1.0 PRESENTATION OF PROPOSALS1.1 You are invited to submit one electronic Technical Proposal and one electronic Financial Proposal in two separate attachments to fulfil the following requirement forming part of this Request for Proposal. One attachment must be clearly marked ‘Technical Proposal’ and the other attachment must be marked ‘Financial Proposal’. All financial information must be fully contained in the Financial Proposal, and only in the Financial Proposal. Vendors who provide financial information in the technical proposal will be disqualified. All proposals should include the front page of this RFP duly completed.2.0 SCOPE OF WORK2.1 This is a Request for proposals to establish Standing Offers to provide technical translation services (English to French) to the National Research Council of Canada as defined in Appendix “A”. The services will be performed on an “as and when required” basis.2.2 For any Standing Offer issued as a result of this invitation, it is understood and agreed that:a) a contractual obligation will come into force only if there is an authorized Call-Up Against a Standing Offer (NRC Form 769) and only to the extent designated in the Call-Up;b) a Standing Offer does not oblige the Project Authority to authorize or order anygoods/services whatsoever or to spend the estimated expenditure or any monieswhatsoever; andc) the NRC’s liability under a Standing Offer shall be limited to the actual amount of the individual “Call-Up” issued within the period specified.2.3 The terms and conditions as set out herein will form part of the Standing Offer Agreement and will be incorporated into and form part of any and all authorized “Call-Up(s) Against a Standing Offer”.2.4 It is expected that approximately five (5) Standing Offer Agreements (SOAs) will be established as a result of this Request for Standing Offer. The numbers of SOA can be more or less at NRC’s sole discretion. 2.5 Should the number of responsive proposals be less than desired, NRC reserves the right to review proposals and select the next highest ranked submission.2.6 As a general procedure, work shall be offered on a rotational basis, with the order determined based on the scoring achieved in the technical and financial evaluations. The Bidder with the highest score will be offered the first call-up, the second highest score will be offered the second call-up, and so forth. Subsequent call-ups will be offered according to this order, with the exception to this outlined in Appendix “A”.2.7 If none of the Standing Offer Holders (SOH) are able to perform the work within the desiredtimeframe, NRC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to solicit bids from vendors outside of this RFSO.3.0 PERIOD OF STANDING OFFER3.1 The period for placing call-ups against Standing Offers resulting from this Request For Standing Offer (RFSO) shall be upon award of a standing offer to March 31, 2025.3.2 There is an option to renew at NRC’s discretion for four (4) subsequent one-year periods, subject to satisfactory performance and agreement upon a satisfactory fee structure for that period.4.0 ENQUIRIES4.1 If you require clarification regarding any aspect of this RFP, address all queries to the Contracting Authority, identified below, at least 5 working days before the closing date. All queries must be in writing and queries received less than 5 working days prior to the closing date cannot be guaranteed a response. Information received verbally will not be binding upon the NRC.Tania BackesEmail: T••••••••@••••••••.••.ca4.2 To ensure the equality of information among Bidders, responses to general enquiries will be made available to all bidders unless such publications would reveal proprietary information. The bidder who initiates the question will not be identified. Technical questions that are considered proprietary by the bidder must be clearly identified. NRC will respond individually to the bidder if it considers the questions proprietary. If NRC does not consider the question proprietary, the bidder submitting it will be allowed to withdraw the question, or have the question and answer made available through the buyandsell.gc.ca website to all bidders.4.3 Bidders who attempt to obtain information regarding any aspect of this RFSO during the solicitation period through any NRC contacts other than the Contracting Authority identified herein may be disqualified (for that reason alone).4.4 It is the responsibility of the Bidder to obtain clarification of the requirement contained herein, if necessary, prior to submitting its proposal. The Bidder must have written confirmation from the Contracting Authority for any changes, alterations, etc., concerning this RFSO.5.0 PROPOSAL CLOSING DATE AND BID SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS5.1 Technical and Financial Proposals must be received electronically no later than 14:00 EST (according to NRC's Server Time), March 24, 2023, to the following Contracting Authority:Tania Backes – T••••••••@••••••••.••.ca**The maximum file size that NRC can receive in a single email is 10MB****Bidders are urged to send their proposals well before the bid closing time**Prop Proposals must not be sent directly to the Project AuthorityAll risks and consequences of incorrect delivery of electronic bids are the responsibility of the Bidder. The National Research Council Canada will not be responsible for late bids received at destination after the closing date and time, even if it was submitted before. Electronic bids received after the indicated closing time based on NRC servers’ received time will be irrevocably rejected. Bidders are urged to send their proposal in sufficient time, in advance of the closing time to reduce any technical issues. The National Research Council Canada will not be held responsible for bids sent before closing time but received by the NRC servers after the closing time.5.3 The Bidder has the sole responsibility for the timely dispatch and delivery of a proposal and cannot transfer such responsibility to the NRC. No supplementary information will be accepted after the closing deadline unless NRC requests a clarification.5.4 All submitted proposals become the property NRC.
