Contract for GCSN Secure Network Hubs

Shared Services Canada’s Colocation Services Requirement in Canada 
What is an ACAN: An ACAN is a public notice indicating to the supplier community that a             department or agency 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 the ACAN, on or before the closing date stated for in the ACAN, the contracting officer may then proceed with the award of a contract.
This ACAN relates to 1 contract proposed to be awarded to 1 contractor.Definition of requirement: Shared Services Canada (SSC) has a requirement to maintain the colocation services at four (4) secure Government Network Communications Hubs. These Communication Hubs were built to support the Digital Government Mandate & Treasury Board, Office of the Chief Information Officer’s (OCIO’s) Digital Operations Strategic Plan, Government of Canada Science Network (GCSN) as well as the Canada/US connection (CanUS). Each Communication Hub is connected to a high speed core network to provide high-throughput, low latency internal routing of traffic. The Communication Hubs provide secure and consolidated access to external networks, SSC’s Enterprise Data Centres (EDC), cloud services and other strategic assets across the country.   Long-Term Plan.  The Government of Canada has begun discussions to create new communications hubs spread out across Canada. Current discussions are focused on where communication hubs will have the most operational impact, as well as working with the vendor community to evaluate where colocation services can be provided. Any and all future communication hubs will be openly competed on a site-by-site basis.                 PurposeAs the colocation services are critical for the daily operations of many GoC Departments and services, SSC is seeking to secure and stabilize existing services with improved solutions. The requirement is for a single supplier for the listed geographic areas listed in section 6 below, commencing on November 1, 2023.                         The services and/or goods to be provided are as stated in each section of this document at the various locations stated in section 6.3.         Government Contracts Regulations Exception and Limited Tendering Reason: This requirement is directed to the vendor as listed in this ACAN for the operating areas identified in below in section 5, in accordance with exception Section 6 (d) of the Government Contracts Regulations that states that only one person or firm is capable of performing this contract.  To SSC’s knowledge, no suppliers other than those listed in this ACAN have the necessary infrastructure to deliver the required services to the required locations.4.         Sole Source Justification: According to the SSC Technical Authority, Cologix is the only vendor capable of providing all of the required services in the required locations. The service must be provided within the existing environment.  5.          Period of the proposed contract and required delivery: The proposed contract is estimated to be awarded on or before November 1, 2023, with delivery of services to commence immediately upon notification of contract award. The initial contract period shall start on November 1, 2023, for a three (3) year initial period with three (3) additional one-year option periods.6.         The Proposed Contractor and the associated estimated cost for the contract is as follows:a)         Geographic Area where Services Required: The country of Canada.             Montreal Site: 1250 Rene-Levesque Ouest, Suite 500, 5th flrMontreal, Quebec, H3B 4W8            Toronto Site:            151 Front St. W., 2nd flrToronto, Ontario, M5J 2N1Vancouver 1 Site:1050 West Pender Street,Vancouver, British Columbia V6E 3S7Vancouver 2 Site:            2828 Natal StreetVancouver, British Columbia V5M 2H1Proposed Contractor:COLOGIX CANADIAN ISSUER LIMITED PARTNERSHIP,by its GENERAL PARTNER, COLOGIX CANADIAN ISSUER GP INC.,by COLOGIX CANADA, INC., as manager:Official HW Address:1601 19th St,Denver, Colorado80202Registered Office Address:1741 Lower Water Street, Suite 600Halifax, NSB3J 0J2            Estimated Cost for the 6 year contract period (GST/HST extra): $13,219,000.007.         Suppliers' right to submit a statement of capabilities: Suppliers who consider themselves                   fully qualified and available to provide the services described herein, may submit a Statement of Capabilities in writing to the contact person identified below on or before the closing date of         this notice. The statement of capabilities must clearly demonstrate how the supplier meets the         advertised requirements. Interested suppliers are required to submit a statement of capabilities         during the 15 calendar day posting period.If other potential supplier submits a statement of capabilities during the 15 calendar day posting period that meets the requirements set out in this ACAN, the government will proceed to a full tendering process on either the government's electronic tendering system or through traditional means, in order to award the contract.            If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a statement of capabilities meeting the                   requirements set out in this ACAN, a contract will be awarded to the pre-selected supplier. 8.          Minimum Essential Requirements: Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a Statement of Capabilities that it can fulfill the requirements contained herein, of the Statement of  Work and the following requirements in order to be able to carry out the work:  Corporate Capabilities
The vendor must currently have a minimum of 300 employees The vendor must have an average annual revenue of at least $250,000,000.00CAD over the last 3 Years The vendor must demonstrate a MINIMUM of 10 Years of experience providing the following:
        a)  Colocation services and;        b)  Infrastructure as a Service. The vendor must demonstrate experience supporting the following classes of clients:
      a)  Federal Gov’t of Canada (minimum 100,000 users) ;      b)  Provincial/State Government (minimum 60,000 users) and Municipal/City Government (minimum 40,000 users); and      c)  Fortune 250 Companies or Large Enterprise (minimum 100,000 users) The vendor must have a minimum of Three (3) Data Centers available in the Three (3) listed Municipalities and Provinces:
        a)  Toronto, Ontario;        b)  Montreal, Quebec; and        c)  Vancouver, British Columbia The vendor must be able to demonstrate that its Data Centers are designed and constructed to a MINIMUM Tier 3 standard as per the Uptime Institute tier classification or equivalent.  SSC reserves the right to deem what is considered equivalent.
Please see: https://uptimeinstitute.com/tiers
The vendor must have a current Data Center presence in these markets. The addresses are as follows:
        a)  151 Front St. West, Toronto, Ontario. M5J 2N1;        b)  1250 Rene-Levesque Blvd West,  Montreal, Quebec. H3B 4W8;         c)  1050 West Pender Ave, Vancouver BC, V6E 3S7; and        d)  2828 Natal Street, Vancouver BC. V5M 2H1 The vendor and/or Data Center facilities must currently hold the following certifications/attestations:
  a)  Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements 18 (SSAE 18) SOC 1 – Type 2 Certification;  b)  Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements 18 (SSAE 18) SOC 2 – Type 2 Certification;  c)  International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001 Certification;  d)  Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Compliance; and  e)  Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) Compliance  Technical Capabilities
Internet Exchange Provider (IXP) Services Requirements
The vendor must host one Internet Exchange (IX) listed below in each co-location facility:
TorIX - Toronto, Ontario – www.torix.ca; QIX - Montreal, Quebec – www.qix.ca; and VanIX - Vancouver, British Columbia – www.vanix.ca
 
Fibre Requirements
The vendor must provide fibre access in each co-location facility:
TorIX - Toronto, Ontario – www.torix.ca; QIX - Montreal, Quebec – www.qix.ca; and VanIX - Vancouver, British Columbia – www.vanix.ca
 
Cloud Exchange Provider (CXP) Service Requirements
The vendor must be an Authorized/Certified and Active Member of Partner Provider Program with the following Cloud providers listed on the Government of Canada’s “GC Cloud Services” website. The Cloud Providers include but are not limited to the following:
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud Microsoft Azure ThinkOn Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Salesforce IBM Cloud ServiceNow Cloud Google Cloud Platform
Please see:  https://gc-cloud-services.canada.ca/s/gc-cloud-fa?language=en_US  Operational Service and Support Requirements
The vendor must have a minimum of 5 Operations personnel available 24 x7 in each market consisting of the vendor’s dedicated technicians & technical support staff. The vendor must have personnel with valid security clearance issued by the Government of Canada at Level II (Secret) in each market identified in the ‘Corporate Capability’ section. The vendor must have provided bilingual (French and English) customer support using a dedicated toll free number to an organization with a minimum of 5,000 employees where the vendor provided that help desk support on a nationwide presence across Canada. The vendor and/or its Core Team Member(s) must have continuously provided support, including onsite, operating 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year with a 4 hour or better response time, with available dedicated bilingual toll-free support. The vendor must have a Self-Serve, Bilingual Customer Support/Customer Management Portal/Platform comprised of the following functions:
Customer Support – Service Ticketing Requests (Operations & Customer Care/Support, Configuration & Change Management); Customer Support – Finance Ticketing Requests (Billing & Finance);
c)   Customer Support – Ticketing History;d)   Customer Support – Customer Order History;e)   Customer Support – User Management (User Profiles, Roles & Responsibilities);f)    Finance – Customer Invoices;g)   Operations - Customer Notifications;h)   Reporting – Space Allocation/Utilization;i)    Reporting – Power Allocation/Utilization;j)    Reporting – Interconnection Allocation/Utilization;k)   Reporting – Network Allocation/Utilization; andl)    Reporting – Certifications & Attestation Reports The vendor’s Self-Serve, Bilingual Customer Support/Customer Management Portal/Platform must catalog the following information:
a)   Users Name;b)   Users IP Address;c)   Date of Login; andd)   Time of Login9.         Security requirement: This ACAN contains a requirement for vendor and personnel security screening. Please see minimum essential criteria in section 8 above. 10.         The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is:   
October 24, 2023 @ 02:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time EDT

11.        Submission of Enquiries:              All enquiries must be submitted no later than 3 calendar days before the ACAN closing date. 12.       Submission of statements of capabilities: Suppliers may inquire or submit a statement of               capabilities to:            Maxime Imbert             Senior Procurement Officer            Shared Services Canada             Telephone No.: +1 (555) 000-0000             Email: contact@example.gov                                       SSC Contract for GCSN Secure Network Hubs - Amendment 001