Standing offer and Supply arrangement: Guard services
Goods and Services Identification Number (GSIN): K105A
National Master Standing Offer (NMSO) and Supply Arrangement (SA)
Procurement officer
Sophie Cayer
613-858-8846
sophie.cayer@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
What do we buy
Guard services—The Canadian Corps of Commissionaires (the Corps) have had the exclusive right to supply guard services to Federal departments and agencies on a sole source basis since 1945, as granted by the Treasury Board common services policy—utilizing the “Right of First Refusal (RFR)”. At the end of the Second World War, this social policy was created to provide meaningful employment opportunities for veterans, and currently there are approximately 5,100 veterans employed and providing services to federal clients. As per the policy, guard services are defined as services related to safeguarding of federal assets, information, persons, buildings and property owned or occupied by federal departments or agencies. These services include: intervention, access control, custodial duties of information and assets, escort duties, security scanning, fingerprinting, etc.
In 2006, Treasury Board imposed a condition that 60% of the hours worked nationally must be performed by veterans, and the Corps must produce annual attest audits verifying compliance with this condition.
How do we buy
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) offers guard services to clients through multiple methods of supply, however, the primary one is a NMSO, which enable all departments, agencies listed in Schedules I, I.1, II—of the Financial Administration Act, and Crown corporations.
- The NMSO is comprised of 15 divisions across Canada, and a national office located in Ottawa, Ontario
- For work turned down (refused) by the Corps, PSPC manages 7 Regional Master Standing Offers (RMSOs) that were competitively awarded to provide commercial guard services across 6 regions: Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairies, Alberta, and Pacific. 6 out of the 7 RMSOs were won by the Corps, however, a new competitive solicitation process is currently on-going, which includes updated technical requirements written by departmental security officers and a selection methodology looking to qualify up to 3 suppliers per region. Industry consultations will take place in fall 2018
- Over the years, the requirements of various departments have evolved. To satisfy clients’ unique security guard requirements, PSPC has also established Departmental Individual Standing Offers (DISOs) to provide guard services still within the scope of the RFR. However, due to the unique guard requirements, these additional methods of supply were created to provide specific services to clients, which include Court Administrative Services, Global Affairs Canada, and the Privy Council Office
- This new method of supply will replace the RMSO’s indicated above. The intent is to qualify multiple suppliers across Canada as a back-up to the NMSO for those instances when the Corps turns down the work or cannot provide the services. The Canadian Collaborative Procurement Initiative (CCPI) users will not utilize the NMSO with the Corps, however, can be listed as an authorized users of the Standing Offer (SO) and SA once awarded
Socio-economic aspects
Provides meaningful employment for veterans, which includes provision of uniforms, training, and medical benefits.
Value / Savings / Considerations
The new SO and SA will be competitive, and qualified suppliers will have to be within a pre-determined percentage of the median in order to be deemed ‘best value’. There will be no ranking of suppliers, so clients will be able to select the supplier from the qualified list. Economies of scale are generated through the use of SOs which ease the administrative burden for clients, as they are able to issue a call-up/contract covering guard requirements from the list of qualified suppliers at pre-determined terms, conditions and rates.
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