1. REQUIREMENT
The Office of the Correctional Investigator requires the services of a Consultant to process ATIP requests on an “as needed, as required*” basis. The organization does not have its own in-house dedicated resource(s) to process these requests.
- As needed, as required means that the Contractor’s services will be required for a period not to exceed 500 hours per year, approximately (66 days) to perform services in accordance with, and as described in the Statement of Work.
2. BACKGROUND
Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) legislation (including the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act) provides Canadian citizens as well as individuals and corporations present in Canada the right to access information and records under the control of a government institution. In particular, the Access to Information Act (the Act) ensures that any requested information, which is not exempt or excluded, will be provided to the requester.
Each federal government department or agency, listed in Schedule I of the Act, has an Access to Information (ATI) Office/Component. Individuals seeking to obtain federal government records must send a written request to the government institution that has control of the information sought. In general, the department or agency that receives the request has 30 days to provide the applicant with a response. The 30-day timeline may only be extended under clearly defined legislated reasons, such as for conducting consultation with other institutions, governments or third parties.
Upon completion of the legislated time limits, the department or agency must provide the complete response to the information request. Failure to adhere to the timelines would place the government institution in a “Deemed Refusal” position and subject to a complaint with the Information Commissioner of Canada. Complaints may also be lodged for other reasons, such as information withheld, fees, extension of timeline limits, etc.
In the event of a complaint being lodged with the Information Commissioner of Canada, an investigation as to the cause and remedy of the complaint will be conducted within the Office of the Correctional Investigator.
3. Evaluation Procedures
(a) Bids will be assessed in accordance with the entire requirement of the bid solicitation including the technical and financial evaluation criteria.
(b) An evaluation team composed of representatives of Canada will evaluate the bids.
4. Enquiries - solicitation stage
All enquiries or issues concerning this procurement must be submitted in writing to the Contracting Authority named in Part 1, item 5 as early as possible within the bidding period.
Enquiries and issues must be received by the Contracting Authority no later than three (3) business days prior to the bid closing date specified on the cover page or this RFP document to allow sufficient time to provide a response. Enquiries or issues received after that time may not be able to be answered prior to the bid closing date. To ensure consistency and quality of information provided to Bidders, the Contracting Authority will provide, simultaneously to all bidders to which this solicitation has been sent, any information with respect to significant enquiries received and the replies to such enquiries without revealing the sources of the enquiries.
It is the responsibility of the Bidder to obtain clarification of the requirements contained herein, if necessary, prior to submitting a bid.
A request for a time extension to the bid closing date will be considered provided it is received in writing by the PS Contracting Authority at least two (2) working days before the closing date shown on page 1 of this RFP document. The request, if granted, will be communicated by www.BuyandSell.gc.ca at least two (2) working days before the closing, showing the revised closing date. The request, if rejected, will be directed to the originator at least two (2) working days before the closing date by the PS Contracting Authority.
5. CONTRACT AUTHORITY
Tanya Nadeau
Contracting and Procurement Section
Public Safety Canada
269 Laurier Avenue West, 13th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0P9
Tel: 613-990-3891
Fax: 613-954-1871
Email: c••••••••@••.••.ca
The Contracting Authority is responsible for all matters of a contractual nature.
6. SECURITY
The request for proposal includes security provisions
7. PERIOD OF WORK
6.1 (a) Contract Period: the « Contract Period » is the entire period of time during which the Contractor is obliged to perform the Work, which includes:
(i) The “Initial Contract Period” which begins on the date the Contract is awarded and ends March 31st, 2015.
(b) Option to Extend the Contract:
(i) The Contractor grants to Canada the irrevocable option to extend the term of the Contract by up to three (3) additional one (1) year periods under the same terms and conditions. The Contractor agrees that, during the extended period of the Contract, it will be paid in accordance with the applicable provisions set out in the Basis of Payment.
(ii) Canada may exercise this option at any time by sending a written notice to the Contractor at least 30 calendar days before the expiry date of the Contract. The option may only be exercised by the Contracting Authority, and will be evidenced, for administrative purposes only, through a formal contract amendment.
