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1. Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN)
An ACAN is a public notice indicating that a department or agency intends to award a contract for goods, services, or construction to a pre-identified supplier. This notice allows other suppliers to express their interest by submitting a statement of capabilities. If no supplier meets the ACAN requirements by the stated closing date, the contracting officer may proceed with the pre-identified supplier.
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2. Background
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), hereafter referred to as “the Departments,” seek a data service to monitor and measure competitive forces in the Canadian Internet services market following its new regulatory policy. To achieve this, the Departments will contract a company (“the Contractor”) to provide Internet Service Provider (ISP) timely and granular market share data across Canadian markets. This service will support market intelligence and policy monitoring while reducing reporting burden on the industry.________________________________________
3. Scope of Work
The Contractor will independently collect and compile Internet subscriber data for policy monitoring. Requirements include:
• Ability to track subscribers by company and brand at a minimum geographic granularity of Forward Sortation Area (FSA).
• Monthly updates for all ISPs.
• Data visualization through an online dashboard refreshed monthly (“ISP Subscriber Market Share Dashboard”), available to an unlimited number of users in the Departments
• Proprietary methodology is acceptable, provided accuracy is maintained. The Departments will assess accuracy against their own annual and quarterly data.
• Data acquired and supplied by the Contractor must be privacy-compliant.
The contract will cover one firm year with three optional years. No system integration is required.
The Contractor must:
• Provide access to the ISP Subscriber Market Share Dashboard.
• Enable data downloads.
• Create custom areas per Departments’ specifications, including:
o Incumbent telecommunications and cable service provider areas (in-territory and out-of-territory, as defined in https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2025/2025-154.htm).
o Rural and urban areas (https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3VD.pl?Function=getVD&TVD=113331&CVD=113332&CLV=0&MLV=2&D=1&adm=0&dis=0).
o First Nations Reserve areas (https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/subjects-start/indigenous_peoples).
o The Far North (https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2022/2022-147.htm#_Far_North_1).
4. Objectives
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), hereafter referred to as “the Departments,” seek a data service to monitor and measure competitive forces in the Canadian Internet services market following its new regulatory policy. To achieve this, the Departments will contract a company (“the Contractor”) to provide Internet Service Provider (ISP) timely and granular market share data across Canadian markets. This service will support market intelligence and policy monitoring while reducing reporting burden on the industry.
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5. Criteria for Assessment of the Statement of Capabilities
Interested suppliers must demonstrate that their solution meets the following minimum requirements:
Essential Technical Requirements:
• Ability to collect and compile residential ISP subscriber market share data across Canada.
• Minimum geographic granularity: Forward Sortation Area (FSA).
• Capability to track at least 200 ISPs in Canada, including major providers and smaller ISPs.
• Inclusion of data on ISPs operating DSL, fibre, cable, fixed wireless and satellite networks.
• Ability to separate data by brand, for ISPs operating multiple brands.
Essential Performance Requirements:
• Accuracy: Data must be reliable and comparable to CRTC annual and quarterly datasets. Sample data sets must be made available for evaluation.
• Privacy compliance: Data acquisition and handling must meet Canadian privacy laws.
• Dashboard functionality:
o Online dashboard accessible to Departments via Microsoft PowerBI or equivalent.
o Accessible to an unlimited number of users in the Departments.
o Ability to download data in .CSV format.
o Support for custom geographic areas (urban/rural, First Nations reserves, Far North, incumbents in-territory and out-of-territory).
• Historical data availability: At least 36 months of historical data.
Essential Delivery Requirements:
• Monthly data updates, available within six weeks of the previous month-end.
• Ability to implement non-material dashboard modifications upon request.
• Supplier has an existing dashboard capable of providing the required data and demonstrates a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience
Suppliers submitting a Statement of Capabilities must demonstrate their ability to deliver the required service by providing sample data as follows: (1) subscriber market shares of the top 20 ISPs in Quebec for December 2024; (2) subscriber market shares of the top 5 ISPs in Calgary for December 2024; and (3) subscriber market shares of the top 10 ISPs in Canada for June 2025. The CRTC will verify the accuracy of the submitted data. All submissions must be sent in writing to the email address provided below.
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6. Deliverables
The Contractor will provide access to the dashboard. The solution must include:
1) Scope: Comprehensive residential ISP market share data for Canada, displayed to two decimal places.
2) Geo Granularity: Data at the national, provincial/territorial, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), Census Subdivision (CSD), and Forward Sortation Area (FSA) levels.
3) Listed ISPs: Track at least 200 ISPs, including major providers (Bell, Rogers, TELUS, SaskTel, Videotron, Eastlink, Starlink, Xplore, TekSavvy, CIK, Dery, Cable Axion, ABC, Beanfield, Purple Cow) and smaller ISPs. Where ISPs operate multiple brands, data is required for each brand.
4) Technology Segmentation: Market share data for operators using the following fixed broadband technologies: DSL, cable, fibre, fixed wireless access—including LTE and 5G home internet, and satellite.
5) Data Dimensions: Market share snapshots, 36-month trend analysis, ISP-specific drill-downs.
6) Custom Areas: Include incumbent in-territory and out-of-territory areas, the Far North, First Nations reserves, and urban/rural areas.
7) Data Updates: Monthly refresh, available within six weeks of month-end.
8) Historical Data: At least 36 months of historical data.
9) Data Delivery: Secure online dashboard (Microsoft Power BI) and downloadable .CSV files.
10) User access: the ability for an unlimited number of users at the Departments to access the dashboard.
11) Modifications: Ability to implement non-material dashboard changes requested by the Departments.
12) Implementation: Dashboard live within five business days of contract execution; custom filters may require additional time.
13) Collaboration: Ongoing configuration to meet the Departments’ requirements.
14) Rights: The Departments may store, transform, and publish analytics derived from the data. Contractor must disclose any restrictions on data storage, retention, or usage.
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7. Applicability of Trade Agreements
This procurement is subject to the following trade agreements:
• Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
• Canada - European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
• Revised World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP)
• Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)
• Canada - Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA)
• Canada - Colombia Free Trade Agreement
• Canada - Honduras Free Trade Agreement
• Canada - Korea Free Trade Agreement
• Canada - Panama Free Trade Agreement
• Canada - Peru Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA)
• Canada - United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement (Canada-UK TCA)
• Canada - Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA)
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8. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier
The supplier was selected based on the following factors to the best of our knowledge, invoking subsection 6(d)of the Government Contracts Regulations, which is “only one person is capable of performing the work”:
- Proven Capability: The supplier successfully demonstrated its ability to meet the CRTC’s requirements for monitoring ISPs’ market shares in- and out-of-territory during a pilot project.
- Advanced Technology: The supplier offers a technology that delivers highly detailed and timely information. Its quality of service is fully compliant with CRTC’s technical requirements.
- Proprietary Tools: The data extraction tool used is proprietary technology owned by OpenSignal, which acquired ThinkCX after the start of the pilot project.
- Unique Expertise: To our knowledge, no other competitive supplier provides similar technology specialized in accurate detection and granular measurement of service provider growth across the Canadian market.
- Regulatory Alignment: The supplier understands the CRTC’s objectives, including conducting a study to monitor and measure competitive forces in the Canadian broadband market in a more timely and granular manner, in line with the new regulatory policy.
- Fair and Reasonable Pricing: The proposed monthly rates are discounted for the CRTC and reflect rates that are less than one-quarter of the rates charged to the supplier’s Tier 1 clients, representing significant cost efficiency.
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9. Period of the Proposed Contract
The proposed contract is for a period of one year, from February 14, 2026, to February 13, 2027, plus up to three (3) optional one-year extensions.
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10. Cost Estimate of the Proposed Contract
The estimated value of the contract, including options, is $1,000,000 (GST/HST excluded).
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11. Name and Address of the Pre-Identified Supplier
Comniscient Technologies LLC d/b/a Opensignal211 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02110
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12. Suppliers’ Right to Submit a Statement of Capabilities
Bidders may submit a statement of capabilities demonstrating how they meet the requirements outlined in this notice. Submissions must be received in writing by the contact provided below.
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13. Closing Date for Submissions
All statements of capabilities must be submitted by January 7, 2026, at 2:00 PM EST.
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14. Contact Information
For inquiries and to submit statements of capabilities, please contact:
Contracting officer: Gan-Ochir Battumur
Approvisionnements-Procurements@crtc.gc.ca
