Background
The Right of First Refusal (RFR) is a policy that requires federal departments to request guard services from the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires (the Corps) prior to seeking services from other security guard suppliers.
Dating back to 1945, the RFR was put in place as a way for the Government of Canada to support Veterans’ employment while meeting its own needs for guard services. Since then, the policy has been re-approved on a number of occasions and undergone minor revisions. The RFR is set out in the Treasury Board Common Services Policy under s. 6.5.3 Guard Services.
Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) assumed responsibility for the administration of the RFR policy from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) in 2017, as it was deemed more appropriately managed within the broader context of federal support to Veterans. VAC is now reviewing the policy to determine its ongoing relevance as an effective and fiscally responsible mechanism to help provide employment opportunities to Veterans. VAC is conducting this review in coordination with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and TBS. As part of this review, VAC will host an Industry Day to engage and consult with industry stakeholders.
Purpose of this Letter of Interest (LOI)
The purpose of this Letter of Interest (LOI) is to invite industry stakeholders to Industry Day which will take place in the National Capital Region on June 18, 2018. It will give: VAC the opportunity to inform stakeholders about the RFR policy review; and industry stakeholders the opportunity to provide feedback on the RFR policy and related themes. This Industry Day is open to all interested suppliers.
This Letter of Interest is not to be considered as a commitment to issue a Request for Proposal or award contract(s) for guard services contracts.
Details on Industry Day
Location and Date
Location: Ottawa, ON
Date: Monday, June 18 2018
Anticipated Topics to be Covered
In addition to informing industry about the RFR policy and the ongoing review, VAC will seek feedback from industry on the following topics:
Scope of services provided by industry organizations.
Locations where industry organizations provide service (e.g. country-wide, provincial, regional, major cities only or rural areas).
Organizations’ capacity to support the goal of providing employment opportunities for Veterans. Where organizations currently support Veteran hiring, please explain.
Organizations’ capacity to provide services at short notice.
Other topics relevant to the review.
Interested stakeholders (whether they attend Industry Day or not) may provide feedback on these topics in advance by email to Allan MacKinnon of Veterans Affairs Canada (A••••••••@•••••••.••.ca), until June 15, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. EST.
Registration
Interested participants must register their representatives (a maximum of three representatives per organization) by emailing Allan MacKinnon of Veterans Affairs Canada (A••••••••@•••••••.••.ca) by June 13, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. EST with the following information:
First name of participant
Last name of participant
Company name (legal and operating)
Participant’s position title in their company
Participant’s email address
Phone number including area code
Note: Providing feedback is voluntary and will in no way affect your relationship with Veterans Affairs Canada. Your name, the name of your organization, and contact information is collected for registration and scheduling and will not be used for any other purpose. Any feedback you provide, either in person or by email, will be used to create a publicly available report for the purpose of this policy review. Any feedback you provide should not include any identifying personal information about you or anyone else, other than the information requested above.
Industry Engagement Day Expenses
Attendees are responsible for their own transportation, accommodation, meals and parking. Canada will not reimburse any attendee for expenses incurred in attending, participating and/or responding to any part of these industry engagement activities.
Language
The Industry Day will be held primarily in English.
Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.
