Reservation Service Version 3 Re-Procurement

Attestation of assurance

The fairness monitor (FM) hereby provides the unqualified assurance statement below concerning the competitive selection process for the Parks Canada Reservation Service Version 3 (PCRSv3) Re-Procurement, commencing with the issuance of an invitation to qualify (ITQ) until the close of the evaluation phase of the request for proposal (RFP).

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

Original signed by:

Project requirement

Samson was engaged on July 20, 2022, as a FM to observe the competitive process for the re-procurement of the PCRSv3 undertaken by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), on behalf of the Parks Canada Agency (PCA) as part of solicitation WS3591211515. Samson is an independent third party with respect to this activity.

In December 2020, a competitive service contract was awarded for the PCRSv3 with the expectation that the PCRSv3 would be launched by January 2022, however, the contract was terminated on May 13, 2022.

As a result, a new competitive process was undertaken for the re-procurement of the PCRSv3 with the issuance of an ITQ on July 27, 2022. The objective of the ITQ was to seek additional suppliers interested in qualifying to participate in the re-procurement of the reservation solution. The 5 previously qualified suppliers did not need to re-qualify. The previous contractor stated they would not participate in this re-procurement, and was therefore not invited.

This report covers the activities of the FM starting with the issuance of the ITQ on July 27, 2022, until the close of evaluations of the RFP on March 13, 2023.

The PCRSv3 is a reservation solution for PCA’s national parks and historic sites across Canada. It will include a:

• public facing website for making reservations
• call center
• employee-facing interface
• administrative functionality

We reviewed all of the information provided and observed all relevant activities subsequent to our engagement.

This report includes:

• our attestation of assurance
• a summary of the scope and objectives of our assignment
• the methodologies applied
• 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 procurement activities, for example the:
  • ITQ
  • request for requirement refinement (RRR) and related documents
  • RFP and amendments
  • related questions and answers process
  • attendance to meetings
• identified fairness-related matters to the contracting and technical authorities
• ensured that responses and actions were reasonable and appropriate

In this section

• Activities and observations: Invitation to qualify phase
• Activities and observations: Request for requirement refinement phase
• Activities and observations: Request for proposal phase
• Activities and observations: Evaluation phase of the request for proposal

Activities and observations: Invitation to qualify phase

An ITQ was posted via CanadaBuys (WS3591211515) on July 27, 2022, to identify additional suppliers who would be interested in participating in the opportunity. The ITQ closed on August 22, 2022.

No questions from interested vendors were received, and no amendments to the ITQ were required.

One vendor responded to the ITQ. Evaluation directives were developed in alignment with the ITQ mandatory requirements. The technical evaluation team was composed of 3 evaluators. A consensus evaluation meeting took place on September 12, 2022. The respondent was deemed non-compliant with the mandatory requirements.

In accordance with the phased bid compliance process, a compliance assessment report (CAR) was sent to the vendor on September 14, 2022, requesting the submission of additional or different information with the purpose of demonstrating compliance with the eligible mandatory criteria identified in the CAR. The vendor provided its response on a timely basis. Following the review of the vendor’s response, a second consensus meeting took place on September 23, 2022. The vendor was deemed non-compliant with the mandatory requirements.

The FM reviewed the ITQ, the CAR and the consensus report, and participated in the consensus meetings to ensure that fairness considerations were satisfactorily addressed. No fairness issues were identified.

Activities and observations: Request for requirement refinement phase

The RRR phase started on November 28, 2022, with the issuance (via email) to the 4 qualified suppliers of the RRR document (5P047-22-0072A) and draft request for proposal (RFP). The objectives of the RRR phase were to:

1. seek feedback on the draft RFP and questions of interest
2. obtain recommendations for improvements

One amendment to the RRR document was sent on December 6, 2022, with some additional questions to the qualified suppliers.

Three suppliers provided feedback on questions of interest and participated in one-on-one sessions that took place on December 14 and 15, 2022. Questions from qualified suppliers during the one-on-one sessions were accepted and answers were provided to all qualified suppliers.

The RRR phase closed on January 5, 2023, following the issuance of the formal RFP.

The FM:

• reviewed the RRR document and its amendment
• reviewed the draft RFP
• reviewed feedback provided by the qualified suppliers on questions of interest
• participated in the one-on-one sessions
• reviewed all answers to questions from qualified suppliers during the one-on-one sessions
• reviewed the formal RFP that was published on CanadaBuys

No fairness issues were identified.

Activities and observations: Request for proposal phase

The RFP (WS3591211515) was posted via CanadaBuys on January 5, 2023, and had a closing date of January 31, 2023.

Six question and answer documents were issued to answer questions raised by the qualified suppliers, the last of which was on January 27, 2023. Three amendments to the RFP were issued to provide clarification on certain aspects, the last of which was on January 27, 2023.

The FM reviewed:

• the RFP documents
• all questions and answers provided during the RFP posting period
• the amendments to ensure that fairness considerations were satisfactorily addressed

Two qualified suppliers submitted a proposal and 2 others advised PWGSC that they would not submit a proposal.

No fairness issues were identified.

Activities and observations: Evaluation phase of the request for proposal

Evaluation directives were developed that described the:

• evaluation objective
• principles of evaluation
• security measures
• evaluation process
• requests for clarification

The evaluation directives were shared during an information session for the technical evaluation team that was held on January 31, 2023. The evaluation team was composed of 5 evaluators.

The evaluation of the bids consisted of a review of the documentation submitted by the bidders and the attendance to a product demonstration as indicated in the RFP. The evaluation of bids began on February 1, 2023.

In accordance with the evaluation procedures and basis of selection section of the RFP, the phased bid compliance process (PBCP) was applied and consisted of 3 phases:

• evaluation phase 1: Financial bid:
  • To determine whether the bid included a financial bid and whether it included all information required by the RFP
  • Only bids found responsive to the requirements reviewed in this phase were entitled to receive an evaluation phase 2 review
• evaluation phase 2: Technical bid:
  • To identify any instances where the bidder had failed to meet any eligible mandatory evaluation criterion.
  • Only bids found responsive to the mandatory requirements reviewed in this phase were entitled to receive an evaluation phase 3
• evaluation phase 3: Final evaluation of the bid
  • To complete the evaluation of all bids found responsive to the requirements reviewed at evaluation phase 2

Consensus meetings regarding the mandatory criterions subject to the PBCP took place on February 7 and 8, 2023. In accordance with the PBCP, CARs were sent to the qualified suppliers on February 9, 2023. At the conclusion of evaluation phase 2, 2 suppliers were deemed to meet the mandatory requirements.

The product demonstration by qualified suppliers took place on February 16, 2023, and February 23, 2023. Consensus meetings regarding the evaluation of all other criterions took place on March 2, 2023. The final evaluation report on the overall technical and financial evaluation was completed on March 13, 2023.

The FM reviewed the:

• evaluation directives
• individual scoring grids provided to the evaluation team
• consensus evaluation grids

The FM attended the:

• evaluation team information session
• attended the product demonstration by the qualified suppliers
• consensus meetings with the evaluation teams and the CA

The FM reviewed the:

• CARs that were sent to qualified suppliers
• reviewed the technical evaluation summary signed by the evaluators
• the final evaluation report on the overall technical and financial evaluation to confirm the winning firm

Reference documents

Documents related to solicitation WS3591211515 are available on CanadaBuys or through the project office.

Documents relating to the RRR (5P047-22-0072A) are available through the project office.

Addendum to the final report

August 9, 2023

Addendum to the FM final report dated March 13, 2023, regarding the competitive selection process for the PCRSv3 re-procurement undertaken by CAR.

This addendum to the FM final report covers the period following the conclusion of the evaluation phase, including contract award and debriefings.

Fairness monitoring activities related to contract award and debriefings

Two qualified suppliers submitted a response to the RFP. The responsive bid with the highest total number of points was recommended for award of a contract.

The successful bidder was informed of the bid evaluation results on June 2, 2023, and the contract was awarded on July 17, 2023. A regret letter was sent to the other bidder on July 18, 2023.

A meeting took place with the successful bidder on June 5, 2023, to discuss the timeline of specific actions that needed to take place prior to contract award. On June 13, 2023, a meeting took place with the successful bidder to discuss their proposed Indigenous Participation Plan.

Only the successful bidder requested a written debriefing on the results of the bid solicitation process. To this end, an evaluation summary results report was sent by CAR to the bidder on July 24, 2023.

The FM attended the meetings with the successful bidder and reviewed the correspondence with bidders, as well as the respective evaluation summary results reports submitted to the successful bidder.

Attestation of assurance

The FM hereby provides the unqualified assurance statement below concerning the competitive selection process for the PCRSv3 re-procurement up to and including the conclusion of contract award and debriefing activities.

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

Original signed by: