Naval Engineering Test Establishment 3 Support Contract Renewal
Fairness monitor final report: April 18, 2023
Addendum to final report: February 28, 2024
Submitted to: Director, Fairness Monitoring Program
Submitted by: Samson
On this page
Attestation of assurance
The fairness monitor (FM) hereby provides the unqualified assurance statement below concerning the competitive selection process for the Naval Engineering Test Establishment 3 (NETE3) Support Contract Renewal from the initial request for information (RFI) to the conclusion of bid evaluation.
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:
Mathieu Farley
Chartered Professional Accountant Auditor
Certified Internal Auditor
Certified Information Systems Auditor
Certified Fraud Examiner
Fairness Monitor Contractor Representative
Partner, Audit and Advisory Services
Samson
Ted Pender
Fairness Monitor
Project requirement
Samson was engaged on June 24, 2020, as a FM to observe the competitive selection process for the NETE3 Support Contract Renewal initiative undertaken by Public Works and Government Services Canada, on behalf of the Department of National Defence (DND).
This report covers the activities of the FM beginning with the RFI phase of this acquisition with the first solicitation published October 15, 2020, and the latest on July 22, 2022, through to the conclusion of the evaluation of proposals.
The procurement process was initiated to satisfy the requirement of DND for the renewal contract of the Government Owned – Contractor Operated (GOCO) – NETE3.
NETE3 is DND’s principal Naval Test and Evaluation Centre. NETE3 provides independent verification and validation (IV and V), as well as expert test and evaluation services to the Royal Canadian Navy and other DND organizations from coast to coast. This ensures the engineering safety and effectiveness of naval equipment. NETE3 provides a broad range of multi-disciplinary engineering test and evaluation services, including evaluation of the ability of systems to meet requirements, assistance in the conduct of trials, problem investigation, and verification of Naval Materiel processes.
We reviewed all 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
- the methodologies applied
- 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 and activities, that is
- RFI documents
- request for proposals (RFP) documents
- industry days and related one-on-one meetings with bidders
- questions resulting from the RFI
- identified fairness-related matters to the contracting and technical authorities
- ensured that responses and actions were reasonable and appropriate
In this section
Request for information
Industry engagement round 1
Solicitation W8482-217850/B was published on CanadaBuys on October 15, 2020, to solicit industry feedback regarding the NETE3 renewal contract. A virtual industry day was held on November 18, 2020, and 3 virtual one-on-one meetings were held on November 18 and 19, 2020.
There were 4 amendments issued to respond to 16 questions from potential bidders. The last amendment was published on June 14, 2021. The solicitation closed on August 31, 2021.
Industry engagement round 2
Solicitation W8482-217850/C was published on November 16, 2021, in order to:
- provide an update on the procurement schedule
- request feedback from industry on draft documents and questions
There were no amendments issued and the solicitation closed on December 14, 2021.
Industry engagement round 3
Solicitation W8482-217850/D was published on May 4, 2022. The objectives of this release were to:
- engage industry to provide feedback on draft solicitation documents, including the
- statement of work (SOW)
- technical and financial evaluation
- terms and conditions
- allow suppliers time to assess and comment on the adequacy and clarity of the requirements as currently expressed
- invite capable suppliers interested to participate in one-on-one sessions
One-on-one sessions were held with 3 potential bidders on May 19 and 20, 2022. There were no amendments and the solicitation closed on May 31, 2022.
Solicitation W8482-217850/E was published on July 14, 2022, to provide clarifications and/or responses to issues and questions raised during the one-on-one sessions or through the written feedback related to the draft RFP. Nine specific areas of the draft RFP were addressed. There was 1 amendment to correct a typographical error and the solicitation closed on July 22, 2022.
No fairness issues were identified during the RFI phase.
Request for proposals
The RFP to solicit industry responses regarding the NETE3 renewal contract was published on CanadaBuys on August 19, 2022, as solicitation W8482-217850/F.
A virtual industry day was held on September 22, 2022 and a site visit at the NETE3 facility was held on September 24, 2022. Four vendors attended both the virtual industry day and the site visit as did the FM. The initial closing date of the solicitation was November 18, 2022 but was extended through amendments until November 25, 2022. There were 7 amendments issued in total, the last of which was published November 21, 2022.
The amendments issued responded to 35 questions submitted from potential bidders. Additionally, there were approximately 20 questions from the site visit responded to through amendments.
Only 1 bid was submitted by an interested bidder.
No fairness issues were identified during the RFP phase.
Evaluation of proposals
A virtual orientation/briefing session was held with the evaluators on December 16, 2022. A detailed evaluator’s guide was prepared by the contracting authority (CA) and distributed to evaluators and the FM prior to this meeting. The evaluator’s guide established that a consensus meeting would only be required if there was a difference of more than 20% from the highest score to the lowest score given to any bidder.
On March 28, 2023, the CA provided the FM with a detailed evaluation summary signed by the 3 evaluators as well as confirmation that the Price Support Directorate had determined that the prices submitted by the bidder represented fair value for Canada. Accordingly, the 1 bidder was deemed successful.
No fairness issues were identified during the proposal evaluation phase.
Reference documents
Documents related to solicitation W8482-217850/B through W8482-217850/F are available on CanadaBuys or through the project office.
Addendum to the final report
February 28, 2024
Addendum to the final report dated April 18, 2023, for the NETE3 Support Contract Renewal.
This addendum covers the period following the conclusion of the evaluation phase including contract award and debriefing activities.
Fairness monitoring activities related to contract award and debriefings
A contract was awarded to the successful bidder on October 23, 2023.
No debriefing session regarding the evaluation results of their bid was requested.
Attestation of assurance
The FM hereby provides the unqualified assurance statement below concerning the NETE3 Support Contract Renewal procurement process, up to and including the conclusion of the 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:
Mathieu Farley
Chartered Professional Accountant Auditeur
Certified Internal Auditor
Certified Information Systems Auditor
Certified Fraud Examiner
Fairness Monitor Contractor Representative
Partner, Audit and Advisory Services
Samson
Ted Pender
Fairness Monitor
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