Notice of Intent to Award Contract Under a Supply Chain Ontario Vendor Record Arrangement for Paging & Mobile Devices and Services

Notice of Intent to Award Contract (“Notice to Award”)

This is a public notice indicating to the supplier community that The Regional Municipality of York (the “Region”) intends to award a contract for goods, services or construction to a pre‐identified supplier, thereby allowing other suppliers to signal their interest in bidding, by submitting a Statement of Capabilities. If no supplier submits a Statement of Capabilities that meets the requirements set out in this Notice to Award, on or before the closing date specified above, the Region may then proceed with the award to the pre‐ identified supplier.

The Regional Municipality of York (the “Region”) has a requirement for paging and cellular mobile devices and services for Regional use. The purpose of this Notice to Award is to signal the Region’s intention to award a contract for these services and goods to the supplier identified in this notice.

Before awarding a contract, however, the Region provides other suppliers with the opportunity to demonstrate that they can satisfy the requirements set out in this Notice by submitting a Statement of Capabilities during the posting period.

If other potential suppliers submit Statements of Capabilities during the posting period that meet the requirements set out in the Notice to Award, the Region may undertake a public bid solicitation process in order to award the contract to a supplier that meets the Region’s requirements. If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date a Statement of Capabilities meeting the requirements set out in this Notice to Award, a contract will be awarded to the pre‐selected supplier.

As a municipality in Ontario, the Region is permitted to join a Supply Chain Ontario’s Vendor of Record (VOR).  A Vendor of Record arrangement is a procurement arrangement, established through a competitive bid process that permits one or more vendors to provide goods and services using the terms and conditions, including pricing, set out in the arrangement. The Region has identified that Supply Chain Ontario’s VOR arrangement OSS-00415819 for Paging and Mobile Devices and Services offers the best value as the arrangement facilitates for a greater volume discount than is generally available. As a result, it has therefore been determined that it is not in the public interest to solicit bids for paging and mobile devices and services.

The Region may participate in cooperative purchasing under Section 14 of the Region’s Purchasing Bylaw No. 2017-30

Title to Intellectual Property

There will be no resulting Intellectual property from this requirement.

Definition of the requirement

The Region is seeking the following:

• Pagers and paging service plans for use by Regional staff
• Cellphones and smartphones (including recent model, new Apple, Samsung, and Sonim devices) and associated unlimited voice and data service plans for use by Regional staff
• Wi-Fi hotspot cellular modems and associated unlimited data service plans for use by Regional staff
• Unlimited data service plans for use with cellular modems installed in laptops and tablets used by Regional staff

The Region is seeking the following carrier-specific services from Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Rogers):

• Pagers and paging service plans for use in school crossing signal flashers.  The Region has standardized on paging from a single carrier (Rogers) throughout the Region’s school crossing infrastructure to support the stability of and minimize complexity in the technology environment.
• Unlimited data service plans for use with Rogers SIM cards in machine-to-machine cellular modems to support transit and water and wastewater operations on existing dedicated APN and static IP addresses.  The Region has standardized on modems with services from a single carrier (Rogers) throughout the Region’s transit and water and wastewater infrastructure to support the stability of and minimize complexity in the technology environment.

Criteria for assessment of the Statement of Capabilities (Minimum Essential Requirements)

Any interested supplier must demonstrate in a Statement of Capabilities that it meets the following:

The supplier is a wireless carrier licensed by Innovation, Science, and Economic Development (ISED) Canada

The supplier must provide and support all of the following cellular networks across Canada:

2G/GSM network

3G UMTS/HSPA network, and/or

4G LTE network

The supplier must also provide and support the following low power cellular network across York Region:

4G LTE-M LPWA network 

The supplier must be able to provide an unlimited data plan with Canada-wide coverage, which allows for Tethering and Wi-Fi Hotspot use, and is not throttled in speed when the plan reaches a monthly GB limit

The supplier must be able to provide a voice plan with unlimited Canada-wide network calling and unlimited local calling

The supplier must be able to provide service to Rogers SIM cards in machine-to-machine cellular modems used to support transit and water and wastewater operations on existing dedicated APN and existing private static IP addresses

Period of the proposed contract or delivery date

The proposed contract is for a three year term from the date of contract award

Cost estimate of the proposed contract

The estimated maximum value of the contract is $12,685,000 CAD plus applicable taxes.

Names and addresses of the pre‐identified supplier

     Rogers Communications Canada Inc.

     333 Bloor Street East, 7th Floor

     Toronto, ON   Canada M4W 1G9

Suppliers' right to submit a Statement of Capabilities

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the goods and services described in this Notice to Award may submit a statement of capabilities by e‐mail to the contact person identified in this notice on or before the closing date of this notice. The statement of capabilities must clearly demonstrate how the supplier meets the advertised requirement.

Closing date for a submission of a Statement of Capabilities

The closing date and time for accepting Statements of Capabilities is November 3, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. EDT.

Inquiries and submission of Statements of Capabilities

Any comments or request for further information are to be directed to:

     Sunny Khemai, Manager, Procurement Strategy & Compliance

     The Regional Municipality of York

     Procurement Office, Finance Department

     17250 Yonge Street,

     Newmarket, ON L3T 6Z1

     Telephone: 1-877-464-9675, ext. 76003

     E‐mail: sunny.khemai@york.ca

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