1. ADVANCE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE (ACAN)
An ACAN is a public notice indicating to the supplier community that a department or agency intends to award a contract for goods, services or construction to a pre-identified supplier, thereby allowing other suppliers to signal their interest in bidding, by submitting a statement of capabilities. If no supplier submits a statement of capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, on or before the closing date stated in the ACAN, the contracting officer may then proceed with the award to the pre-identified supplier.
2. DEFINITION OF THE REQUIREMENT
The Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada (FJA) was planning to onboard to the Treasury Board Secretariat’s (TBS) GCfm solution, but the project was cancelled in 2021 before the SAP S4/HANA solution could be implemented for onboarding departments. The GCfm initiative was deemed not financially viable for small departments. TBS and the Office of the Comptroller General (OCG) also recognized that the current version of FreeBalance used by FJA has reached the end of its life cycle and needs to be upgraded or replaced.
As a result, FJA has a relatively urgent need to migrate from Version 6.5 to the latest Version 7 of FreeBalance Accountability Suite as part of their Financial System Renewal (FSR) project. Upgrading FJA’s ‘‘classic’’ FreeBalance solution from the older client/server version 6.5 technology to the enhanced web-based Government Resource Planning (GRP) version 7 will enable FJA to adopt an affordable and sustainable solution that will greatly benefit the organization in the next few years. The FSR project main objective is to upgrade FJA’s FreeBalance Solution to Version 7 by the beginning of fiscal year 2024/2025.
3. CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT OF THE STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES (MINIMUM ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS)
Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities that it meets the following requirements:
- Experience in deployment of the FreeBalance Accountability Suite software;
- Experience in upgrading FreeBalance Accountability Suite (version 6.5) modules to the FreeBalance Accountability Suite (version 7) solution;
- Experience in FreeBalance software data mapping as well as metadata management and integration;
- Experience performing requirements gathering and business process workshops for financial and material management solutions;
- Experience delivering user training for the FreeBalance Accountability Suite solution;
- Experience performing knowledge transfer of functional and technical aspects of the FreeBalance Accountability Suite solution.
4. APPLICABILITY OF THE TRADE AGREEMENT(S) TO THE PROCUREMENT
This procurement is subject to the following trade agreement(s):
- Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
- Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA)
- Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCoFTA)
- Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement (CHFTA)
- Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement (CKFTA)
- Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement (CPaFTA)
- Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA)
5. JUSTIFICATION FOR THE PRE-IDENTIFIED SUPPLIER
FreeBalance Inc. has proprietary rights to the FreeBalance Accountability Suite software being used by FJA for its departmental financial management system.
FreeBalance Accountability Suite is a proprietary software that is available exclusively through FreeBalance. Similarly, any software related professional services - be it implementation, upgrades, support, maintenance, and the like - is also available exclusively through FreeBalance.
In more certain terms:
1. FreeBalance is the sole developer of the FreeBalance Accountability Suite and the exclusive owner of the underlying Intellectual Property.
2. Outside FreeBalance, there are no providers that are authorized to modify the FreeBalance Accountability Suite.
3. Outside FreeBalance, there are no providers that are authorized to deliver FreeBalance Accountability Suite related services, in particular, within Canada.
4. Outside FreeBalance, there are no providers that are authorized to maintain the FreeBalance Accountability Suite, such as resolving data integrity issues or bugs in the software.
5. Outside FreeBalance, there are no providers with expert experience in development work for the FreeBalance Accountability Suite.
Additionally, the terms of the FreeBalance Customer Support Program - which all Government of Canada customers receive - do not cover issues that arise when an upgrade is performed by the customer or a third party. Which means that any software upgrade performed by anyone other than FreeBalance will not be supported by the FreeBalance Customer Support Program.
For that reason, FJA has determined FreeBalance Inc. as being the only supplier capable of performing the work.
6. GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS REGULATIONS EXCEPTION(S)
The following exception to the Government Contracts Regulations is invoked for this procurement under subsection 6(d) – “only one person is capable of performing the work”.
7. EXCLUSIONS AND/OR LIMITED TENDERING REASONS
Services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute goods or services exist for the following reason:
- the protection of patents, copyrights or other exclusive rights.
8. OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Ownership of any Foreground Intellectual Property arising out of the proposed contract will vest in the Contractor.
9. PERIOD OF THE PROPOSED CONTRACT OR DELIVERY DATE
The proposed contract is for a period of 12 months, from July/August, 2023 to July/August, 2024.
10. COST ESTIMATE OF THE PROPOSED CONTRACT
The estimated value of the contract is $175,000.00 (GST/HST extra).
11. NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE PRE-IDENTIFIED SUPPLIER
FreeBalance Inc.
343 Preston Street, Suite 400
Ottawa, Ontario K1S 1N4
12. SUPPLIERS’ RIGHT TO SUBMIT A STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES
Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services described in the ACAN may submit a statement of capabilities in writing to the contact person identified in this notice on or before the closing date of this notice. The statement of capabilities must clearly demonstrate how the supplier meets the advertised requirements.
13. CLOSING DATE FOR A SUBMISSION OF A STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES
The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is July 13 at 5:00 pm ET.
14. INQUIRIES AND SUBMISSION OF STATEMENTS OF CAPABILITIES
Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:
Daniel Morin
Corporate Procurement and Administrative Services Manager
Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada
800-99 Metcalfe ST
Ottawa ON K1A 1E3
613-947-6339 / F••••••••@•••••••.••.ca
