Virtual tutoring, oral proficiency in English (Stream 3) or French (Stream 4) as a second language

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Offerors and prices

Many offerors are qualified per work stream, please refer to the List of offerors and rates (available only on the Government of Canada network).

Objectives

The services in these streams of work are aimed at acquiring, improving and maintaining learners' achievements, as well as preparing them for special events or for the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) second language evaluation of oral proficiency.

The teaching resource must correct and explain learners’ errors during or after each discussion. The preparations, explanations and corrections by the teaching resource must take into account the level of the learners.

Tutoring must uphold Canadian values such as, but not limited to, respect for human rights, gender equality, respect for the law, tolerance, respect for cultural diversity, linguistic duality and respect for Indigenous peoples. Among other things, the topics addressed must be free of any sexist, racist or offensive material, as well as any social or symbolic violence with a negative or pejorative bias toward a cultural or linguistic group.

Group tutoring: Oral communication

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Number of learners per group

Identified users will create groups of 2 to 4 learners at the same level for group tutoring for learning retention purposes.

Schedule

Each group tutoring session will have a minimum duration of 1 hour and maximum of 3 hours.

These services must be available Monday to Friday, between 7:00 am and 10:00 pm (Eastern Time), excluding federal government statutory holidays and from December 25 to January 1.

Assessment of learner level

Identified users must create groups with learners at the same level. To do this, they can use the self-assessment form. It should be noted that the security level of all offerors does not allow for the safeguard of protected information, such as the results of PSC language tests (this information is Protected A).

Individual tutoring: Oral communication

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Schedule

Each individual tutoring session will have a minimum duration of 1 hour.

These services must be available Monday to Friday, between 7:00 am and 10:00 pm (Eastern Time), excluding federal government statutory holidays and from December 25 to January 1.

The schedule for this tutoring will be decided in collaboration with the offeror’s and the learner’s availability, while respecting the schedule limitations mentioned in the call ups. The identified user may limit the tutoring schedule to certain time periods only (for example, between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm from Monday to Thursday), which must be respected by the offeror when setting up the schedule with the learner.

Assessment of learner level

Identified users must create groups with learners at the same level. To do this, they can use the self-assessment form. It should be noted that the security level of all offerors does not allow for the safeguard of protected information, such as the results of PSC language tests (this information is Protected A).

Material subject to discussion

When submitting the request, the identified user will indicate the purpose of the individual tutoring, for example, to prepare for the PSC’s second language evaluation, to prepare for a presentation or simply for learning retention.

In some cases, such as preparing for a presentation, the learner will have to provide the material to be discussed (unprotected documents). The teaching resource must correct and explain the learner’s errors during or after each discussion.

Virtual platform for tutoring

The virtual platform used for virtual tutoring must have all the following features:

The virtual platform must not be used to record tutoring sessions where the voice and/or image of the learners are involved. This function, which is often available in this type of platform, should be disabled when the voice and/or image of the learners are featured.

Creating and issuing a call-up

It is recommended that a call-up be issued at least 20 business days prior to the desired start of the tutoring. The identified user must understand that language training tutoring is a service involving human resources, which requires significant planning on the part of the offeror. It would therefore be unreasonable to request a start of tutoring for the day following the issuance of a call-up.

Certain times of the year are very busy, such as January, March and September, so please plan your tutoring needs accordingly.

For individual tutoring, it is recommended to issue a call-up with the total number of hours allocated to the learner and an end date, not a mandatory number of hours per week. The learner and the teaching resource will then be able to determine a schedule for the hours allocated during the specified period of the call-up.

Types of call-up

  1. The purchase of individual tutoring (as a lot or not): When the call-up is made for a lot of services, the identified user will authorize the use of the services by the learners as required by communicating identifying information on the learner to the offeror. Only the identified user (or its representative identified in the call-up) may authorize the use of the services of the call-up
  2. The purchase of a group tutoring package, with the learners pre-identified in the call-up: For call-ups for group tutoring, the names of the learners should be identified at the time of call-up, as well as the desired training start date for group of learners. This will allow the offeror to plan training start dates based on the call-ups received
  3. Any other combination of services available in the standing offer: Call-ups combining individual and group tutoring can be issued following the instructions mentioned in A. and B. above

Call-up forms and information

  1. Any of the following forms could be used which are available through the forms catalogue (available only on the Government of Canada network):
    • PWGSC-TPSGC 942 Call-up against a standing offer
    • PWGSC-TPGSC 942-2 Call-up against a standing offer: Multiple delivery
    • PWGSC-TPSGC 944 Call-up against multiple standing offers (English version)
    • PWGSC-TPSGC 945 Commande subséquente à plusieurs offres à commandes (French version)
  2. An equivalent form or electronic call-up document which contains at a minimum the following information:
    • standing offer number
    • statement that incorporates the terms and conditions of the standing offer
    • description and unit price for each line item
    • total value of the call-up
    • point of delivery (this is the learner’s province)
    • confirmation that funds are available under section 32 of the Financial Administration Act
    • confirmation that the user is an identified user under the standing offer with authority to enter into a contract
  3. Also any call-up could include the following information:
    • the name of the learner(s)
    • the contact information (name, email and mailing address, telephone number and name of the federal institution) of the employee's training coordinator, who is responsible for receiving all deliverables and answering questions related to the employee's training
    • the contact information (name, e-mail and mailing address, telephone number and name of federal institution) of the person responsible for receiving and paying invoices
    • restrictions regarding tutoring periods (e.g. must be between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm)

Call-up process

Identified users can issue call-ups in accordance with the Government Contract Regulations, paragraph 6(b)(i) (current value of $40,000) directly to a qualified offeror.

When the identified user does not issue a call-up in accordance with the Government Contract Regulations, paragraph 6(b)(i), regardless of the value of the call-up, the call-ups will be allocated to offerors on a rotation basis. The offerors will be notified by an email from the standing offer authority when they are identified to receive a specific call-up. If an email from the standing offer authority is not received but a call-up valued above the Government Contract Regulations threshold is awarded to the offeror, the offeror will refuse the call-up.

Please contact the standing offer authority (tpsgc.paformationlinguistique-aplanguagetraining.pwgsc@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca) to obtain the name of the offeror, providing the following information:

Note: It is recommended that offeror rotation be used for all call-ups with an estimated value near the $40,000 limit in order to avoid complications if the volume of services requested increases.

Limitation of call-ups

Individual call-ups against the standing offer must not exceed $400,000.00 (applicable taxes included).

If the call-up was issued in accordance with the Government Contract Regulations, paragraph 6(b)(i) (current value of $40,000) directly to a qualified offeror, the value should not exceed $40,000.00 (applicable taxes included). If a call-up issued under this threshold must be amended to an amount above this threshold, the identified user must document his/her file accordingly, in accordance with the rules of the Government Contract Regulations.

Call-up cancellation and postponement fees and unforeseen absences

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Call-up cancellation fees for tutoring

In all cases, should notice be given at least 10 business days before the tutoring is to start, no cancellation fee will apply.

Learner (individual tutoring)

After 10 business days’ notice has elapsed, the equivalent of 2% of the price of the unused training hours provided for in the call-up will be paid in cancellation fees. For example, if a call up provides for 100 hours of tutoring for Julie Tremblay and a cancellation is made after 10 hours of tutoring, the cancellation fee would be the equivalent of 1.8 hours of tutoring (2% of the remaining 90 hours in the call-up).

Group tutoring (Streams 3 and 4)

After 10 business days’ notice has elapsed, the equivalent of 2% of the price of the unused training hours provided for in the call-up shall be paid in cancellation fees. For example, if a call up provides for 100 hours of tutoring for a group from department XYZ and a cancellation is made for the entire group after 10 hours of group tutoring have been used, the cancellation fee would be the equivalent of 1.8 hours of tutoring (2% of the remaining 90 hours in the call-up).

After 10 business days’ notice has elapsed, if a learner of a group wishes to cancel his or her participation in the group, the group will continue without that learner and the hourly price will not be reduced. The identified user may decide to replace the learner with a learner at the same level.

Unforeseen absences

Unforeseen absences: Learner (individual tutoring)

The identified user will pay the offeror for a learner’s unforeseen absence for which at least 1 business day’s written notice has not been given.

Unforeseen absences for which notice was sent 1 business day in advance may be made up at the end of the call-up period, but not after the date of the end of the call-up, unless they are authorized by the identified user by way of a call-up amendment.

Unforeseen absences for which notice was not sent 1 day in advance may not be postponed, unless they are authorized by the identified user by way of a call-up amendment.

A maximum of 2 unforeseen absences per month is permissible. If more than 2 unforeseen absences are requested, the identified user will pay the offeror 100% of the price of the cancelled tutoring session. An unforeseen absence is an absence of a maximum of 3 consecutive business days not identified in the call-up.

Unforeseen absences: Entire group (group tutoring)

The identified user shall pay the offeror for any unforeseen absence of an entire group of learners if written notice was not given at least 1 business day in advance.

Unforeseen absences for which notice was sent 1 business day in advance may be made up at the end of the call-up period, but not after the date of the end of the call-up, unless they are authorized by the identified user by way of a call-up amendment.

Unforeseen absences for which notice was not sent 1 day in advance may not be postponed, unless they are authorized by the identified user by way of a call-up amendment.

A maximum of 2 unforeseen absences per month is permissible. If more than 2 unforeseen absences are requested, the identified user will pay the offeror 100% of the price of the cancelled group tutoring session. An unforeseen absence is an absence of a maximum of 3 consecutive business days not identified in the call-up.

Date modified:
2024-05-10