This procurement is subject to the provisions of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, the Atlantic Procurement Agreement and the Quebec-New Brunswick Procurement Agreement.
This procurement is subject to the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement.
No totals required.
For ease of response an MS document has been posted on the New Brunswick Opportunities Network(NBON)to be filled in and returned with your bid document.
For those companies that receive bid documents from MERX you will need to register on the NBON system at www.gnb.ca/tenders to download the MS document. You are however, cautioned not to make any changes to our wording or your response may be rejected.
Should you have any trouble registering on the system please contact the HELP Line at 1-800-561-1422 in Canada or 506-444-5636 outside Canada.
ADP SOFTWARE
ADP (AUTOMATED DATA PROCESSING) FACILITY OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES
***Amendment#1***
This tender has been modified to respond to questions received, please see attached. All other information remains the same.
This is a re-invitation to the market, providing new suppliers with the chance to submit bids and, if selected, secure a position on the pre-qualification list for cloud services. Vendors who have already secured a place on the pre-qualification list need not respond to this opportunity.
*****Amendment #6*****
The tender has been amended to address the following vendor question.
Q1: A-2 of RFP states that "GNB reserves the right to audit and disqualify any vendors that at any point throughout the contract no longer meet this criteria". Once a contract is signed, the only remedy would be "termination" of the contract because disqualification can only occur during a live procurement process.
We request that this statement be removed from A-2 and the parties rely on the termination clause and any audit requirements that are agreed to in the Contract of Supply once negotiated.
A1: Appendix A-2 has been modified. The following wording has been added: GNB reserves the right to audit and disqualify or terminate any vendors that no longer meet this criteria, during negotiations, or throughout the contract.
*****Effective immediately, no other questions will be accepted for this tender. The closing date has been updated to August 9, 2019 and is firm.*****
All other items remain unchanged.
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*****Amendment #5*****
The tender has been amended to address the following vendor question.
Q1. In the mandatory requirements, item number 2 requests the following:
Must be able to host services in more than one Canadian point of presence that meets at a minimum the Tier 3 Datacenter standard.
Background:
The Uptime Institute's Tier Based certifications are not pursued by Hyperscale Cloud Providers as it traditionally serves as minimum requirements for market entry. Global cloud providers have to go way beyond physical infrastructure in order to earn customer trust, provide high reliability and service continuity guarantees through financially-backed Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The web site UptimeInstitute.com can also be used to verify that none of the major cloud vendors is listed on its
registry, and to our knowledge, no global cloud providers have the intention of seeking Uptime certification.
Since this is listed in the Mandatory requirements but the wording revolves around minimum standard, but not required certification, is it sufficient to explain a respondents position on why Tier 3 is not relevant to Hyperscale Cloud Providers or is this certification actually considered mandatory?
A1: The Uptime Institute certification or registration is not a requirement. GNB is using the Tier 3 designation to establish a commonly understood benchmark for data centre expected availability. GNB will accept responses that include an explanation of how they meet or exceed this industry benchmark.
All other items remain unchanged.
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*****Amendment #4*****
The tender has been amended to address the following questions and update Appendix A. Please see Attachments for the updated versions.
Q1: Would GNB Accept a recent SOC 2 report, ISO 27001 certification, and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Attestation of Compliance in place of CSA STAR certification?
A1: GNB will accept this substitution, however the documented mandatory security certification requirements in A-3 will be used as part of the 'workload selection criteria' process for placement of secure workloads. A-3 has been updated to clarify the requirements.
Q2: Would GNB accept an online Price List in place of an online calculator?
A2: GNB will accept a monthly updated online price list that can be accessed on demand. A-2 has been updated to reflect this change.
Q3: Would GNB consider changing the minimum required Suggested Iaas Supporting services?
Q3: GNB is not considering changing the minimum required Suggested IaaS and supporting services requirement.
All other information remains the same.
---------------------------------------------
*****Amendment #3*****
The following question has been received:
Q1. Is there any way you can provide an editable version of Appendix A - Response Form?
A1. The NBON Tender has an editable MS Word version of the form. If you are downloading the tender from Merx or Bids only a PDF version is available. To register for New Brunswick Opportunities Network (NBON), follow steps at https://nbon-rpanb.gnb.ca/ or call 1(800)561-1422.
*****Amendment #2*****
The following question has been received:
Q1. Will GNB accept bids from Cloud Providers only, or will it consider bids from resellers/partners as well?
A1. Bids will only be accepted directly from Cloud Providers as defined in Appendix A-5 of this Tender. If a Cloud Provider does not offer a direct to client business model, the Cloud Provider may designate one partner to respond. In this instance, a letter from the Cloud Provider naming the one exclusive partner is required and should accompany the bid.
All other information remains the same
**************************************
*****Amendment #1*****
The following Question has been received.
Q. We generally offer commercially available pricing in USD. Will New Brunswick accept USD pricing with options for CAD billing and payment?
A. No pricing is required as part of this tender. SNB will accept quotations for services from successful bidders in either US Dollar or Canadian Dollar currencies. The currency being used for the quotation must be clearly indicated on the quotation. SNB will use the Bank of Canada's published exchange rate for the current date to convert USD to CAD for the purposes of comparison.
All other information remains the same.
*********************************
This is a tender notice only. In order to submit a bid, you must obtain official tender documents from the New Brunswick Opportunities Network, another authorized tendering service or as indicated in the tender notice.
RETURN TO:
Note change to mailing address:
Central Tendering Branch
Fredericton Regional Centre
Suite 2300, 300 St. Mary's Street,
Fredericton, N.B.
E3A 2S4
Fax: (506) 444-4200
Public opening of bids will take place on closing day at 14:00 Atlantic Time, in Fredericton Regional Centre, Suite 2300, 300 St. Mary's Street, Fredericton, N.B. E3A 2S4.
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All bids must be stated in Canadian Funds.
All tenders must be F.O.B. destination, freight prepaid.
Sales taxes should not be included in the unit, extended or total prices.
This Invitation is being conducted under the provisions of the Procurement Act and Regulation as of the date of the issuance of the Invitation. Bidders may obtain a copy of the Act and Regulation on-line free of charge Procurement Act, Regulation or a paper copy may be purchased from the Queen's Printer, Province of N.B., P.O. Box 6000,Fredericton, N.B. E3B 5H1.
All suppliers engaged to deliver services on behalf of the Government of New Brunswick must ensure compliance with the
Official Languages Act in the delivery of those services. For more information, please refer to the
Official Languages Act.
QUESTIONS:
Written questions relating to this opportunity may be submitted to the address provided below via email by clicking on Questions. Please be sure to include the solicitation/tender number in the subject line.
EMAIL ADDRESS: bidquestionssoumissions@snb.ca
NOTE:
This email account is strictly for the receipt of questions on open opportunities. This email is not for the submission of bids.
The Atlantic Provinces Standard Terms & Conditions for Goods and Services apply to this procurement and are considered to be incorporated into this document. By submitting a bid, you agree and accept these terms and conditions. Current "Atlantic Provinces Standard Terms and Conditions" are available on the New Brunswick Opportunities Network, the Council of Atlantic Premiers' Website or from an authorized service provider.
Under Canadian law (and international agreements), your Bid must arrive separately and independently, without conspiracy, collusion or fraud; see http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/home for further information.
A bidder must obtain official bid documents from a distribution service, authorized by the Minister of Service New Brunswick, in order to submit a bid. The current authorized distribution services are the
New Brunswick Opportunities Network (NBON) (operated by Service New Brunswick, Province of NB),
BIDS (operated by Tendering Publications Ltd.) and
MERX (operated by Mediagrif Interactive Technologies). Failure to submit the official bid documents or provide proof that the
official bid documents were properly obtained will result in rejection of the bid. In order to facilitate the evaluation process, Bidders are requested to respond in the same format as the official bid documents.
Where the estimated value of the goods or services to be procured is below
the lowest applicable threshold value of any relevant trade agreement, Service New Brunswick reserves the right to give preferential treatment to a prospective supplier from New Brunswick or the Atlantic Region. Should this right be exercised, the following order of priority will apply: a) firstly, New Brunswick manufacturers if the goods to be procured are manufactured in New Brunswick; b) secondly, New Brunswick vendors; and c) thirdly, Atlantic Suppliers. The preference will be applied based
on the price differential
between the lowest acceptable bid and the bid receiving preferential treatment. Unless otherwise indicated, there shall be no limit on the price differential under which a preference may be applied. The decision to apply a preference will be at the sole discretion of Service New Brunswick.
All discounts quoted will be considered to be without limitations.
Payment of invoices is the responsibility of the department or organization to whom the goods are shipped or services are supplied.
Award of contracts: no contract shall be awarded and no payment shall be made to a vendor unless authorized by the Minister or his delegates. The Minister may make an award to the preferred vendor conditional on the negotiation and acceptance of a detailed contract between the Province and the vendor. In such cases, should the detailed contract negotiations not be completed in a reasonable period of time, the Province reserves the right to discontinue negotiations with the vendor and
subsequently enter into negotiations with the second preferred vendor.
No right or duty, in whole or in part, of the vendor under a contract issued may be assigned or delegated without the prior consent of the Strategic Procurement Branch.
Unless the Strategic Procurement Branch has determined otherwise prior to tender closing, all prices must be extended and totaled.
The province of New Brunswick reserves the right to negotiate pricing, value added and other savings opportunities with the successful proponent at time of award and throughout the contract.
Pay Equity
Does your organization have 50 or more employees?
The Government of New Brunswick is committed to encouraging and incentivizing the adoption of pay equity by employers doing business with government.
Prior to the award of procurements for goods and services valued over $1,000,000, suppliers, with fifty (50) or more employees will be required to complete the Pay Equity Learning Module developed by the Women's Equality Branch. Suppliers should provide a copy of their certificate of completion with their bid submission.
To complete the online module and obtain your certificate, please visit www.gnb.ca/payequity. For questions, please contact the Pay Equity Bureau toll free: (877) 253-0266 or by Email: peb-bes@gnb.ca.
All Suppliers engaged to deliver goods or services to the Government of New Brunswick must ensure compliance with the Designated Materials Regulation in the provision or delivery of those goods obligated under that Regulation. Please refer to
Recycle NB's website and the
Designated Materials Regulation for specifics.
Direct Deposit
The Province of New Brunswick is now using Direct Deposit as the standard method of issuing payments. Suppliers are required to provide bank account information and an email address for the notice of remittance. Please send the completed Direct Deposit Form to Service New Brunswick (e-mail address and mailing address are indicated on the form).
Please click on the link below to view the Direct Deposit Form.
http://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/gs-sg/pdf/Procurement/DirectDepositVirementDirect.pdf
Solicitation documents will be provided in either of the Province of New Brunswick's two official languages; English or French upon request.
Instructions for Bid Submission
1. Effective April 15, 2020, Service New Brunswick is no longer accepting paper bids,
and the Central Tendering Branch is closed to the public. Public tender openings are
no longer taking place; however, results continue to be posted on NBON.
2. Bids will only be accepted by electronic transmission as follows:
a. By e-bidding through NBON (when e-bidding is possible); OR
b. By fax to: (506) 444-4200 (fax to dedicated mailbox).
Note: Proposals in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP) will not be accepted by fax; OR
c. By email to NBBids@snb.ca or SoumissionsNB@snb.ca (do not submit bids to any other email).
Click here
Instructions for Bid Submission for important instructions on how to submit bids by email.
d. Please refrain from submitting your bid through multiple electronic channels
to avoid duplicate bids.
3. All bids must be properly signed by an authorized person.
a. For bids submitted by email or fax: typed signatures (in any font)
that are not on the bid itself (i.e. in the body of the email or on the
fax cover sheet) will NOT be accepted.
4. All bids must be legible, properly completed and contain the proper solicitation number.
5. The proponent is solely responsible for ensuring that the bid submission
in its entirety, including all attachments, is received before Closing Date and Time
as indicated on the solicitation documents.
a. The proponent bears all risk associated with delivering its bid by electronic
submission, including but not limited to delays in transmission between the Proponent's computer and the Province's Electronic Mail System, NBON or fax.
b. The date and time of official receipt of the bid will be the time of receipt
recorded in the NBON system (for e-bids) or the time of receipt in the Province's
Electronic Mail System (for fax and email bid submissions).
6. All bids must be stated in Canadian Funds. Sales taxes should not be included in
the unit, extended or total prices.
7. All tenders must be F.O.B. destination, freight prepaid.
8. This Invitation is being conducted under the provisions of the Procurement Act
and Regulation 2014-93 as of the date of the issuance of the Invitation.
Direct Deposit
The Province of New Brunswick is now using Direct Deposit as the standard method of issuing payments. Suppliers are required to provide bank account information and an email address for the notice of remittance. Please send the completed Direct Deposit Form to Service New Brunswick (e-mail address and mailing address are indicated on the form).
Please click on the link below to view the Direct Deposit Form.
https://www2.snb.ca/content/dam/snb/Procurement/DirectDepositVirementDirect.pdf
A bidder must obtain official solicitation documents from a distribution service, authorized by the Minister of Service New Brunswick, in order to submit a bid. The current authorized distribution services are the
New Brunswick Opportunities Network (NBON) (operated by Service New Brunswick, Province of NB),
BIDSAlert (operated by Tendering Publications Ltd.) and
MERX (operated by Mediagrif Interactive Technologies). Bids should be submitted on the official bid documents
obtained from these authorized distribution services.
The Atlantic Provinces Standard Terms & Conditions for Goods and Services apply to this procurement and are considered to be incorporated into this document. By submitting a bid, you agree and accept these terms and conditions. Current "Atlantic Provinces Standard Terms and Conditions" are available on the New Brunswick Opportunities Network, the Council of Atlantic Premiers' Website or from an authorized service provider.
All suppliers engaged to deliver services on behalf of the Government of New Brunswick must ensure compliance with the
Official Languages Act in the delivery of those services. For more information, please refer to the
Official Languages Act.
COVID-19 Restrictions for Workers entering New Brunswick
All suppliers and workers entering the province of New Brunswick for work purposes must comply with the requirements established by WorkSafe NB and Public Health, including isolation requirements where applicable.
Click here for more information on these requirements.
QUESTIONS:
Written questions relating to this opportunity may be submitted to the address provided below via email by clicking on Questions. Please be sure to include the solicitation/tender number in the subject line.
EMAIL ADDRESS: bidquestionssoumissions@snb.ca
NOTE:
This email account is strictly for the receipt of questions on open opportunities. This email is not for the submission of bids.
COVID-19 Supplier Vaccination Policy
Suppliers must comply with all GNB health and safety policies and standards including, without limitation, all health and safety policies and standards related to COVID-19, as applicable. Go to www.gnb.ca/nbon to view the full policy and FAQs.
Unless indicated otherwise in this tender notice or attached documents, all prices must be extended and totalled.
All Suppliers engaged to deliver goods or services to the Government of New Brunswick must ensure compliance with the Designated Materials Regulation in the provision or delivery of those goods obligated under that Regulation. Please refer to
Recycle NB's website and the
Designated Materials Regulation for specifics.
PAYMENT OF INVOICES
Payment of invoices is the responsibility of the department or organization to whom the goods are shipped or services are supplied.
Where the estimated value of the goods or services to be procured is below the lowest applicable threshold value of any relevant trade agreement, Service New Brunswick reserves the right to give preferential treatment to a prospective supplier from New Brunswick. Should this right be exercised, the following order of priority will apply: a) firstly, New Brunswick manufacturers if the goods to be procured are manufactured in New Brunswick; and b) secondly, New Brunswick vendors.
When bid submissions are evaluated on price:
- Applicability of the preferences will be determined based on the price differential between the lowest-priced acceptable bid and the bid receiving the preferential treatment.
- The price differential under which a NB supplier preference may be applied will be limited to 10%. When the lowest-priced acceptable bid before preferential treatment is applied is a New Brunswick vendor, the price differential under which a NB manufacturer preference will be applied will be limited to 5%.
- The preferential treatment will be applied by making the award to the NB supplier.
When bid submissions are evaluated on a point system:
- Applicability of the preferences will be determined based on the price differential between the pricing component of the highest scoring acceptable bid submission and the pricing component of the bid(s) receiving the preferential treatment.
- The price differential under which a NB supplier preference may be applied will be limited to 10%. When the highest scoring acceptable bid submission before preferential treatment is applied is a New Brunswick vendor, the price differential under which a NB manufacturer preference will be applied will be limited to 5%.
- The preferential treatment will be applied by allotting a maximum of an additional 5% of the total possible points to New Brunswick manufacturers' total scores and 4% to NB vendors' total scores. If no bid from a New Brunswick manufacturer has been retained for preferential treatment, New Brunswick vendors may receive a maximum of an additional 5% of the total possible points rather than 4%.
The decision to apply a preference will be at the sole discretion of Service New Brunswick. To be eligible, suppliers must meet the definition of NB supplier as identified by the regulation under the
Procurement Act. NB manufacturers should indicate in their bid that they are a NB manufacturer to be considered for the NB manufacturer preference.
