within its current limitation of expenditures.
Purolator
Purolator was previously used by the Public Health Agency of Canada to transport PPE from Cargojet or Air Canada airport facilities to various warehouses used by PHAC or its partners, as well as to deliver PPE to provinces and territories.
Freight forwarding services
Bolloré
At the end of March 2020, PSPC entered into a contract with Bolloré Logistics Canada Inc. (Bolloré) using established emergency contracting authorities to provide urgent logistics and transportation services related to the procurement of PPE and medical supplies from Asia.
Bolloré is on a standing offer with the Government of Canada for freight and cargo services and was selected due to its previous experience providing logistics services to Canada and its significant footprint in China. The decision was based on minimizing risks and on the urgency of the requirement.
The Bolloré contract has a term to October 31, 2021.
The Bolloré contract has almost reached its limitation of expenditure and no new tasks for new services are planned to be issued to Bolloré. There is sufficient funding to complete the issued but uncompleted tasks.
The Bolloré contract does not provide committed warehouse space for a given period but rather provides transitional space, as-and-when required, and if available. The contract allows the flexibility for additional space to be provided, if needed.
Overseas Express Consolidators
In June 2020, PSPC issued a competitive contract to Overseas Express Consolidators (OEC) Montreal Inc. as our second third-party logistics provider. This contract provides for the same suite of services currently being provided by Bolloré Logistics Canada Inc.
The OEC contract has a term to March 31, 2022.
The OEC contract currently serves as the primary source for international transportation services for PPE. The contract has a sufficient limitation of expenditure to continue these services until March 31, 2022 at the current rate of usage.
OEC currently provides access to a dedicated 100,000-square-foot warehouse until March 31, 2022. This warehouse is currently full. The OEC contract does not provide additional, committed warehouse space for a given period but can be used to acquire transitional space, as-and-when required, and if available. The contract allows the flexibility for additional space to be provided, if needed.
Warehousing and distribution services
Amazon
On April 1, 2020, PSPC signed, on behalf of PHAC, a 1-year contract with Amazon to use their online technology for provinces to order material directly. Canada Post and Purolator were delivering the equipment to provinces and territories as a subcontractor of Amazon.
This agreement was primarily put in place for Amazon’s easy-to-use online interface which allowed individual health establishments to order supplies directly from PHAC. As provinces and territories requested for PHAC to deliver the supplies directly, rather than awaiting orders from them, the requirement for getting PPE to the provinces and territories evolved beyond what was covered in the Amazon agreement.
Groupe Robert Inc.
On June 13, 2020, PSPC awarded a 6-month contract to Groupe Robert Inc. for inventorying, transportation and warehousing. Groupe Robert was identified as the best firm for this work based on their response to the letter of intent (LOI)/request for information (RFI) for a long-term multimodal logistics solution for PHAC.
In December 2020, the contract was extended to March 31, 2021, to allow additional time needed to transfer the PPE from the warehouses to provinces and territories or other PHAC storage facilities.
This contract provided 365,000 square feet of warehousing space, transportation capabilities and a warehouse management system capability. Transition of PPE product out of these warehouses to provinces or other PHAC facilities has been completed and the contract has come to its end.
On July 31, 2020, PSPC entered into a separate 2-year contract with Groupe Robert to provide PHAC with logistic services to manage and equip a 350,000 square feet warehouse that PHAC has separately leased.
The warehouse has a capacity of 35,000 pallets and is currently 89% full.
Urban Valley Transport Ltd.
On July 28, 2020, PSPC awarded a 6-month contract to Urban Valley Transport Ltd. for short-term warehousing in various locations across Canada. In December 2020, PSPC exercised the option to extend the contract to January 28, 2022, to allow additional time needed to transfer the PPE from the temporary storage warehouses to provinces or other PHAC storage facilities.
The Urban Valley contract does not provide committed warehouse space for a given period but rather provides transitional space, as-and-when required, and if available. The contract allows the flexibility for additional space to be provided, if needed.
Metro Logistics Inc.
On September 11, 2020, PSPC awarded a 2-year competitive contract to Metro Logistics Inc. of Montreal, as a long-term, multimodal logistics solution for PHAC, to inventory, warehouse and distribute PPE to provinces and territories. The contract also has an additional 1-year option period.
Under this contract, Metro Logistics Inc. is responsible for handling receipt of PPE supplies via all modes of transportation, stocktaking, warehousing as well as preparing and delivering PPE to all provinces and territories.
Under this contract, PHAC is being provided with 6 dedicated warehouses with approximately 959,000 square feet of warehouse space in various locations across Canada. Additional overflow space is provided in other partially dedicated warehouses.
Under this contract, hand sanitizer, which requires special handling procedures given it is a hazardous product, is being stored at subcontractors’ facilities in each region. In total, warehousing capacity of approximately 358,000 square feet is available at such subcontractors’ facilities.
To date, the various warehouses are approximately 81% full. This contract also provides national distribution to all provinces and territories and a warehouse management system capability to facilitate the reporting and control of material.
Leases
PSPC initially entered into short-term leases for PHAC for 2 warehouses totalling approximately 187,000 square feet. These warehouses are expected to be vacated upon expiry of the leases in September 2021 and March 2022, respectively. These warehouses are currently relatively full, but some further material continues being delivered to them.
An additional facility has been leased to supplement these leases with a start date of January 1, 2021, for a fixed period of 8 years. This warehouse offering 127,000 square feet of space is under renovation and has not yet started receiving material.
Another 350,000 square-foot facility was also leased for 3 years until July 2023, with an additional 1-year option until July 2024. This warehouse is currently full to 89% of its capacity.
A separate warehouse is being used by the [Redacted] to store surplus equipment and other response-related materials that does not need to access frequently. This site provides a long-term solution for 73,000 square feet of warehousing space.
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