Land, Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance: Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance Sustainment Services

Solicitation W8486-200731/A

An initial RFI, W8486-200731/A, was issued on August 4, 2020, in order for DND to seek industry’s input and feedback to help shape their long-term LC4ISR sustainment initiative contracts.

The initial closing date of August 28, 2020 was extended through amendment until September 11, 2020. There were 3 amendments in all, the last of which was issued August 24, 2020.

Solicitation W8486-200731/B

A second RFI was issued as solicitation W8486-200731/B on July 29, 2021. This RFI was a follow-on industry engagement process to the letter of interest (LOI) W8486-200731/A noted above that was issued in August 2020.

The initial close date of December 30, 2022 was extended through amendment until February 28, 2023. There were 5 amendments in all, the last of which was published on December 16, 2022.

The LOI made it clear that there would eventually be 4 separate draft RFP related to the LC4ISR sustainment services that industry would be able to review and comment on. They were:

1. ISTAR
2. Applications
3. Core Network
4. System of Systems Engineering and Integration

With this RFI, Canada sought industry feedback regarding current and innovative marketplace capabilities for the long-term sustainment of the LC4ISR, which provides Canadian Army commanders and staff with the information and situational awareness they require to make effective and timely command and control decisions about assigned forces.

The intent of the second RFI process was to further engage industry in a consultative process by seeking feedback via the responses to 11 specific questions to gain a better understanding of industry’s capability and practicality of the service requirements and envisioned future sustainment of LC4ISR.

Responses to the questions were to be submitted to the PWGSC contracting authority, on or before August 30, 2021. However, the RFI remained open to allow ongoing engagement opportunities with industry, particularly for clauses that related to all 4 of the upcoming draft RFPs, after the above-mentioned submission date.

As part of the engagement process, 3 one-on-one sessions were held with prospective bidders between May 24, 2022, and June 23, 2022. The FM attended all 3 sessions.

Solicitation W8486-200731/E

ISTAR consists of engineering, integration and development that supports services and capabilities for military specialists that connect to the LC4ISR. In particular, this draft RFP described the requirements for the ISTAR sustainment services to support the CAF.

The solicitation was published on February 14, 2022, and posed 6 questions to prospective bidders. The initial close date was March 31, 2022, but was extended through amendment until July 15, 2022. There were 9 amendments in all, the last of which was published on July 14, 2022.

The amendments responded to 4 questions from potential bidders. Three of the questions and responses were generic in nature and could apply to other LC4ISR draft RFPs as well.

The collated feedback from the prospective bidders related to the four draft RFPs was shared with the FM on August 10, 2022.

Solicitation W8486-228515/A

The RFP for ISTAR was published on December 14, 2022. The initial close date of January 23, 2023, was extended until February 10, 2023 via amendment. There was a total of 10 amendments, with the last published on February 6, 2023. There were 30 questions responded to via amendment.

No fairness issues were noted as part of the industry engagement or RFP phase of the LC4ISR ISTAR sustainment competitive acquisition process.

It is the opinion of the FM that the industry engagement and RFP activities for the procurement of the above noted services were conducted in a fair, open and transparent manner. In this context, fairness refers to decisions being made:

• objectively
• free from bias
• favouritism or influence
• conform to established rules

Solicitation W8486-228515/A

Two bids were received in response to the RFP.

The basis of selection for this bid was based on the highest responsive combined rating of:

• technical merit: 55%
• price: 30%
• value proposition (VP): 15%

The bidder with the highest combined rating of technical merit, price and VP will be recommended for contract award.

Canada assessed bids in accordance with the phased bid compliance process (PBCP) as set out in the evaluation procedures and basis of selection section of the solicitation document. As part of the PBCP, bidders that do not demonstrate compliance with the eligible mandatory criteria set out in the solicitation document are entitled to submit additional or different information with the purpose of demonstrating compliance with the mandatory criteria identified in a compliance assessment report (CAR).

Canada established separate evaluation committees to review the technical merit and the VP aspects of the submitted bids. There were 5 evaluators in each committee. Prior to conducting bid evaluations, a meeting was held with both the technical merit and the VP evaluators to review the process and roles and responsibilities of all participants. The contracting authority and the FM attended both meetings.

The technical merit evaluation began on February 15, 2023. During the technical evaluation 1 bidder was issued a CAR on February 16, 2023, for not demonstrating compliance with the eligible mandatory criteria set out in the solicitation document.

The bidder responded and provided the information required to demonstrate compliance with the eligible mandatory criteria set out in the solicitation document. The technical merit evaluation concluded on February 21, 2023.

The VP evaluation began on February 22, 2023, and concluded April 24, 2023.

PWGSC completed their review of the financial submissions and identified the bid with the highest responsive combined rating of technical merit, price and VP.

No fairness issues were identified.