FNEH Centre of Excellence Society Request for Qualifications Project Management Consulting Services Request for Qualification No. 09COE0001 Issue date: Friday December 19, 2008 Closing location: MAIL or COURIER/BY HAND Attention: Michelle Degroot #1205-100 Park Royal South West Vancouver, BC V7T 1A2 Closing date and time: 3 printed copies and 1 electronic copy of each Response must be received by 2:00 PM Pacific Time on Friday January 16, 2009 Contact person: Michelle Degroot First Nations Health Council MDegroot@fnhc.ca
Table of Contents 1 OVERVIEW OF THE REQUIREMENT... 3 2 REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS DEFINITIONS... 3 3 REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS... 4 3.1 Enquiries... 4 3.2 Closing Date... 4 3.3 Late Responses... 4 3.4 Qualifications Review Committee... 4 3.5 Review and Selection... 4 3.6 Estimated Time-Frames... 5 3.7 Signed Responses... 5 3.8 Changes to Response Wording... 5 3.9 Respondent Expenses... 5 3.10 Acceptance of Responses... 5 3.11 Definition of Contract... 6 3.12 Modification of Terms... 6 3.13 Ownership of Responses... 6 3.14 Confidentiality of Information... 6 3.15 Collection and Use of Personal Information... 6 3.16 Additional Information on the RFQ... 6 3.17 Debriefing... 7 4 SERVICES AND PRICING... 7 4.1 Services... 7 4.2 Pricing... 8 5 QUALIFICATION REVIEW CRITERIA... 8 5.1 Mandatory Criteria... 8 5.2 Desirable Criteria... 9 6 QUALIFICATION REVIEW PROCESS... 9 7 RESPONDENT S RESPONSE... 9 7.1 Description of Desirable Criteria... 10 7.2 Format of Responses... 12
1 Overview of the Requirement The vision for the BC First Nations e-health Centre of Excellence (CoE) is to create a state-of-the-art, full service organization of people, processes and technology. This CoE is mandated to assist First Nations to leverage e-health as a critical and valuable component in the management and delivery of health services in BC First Nation communities. The core services will encompass the following services: Telehealth, electronic health records, electronic medical records, e-health data centre, and a public health information system. The CoE will complement these health services and toolsets, with a comprehensive community engagement model supporting BC's 203 first nation communities, while embracing First Nations OCAP principles (Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession). To support the development, and implementation of the Centre of Excellence, the Board is seeking a qualified project manager and supporting project management office resources. The purpose of this Request for Qualifications (RFQ) is to identify qualified consultants with expertise in the provision of Project Management Services. The FNEH Centre of Excellence Society has identified various project management functions that are to be described by respondents of this RFQ. Based on the review of the RFQ Responses the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society intends to establish a List of Qualified Suppliers who may be contracted directly, or asked to compete to enter into Contracts for provision of the services described in Section 4. 2 Request for Qualifications Definitions Throughout this Request for Qualifications, the following definitions will be used: a) BC Bid means the electronic tendering service maintained by the Province; b) BC Bid Website means the website maintained by BC Bid at www.bcbid.ca, or any replacement website; c) Contract means a written contract executed by the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society and the Contractor as a result of an RFP; d) Contractor means a Qualified Respondent who is the successful Proponent to an RFP who enters into a Contract with the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society; e) must or mandatory means a requirement that must be met in order for a Response to receive consideration; f) Qualified Respondent means a Respondent possessing the qualifications described in this RFQ;
g) Respondent means an individual or a company that submits, or intends to submit, a Response; h) Response means a statement of qualifications submitted in reply to this RFQ; i) RFP means a Request for Proposals for provision of the services described in Section 4 that may be issued to all Qualified Respondents; j) RFQ means the process described in this Request for Qualifications; and k) should or desirable means a requirement having a significant degree of importance to the objectives of this RFQ. 3 Request for Qualifications 3.1 Enquiries All enquiries related to this RFQ are to be directed, in writing, to the contact person at the e-mail address on the front cover of this RFQ. Information obtained from any other source is not official and should not be relied upon. 3.2 Closing Date 3 complete hard copies of each Response plus one electronic copy on diskette must be received before 2:00 pm, Pacific Time, on Friday January 2, 2009 at the address on the front cover of this RFQ. Responses must not be sent by facsimile or e-mail. Responses and their envelopes should be clearly marked with the name and address of the Respondent, the RFQ number, and the project or program title. 3.3 Late Responses Responses will be marked with their receipt time at the closing location. Only complete Responses received and marked before closing time will be considered to have been received on time. Hard-copies of late Responses will not be considered or evaluated and will be returned to the Respondent. Electronic Responses that are received late on BC Bid will be marked late and will not be considered or evaluated. In the event of a dispute, the Response receipt time as recorded at the closing location for hard copy Responses or on BC Bid for electronic Responses will prevail whether accurate or not. 3.4 Qualifications Review Committee Review of Responses will be by a committee formed by the Centre FNEH Centre of Excellence Society and may include employees and contractors of the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society. 3.5 Review and Selection The qualifications review committee will check Responses against the mandatory criteria. Responses not meeting all mandatory criteria will be rejected without
further consideration. Responses that do meet all the mandatory criteria will then be assessed and scored against the desirable criteria. Responses not meeting a minimum score in a category will not be considered further. 3.6 Estimated Time-Frames The following timetable outlines the anticipated schedule for the RFQ, RFP and Contract process. The timing and the sequence of events resulting from this Request for Qualifications may vary and shall ultimately be determined by the Province. Event Anticipated Date RFQ Opening date 19 December 2008 RFQ Closing date 16 January 2009 Anticipated signing date of 23 January 2009 Contract Anticipated start date 26 January 2009 3.7 Signed Responses The Response must be signed, by a person authorized to sign, on behalf of the Respondent and to bind the Respondent to statements made in the Response to this RFQ. 3.8 Changes to Response Wording The Respondent will not change the wording of its Response after the closing date and time specified on the front cover of this RFQ and no words or comments will be added to the Response unless requested by the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society for purposes of clarification. 3.9 Respondent Expenses Respondents are solely responsible for their own expenses in preparing a Response and for subsequent negotiations with the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society, if any. The FNEH Centre of Excellence Society will not be liable to any Respondent for any claims, whether for costs or damages incurred by the Respondent in preparing the Response, loss of anticipated profit in connection with any final Contract, or any other matter whatsoever. 3.10 Acceptance of Responses This RFQ is not an agreement to purchase goods or services. The FNEH Centre of Excellence Society is not bound to enter into a Contract with any Qualified Respondent. Responses will be assessed in light of the qualification review criteria. The FNEH Centre of Excellence Society will be under no obligation to receive further information, whether written or oral, from any Respondent.
3.11 Definition of Contract Notice in writing to a Respondent that it has been identified as a Qualified Respondent will not constitute a Contract nor give the Respondent any legal or equitable rights or privileges relative to the service requirements set out in this RFQ. Only if a Qualified Respondent and the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society enter into a subsequent full written Contract, will a Respondent acquire any legal or equitable rights or privileges. 3.12 Modification of Terms The FNEH Centre of Excellence Society reserves the right to modify the terms of this RFQ at any time in its sole discretion. This includes the right to cancel this RFQ at any time without entering into a Contract. 3.13 Ownership of Responses All documents, including Responses, submitted to the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society become the property of the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society. They will be received and held in confidence by the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society, subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. 3.14 Confidentiality of Information Information pertaining to the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society obtained by the Respondent as a result of participation in this RFQ is confidential and must not be disclosed without written authorization from the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society. 3.15 Collection and Use of Personal Information Respondents are solely responsible for familiarizing themselves, and ensuring that they comply, with the laws applicable to the collection and dissemination of information, including resumes and other personal information concerning employees and employees of any subcontractors. If this RFQ requires Respondents to provide the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society with personal information of employees who have been included as resources in response to this RFQ, Respondents will ensure that they have obtained written consent from each of those employees before forwarding such personal information to the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society. Such written consents are to specify that the personal information may be forwarded to the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society for the purposes of responding to this RFQ and use by the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society for the purposes set out in the RFQ. The FNEH Centre of Excellence Society may, at any time, request the original consents or copies of the original consents from Respondents, and upon such request being made, Respondents will immediately supply such originals or copies to the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society. 3.16 Additional Information on the RFQ All subsequent information regarding this RFQ, including changes made to this document, will be posted on the BC Bid Website. It is the sole responsibility of
the Respondent to check for amendments and additional information on the BC Bid Website. 3.17 Debriefing The FNEH Centre of Excellence Society will not offer a debriefing to Respondents who did not make the List of Qualified Suppliers. 4 Services and Pricing 4.1 Services The Qualified Suppliers who become Contractors may perform and be responsible for, or support as a member of a team, the completion of any of the following services and duties: Reporting to the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society: (a) develop project definition statements or project charters; (b) develop project implementation strategies, including the associated risk profiles for each identified option; (c) make recommendations for project team design and composition; (d) make recommendations for project team communication and coordination strategies; (e) develop and document the detailed implementation plan for the approved strategy, including work effort estimates, assignments of responsibilities, milestones and approval points, identification of dependencies between tasks/actions, and the critical path; (f) track, monitor, and report on project progress, applying the Centre of Excellence Society s approved tool, ensuring management is alerted to all potential project delivery, timing and budget issues, as they become apparent; (g) conduct specific follow-up for actions and deliverables with team members, ensuring congruence of approach between all team members; (h) lead team and management update meetings, achieving cooperative resolution of all project related issues as they arise; (i) develop and recommend to management a plan for corrective action should a significant project issue develop, and implement that plan of action upon its approval; and
4.2 Pricing (j) provide summary reporting on all aspects of the project, at its conclusion. All Respondents are required to submit a schedule of daily consulting fees for each Consultant they may make available. These fee rates will be used in evaluating and qualifying Responses. Rates must be in Canadian Dollars and are to be exclusive of GST and PST. Rates must be inclusive of travel expenses within the lower mainland. Incidental travel expenses incurred by the Consultant for travel of less than 25 km from the FNHC offices will not be reimbursed. Travel expenses to locations 25 km or more from the FNHC offices must be approved, prior to the expenses being incurred. Authorized expenses will be reimbursed at rates currently in effect for the travel expenses incurred by employees of the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society. Quoted fees and other information provided on each Respondent will be made available to those employees and agents of the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society, responsible for the selection of consulting services, for the sole purpose of informing such a selection process. 5 Qualification Review Criteria 5.1 Mandatory Criteria The following are mandatory requirements. Responses not clearly demonstrating that they meet them will receive no further consideration during the evaluation process. Criteria a) The Response must be received at the closing location by the specified closing date and time. b) The Response must be in English and must not be sent by facsimile or e- mail. c) Three printed copies of the Response, and one electronic copy on disk or CD must be submitted. The electronic copy must be in MS Office compatible format and must not be write protected. d) The Response must be signed by a person authorized to sign on behalf of the Respondent. e) The Response must include a completed copy of Appendix B for each Consultant to be evaluated.
5.2 Desirable Criteria Responses meeting the mandatory requirements will be further assessed against the following desirable criteria. A Respondent not reaching the minimum score in a given category will receive no further consideration during the qualifications review. Criterion a) Education and years of relevant experience of the Consultant b) Demonstrated skills and experience of the Consultant in Project Management c) Demonstrated facilitation and consensus building expertise in managing stakeholders and interest groups, including the interests of First Nations communities Points Available 15 50 15 Percentage of Score Required Sub Total 80 60% Fee-Rate 20 60% Total 100 6 Qualification Review Process The following is the anticipated process to establish and utilize the List of Qualified Suppliers from this RFQ. A qualification review committee will assign scores based upon the information provided in the Responses originally submitted and in Responses to any requests by the FNEH Centre of Excellence Society for clarification of details received. In submitting the qualifications of their Consultants, and in order to receive full consideration, Respondents should ensure that they have provided all the information that the qualification review committee may reasonably require in order to assign scores for each criterion. In the event that the qualification review committee deems that no, or insufficient, information has been supplied, the committee will be under no obligation to request clarification or assign a score. 7 Respondent s Response Respondents are requested to submit qualifications for each individual Consultant. Respondents may submit information as to the individual Consultants capabilities and qualifications to provide the services they believe may be relevant to the Regional Authority s requirements.
Respondents should demonstrate through reference to specific projects that the presented Consultant possesses the qualifications that will be assessed. Responses should include all other information reasonably needed for the qualifications review. This process is meant to qualify individuals specifically, not the firms they work for generally. It is understood that statements and representations made on behalf of the Consultants in the Response shall be considered to be made by the Respondent. Any Contracts entered into with a Qualified Supplier will be with the firm and specifying the individual Consultant(s) to be utilized on the project. 7.1 Description of Desirable Criteria The Response should clearly identify the following: a)education and years of relevant experience of the Consultant: The Response should include a resume/cv for the Consultant of no more than 2 pages, which provides confirmation of the Consultant s years of relevant experience in the provision of Project Management Services. This should relevant project experience in which there is demonstrated knowledge and cultural sensitivity concerning aboriginal issues, through working directly and in consultation with First Nations communities and organizations. The Response must also include a completed Appendix B for each Consultant that details the degrees, certificates, diplomas or professional designations held or earned by the Consultant. The completed Appendix B for each Consultant should also include details of any relevant awards or recognitions received by the Consultant. b)demonstrated skills and experience of the Consultant: The Response must include a completed Appendix B for each Consultant. Those Assignment Outlines in Appendix B that do not include a Contact Name and Contact Number will not be assessed in the Qualification Review. The Assignment Outlines are expected to demonstrate the technical skills using industry standard Project Management Institute (PMI) best practices applied by the Consultant during the assignment, or through the completion of services, duties and the associated deliverables,
including specifically where services such as the following have been provided: o develop project definition statements or project charters; o develop project implementation strategies, including the associated risk profiles for each identified option; o make recommendations for project team design and composition; o make recommendations for project team communication and coordination strategies; o develop and document the detailed implementation plan for the approved strategy, including work effort estimates, assignments of responsibilities, milestones and approval points, identification of dependencies between tasks/actions, and the critical path; o track, monitor, and report on project progress, applying the Province s approved tool, MS Project, ensuring management is alerted to all potential project delivery, timing and budget issues, as they become apparent; o conduct specific follow-up for actions and deliverables with team members, ensuring congruence of approach between all team members; o lead team and management update meetings, achieving cooperative resolution of all project related issues as they arise; o develop and recommend to management a plan for corrective action should a significant project issue develop, and implement that plan of action upon its approval; and o provide summary reporting on all aspects of the project, at its conclusion. c)demonstrated facilitation and consensus building expertise in managing stakeholders and interest groups, including the interests of First Nations communities: The Response must include a completed Appendix B for each Consultant. Those Assignment Outlines in Appendix B that do not include a Contact name and Contact Number will not be assessed in the Qualification Review. The Assignment Outlines are expected to be for relevant past projects completed by the Consultant, where the Consultant demonstrated:
o an ability to facilitate/mediate between groups and individuals with diverse interests in order to foster open and respectful dialogue and to bring issues to conclusion. o an ability to work on a team, providing support for other team members and the project, ensuring congruence of approach between all team members, and the team to a cooperative resolution of project related issues as they arise, NOTE: Assessments will be based on the information provided in the completed Appendix B for each Consultant. Care should be taken to ensure the completed Appendix B clearly demonstrates: o The role of the Consultant on the assignment (i.e. provide advice, recommendations, professional opinion or the delivery of specific services, etc); o The nature, complexity, and scale of the project. Knowledge of provincial processes, human services / social policy, and First Nations interests / concerns is most relevant to this RFQ; and o Names and telephone numbers of contacts who can confirm work experience on each listed Assignment Outlines should be provided. Assessments will be based on the relevance of each assignment and on the diversity between assignments. Assignments that appear to be similar in scope or deliverables will be treated as concentrations of experience. 7.2 Format of Responses The following format and sequence should be followed in order to provide consistency in Responses and ensure each Response receives full consideration. All pages should be consecutively numbered. a) A cover letter signed by a person authorized to sign on behalf of the Respondent. b) A document in a form substantially similar to Appendix B for each Consultant presented by the Respondent. Appendix B is intended to provide the information requested for each Consultant under Section 7.1 a), b), and c). The Appendix B submitted for each Consultant must include a completed General Information section and a completed Page 2 of Appendix B where additional Page 2 forms are used for additional Assignment Outlines.
c) For each Consultant presented, a résumé (maximum 2 pages) containing information on that Consultant s relevant skills and experience indicating the time the Consultant was engaged in each assignment or position. This will mainly be used to substantiate the overall years of relevant experience. Due to volume, time constraints and the purpose of this solicitation, information provided in addition to the above will not necessarily be provided any consideration by the Qualification Review Committee.
Appendix A - Individual s Qualification Summary One copy of this or a substantially similar form must be completed and submitted for each Consultant included in the Response. Responses will be evaluated, in part, on the basis of the Respondent s declarations as to the skills and experience of each Consultant presented. Each section of this form should be used as a guideline to the level of detail or volume of content expected from the Respondent. Name of Consultant: Name of Firm (if applicable): Title or Position in Firm: Consultant s Office Address: Phone: ( ) Fax: ( ) E-mail: Degrees, Certificates, Diplomas or Professional Designations Held or Earned: Degrees, Certificate, Diploma or Designation Issuing Institution or Association Date Conferred or Awarded Awards, Recognitions Issuing Institution or Association Date Conferred or Awarded Awards and Recognitions Presented Fee Rates: Daily Fee Rate: $ Per 8 hour day
Appendix A Page 2 Complete the relevant background information the Consultant has. For Years of Experience, please ensure the Assignment Outlines clearly articulate the Consultant meets the minimum Length of Assignments requirements for each category. Years of Experience noted in the column for each category can be for a period longer than that of the Length of Assignments. A resume should be provided that substantiates the balance. For Skill Level please refer to matrix below chart. Each individual assignment section for this category should be no more than 100 words. Category: Experience Project Management Assignment Outline: Services Total Years of Experience:. (minimum total of Length of Assignments that must be outlined on this form = 5 years) Role of Respondent: Outcome(s) from assignment directly developed by Respondent: Length of Assignment: Contact Name: Assignment Outline: Skill Level: Contact Number: Role of Respondent: Outcome(s) from assignment directly developed by Respondent: Length of Assignment: Contact Name: Assignment Outline: Skill Level: Contact Number: Role of Respondent: Outcome(s) from assignment directly developed by Respondent: Length of Assignment: Skill Level: Contact Name: Contact Number: = Skill Level Descriptions: 0. None 1. Junior exposure to product or skill, with very little working knowledge 2. Intermediate working knowledge of product or skill 3. Senior thorough working knowledge, has supervised others in this area