REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ONLINE REPLATFORM HOSTING BID INSTRUCTIONS

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ONLINE REPLATFORM HOSTING BID INSTRUCTIONS NOVA SCOTIA LIQUOR CORPORATION 93 CHAIN LAKE DRIVE HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA B3S 1A3 NSLC REFERENCE NO: SR-56-H-15 NSLC Contact: Email: Stephen Bayer Manager, Procurement & Tendering stephen.bayer@mynslc.com

NOVA SCOTIA LIQUOR CORPORATION BID INSTRUCTIONS & INFORMATION 1. The NSLC calls for proposals to provide hosting for a new corporate website on a Sitecore platform with Active Commerce. This platform will replace the current NSLC online platform, and the new website will replace the current mynslc.com and m.mynslc.com. 2. The NSLC maintains a policy which ensures all firms interested in becoming government suppliers shall be given equitable access to contract opportunities, except that consideration may be shown to Atlantic Provinces suppliers, manufacturers and contractors whenever practical and economically feasible to do so, consistent with The Atlantic Procurement Agreement. 3. No Proponent can claim any advantage from any error, inconsistency, or omission in this RFP. Any Proponent who has questions as to the meaning of any part of this RFP, or who believes the RFP contains any error, inconsistency, or omission should submit an inquiry requesting clarification, interpretation or explanation to the NSLC. Forward inquiries related to the tender Specifications to Daphne Sleigh, Team Lead, Information Technology at daphne.sleigh@mynslc.com and general Procurement inquiries to Stephen Bayer, Manager Procurement & Tendering at stephen.bayer@mynslc.com Deadline for submitting questions is Thursday, February 25, 2016 @ 2:00pm ADT. The NSLC reserves the right to distribute any or all questions and answers to all other potential Proponents through a Q&A addendum to be posted on the Public Tenders website. No information given verbally by the NSLC, or by means of telephone, will be binding, nor will it be construed to change the requirements of the RFP in any way. 4. Proposal documents must be emailed to Tenders@myNSLC.com prior to the RFP closing date of Wednesday, March 02, 2016 @2:00pm AST (Halifax local time). Please indicate the RFP Reference Number and Title on the email s subject line. 5. Late proposals received after the closing date and time will be disqualified from competition and not evaluated further. 6. Proposals will only be accepted by email as a PDF file attachment. 7. The Proponent should ensure that any calculations and totals are correct. If any discrepancies/errors are noted in the evaluation process, the quoted prices included in the proposal will prevail. All pricing must be submitted in Canadian dollars (CDN) exclusive of all taxes.

8. The Proponent is urged to reply to specific sections of the RFP in the manner requested. 9. Any and all charges to the NSLC must be included and clearly stated within the proposal. 10. The Proponent shall bear all costs associated with or incurred in the preparation and presentation of its proposal, including, if applicable, costs incurred for interviews or demonstrations. In the event that any proposal is not accepted, the NSLC will not be liable for any costs or damages incurred by the proponent. 11. The Proponent shall accept and agree that only contracts or amendments signed by the President & CEO of the NSLC will be valid. 12. The Proponent shall ensure that he has in his possession at the time of submission, all addenda that may have been issued. Confirmation can be obtained by checking the RFP document on the Public Tenders website at www.gov.ns.ca/tenders. 13. Notification of the successful proponent, if any, will be posted on the NS Public Tenders website after the successful proponent is determined. 14. All proposal submissions are subject to evaluation after opening. Proposals will be evaluated based on the evaluation criteria listed in Section 5 on page 12 of this RFP. On request, unsuccessful proponents are entitled to receive a debriefing on their proposals. 15. The NSLC reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals, or cancel the RFP altogether, at its sole discretion. By submitting a proposal in response to this RFP, each proponent agrees that it accepts and agrees to this condition. 16. The NSLC will consider all proposals as confidential subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act S.N.S. 1993, as amended from time to time. Any proprietary or confidential information should be identified as such and the desired treatment specified. The NSLC will, however, have the right to make copies of all proposals received, for its internal review process. 17. Note: In no event shall the NSLC be obligated to enter into the proponent s form of contract. In the event that a successful proponent fails or refuses to enter into, and duly execute a written contract acceptable to the NSLC within 45 days of the award, the NSLC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to: - extend the period for executing a contract; - invite the next-best-ranked proponent to enter into negotiations; - not accept any proposal; or - to call for new proposals The defaulting proponent shall be responsible for all losses, damages, costs,

and expenses (including consequential losses and damages, and legal fees on a solicitor-and-client basis) suffered or incurred by the NSLC as a direct or indirect result thereof, including but not limited to any increase in the price of performance over the price submitted by the defaulting proponent in its proposal.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ONLINE REPLATFORM HOSTING SPECIFICATIONS NOVA SCOTIA LIQUOR CORPORATION 93 CHAIN LAKE DRIVE HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA B3S 1A3 NSLC REFERENCE NO: SR-56-H-15

1. Introduction... 4 1.1. NSLC Overview... 4 1.2. RFP Purpose... 4 1.3. Cost and Value... 4 2. Nature of the Engagement... 5 2.1. Timing... 5 2.2. Scope of Services... 5 2.2.1. Technical Validation... 5 2.2.2. Configuration and Deployment... 5 2.2.3. Hosting Services... 5 3. Proponent Capabilities... 6 3.1. Required Capabilities and Experience... 6 3.2. Local Presence... 6 4. Proposal Contents... 7 4.1. Introduction... 8 4.2. Mandatory Conditions... 8 4.2.1. Laws of Nova Scotia... 8 4.2.2. Location... 8 4.2.3. Canadian Pricing... 8 4.3. Corporate Overview and Expertise... 8 4.3.1. Corporate Profile... 8 4.3.2. References... 8 4.4. Proposed Services... 9 4.4.1. Architecture Validation & Design... 9 4.4.2. Physical Environment... 9 4.4.3. Management Services... 9 4.5. Financials... 10 4.5.1. Managed Services... 10 4.5.2. Additional Services (Optional)... 11 4.5.3. Exclusions... 11 4.5.4. Conditions and Assumptions... 11 4.5.5. Warranties... 11 5. Proposal Evaluation and Award... 12 5.1. Evaluation Team... 12 5.2. Evaluation Process... 12 5.2.1. Step 1: Mandatory Elements Evaluated... 12 5.2.2. Step 2: Proposal Evaluation... 12 5.2.3. Step 3: Reference Checks... 12 5.2.4. Step 4: Final Selection... 12 5.3. Evaluation Timeline... 13 5.4. Notification and Award... 13 5.5. Finalization of Contract... 13 6. RFP Administration... 14 6.1. Title Page... 14 Page 2 of 16

6.2. Mandatory Conditions... 14 6.3. Proposal Format and Compliance... 14 6.4. Proponent s Responsibility for Clarification... 14 6.5. Information... 14 6.6. One Proposal... 15 6.7. Irrevocable Proposal... 15 6.8. Confidential Proposals... 15 6.9. No Liability for Expenses... 15 6.10. Verification... 15 6.11. Misleading Information... 15 Page 3 of 16

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. NSLC Overview The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) is one of Nova Scotia s largest retailers. For more than 80 years, the NSLC has been managing the safe and responsible sale of beverage alcohol in Nova Scotia, returning 100% of its profits to government to help fund key public services. The NSLC operates 103 retail stores and provides service to more than 60 Agency Stores, four Private Wine & Specialty stores and 2000 licensed establishments. The organization is customer focused, enjoying customer satisfaction ratings of 89%. As a true community partner, the NSLC conducts its business with integrity and respect for the environment. The NSLC employs more than 1400 Nova Scotians, supporting the sale of over $30 million in local products every year. NSLC s IT business unit is focused on delivering smart technology solutions to support the business needs of our organization. We are dedicated to providing quality frameworks for our initiatives, and to building beneficial partnerships with vendors and suppliers who can see and support business vision over the long term. 1.2. RFP Purpose The NSLC wishes to procure hosting for a new corporate website on a Sitecore platform with Active Commerce. This platform will replace the current NSLC online platform, and the new website will replace the current mynslc.com and m.mynslc.com. The NSLC seeks an experienced partner to provision suitable managed hosting services for our end-to-end website solution. The NSLC intends to work closely with the successful Proponent, to guarantee that the completed architecture can be fully referenced in supporting documentation, by a knowledgeable internal NSLC team. 1.3. Cost and Value The NSLC takes cost management seriously, in order to fulfil our mandate of returning as much profit as possible to the Provincial government for public use. Knowing that there is a wide range of expertise and price point in the hosting market, the NSLC wishes to maximize the value-for-cost balance in choosing the successful Proponent, but will not necessarily choose the lowest cost proposal. The ideal partner will be able to provide a balanced mix of levels of expertise at competitive rates, with appropriate, cost-effective resources. Page 4 of 16

2. NATURE OF THE ENGAGEMENT 2.1. Timing The new web presence must be live and fully functional by May 2, 2016. Proponents should be prepared to start work on the hosting environment immediately. The term of the initial implementation engagement will extend from its award to three years from date of signature. 2.2. Scope of Services 2.2.1. Technical Validation The successful Proponent will work with NSLC to understand and validate the hosting specifications and to fully understand the integration points, security needs and risk tolerance and mitigation requirements. The Proponent will also work with NSLC IT Operations team to determine and document an acceptable technical landscape. 2.2.2. Configuration and Deployment Pending the NSLC acceptance of the technical landscape, the Proponent will provision the agreed upon Sitecore/Active Commerce servers in the hosting environment, and begin the process of integrating with existing development environments and code control systems. Integration points will be established and tested for connectivity. Data backup and recovery services will be implemented and tested before go-live. 2.2.3. Hosting Services The Proponent will provide ongoing virtualized, scalable hosting and monitoring services. This will include uptime and alerting as agreed upon during technical validation, as well as the outlined reporting as determined. Licencing for Sitecore and Active Commerce will be provided by NSLC. All other infrastructure, resources and timeline maintenance will be provided by the proponent. Page 5 of 16

3. PROPONENT CAPABILITIES 3.1. Required Capabilities and Experience The successful Proponent will be able to demonstrate current experience in hosting and maintaining Sitecore websites with an ecommerce component, preferably Active Commerce. The Proponent will also be accustomed to working to an established Service Level Agreement with security and regulatory compliance components. 3.2. Local Presence Due to Provincial data and privacy requirements, an offshore business model will not be acceptable. All hosting, including backup/failover, must be located in Canada. The NSLC s preference will be to choose a partner with a local presence, both to enable team communication and to align with the NSLC s stated mandate to support Nova Scotia businesses. If an appropriate local partner is not available, the NSLC will consider a non-local Proponent on the basis of all other merits. Page 6 of 16

4. PROPOSAL CONTENTS This section describes the required content of the response to this RFP. All Proponents are asked to organize their proposals in the order outlined in the table of contents below. Proponents should include a Table of Contents in their response. Proponents are advised to limit their proposals to not longer than 8 pages. In addition to the sections noted below, Proponents are free to include additional material in appendices; however, only the requested sections of the proposal will contribute to scoring. Proposal Section Proposal Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Mandatory Conditions a. Laws of Nova Scotia b. Location c. Canadian Pricing 3. Corporate Overview and Expertise a. Corporate Profile b. References 4. Architecture Design a. Validation Approach b. Design Approach 5. Proposed Physical Environment a. Site Security Features b. Fire Suppression c. Climate Control & Power Management d. Connectivity 6. Proposed Managed Services 7. Financials a. Proposed Operations Management b. Proposed Security Management c. Experience with SLAs a. Managed Services b. Additional Services (Optional) c. Exclusions d. Conditions and Assumptions e. Warranties Page 7 of 16

4.1. Introduction Proponents must attach a letter of introduction to their proposal. It should be a maximum of 1 page in length and must be signed by the person or persons authorized to sign on behalf of, and bind the Proponent to, statements made in the proposal. The name and title of the signatory must be clearly identified. 4.2. Mandatory Conditions Mandatory conditions for this RFP are listed below. Any proposal that does not meet these requirements will be rejected without further consideration. 4.2.1. Laws of Nova Scotia The proposal must explicitly state that the Proponent agrees that the agreement(s) resulting from this RFP will be governed under the laws of Nova Scotia and Canada. 4.2.2. Location Proponents must identify the location from which their proposed NSLC services will be based. Proponents may also provide more detail on their overall locations and service breakdown, including how their larger corporate structure can provide support to the local presence. Managed Hosting Services must be located in Canada. Locations outside the country will not be considered. 4.2.3. Canadian Pricing The proposal must explicitly state that the pricing is submitted in Canadian (CDN) dollars exclusives of all taxes. 4.3. Corporate Overview and Expertise 4.3.1. Corporate Profile Proponents are required to provide a concise outline of their corporate profile. If there are multiple lines of business, please include only information relevant to the services requested in this RFP. The outline should, at a minimum, cover the following: Location of head office and significant branch locations. If one or more offices are located in Nova Scotia, please specify and provide the number of employees in the local office. Number of years in business Outline of client base, market position In this section Proponents may also note any memberships in relevant industry/professional associations, awards or accreditations achieved. 4.3.2. References Proponents must provide references from clients for whom they have recently provided similar services. A minimum of three references is preferred. Please include client contact information and email addresses, and a brief summary of the services provided and the timeline. Proponents should be advised that the NSLC may contact references as part of the evaluation process. Page 8 of 16

References from a relevant retail and/or service client with an online presence similar to the NSLC would be considered more desirable. Reference information should be provided in the following format: Item Name of the Client Organization Response Brief summary of services provided Name, title, phone number and e-mail of the reference contact(s) 4.4. Proposed Services 4.4.1. Architecture Validation & Design The successful proponent will have proven experience in the validation and design of hosting architecture for similarly sized organizations with comparable security and privacy requirements. The proponent will briefly describe an approach to: Requirements Validation Landscape Design The NSLC requires high availability but does not currently run critical business functions solely from the website, which receives a relatively modest amount of traffic from a fixed geographic area. As such, our current requirements, to be validated, are for Sitecore and Active Commerce hosting for: Production: Single (1 ea) Front End and Authoring servers and two (2) Microsoft SQL 2012 servers (cluster) Staging: Single (1) Front End server and single (1) Microsoft SQL 2012 server Redundant connectivity and firewalls SAN storage and backups (5 week retention) 4.4.2. Physical Environment The proponent will demonstrate the ability to provide hosting services with an appropriate physical environment, including: Physical security Fire Suppression Climate Control Power Management Connectivity 4.4.3. Management Services The proponent will outline experience in providing the services required to maintain a robust, secure and stable hosting environment, including: 24x7 operations management Security & Access management Service Level Agreement, including uptime and escalation and incident response time procedures. Page 9 of 16

4.5. Financials Proponents are asked to provide separate pricing for the one-time and monthly fees associated with hosting. 4.5.1. Managed Services Proponents must provide a firm quote for Managed Services. Proponents may present one overall fixed price for Managed Hosting Services or a modular approach composed of multiple fixed-price elements. Using the table format below, please describe the pricing element, indicate whether it is one-time or monthly, and the fixed price in Canadian dollars. Item One- Time $CAD Monthly Price $CAD Total Page 10 of 16

4.5.2. Additional Services (Optional) Proponents may provide an estimate for additional services/resources if they so desire. Fixed Cost Pricing Proponents may present one overall fixed price for additional services or a modular approach composed of multiple fixed-price elements. Using the table format below, please describe the pricing element, indicate whether it is one-time or monthly, and the fixed price in Canadian dollars. Item One- Time $CAD Monthly Price $CAD Total Time & Expense Pricing Proponents may present hourly rates for relevant resources for additional optional work/engagements related to the Managed Services. Rates may be per resource or blended. Resource Type Hourly Rate $CAD 4.5.3. Exclusions Unless otherwise noted, all information provided in section 4.4 of the proposal, Proposed Services, will be assumed to be included and accounted for in the proposed pricing. Proponents must specify any exclusions. 4.5.4. Conditions and Assumptions Proponents must document any assumptions made in the preparation of their proposed pricing, and any conditions on which successful completion will be based. 4.5.5. Warranties Proponents may provide information regarding acceptable options for assurances, guarantees and / or warranties regarding the quality and timeliness of technical services. Page 11 of 16

5. PROPOSAL EVALUATION AND AWARD 5.1. Evaluation Team The Evaluation Team will consist of representatives from within the NSLC. It is understood and accepted by any Proponent that all decisions about the degree to which a proposal meets the requirements of this RFP are the judgment of this Evaluation Team. 5.2. Evaluation Process 5.2.1. Step 1: Mandatory Elements Evaluated Each proposal s compliance to mandatory criteria identified in section 4.2 will be evaluated. Any proposals that fail to meet these will be disqualified. 5.2.2. Step 2: Proposal Evaluation Proposals that pass the mandatory criteria will be evaluated and scored using the categories and weights outlined below. Category Points Corporate Suitability 10 Proposed Services 40 Architecture Requirements Validation & Design 10 Physical Environment 15 Managed Services 15 Pricing 50 Total Score 100 5.2.3. Step 3: Reference Checks 5.2.4. Step 4: Final Selection The Evaluation Committee will review the scoring of Proponents, and make a final selection. Page 12 of 16

5.3. Evaluation Timeline The NSLC s planned timeline for activities related to this RFP is below. Through the course of the evaluation it may become necessary to adjust the timeline. In the case of a timeline adjustment before the closing date, the adjustment will be posted to the Public Tenders website. In the case of a timeline adjustment after the closing date, Proponents will be directly contacted with the information. Task Date Issue RFP Wed, Feb 17, 2016 Deadline for Q&A submissions (Questions from Proponents on RFP Content) Thurs, Feb 25, 2016 Closing date for Proposals Wed, Mar 2, 2016 @2pm AST (Halifax local time) Review Proposals Fri, Mar 4, 2016 Final Selection Mon, Mar 7, 2016 5.4. Notification and Award It is the nature of this RFP process that this is not an offer in relation to Contract A. No contract A, or a contract of any other form, is intended to be formed by acceptance of a proposal. The NSLC does not bind itself to select any proposal and may proceed as it determines, in its sole discretion, following receipt of proposals. The NSLC reserves each of the following rights, each of which may be exercised at its sole discretion, and for any reason whatsoever: To reject any or all of the proposals; To accept a proposal that does not satisfy every requirement of the NSLC identified in this RFP; To terminate this RFP for any reason or no reason. 5.5. Finalization of Contract The selection of a successful Proponent will not constitute a binding agreement, but will form the basis for the finalization of the terms upon which the NSLC and the Proponent will enter into an agreement, and does not mean that the proposal is necessarily totally acceptable in the form submitted. After the selection of a successful Proponent, the NSLC has the right to finalize the terms of the agreement with the Proponent, and as part of that process, to negotiate changes, amendments or modifications to the successful Proponent s proposal without offering the other Proponents a similar opportunity to amend their proposals. The acceptance of a proposal and the award of any aspect of subsequent assignments will be made in writing, and only in writing. At that time, the successful Proponent and the NSLC shall enter into discussions to finalize an agreement. Any award is provisional until the Proponent enters into a written contract on terms satisfactory to the NSLC. Page 13 of 16

6. RFP ADMINISTRATION The following terms will apply to this Request for Proposal and to any subsequent contract. Submission of a proposal in response to this Request for Proposal indicates acceptance of all the following terms. 6.1. Title Page Proponents must attach a Title Page to their proposal that contains the following: RFP Reference Number Closing Date and Time Name of Proponent Mailing address and physical address Web site address Name and title of primary contact person Telephone number and email address of primary contact person 6.2. Mandatory Conditions Any proposal that does not meet the mandatory conditions, identified in section 4.2 of the RFP, will be rejected without further consideration. 6.3. Proposal Format and Compliance All instructions relating to the information to be provided and its format are requirements that must be substantially adhered to in order for the proposal to receive consideration. Failure to do so may result in the proposal being declared non-compliant. Any proposals declared non-compliant will be given no further consideration. 6.4. Proponent s Responsibility for Clarification It is the Proponent s responsibility to ensure that it has all the necessary information concerning the intent and requirements of this RFP, and to seek clarification of any matter it considers to be unclear before submitting a response. The NSLC is not responsible for any misunderstanding of this RFP on the part of the Proponent. Proponents have the responsibility to obtain clarifications from the contacts noted in this RFP and failure to understand its terms will not be considered a valid reason for any resulting non-compliant rating. The Evaluation Team will only seek clarification from a Proponent if requested information is ambiguous or missing and if such clarification does not offer the Proponent the opportunity to improve the competitive position of its response. 6.5. Information All requirements, designs, documentation, plans and information obtained by the Proponent from the NSLC in connection with this RFP are the property of the NSLC, and must be treated as confidential and not used for any other purpose than replying to this RFP and the fulfillment of any subsequent contract. Upon request of the NSLC, all such designs, documents, plans and information shall be returned to the NSLC. Page 14 of 16

6.6. One Proposal Proponents may not submit more than one (1) proposal. Proponents may include options and alternatives in their proposal. Options may be included when the Proponent wishes to propose additional services beyond those specifically identified in the RFP. 6.7. Irrevocable Proposal The proposal submitted is irrevocable by the Proponent, and will remain in effect and open for acceptance by the NSLC for a period of sixty (60) days after the last day for the submission of proposals. 6.8. Confidential Proposals The NSLC will consider all proposals as confidential subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act S.N.S. 1993, as amended from time to time. Any proprietary or confidential information should be identified as such and the desired treatment specified. The NSLC will, however, have the right to make copies of all proposals received, for its internal review process. 6.9. No Liability for Expenses In the event that any proposal is not accepted, the NSLC will not be liable for any costs or damages incurred by the Proponent including, without limitation, any expenses incurred in the preparation and submission of the proposal or the preparation and performance of any presentations or demonstrations. 6.10. Verification The NSLC reserves the right to verify any information provided by a Proponent by whatever means it deems appropriate, including contacting references other than those offered, and to reject any such information if, in the judgment of the NSLC, such information is not verifiable. 6.11. Misleading Information It must be clearly understood that if there is any evidence of misleading or false information having been given, the NSLC may, at its sole discretion, reject the proposal. Note: In no event shall the NSLC be obligated to enter into the Proponent s form of contract. In the event that a successful Proponent fails or refuses to enter into, and duly execute a written contract acceptable to the NSLC within 45 days of the award, the NSLC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to: extend the period for executing a contract; award the contract to the next qualified Proponent; not accept any proposal; or to call for new proposals Page 15 of 16

and the defaulting Proponent shall be responsible for all losses, damages, costs, and expenses (including consequential losses and damages, and legal fees on a solicitor-andclient basis) suffered or incurred by the NSLC as a direct or indirect result thereof, including but not limited to any increase in the price of performance over the price submitted by the defaulting Proponent in its proposal. Page 16 of 16