Canadian Institutes
of Health Research
(CIHR)
Web-based, Software as a
Service, Learning Management
Solution (LMS)
Request for Qualifications
(RFQ)
RFQ
Closing Date and Time
May 30, 2017, 14:00 hours Ottawa, Ontario, Canada time
RFQ Reference Number: CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Request for Qualifications (RFQ) –
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) –
Web-based, Software as a Service, Learning
Management Solution (LMS)
Purpose
This Request for Qualifications (RFQ) is issued to invite interested parties to submit responses
(Submissions) to this RFQ indicating their interest in, and qualifications to deliver a web-based, Software
as a Service (SaaS), Learning Management Solution (LMS) for the Canadian Institutes of Health
Research (CIHR) and its external partners and stakeholders. Additional information on CIHR’s
requirements for the LMS is provided in Appendix “A” and “B” to this RFQ.
Based on Submissions received to this RFQ, CIHR intends to pre-qualify, in accordance with the terms of
this RFQ, up to five (5) Respondents to this RFQ as potential Bidders who will be invited to participate in
an anticipated second-stage Request for Proposals (RFP).
Any second-stage RFP issued by CIHR is intended to seek the establishment of one (1) contract. The
term of any contract resulting from any second-stage RFP will be for a period of three (3) years from date
of any award, with up to two (2) additional one (1) year option periods, exercisable in CIHR’s sole
discretion.
This RFQ is issued solely for the purpose of pre-qualifying Respondents. This RFQ or pre-qualification of
Respondents pursuant to this RFQ does not result in any commitment on the part of CIHR to proceed to
issue any second-stage RFP or to enter into a contractual agreement with any Respondent.
Objectives
CIHR requires an LMS SaaS hosting service to deploy on-line training modules in both Official
Languages (English and French) to external stakeholders across Canada and worldwide. The long-term
vision is to have the LMS seamlessly integrate with other CIHR systems through a Single Sign-On (SSO)
solution.
In support of the orientation and professional development of members of CIHR’s College of Reviewers,
funding Applicants and academic institutions, and on-going staff professional development and
operational learning requirements for members of CIHR’s virtual Institutes, CIHR is seeking to procure a
hosted LMS, together with Professional Services to provide the associated implementation, configuration,
testing, training, maintenance and support for the LMS, as well as further development. The LMS will
support CIHR in the delivery of their suite of learning materials, which include: pdf documents, e-learning
training modules, presentations, recordings, videos, webpages and webinars.
The initial users of the LMS will be members of CIHR’s College of Reviewers. The LMS is expected to
provide a platform to disseminate theoretical and practical knowledge to build on the existing skills and
experiences of the College members. This will provide a tool to complement Reviewers’ backgrounds to
support their ability to conduct high-quality peer review. The goal is to positively influence a reviewer’s
attitude towards peer review and cultivate an awareness of the multitude of facets and biases
encountered in research.
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Apart from providing a platform for knowledge and information sharing, the LMS is expected to provide
rigorous tracking and reporting capabilities. Tracking and reporting is required at all levels of engagement,
for each type of learner (members of the College of Reviewers, Applicants and Institute members) and for
all levels of learning content (curricula, courses, lessons, and training). The LMS will provide CIHR with
the necessary analytics to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiencies of learning design and delivery and
contribute to continuous improvement.
The expected number of annual users is approximately 10,000 for the College of Reviewers and the
Applicant/academic institution communities, with an additional 400 users that include CIHR Institute
members and CIHR staff for administration of the LMS and its learning content. The projected user roll
over from year to year is estimated to be roughly sixty (60) percent with total number of users to remain
fairly stable from year to year.
To ensure accessibility of the LMS by learners across Canada and around the world, as well as to
facilitate the on-going management and maintenance of the LMS in accordance with privacy and data
security requirements, CIHR has a core requirement for the LMS to be delivered via a web-based SaaS
model; hosted by the Contractor entirely within Canada.
The LMS implementation is planned to be undertaken in a staged approach that is anticipated to be
comprised of at least three (3) primary Phases:
Phase 1 – Initial Deployment of Hosted Solution (v.1.1) – targeted for launch by use of approximately
6,000 members of the College of Reviewers, in mid-to-late Fall, 2017; and
Phases 2 and 3 – comprised of two (2) additional major releases (v.1.2 and v.2.0), targeted for Spring,
2018 and Fall, 2018; respectively.
Within the initial Phase (Phase 1 initial deployment of hosted solution – v.1.1) CIHR has identified a
number of core requirements that are necessary to be present in and supported by the LMS as of the
launch of the solution to CIHR’s user-base.
Subsequent requirements will be implemented on an iterative basis, within the two (2) major releases
planned (v.1.2 and v.2.0) to provide enhanced functionality to users, to expand the user-base to
Applicants/academic institutions and Members of CIHR’s Institutes, and to provide for greater integration
with CIHR’s systems, including MS Dynamics CRM and Researchnet. CIHR’s core requirements are set
out in the Mandatory Requirements and Attachment “B” to this RFQ
RFQ and potential second stage RFP Process and Terms
Anticipated Schedule
The Schedule for this RFQ process and any second-stage RFP is anticipated to be as follows:
Activity
RFQ Issued to potential Respondents
Deadline for Questions
RFQ Closing Date and Time
Anticipated Notification of Respondents of RFQ
results
Commercially Confidential Meetings (at CIHR’s
sole discretion)
Tentative Issuance of any second-stage RFP to
Anticipated Schedule
April 18, 2017
May18, 2017
May 30, 2017, 14:00 hours, EST
June 13, 2017
Prior to issuance of any second-stage RFP, - June,
2017
June, 2017
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Activity
pre-qualified Respondents
Tentative Closing Date and Time for any secondstage RFP
Tentative Invitation to Bidders to deliver
Demonstrations to CIHR (at CIHR’s sole discretion)
Tentative Notification to Bidders of results of any
RFP process and Proof of Proposal Testing with
highest ranked Bidder
Tentative Contract Award
CIHR reserves the right to adjust the Schedule at its
Anticipated Schedule
(Within 20 calendar days of RFP issuance), June,
2017
July, 2017
July, 2017
July – August, 2017
sole discretion.
Any changes to the Schedule affecting timelines that occur prior to the RFQ Closing Date and Time will
be communicated to all potential Respondents by way of written Amendment.
Inquiries and Communications
It is the Respondent’s sole responsibility to ensure it understands the information and requirements set
out in this RFQ document and to make inquiries of CIHR prior to the Deadline for Questions in order to
obtain any clarifications the Respondent feels necessary to ensure its understanding.
All inquiries concerning the RFQ must be directed only to the Contracting Authority, named below, in
writing only.
Noncompliance with this condition during this RFQ process may (for that reason alone) result in
disqualification of a Submission.
Inquiries must be received by the Contracting Authority no later than the Deadline for Questions set out in
the Schedule above, in order to allow sufficient time to provide a response. Inquiries received after that
time may not be able to be answered.
To ensure consistency and quality of information provided to all potential Respondents, the Contracting
Authority will provide, simultaneously to all potential Respondents by way of written Amendment to this
RFQ document, any information with respect to inquiries received and the replies to such inquiries without
revealing the sources of the inquiries.
Contracting Authority:
Julie Morin
Supervisor, Procurement / Finance and Administration
Telephone: 613-948-2045
E-mail address: [email protected]
Submission Delivery Date, Method and Location
All submissions MUST be delivered by electronic mail to the following e-mail address by the RFQ
Closing Date and time indicated in the Schedule above:
[email protected]
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The Respondent MUST submit one (1) electronic copy of is Submission. The Respondent must ensure
that the Respondent’s name and the RFQ reference number appear clearly in the file name(s) of all
attachments. Note that CIHR imposes an email size limit, including attachments, of 20MB.
The Respondent must ensure that the Respondent’s name, return address, RFQ reference number and
the Closing Date appear clearly on the first page of any and all electronic files containing the
Respondent’s Submission. Submissions received in response to this RFQ shall become the property of
CIHR.
All Submissions delivered by e-mail to the Contracting Authority are deemed received once the e-mail
has entered into the e-mail inbox of the Contracting Authority. Submissions are to be directed only to the
Contracting Authority. CIHR shall not be responsible for any e-mail delivery issues or technical problems
with regard to any Submission, or if any Submission is sent to an e-mail address that is different from the
one provided for Submission.
Submissions that are attempted to be delivered after the RFQ Closing Date and Time will not be
accepted.
Accuracy of Information
Information provided in this RFQ is provided by CIHR in good faith to assist potential Respondents in
preparing Submissions. CIHR does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any
information, including any volumetrics, provided in this RFQ.
Amendments to the RFQ
Additional or modified information, instructions, requirements, and/or potential Respondent inquiries and
CIHR responses may be incorporated into this RFQ by CIHR by way one (1) or more Amendments to this
RFQ.
Only information that is incorporated into a written Amendment by the CIHR Contracting Authority and
published on www.buyandsell.gc.ca is considered official and can modify this RFQ.
It is the potential Respondent’s responsibility to regularly review www.buyandsell.gc.ca and to ensure that
it receives all Amendments to the RFQ. Notwithstanding, by submitting a Submission to this RFQ,
Respondents agree that they are deemed to have read all Amendments issued by CIHR.
Modifications to Submissions and Withdrawal
Modifications to a Submission that is delivered to CIHR by e-mail the Contracting Authority at the e-mail
address identified above, will be accepted by CIHR provided that such e-mail is received in the inbox of
the Contracting Authority before the Closing Date and Time set out in the Schedule above. Modifications
or additional information received after the identified Closing Date and Time will not be accepted, unless
expressly requested in writing in the form of a clarification issued to the Respondent by CIHR pursuant to
the Rights of CIHR below.
Submissions may be withdrawn by a Respondent at any time by sending an e-mail to the Contracting
Authority at the e-mail address identified above.
Submission Costs
All costs, including travel, incurred by a Respondent in the preparation of its Submission, participation in
this RFQ, participation in any clarifications, reference checks, presentations, demonstrations, or
Commercially Confidential Meetings if requested by CIHR, are the sole responsibility of the Respondent
and will not be reimbursed by CIHR.
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Language of Submissions
Submissions may be delivered in English or French or both, at the Respondent’s discretion.
Prohibited Conduct
By submitting a Submission, the Respondent agrees and warrants that:
a) It has not communicated with any representative of CIHR except for the Contracting Authority identified
herein, with respect to this RFQ, or CIHR’s requirements for the LMS, in the preparation of its
Submission;
b) It has prepared its Submission independently of any other Respondent and with no communication
with any Respondent having submitted a separate Submission in response to this RFQ for the purposes
of anti-competitive practices or collusion;
c) To its best knowledge and belief no actual or potential unfair advantage or Conflict of Interest exists
with respect to the submission of the Submission or the performance of the contemplated services.
Where CIHR discovers a Respondent’s failure to disclose all actual or potential Conflicts of Interest, CIHR
may disqualify the Respondent’s Submission or terminate any resulting Contract awarded to that
Respondent pursuant to any second-stage RFP
“Conflict of Interest” includes, but is not limited to, any situation or circumstance where:
(a) in relation to the RFQ process, the Respondent has an unfair advantage or engages in
conduct, directly or indirectly, that may give it an unfair advantage, including but not limited to
(i) having or having access to information in the preparation of its Submission that is
confidential to CIHR and not available to other Respondents; (ii) communicating with any
person with a view to influencing preferred treatment in the RFQ process including the giving
of a benefit of any kind, by or on behalf of the Respondent to anyone employed by, or
otherwise connected with, CIHR; or (iii) engaging in conduct that compromises or could be
seen to compromise the integrity of the open and competitive RFQ process and render that
process non-competitive and unfair; or
(b) in relation to the performance of any obligations under any Contract resulting from any
second-stage RFQ as “Successful Contractor”, the Respondent’s other commitments,
relationships or financial interests (i) could or could be seen to exercise an improper influence
over the objective, unbiased and impartial exercise of its independent judgement; or (ii) could
or could be seen to compromise, impair or be incompatible with the effective performance of
any contractual obligations to CIHR; and
d) It has not and will not communicate with the media or make any public announcement with respect to
its participation in this RFQ or any second-stage RFP, unless first authorized in writing to do so by CIHR.
Applicable Laws
This RFQ process and any subsequent RFP and Contract will be governed by the laws of the Province of
Ontario and any dispute will be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Ontario and all applicable federal
laws.
Indemnities and Limitation of Liability
CIHR expressly disclaims any legal obligations or duties regarding the procurement of any goods or
services relating to this RFQ prior to the execution of any written agreement that may arise out of any
second-stage RFP process.
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Rights of CIHR
CIHR reserves the right in its sole discretion to:
(a)
reject any or all Submissions received in response to the RFQ;
(b)
during the evaluation of Submissions, submit questions to or conduct interviews with
Respondents, at the Respondent’s cost, to seek clarification and/or verify any or all
information provided by the Respondent with respect to this RFQ;
(c)
contact any or all references supplied by Respondents to verify and validate any information
included in their Submission, if applicable;
(d)
verify any information provided by Respondents through independent research, use of any
government resources or other information regarding a Respondent or by contacting third
parties deemed reliable by CIHR;
(e)
disqualify any Respondent whose Submission contains misrepresentations or any other
inaccurate or misleading information;
(f)
disqualify any Respondent or the Submission of any Respondent who has engaged in
conduct prohibited by this RFQ;
(g)
make changes, including substantial changes, to this RFQ provided that those changes are
issued by way of written Amendment in the manner set out in this RFQ;
(h)
cancel the RFQ at any time without liability;
(i)
reissue the RFQ or an RFP without liability;
(j)
if no compliant Submissions are received and the RFQ requirements are not substantially
modified, re-issue the RFQ requirement by inviting only the Respondents who submitted
Submissions to re-submit Submissions within a period designated by CIHR; or
(k)
not to proceed with any procurement process in part or at all; and
these reserved rights are in addition to any other express rights or any other rights which may be implied
in the circumstances and CIHR shall not be liable for any expenses, costs, losses or any direct or indirect
damages incurred or suffered by any Respondent or any third party resulting from CIHR exercising any of
its express or implied rights under this RFQ.
Respondents will have the number of days specified in the request by the Contracting Authority to comply
with any request related to any of the above items. Failure to comply with the request may result in the
Submission being declared non-compliant.
By submitting its Submission, Respondents authorize the collection by CIHR of the information set out
under sections (c) and (d) in the manner contemplated in those sections.
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Debriefings
Respondents will be notified by CIHR at the conclusion of the RFQ process as to whether the
Respondent’s Submission has been pre-qualified to participate in any second-stage RFP process, in
accordance with the criteria and process set out in the Basis of Pre-Qualification below.
Respondents submitting a Submission in response to this RFQ who’s Submissions are not pre-qualified
may request a debriefing from the CIHR Contracting Authority within ten (10) days of the results of the
assessment of the Respondent’s Submission. If requested, CIHR will provide a debriefing to
Respondents to assist Respondents in presenting a stronger proposal in any subsequent procurement
opportunities. Any debriefing provided is not for the purpose of providing an opportunity to challenge the
procurement process.
Respondents may request debriefings at the later of: CIHR’s written notification to any and all
Respondents at the conclusion of any second-stage RFP process; or, CIHR’s written notification to any
and all Respondents at the conclusion of the RFQ process. The time period for the request of any
debriefings will be identified within the notification issued by CIHR.
Instructions to Respondents
Submission Format
(a)
Respondents MUST provide one (1) electronic copy of their Submission.
(b)
Respondents MUST NOT provide any costs or prices in their Submission.
(c)
CIHR requests that Respondents follow the format instructions described below in the preparation
of their Submission:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
use 8.5 x 11 inch (216 mm x 279 mm) paper;
use a numbering system that corresponds to the RFQ;
include a title page that includes the title, date, RFQ solicitation number, Respondent’s
name and address and contact information of its representative; and
include a table of contents.
RFQ Incorporated into Submission
All of the provisions of this RFQ are deemed to be accepted by each Respondent and incorporated into
each Respondent’s Submission.
No Incorporation by Reference by Respondent
The entire content of the Respondent’s Submission is to be submitted in a fixed form and the content of
web sites or other external documents referred to in the Respondent’s Submission will not be considered
to form part of its Submission and will not be reviewed by CIHR.
Evaluation of RFQ Submissions
Stages of Evaluation
CIHR will conduct the evaluation of Submissions in the following three (3) stages:
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Stage I (Mandatory Requirements)
Stage I will consist of a review to determine which Submissions comply with all of the Mandatory
Requirements, as set out in the table below. Submissions that are determined to demonstrate compliance
with all Mandatory Requirements will move on to Stage II. Submissions, which do not comply with all of
the Mandatory Requirements, may, subject to the express and implied rights of CIHR, be disqualified and
not evaluated further.
Mandatory Requirement
Respondent’s Response (insert
response or referenced to section
of Submission containing
Response)
M1 Respondent Sustainability
1.1 The Respondent must demonstrate its Business Sustainability by
demonstrating that it has licensed or provided services in support of
licensed Learning Management Solutions (whether via a SaaS model
or via other delivery models) to clients external to the Respondent’s
organization for a continuous period of three (3) calendar years.
1.2 The Respondent must demonstrate its Financial Sustainability by
submitting:
a)
A letter from the Respondent’s recognized financial institution,
demonstrating the Respondent is a customer in good standing
for a period of not less than three (3) calendar years; and
b)
For each of the Respondent’s past three (3) fiscal years
ending prior to the RFQ Closing Date and Time, annual financial
information or annual Balance Sheets and Income Statements.
At a minimum, this financial information must include:
a. Assets;
b. Liabilities;
c. Equity;
d. Revenue; and
e. Expenses.
M2 Experience of Respondent with the Delivery of LMS
The Respondent must demonstrate its experience in delivering Learning
Management Solutions (LMS) to clients external to the Respondent’s
organization, by providing a minimum of three (3) summaries of three (3)
engagements with different client organizations to deliver access to
LMS.
Engagements may be on-going, as long as the LMS provided by the
Respondent to its client has been in operation (i.e. used by the Client’s
user base) for at least one (1) calendar year.
Over the three (3) engagements, the Respondent must demonstrate:
a) Implementation (including design/development, testing and launch)
and operation/maintenance of an LMS hosted entirely in Canada
[including any failover or back-up site(s)] for a client;
b) Implementation (including design/development, testing and launch)
and operation/maintenance of an LMS with bilingual (English and
Canadian French) interfaces, and bilingual (English and Canadian
French) learning content delivered by the LMS to the client’s users; and
c) Delivery of an LMS by a Software-as-a-Service model.
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Mandatory Requirement
Respondent’s Response (insert
response or referenced to section
of Submission containing
Response)
Note: requirements a) through c) do not need to be demonstrated on the
same client engagement, provided that over the three (3) engagements,
all three (3) requirements are demonstrated.
Respondents must provide the name, title and contact information of a
client representative (employed by the client organization) who is able to
verify the LMS and services provided by the Respondent.
M3 Proposed LMS
The Respondent must describe its proposed LMS, including a complete
list identifying the vendor, name and the version number of each software
component (including any third party products or component licenses)
required to provide the functionality of its offered LMS.
The Respondent must demonstrate that its proposed LMS meets CIHR’s
core Mandatory Requirements, as set out in Attachment B, and as
replicated below.
a)
Proposed LMS is hosted entirely within Canada [including any
failover, back-up and hot site(s)];
b) Proposed LMS provides all interfaces and functionalities in
English (US and Canada) and French) with the ability for users
to toggle between English and French;
c) Proposed LMS supports and delivers Bilingual [English (US and
Canada) and French (Canada)] learning content;
d) Proposed LMS conforms to SCORM 4.0;
e) Proposed LMS is delivered by a Software as a Service model;
f) Proposed LMS delivers and supports multi-tiered curriculum
program design and delivery; and
g) Proposed LMS provides functionality to track, report and perform
data manipulation for more than one (1) type of user and more
than one (1) type of learning content.
M4 Capacity and Experience of Respondent to deliver associated
Professional Services
The Respondent must demonstrate its capacity to provide CIHR with the
required Professional Services in support of its proposed LMS, by
demonstrating experience of the Respondent in providing each of the
following to a client external to the Respondent’s own organization, on at
least one (1) engagement in the past five (5) years:
a) Technical and Functional design, configuration and customization
services to modify the proposed LMS to meet the client’s business,
functional and technical requirements;
b) Testing services – including performance testing, functional testing and
user acceptance testing;
c) Delivery of custom training on the use of the LMS for the client’s
system administrators and provision of a knowledge base and user help
documentation for functional users of the LMS;
d) Technical services to assist the client in integrating the proposed LMS
with another information technology system within the client’s
environment;
e) Maintenance of the proposed LMS, including provision of patches,
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Mandatory Requirement
Respondent’s Response (insert
response or referenced to section
of Submission containing
Response)
fixes, and implementation of both upgrades to the LMS that are offered to
all clients, and upgrades to the LMS that were configured or customized
specifically for the client; and
f) Support / Help Desk Services, including Tier 2 and Tier 3 technical
support and functional end user support to the client.
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Stage II (Rated Criteria)
For those Submissions determined to have met all Mandatory Requirements set out in Stage I above, the
Submissions will be scored by CIHR on the basis of the Rated Criteria set out in the table below.
Criterion
R1. Extent and comparability of
experience of Respondent in delivering
the proposed LMS and associated
professional services
For each of the three (3) client
engagements submitted in response to
Mandatory Requirement M1, the
Respondent should demonstrate the extent
of its experience in delivering the proposed
LMS, together with the comparability of this
experience to CIHR’s requirements as set
out in this RFQ; on each engagement.
Extent of the Respondent’s experience in
delivering the proposed LMS, together with
the comparability of this experience,
includes:
a) Implementation and operation of the
proposed LMS hosted entirely in Canada
[including any failover, back-up and hot
site(s)] for a client;
b) Implementation and operation of the
proposed LMS with bilingual (English and
Canadian French) interfaces, and bilingual
(English and Canadian French) learning
content delivered by the LMS to the client’s
users;
c) Delivery of the proposed LMS by a
Software-as-a-Service model;
Weight and Rating Scale
Respondent’s Response
(insert response or
referenced to section of
Submission containing
Response)
Up to 30 points will be awarded for
the extent and comparability of the
Resource’s experience with the
proposed LMS to CIHR’s
requirements, based on up to 10
points per engagement, as follows:
10 points / per engagement – the
engagement demonstrates
experience in two (2) of the
requirements (a through c) AND
demonstrates the Respondent’s
experience in (d) having supported
the client in configuring and
implementing the proposed LMS
and having maintained the proposed
LMS for the client.
7 points / per engagement – the
engagement demonstrates
experience in one (1) of the
requirements (a through c) AND
demonstrates the Respondent’s
experience in (d) in part – delivering
any of the listed professional services
for the proposed LMS
OR
7 points / per engagement – the
engagement demonstrates
experience in two (2) of the
requirements (a through c) for the
proposed LMS.
and
d) Delivery of associated professional
services to the client for the proposed LMS
(e.g. any of: planning, design,
configuration/customization, integration,
implementation, testing, “go live”,
maintenance, support tier 1 or tier 2
technical or user help desk, etc.).
R2. Stability of the proposed LMS
solution delivered by the Respondent to
clients
The Respondent should demonstrate that
the proposed LMS has been implemented
and maintained by the Respondent in more
than one (1) client external to the
Respondent’s organization.
5 points / per engagement – the
engagement demonstrates
experience in one (1) of the
requirements (a through c) for the
proposed LMS.
Up to 30 points for demonstration of
up to three (3) previous
engagements, as follows:
10 points per client for whom the
proposed LMS has been
implemented and maintained by the
Respondent and used by the client’s
user base for a period of two (2)
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Criterion
Weight and Rating Scale
Respondent’s Response
(insert response or
referenced to section of
Submission containing
Response)
calendar years.
In order to be considered eligible to receive
points on this criterion, the engagement
must demonstrate that the LMS provided by
the Respondent has been in operation (i.e.
in use by the client’s user base) for the
identified time period, at the current release
version, or no earlier than one (1) prior
major (i.e. one (1) whole number) release
version.
R3. Suitability of the proposed LMS to
meet CIHR’s Core Requirements
The Respondent should demonstrate
through written description and
screenshots, included excerpts of product
literature, etc., whether and how its
proposed LMS currently meets or will be
readily adapted to meet CIHR’s Core
Requirements (as per Attachment B), as
replicated below:
a) The proposed LMS is capable of being
delivered through a multitenancy delivery
model.
b) The proposed LMS provides for
integration with MS Dynamics CRM at the
content entity level.
c) The proposed LMS complies with Tin
Can API.
d) The proposed LMS provides reporting
and analytic functionality enabling users to
track, report and analyze tombstone,
compliance and completion data for
multiple type(s) of learners and multiple
types of learning content.
7 points per client for whom the
proposed LMS has been
implemented and maintained by the
Respondent and used by the client’s
user base for a period of one (1)
calendar year.
5 points per client for whom the
proposed LMS has been
implemented and maintained by the
Respondent and used by the client’s
user base for a period of six (6)
months.
Up to 100 points will be awarded,
based on up to 25 points per factor (a
through d), as follows:
25 points = the Respondent
demonstrates that the proposed LMS
currently provides the required
Core functionality and has
implemented the identified
functionality with at least one (1)
client organization (i.e. the
functionality is in use by the client’s
user base).
18 points = the Respondent
demonstrates that the proposed LMS
is readily adaptable (i.e. with
configuration not requiring
modification to the LMS’ underlying
source code or through a third-party
solution integrated with the LMS) to
deliver the required Core functionality
and provides a clear approach to
implementing the functionality for use
by users.
12 points = the Respondent
demonstrates that the proposed LMS
may be adaptable with some effort
(i.e. requiring customization to modify
the LMS’ underlying source code) to
deliver the required Core functionality
and provides a clear approach to
implementing the functionality for use
by users.
6 points = the Respondent identifies
the proposed LMS may be
adaptable to provide the Core
functionality, but the viability of the
approach to do so is not clearly
demonstrated.
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Criterion
R4. Accessibility of the Proposed LMS
The Respondent should demonstrate
through written description and
screenshots, included excerpts of product
literature, etc., whether and how its
proposed LMS currently complies or will be
readily adapted to comply with WCAG
Accessibility requirements for:
a) Learner functionality; and
b) Internal (i.e. administrative) functionality.
Weight and Rating Scale
Respondent’s Response
(insert response or
referenced to section of
Submission containing
Response)
0 points = No response or the
Respondent does not demonstrate
that the Core functionality can be
met.
Up to 20 points will be awarded for
the accessibility of the proposed LMS
solution, as follows:
20 points = LMS is WCAG compliant
at the level of “AAA” for learner
functionality and is WCAG compliant
at a level of “AA” at a minimum for
internal (i.e. administrative)
functionality, with a clear plan to
achieve higher levels of WCAG
compliance for administrative
functionality within one (1) calendar
year.
15 points = LMS is WCAG compliant
at the level of “AA” for learner
functionality and is WCAG compliant
at a level of “A” at a minimum for
internal (i.e. administrative)
functionality, with a clear plan to
achieve higher levels of WCAG
compliance for both types of users
within one (1) calendar year.
10 points = LMS is WCAG compliant
at the level of “A” for learner
functionality and may be WCAG
compliant at a level of “A” for internal
(i.e. administrative) functionality, with
a clear plan to achieve higher levels
of WCAG compliance for both types
of users within one (1) calendar year.
5 points = LMS is not currently
WCAG compliant but the Respondent
provides a clear plan to achieve
higher levels of WCAG compliance
for both types of users within one (1)
calendar year.
R5. Maturity and sustainability of the
proposed LMS solution
The Respondent should provide and
describe its approach to solution upgrades
and provide its Release Plan for the
proposed LMS (e.g. number of releases,
0 points = No response / the
Respondent does not demonstrate
compliance or a clear plan to achieve
accessibility compliance.
Up to 30 points will be awarded for
the maturity and sustainability of its
proposed LMS solution for (a) and (b)
below, as follows:
a) Up to 10 points based on 1 point
per calendar year that the proposed
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Criterion
Weight and Rating Scale
timing, frequency of major (whole number)
and minor releases, etc.), together with the
extent to which the Respondent’s approach
enables clients to select which features or
functions to implement within any solution
upgrades or major releases.
LMS solution (and its previous
versions) is demonstrated to have
been delivered to clients and in use
by client user-bases. Points will be
awarded to a maximum of 10 years.
AND
The Respondent should provide and
demonstrate the Respondent’s (or the
Software Vendor’s, if not the Respondent)
investment in the proposed LMS within the
past three (3) years immediately prior to the
RFQ Closing Date and Time.
b) Up to 20 points for the
demonstrated maturity and
sustainability of the proposed LMS,
as follows:
In addition, the Respondent should provide
and describe the Respondent’s (or the
Software Vendor’s, if not the Respondent)
product roadmap for the proposed LMS,
describing the plans to further develop or
enhance the proposed LMS over the next
one (1) to two (2) years, and vision for the
three (3) year time horizon, together with
identification of the level of reinvestment
(annual % of revenue) that is reinvested
into product development or enhancement
each year.
Respondent’s Response
(insert response or
referenced to section of
Submission containing
Response)
20 points for demonstration of a
release and upgrade schedule that
demonstrates historic and planned
continuous (e.g. annual and
significant) investment in the LMS
solution and longevity over the three
(3) year time horizon. The
Respondent demonstrates that the
solution and its core functionality are
not scheduled to reach end of
support or end of life in the next three
(3) years, and demonstrates that the
release and upgrade schedule is
readily manageable for clients to
implement upgrades and take
advantage of new features/functions.
15 points for demonstration of a
release and upgrade schedule that
demonstrates some historic and
planned future investment in the LMS
solution and demonstrates the
intended longevity of the LMS
solution over the next three (3) years.
The Respondent demonstrates that
the solution and its core functionality
are not scheduled to reach end of
support or end of life in the next three
(3) years. Clients have some
flexibility to select to implement
upgrades and take advantage of new
features/functions.
10 points for demonstration of a
release and upgrade schedule that
demonstrates some higher level
plans or vision for the future for the
proposed LMS and demonstrates that
clients have some flexibility to select
to implement upgrades and take
advantage of new features/functions.
5 points a release and upgrade
schedule is provided, however,
longevity or re-investment is not fully
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Criterion
R6. Experience of the Respondent in
delivering configured or customized
LMS software and related services to
clients in government or the broader
public sectors.
The Respondent should describe client
engagements where it provided:
a) the proposed LMS or a comparable LMS
software and
b) related services
to clients external to the Respondent’s
organization, in government (federal or subcentral) or the broader public sector (e.g.
hospitals, schools, academia, municipal
government).
In order to be considered eligible to receive
points on this criterion, the engagement
must demonstrate that the LMS provided by
the Respondent has been in operation (i.e.
in use by the client’s user base) for a
minimum of one (1) calendar year.
Respondents must provide the name, title
and contact information of a client
representative (employed by the client
organization) who is able to verify the LMS
and services provided by the Respondent.
R7 Proposal Quality
The Respondent should demonstrate
through the quality of its Proposal its
understanding of CIHR’s requirements for
the LMS solution, and the Respondent’s
ability to deliver quality solutions and
services to its clients.
Weight and Rating Scale
Respondent’s Response
(insert response or
referenced to section of
Submission containing
Response)
described.
Up to 20 points will be awarded for
demonstration of up to two (2)
previous engagements, as follows:
10 points per demonstrated
engagement delivering the proposed
LMS to a client in government;
8 points per demonstrated
engagement delivering the proposed
LMS to a client in the broader public
sector;
6 points per demonstrated
engagement delivering an LMS to a
client in government;
4 points per demonstrated
engagement delivering an LMS to a
client in the broader public sector.
Up to 20 points will be awarded as
follows:
Up to 10 points = Proposal clearly
demonstrates the understanding of
the Respondent through clear
description of the Respondent’s
experience that goes beyond a cut
and paste of the text of the RFQ;
3 points = Proposal is structured to
match the sequence of the
Mandatory and Point-Rated Criteria
of the RFP or is easy to follow;
2 points = Proponent includes clear
and accurate cross-referencing to
relevant content within its Proposal,
and highlights information that is
pertinent to the requirement being
assessed.
Up to 5 points = Written sections of
the Proposal are clear and supported
by demonstrated examples or
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Criterion
Weight and Rating Scale
Total Score
Respondent’s Response
(insert response or
referenced to section of
Submission containing
Response)
relevant screenshots / product
literature excerpts.
________ out of 250 points
Basis of Pre-Qualification
The Respondents meeting all Mandatory Requirements, with the five (5) highest scores will, subject to the
subsections (a) through (c) below, be determined by CIHR to be the pre-qualified Respondents pursuant
to this RFQ process, and will be invited to participate as Bidders in response to any second-stage RFP
issued by CIHR.
(a)
In the event that more than one (1) of the Respondents with the five (5) highest scores proposes
the same LMS solution technology, CIHR reserves the right to select only the two (2) highest
scoring Submissions of those Proposals with the same LMS solution technology and to add
additional Respondents with the next highest scores proposing other LMS solution technologies
to the list of pre-qualified Respondents until a maximum of five (5) Respondents OR a minimum
of five (5) LMS solution technologies are represented on the list of pre-qualified Respondents, or
until there are no more Respondents, whichever occurs first; and
(b)
In the event there is a difference in points between the highest scoring Submission(s) and the
next highest scoring Submission(s) that is greater than 25 points, CIHR reserves the right to prequalify less than five (5) Respondents, including only the Submission(s) achieving a score that is
at least 25 points above the next highest scoring Submission(s).
(c)
In the event there is a difference in points between the score achieved by the fifth (5th) ranked of
the top five (5) highest scoring Submission(s) and the next highest scoring Submission(s) that is
less than 5 points, CIHR reserves the right to pre-qualify additional Respondents having achieved
point scores within 5 points of the fifth (5th) ranked Respondent, up to two (2) additional
Respondents, for a total of up to seven (7) pre-qualified Respondents.
Commercially Confidential Meetings
Following the evaluation and identification of the pre-qualified Respondents in accordance with this RFQ,
as set out in the Schedule, at CIHR’s discretion, CIHR may invite the pre-qualified Respondents to
participate in one (1) or more separate bi-lateral meetings between CIHR and each pre-qualified
Respondent (“Commercially Confidential Meetings”). The purpose of the Commercially Confidential
Meetings is to provide a process that will assist the pre-qualified Respondents to develop optimal
solutions for the LMS and resulting implementation for CIHR while minimizing the risk that a pre-qualified
Respondent’s solution is unresponsive to CIHR’s requirements, including to:
(a)
review CIHR’s anticipated roll-out for the LMS functionality and to CIHR’s user groups;
(b)
permit pre-qualified Respondents to provide CIHR’s representatives with comments and feedback
on material issues relating to CIHR’s requirements, project structure and schedule; and
(c)
permit pre-qualified Respondents to discuss potential solutions and approaches that the prequalified Respondents may be considering for various aspects of their Proposals.
In the event CIHR elects to hold Commercially Confidential Meetings, attendance at the scheduled
Commercially Confidential Meeting will be a Mandatory Requirement in order for a pre-qualified
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Respondent to be considered a Bidder who is eligible to submit a Proposal in response to any secondstage RFP issued by CIHR. Failure on the part of a pre-qualified Respondent to attend any scheduled
Commercially Confidential Meeting will result in the setting aside of the Respondent’s pre-qualified status,
and such Respondent will not be eligible to submit a Proposal in response to any second-stage RFP.
In the event CIHR chooses to schedule Commercially Confidential Meetings, CIHR will consult with each
pre-qualified Respondent to confirm specific dates for each Commercially Confidential Meeting. Each prequalified Respondent will be provided with the same meeting duration.
Pre-qualified Respondents will be required to sign and return a non-disclosure agreement to CIHR prior to
attending any Commercially Confidential Meeting.
CIHR expects that any Commercially Confidential Meetings will be held at CIHR premises in the National
Capital Region. Participation in Commercially Confidential Meetings may be in person or by teleconference at CIHR’s sole discretion.
Prior to any Commercially Confidential Meetings, CIHR will provide further details to all pre-qualified
Respondents including, the logistics, and requirement to submit to CIHR within a specified timeframe prior
to the Commercially Confidential Meeting:

a proposed meeting agenda setting out a list of prioritized issues it would like to discuss;

any materials relevant to such issues; and

the names, titles and contact information of each representative of the pre-qualified Respondent
who will attend the meeting.
CIHR may provide pre-qualified Respondents with comments on the agenda and a list of any of the
prioritized issues CIHR would like to discuss prior to the date of the meeting. CIHR may however raise
any issue for discussion at a Commercially Confidential Meeting prior to or during the meeting.
CIHR may limit the number of pre-qualified Respondent representatives participating at any Commercially
Confidential Meeting.
Subject to any lawful obligation on the part of CIHR to the contrary, it is CIHR’s intention to maintain the
confidential nature of any Respondent information discussed during any Commercially Confidential
Meeting. Notwithstanding, where a question raised by a Respondent is, in CIHR’s determination, general
in nature and applicable to all Respondents, CIHR will provide the Respondent with the opportunity to reclassify a question as a general question to which CIHR will provide a response to all Respondents, or to
withdraw the question. CIHR reserves the right, but is under no obligation to publish general information
applicable to all Respondents at the conclusion of any Commercially Confidential Meetings, or to
incorporate general information into any subsequent RFP document.
Attachments:
Attachment “A” Potential Statement of Work
Attachment “B” LMS Statement of Requirement
Attachment “C” Request for Information
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Attachment “D” Anticipated RFP Requirements
Attachment “E” Definitions
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Attachment “A”
Scope of Potential Statement of Work
DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING IS A SAMPLE ONLY OF THE POTENTIAL FUTURE
STATEMENT OF WORK WHICH COULD BE COMPETED BETWEEN PRE-QUALIFIED
RESPONDENTS. This Attachment “A” is issued for information purposes only and is
subject to change at the sole discretion of CIHR.
1. Purpose of Potential Work
CIHR requires an LMS SaaS hosting service to deploy on-line training modules in both Official
Languages (English and French) to external stakeholders across Canada and worldwide. The long-term
vision is to have the LMS seamlessly integrate with other CIHR systems through a Single Sign-On (SSO)
solution.
2. Background
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's health research
investment agency. CIHR was created in 2000 under the authority of the Canadian Institutes of Health
Research Act. CIHR is an independent agency, and is part of the Health Portfolio which supports the
Minister of Health in maintaining and improving the health of Canadians. CIHR is accountable to
Parliament through the Minister of Health.
Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 14,000 health
researchers and trainees across Canada. Its mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to enable
its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened
Canadian health care system.
CIHR was designed to respond to the evolving needs for health research and seeks to transform health
research in Canada by:
•
•
•
funding both investigator-initiated research as well as research on targeted priority areas;
building research capacity in under-developed areas and training the next generation of
health researchers; and
focusing on knowledge translation that facilitates the application of the results of research
and their transformation into new policies, practices, procedures, products and services.
CIHR provides funding opportunities that cover the breadth of its mandate and full spectrum of health
research, as represented by the following:
•
Biomedical;
•
Clinical;
•
Health systems services; and
•
Social, cultural, environmental, and population health.
In support of the orientation and professional development of members of CIHR’s College of Reviewers,
and funding Applicants, academic institutions, and on-going staff professional development and
operational learning requirements for members of CIHR’s virtual Institutes, CIHR is seeking to procure a
hosted LMS, together with Professional Services to provide the associated implementation, configuration,
testing, training, maintenance and support for the LMS, as well as further development. The LMS will
support CIHR in the delivery of their suite of learning materials, which include: pdf documents, e-learning
training modules, presentations, recordings, videos, webpages and webinars.
The initial users of the LMS will be the College of Reviewers. The LMS is expected to provide a platform
to disseminate theoretical and practical knowledge to build on the existing skills and experiences of the
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College members. This will provide a tool to complement Reviewers’ backgrounds to support their ability
to conduct high-quality peer review. The goal is to positively influence a reviewer’s attitude towards peer
review and cultivate an awareness of the multitude of facets and biases encountered in research.
Apart from providing a platform for knowledge and information sharing, the LMS is expected to provide
rigorous tracking and reporting capabilities. Tracking and reporting is required at all levels of engagement,
for each type of learner (members of the College of Reviewers, Applicants/academic institutions and
Institute members) and for all levels of learning content (curricula, courses, lessons, and training). The
LMS will provide CIHR with the necessary analytics to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiencies of
learning design and delivery and contribute to continuous improvement.
The expected number of annual users is approximately 10,000 for the College of Reviewers and the
Applicant/academic institution communities, with an additional 400 users that include CIHR Institute
members, and CIHR staff for administration of the LMS and its learning content. The projected user roll
over from year to year is estimated to be roughly sixty (60) percent with total number of users to remain
fairly stable from year to year.
To ensure accessibility of the LMS by learners across Canada and around the world, as well as to
facilitate the on-going management and maintenance of the LMS in accordance with privacy and data
security requirements, CIHR has a core requirement for the LMS to be delivered via a web-based SaaS
model; hosted by the Contractor entirely within Canada.
The LMS implementation is planned to be undertaken in a staged approach that is anticipated to be
comprised of at least three (3) primary Phases:
Phase 1 – Initial Deployment of Hosted Solution (v.1.1) – targeted for launch by use of approximately
6,000 members of the College of Reviewers, in mid-to-late Fall, 2017; and
Phases 2 and 3 – comprised of two (2) additional major releases (v.1.2 and v.2.0), targeted for Spring,
2018 and Fall, 2018; respectively.
Within the initial Phase (Phase 1 initial deployment of hosted solution v.1.1) CIHR has identified a number
of core requirements that are necessary to be present in and supported by the LMS as of the launch of
the solution to CIHR’s initial user-base, as follows:
Core requirements in Phase 1 initial deployment of hosted solution (v.1.1, as further set out in Attachment
B):
1. Fully Bilingual solution, in English (US and Canada) and French (Canada), including the ability for
the end user to easily switch between languages in all interfaces:
o for all user interfaces and all LMS functionality (for both external and internal users); and
o support and delivery of all learning content Bilingually;
2. Current compliance with, or the ability to implement Accessibility requirements, for all external
and internal user interfaces and functionalities, in compliance with WCAG 2.0
(https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/);
3. Conformance to SCORM 4.0 and Tin Can API (xAPI) specifications;
4. Delivered via a secure web-based Software as a Service (SaaS) model, hosted by the Contractor
entirely within Canada (including all back-up, failover and hot sites);
5. Provides a robust and secure solution administration, including Role Based Access Controls
(RBAC) in place for all major solution components, including but not limited to System
Administrator, Database Administrators, Helpdesk personnel, etc.;
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6. Compliance with Canada’s Contract security requirements, including:
o the Contractor’s facilities and data centers where the LMS is hosted, including any backup, failover and hot sites must maintain a valid Designated Organization Screening
(DOS) at the level of PROTECTED B, at a minimum;
o all Contractor personnel requiring access to PROTECTED B information, assets or
CIHR’s electronic network or IT systems, must each hold a valid Reliability clearance and
as granted or approved by the CIHR;
7. Delivery of Learning Analytics to CHIR, including the ability to maintain, track and report on
Learner history to manage learning plans, performance and outcomes for all types of Learners
and all types of learning content.
Core requirements that are required to be present in and supported by the LMS as of the launch of the
next release of the solution to CIHR’s defined user-base for subsequent deployments (v.1.2 or v.2.0, as
further set out in Attachment B), include:
8. Compliance with Accessibility requirements, for all external and internal user interfaces and
functionalities, in compliance with WCAG 2.0 to Level “AA” at a minimum;
9. Ability to leverage Single Sign-On (SSO) from other CIHR systems;
10. Ability of the LMS to seamlessly integrate with Microsoft Dynamics CRM © through a connector for
additional reporting and curriculum management; and
11. Multi-tenancy to allow learning communities to be separated based on SSO source (Spring
Security; Microsoft Active Directory).
3. Scope of Work
The Successful Contractor shall deliver its proposed LMS solution, as accepted by CIHR, configured and
with additional development as required, to meet all of CIHR’s functionalities and requirements set out in
Attachment “B”.
This shall include all Professional Services for the planning, design, configuration, customization,
integration and interface development, data migration strategy development and support, implementation,
testing (including support to CIHR user acceptance testing), training to CIHR Tier 1 technical support
personnel and administrative users, development and delivery of functional and technical user guidance
documentation and supports, and launch of version 1.1 of the proposed LMS solution to the College of
Reviewers, at a minimum.
Following the initial launch, the Contractor shall provide additional Professional Services to plan, design,
configure/customize/develop, implement, test and launch subsequent versions of the LMS solution to
meet CIHR’s requirements for subsequent Phases of the LMS implementation, as well as on-going
hosting, back-ups, recovery and failover, maintenance (including all patches, fixes, error corrections), Tier
2 and Tier 3 Technical support.
The work is anticipated to included, but is not limited to, the following:

Planning and “Design”
Building upon the preliminary implementation plan included within the Successful Contractor’s
Proposal, the Successful Contractor shall meet with CIHR to review and confirm understanding of
each of CIHR’s requirements for the LMS solution, and conduct the necessary analysis to confirm
the Phase in which each functionality and requirement will be delivered, how it will be delivered
and any interaction required with CIHR or Canada’s IT personnel to deliver the functionality. As
required by CIHR, this shall include participation in a Privacy Impact Assessment or Threat and
Risk Assessment, and implementation by the Successful Contractor of any recommendations and
requirements stemming therefrom. The Successful Contractor shall review its analysis and
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recommendations with CIHR and develop an effective detailed implementation plan to deliver
upon all required functionality and requirements for the LMS solution, in a phased approach.

Configuration and Development (Customization, Integration and Interface development,
Data Migration strategy and implementation support)
In accordance with the confirmed requirements and Phasing for the LMS, the Contractor shall
deliver the required Professional Services to complete all configuration, development
(customization, integration and interface development) to deliver upon CIHR’s requirements for
Phase 1 (v.1.1.) as set out in Attachment “B”.
The Successful Contractor shall, in consultation with CIHR confirm the requirements and
implement the required technical environment(s) or required changes to the Successful
Contractor’s existing technical environment (as applicable based on CIHR’s requirements),
including all associated plug-ins necessary to deliver upon CIHR’s requirements as set out in
Attachment “B”. The Successful Contractor shall confirm any CIHR required equipment,
infrastructure or changes to the CIHR or CIHR’s user-base technical environment to ensure full
access and functionality of the Successful Contractor’s LMS solution for CIHR. The Successful
Contractor shall assist CIHR personnel in making the necessary changes to the CIHR technical
environment, and shall provide coaching and support to technical personnel at CIHR’s Member
Institutes (as required) to assist in implementation of any changes at the Institute level.
The Successful Contractor shall develop and deliver to CIHR a Data Migration Strategy including
all data to be held within the LMS solution and CIHR learning content to ensure the CIHR LMS
solution Phase 1 v.1.1. will make available to the College of Reviewers all current CIHR learning
content for this user-group and additional data migration support), and provide technical advice
and guidance to CIHR in migrating data and content to the Successful Contractor’s LMS.

Implementation and Testing
The Successful Contractor shall develop a testing strategy for CIHR approval, and perform all
necessary application, performance and load testing; including completion of any necessary
corrections to the LMS solution implementation to ensure the full functionality of the CIHR LMS
solution for all user-types (learners and administrative users) for each of CIHR’s identified user
groups.
The Successful Contractor shall develop a testing strategy and scripts for CIHR’s User
Acceptance Testing (UAT), to enable CIHR to validate that all CIHR required functionality is fully
operable within the Successful Contractor’s LMS solution, and shall provide assistance to CIHR
in completion of UAT.

Training
The Successful Contractor shall deliver to a group of CIHR administrative and technical users,
adequate training in English to enable CIHR personnel to use all administrative functions of the
solution, and to fully equip CIHR technical personnel to provide Tier 1 support for the CIHR LMS
solution. Training shall consist of the Successful Contractor’s standard training offering,
customized to the CIHR LMS solution in a ‘Train the Trainer’ format that shall enable CIHR
personnel to fully train other CIHR LMS solution users in all administrative and technical
functions. Training shall take place at CIHR premises in the National Capital Region.

“Go-Live” of initial Launch to the College of Reviewers and Stabilization
Following CIHR sign-off on the CIHR Phase 1 (v.1.1) of the Successful Contractor’s LMS
solution, the Successful Contractor shall make available, via its web-hosting platform all
functionality included within the Phase 1 (v.1.1) of the LMS solution to CIHR’s identified userbase. The Successful Contractor shall assist CIHR in roll-out of the LMS solution access to
CIHR’s identified user-base.
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
Subsequent Phases of the CIHR LMS solution – Planning, Design, Configuration &
Development, Implementation, Testing & Launch
Following initial launch of the CIHR Phase 1 (v.1.1.) LMS solution, the Successful Contractor
shall revisit and refine its detailed implementation plan for CIHR’s approval, for the delivery of the
functionality and requirements for CIHR v.1.2 and v.2.0 to CIHR’s user base; including transition
over time to greater integration of the LMS solution with CIHR’s systems, including MS Dynamics
CRM and Researchnet. Following written approval from CIHR, the Successful Contractor shall
deliver the required Professional Services to complete all planning, design, configuration,
development (customization, integration, interface and additional data migration support),
implementation, testing, and user acceptance testing to make ready subsequent Phases of the
CIHR LMS solution for use by CIHR’s user-base. Following successful completion of CIHR user
acceptance testing and sign-off by CIHR of each Phase of the CIHR LMS solution, the Successful
Contractor shall make available, via its web-hosting platform all functionality included within the
authorized Phase to CIHR’s identified user-base. The Successful Contractor shall assist CIHR in
roll-out of the LMS solution access to CIHR’s identified user-base.

Documentation
The Successful Contractor shall customize and deliver to CIHR, one (1) English electronic copy
of all technical, administrative and user documentation required to effectively administer and use
all functionality within the LMS solution provided to CIHR and its user-base. The Successful
Contractor shall update and deliver one (1) English electronic copy of all updated technical,
administrative and user documentation for each subsequent Phase of CIHR’s requirements, and
for every major release and upgrade issued by the Successful Contractor to its LMS and made
available to CIHR.

Software as a Service – Maintenance, Support, Upgrades and New Releases
The Successful Contractor shall ensure the availability of the CIHR LMS solution, in accordance
with CIHR’s requirements and the Successful Contractor’s proposed service levels, as accepted
by CIHR. This shall include full and incremental back-up, recovery and failover services to
mitigate disruption of the LMS solution’s availability and functionality to CIHR and its user-base.
The Successful Contractor shall maintain its LMS solution and all underlying technology,
hardware and infrastructure, up to date, and in compliance with CIHR’s security and other
requirements, as set out in Attachment “B”. This shall include, at a minimum, provision of all
patches, fixes, error corrections as soon as they are tested and available for implementation by
CIHR. The Successful Contractor shall ensure that any patches, fixes and error corrections are
fully tested and functioning properly without degradation to the LMS solution for CIHR prior to
their implementation in the production instance of the CIHR LMS solution.
The Successful Contractor shall provide Tier 2 and Tier 3 Technical Support and troubleshooting
to CIHR personnel, in English, accessible in accordance with CIHR’s time frame requirements
and methods, as set out in Attachment “B”, and as included within the Successful Contractor’s
Proposal as accepted by CIHR.
The Successful Contractor shall provide CIHR’s user-base with access to user guidance (e.g.
FAQ’s, documentation, etc.) via the Successful Contractor’s LMS solution or website, to assist
users in effectively utilizing all functionality within the CIHR LMS solution.
The Successful Contractor shall make available to CIHR, at CIHR’s exclusive option, all upgrades
and major releases that become available for the Successful Contractor’s LMS. The Successful
Contractor shall allow CIHR to select from available features and functions offered by the
Successful Contractor, as to what will be included within the CIHR LMS functionality.

Optional Services
At CIHR’s exclusive option, CIHR may request from the Successful Contractor any one (1) or
more Optional Services (e.g. Additional Design, Configuration, Customization, Integration,
Implementation, Testing, Training and related Services) to assist CIHR in the further
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
enhancement and implementation of the LMS to additional user groups, or to provide additional
functionality or connectivity to existing user groups. At CIHR’s request, the Successful Contractor
shall provide a quote for the completion of the required Services. All quotations shall be
established using the Successful Contractors per hour rate(s) for the Personnel proposed to
deliver the Optional Services. The approval to deliver any Optional Services is subject to CIHR’s
written authorization, evidenced by way of a Contract Amendment.
4. Anticipated Schedule
The duration of any resulting Contract is anticipated to be for a period of not less than three (3) calendar
years from date of Award. CIHR reserves the right to extend any resulting Contract by up to two (2)
additional one (1) calendar year periods, at its exclusive option.
CIHR anticipates the LMS solution Phase 1, v.1.1 will be ready to launch to the College of Reviewers, at
a minimum, in mid-to-late 2017.
An initial pilot of the CIHR LMS solution is anticipated to be launched in early October to a subset
of users, followed by the launch of the full Phase 1 v.1.1 to all initial users (estimating 6,000), by
October 30, 2017.
Subsequent Phases of the Successful Contractor’s LMS solution for CIHR will be configured, developed,
implemented, tested and launched on an iterative basis, in accordance with the detailed Implementation
Plan prepared by the Successful Contractor and approved by CIHR, and are anticipated to occur as
follows:
v.1.2
v.2.0
to be launched Spring, 2018; and
to be launched Fall, 2018.
5. Anticipated Resource Requirements
The Successful Contractor shall provide the Services of qualified Personnel, meeting CIHR”s security
requirements, to deliver the Services and the CIHR LMS solution meeting CIHR’s requirements as set out
in Attachment “B” and the Contract Statement of Work.
In so doing, the Successful Contractor shall provide the Services of Key Personnel proposed by the
Successful Contractor and approved by CIHR who will be dedicated to the delivery of the CIHR LMS
solution for each of the three (3) anticipated Phases (v.1.1., v.1.2. and v.2.0).
The Successful Contractor shall provide the Services of the team of Key Personnel as named in its
Proposal, as accepted by CIHR. It is anticipated that Key Personnel will include, but are not necessarily
limited to, the following functions:



Project Manager / Lead – primary point of contact with CIHR for the delivery of each Phase of the
CIHR LMS solution.
o A seasoned Project Manager with five (5) or more years’ experience in leading IM/IT
project delivery and experienced in project management of the design and
implementation of the proposed LMS solution for at least three (3) client organizations in
the past five (5) years;
Configuration / Development Lead – Functional – responsible for leading the planning and design
of all required functional configuration, development (customization, integration, interface
development).
o A senior functional development specialist with five (5) or more years’ experience in
learning management for adult learners, and experience in leading the functional design
or configuration/development of the proposed LMS for at least two (2) client organizations
in the past five (5) years;
Technical Lead - responsible for leading the planning and design of all required technical
configuration, development (customization, integration, interface development), participating in
Page 25 of 47
CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017



any required Threat and Risk Assessment, Privacy Impact Assessment and security
assessments, and working with CIHR and Canada’s IT personnel to ensure the resulting CIHR
LMS solution will meet CIHR’s requirements.
o A seasoned technical specialist with five (5) or more years’ experience in technical
design or implementation of web-based or Software as a Service solutions for client
organizations, and experience in leading the technical design and
configuration/development of the proposed LMS for at least two (2) client organizations in
the past five (5) years; and
o Experience with the design, development and implementation of multi-tenancy models of
the proposed LMS and a variety of APIs;
o Experience with integration of the proposed LMS solution to MS Dynamics CRM is an
asset.
Implementation Lead – responsible for leading the implementation of the CIHR LMS solution,
including consultation and coordination between the Successful Contractor’s team of Personnel
and CIHR, to ensure that all environments are made ready, data and learning content is
appropriately migrated, adequate testing is performed to assure the operability and functionality
of the LMS solution, and that the LMS solution is ready for launch.
o A senior member of the Successful Contractor’s team with five (5) or more years’
experience in planning, managing and delivering upon the implementation of web-based
or Software as a Service solutions for client organizations, and experience in leading the
implementation of the proposed LMS for at least two (2) client organizations in the past
five (5) years; and
o Experience with the design, development and implementation of multi-tenancy models of
the proposed LMS is an asset;
o Experience working with government or broader public sector clients to implement
solutions across multiple organizations is an asset.
Training Lead – responsible for leading the design, development and delivery of administrative
and technical training to CIHR personnel and for the design, development and delivery of user
supports and guidance.
o An experienced learning specialist with five (5) years’ experience in adult education or
training, with at least three (3) years’ experience in development and delivery of training
to technical and administrative users of technology solutions, and experience in with the
proposed LMS for at least one (1) client organizations in the past five (5) years; and
Maintenance and Support Lead – primary senior point of contact with CIHR and for CIHR’s
personnel during the delivery of on-going Software as a Service for the implemented CIHR LMS
solution.
o A seasoned member of the Successful Contractor’s team, with five (5) or more years’
experience in overseeing the delivery of Information Systems maintenance, support, and
upgrades to client organizations; with authority within the Successful Contractor’s
organization to make decisions on service delivery issues.
In addition, the Successful Contractor shall provide the Services of sufficient qualified Named Personnel
to deliver upon the CIHR LMS solution in each Phase, and to maintain, support, and deliver any new
releases and upgrades to the CIHR LMS solution meeting or exceeding CIHR’s requirements and in
accordance with the Successful Contractor’s service levels as accepted by CIHR.
Page 26 of 47
CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Attachment “B” LMS Statement of Requirement
Req ID
Requirement
Priority
Ver 1.1
Req
Ver 1.2
Req
Ver 2.0
Req
DELIVERABLE 1: HOSTING SERVICES
1a. Standards Compliance
SC-1
The LMS must support HTML5.
SC-2
SC-3
The LMS must support all Flash products.
The LMS must support the following content
format: Interactive HTML 5.0 products, PDF
documents, MP4 or MPG video files, MP3 Audio
files, external links, MS Office suite (.pptx, .ppsx
and .docx files).
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
SC-4
The LMS must be SCORM 2004 compliant and
support the most current versions of SCORM.
Mandatory
x
SC-5
The LMS must be able to import SCORM content
packages, support SCORM metadata and also the
sequencing and navigation rules (course
organization and learning delivery in SCORM
2004).
Mandatory
x
SC-6
The LMS must house accessible HTML versions in
addition to the SCORM content packages for every
module in both official languages.
Mandatory
x
1b. IT Considerations
1 b.1 .Accessibility
IT-1
The system must comply with the following
accessibility standard at a minimum - WCAG 2.0,
Level “AA” (https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/).
Mandatory
X
1b.2. Business Continuity
IT-2
IT-3
The Vendor shall have Business Continuity Plans
(BCP) and Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP) in place
from the Effective Date of the Agreement to ensure
continuation and recoverability of its service to
CIHR.
The Vendor must present to CIHR all policies,
processes, communication plans and procedures
in place that define business continuity and
disaster recovery to minimize the impact of a
realized risk event. This documentation will be
used to support the service level agreement
requirements.
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
IT-4
Required Operating Hours: 7 days a week, 24
hours a day, 52 weeks a year.
Mandatory
x
IT-5
Scheduled downtime must be outside of core
business hours. Core hours are: weekdays: 8am –
10pm EST.
Mandatory
x
IT-6
Acceptable maximum cumulative down time during
required business hours: 17.52 hours per year, i.e.
99.8% availability during required business hours.
Mandatory
x
Page 27 of 47
CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Req ID
Requirement
Priority
Ver 1.1
Req
IT-7
Acceptable maximum recovery parameters:
Recovery Time Objective (RTO): 12 hours;
Recovery Point Objective (RPO): 6 hours.
Mandatory
x
IT-8
The Vendor will retain all backups (including but
not limited to; full, incremental and transactional)
for a period of 6 months. In addition, the Vendor
must be able to restore backup information to a
CIHR defined point in time (within 6 months
backup period) so no transaction data is lost.
Vendor must test its backup and restore
procedures at a minimum every 6 months.
Mandatory
x
Ver 1.2
Req
Ver 2.0
Req
1b.3. Configurability
IT-9
System administrator should have the ability to
configure non-critical section of the Learning
Management System (e.g. look & feel, workflows).
Mandatory
x
IT-10
The Learning Management System should allow
CIHR administrators the ability to create custom
fields in the Learning Management System. The
vendor should have a well-defined and
documented process how such custom fields will
be added into the Learning Management System.
Mandatory
x
IT-11
Comprehensive and clear documentation must be
provided by the Vendor covering: planning,
configuration, deployment (installation), operations,
user’s guide, and troubleshooting. Must be
available in electronic format and updated copies
provided when changes are made to the systems.
Mandatory
x
IT-12
Ability for CIHR to customize the end user
experience. Such personalization can be done by
the CIHR users having higher privileges or
administrator role and permission rights.
- Must allow CIHR to meet WCAG Level “AA”
compliance; if the system does not conform to the
minimum requirement, the vendor must be willing
to work with CIHR to ensure compliance of
identified key requirements.
- Solution should also allow CIHR to apply Themes
to facilitate compliance standards.
Mandatory
X
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
1b.4. Implementation
IT-13
IT-14
IT-15
The vendor is responsible for the sourcing,
maintenance and technical support of the LMS
solution based on CIHR’s requirements.
The vendor shall be responsible for providing any
additional subscriptions and applicable software
licenses required to deliver access to the LMS
solution to CIHR learners.
The vendor will work in close collaboration with
CIHR resources, to develop, test and implement
any necessary custom code to address data
exchange / integration requirements to ensure the
successful interoperation of the LMS solution with
Mandatory
X
Page 28 of 47
CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Req ID
Requirement
Priority
Ver 1.1
Req
Ver 1.2
Req
Ver 2.0
Req
x
x
CIHR Systems.
IT-16
The vendor's LMS SaaS solution should be
modular to allow CIHR to choose which features of
the LMS to implement.
Mandatory
x
IT-17
Although the most recent versions and releases of
the LMS SaaS solution must be available to CIHR;
its implementation in the Vendor’s environment(s)
for CIHR is at the sole discretion of CIHR. The
selected Vendor must provide CIHR with at least
one (1) month written notice of any desired plans
to upgrade the solution. CIHR reserves the right to
delay or deny the implementation of upgrades. The
Vendor must work with CIHR to schedule and
implement upgrades once agreed upon.
Mandatory
x
IT-18
The vendor's LMS SaaS solution's Business logic
should be highly configurable to allow CIHR
administrators the ability to change /modify
business rules of system functions without any new
code/programming.
Desirable
x
1b.5. Security – Access Control
IT-19
The LMS must allow CIHR administrators to
control password complexity, expiry time and
history.
Mandatory
x
IT-20
The LMS must have the ability for end users to
self-reset forgotten passwords as well as allow
CIHR LMS administrators to reset passwords on
demand using industry standard good practices.
Mandatory
x
IT-21
The system must provide capability for CIHR to
manage user accounts and user profiles in a
secure manner.
Mandatory
x
IT-22
The LMS must provide the ability for CIHR
administrators to configure account locks based on
the number of failed validation attempts (ex: 3 bad
password in a row = 20 minute lockout or
permanent lockout).
Mandatory
x
IT-23
Must provide capability to support role-based
authorization.
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
1b.6. Security – Audit
IT-24
The LMS must have the ability to automatically
audit, control and record the identity of anyone who
accesses, views, alters, deletes or uses a record.
IT-25
Must provide capability to log all successful sign-on
and failed sign-on attempts.
Mandatory
x
IT-26
The vendor must provide or support timesynchronized security event logging, with restricted
access by their staff, and controlled access by the
CIHR to review or monitor the logs.
Mandatory
x
Page 29 of 47
CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Req ID
IT-27
IT-28
Requirement
Login/Audit must include but is not limited to
Courses, Approvals, Registrations, Logins,
Account Creation, Application events, Server
events, Vendor network events etc. CIHR
administrators should be able to configure what is
being logged.
Audit logs and information must be protected by
strict controls so that only authorized individuals
are able to view, modify, and delete audit trail
information.
Priority
Ver 1.1
Req
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Ver 1.2
Req
Ver 2.0
Req
1b.7. Security – Encryption
IT-29
IT-30
IT-31
IT-32
Allow the creation of unique encryption keys for
CIHR’s Learning Management System. Such keys
must be shared or used for any other client of the
Vendor.
Encrypt CIHR’s Learning Management System
data at rest (on disk/storage) (at minimum 128bit
encryption).
Encrypt CIHR’s Learning Management System
data in transit (at minimum 128bit encryption).
The vendor must encrypt backups in order to
prevent unauthorized individuals from gaining
access to data during its storage or transportation.
1b.8. Security – Data Management
IT-33
Ability to bulk upload user information to
automatically create User Profiles.
Mandatory
x
IT-34
Ability to export user course history to standard
document format (e.g. Excel spreadsheet, csv,
text, etc.).
Mandatory
x
IT-35
Referential integrity must be enforced in the
database, to prevent orphaned data (Example of
orphaned data: A course registration approval
request with the associated user’s profile record
missing in the database).
Mandatory
x
IT-36
Enforce uniqueness for data that are required to be
unique as per business requirements.
Mandatory
x
IT-37
Validate data at point of data entry, based on
validation rules specified by business.
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
IT-38
IT-39
IT-40
IT-41
Once a data item or record is saved by the user, it
must remain available in the system (data
durability).
Provide a comprehensive data dictionary
document of all data fields within the Learning
Management System.
Provide data archiving functionality needed for
storage, preservation, and retrieval of all data
types within the Learning Management System.
Data retention settings for all data elements should
be controlled and managed by CIHR.
Desirable
x
Desirable
x
Desirable
x
1b.9. Security – Data Sovereignty
Page 30 of 47
CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Req ID
IT-42
Requirement
Data must reside within Canada, and the vendor
must be able to prove that all hot, failsafe and
backup sites also reside in Canada.
Priority
Mandatory
Ver 1.1
Req
Ver 1.2
Req
Ver 2.0
Req
x
1b.10. Security – Identity Management
IT-43
LMS offered by the Vendor must be capable of
implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) and with the
vendor must provide professional services to CIHR
to enable this functionality.
Mandatory
IT-44
LMS offered by the Vendor must provide the
capability of having native login mechanism.
Mandatory
x
IT-45
The vendor shall immediately notify the CIHR of
any actions or incidents suspected or known which
may risk the data of CIHR or may be used to
compromise the CIHR’s other computing
environment (s) via the vendor’s service. All such
actions or incidents real or perceived shall be
recorded and escalated to the CIHR contact
through a defined escalation process. Action or
incident reports must be made to CIHR within 2
business days of the occurrence.
Mandatory
x
x
1b.11. Security – System Access
IT-46
The vendor must implement a strategy of least
privilege for network/database administrators.
Mandatory
x
IT-47
The proposed system must ensure segregation of
duties for various roles defined in LMS solution.
Ex. Administrators, managers, users.
Mandatory
x
IT-48
The proposed system must ensure that user
access to data should be limited to their role.
Mandatory
x
IT-49
The vendor must ensure that role based access
control (RBAC) is strictly observed with regard to
the following accounts and roles: Application
Administrators, Database Administrators,
Operations / Help Desk, all system/application
accounts and all associated workstations and
servers.
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
1b.12. Security – System Connectivity
IT-50
Disconnect or re-challenge users for their
credentials when a session times out.
User must be asked to login on a new device even
if a session is active on a different device.
Be able to provide a CIHR approved user login
attempt limit (e.g. three times, or another set
amount as determined by CIHR) or a user
IT-52
challenge method e.g. captcha-like function) that
can "lock" the user out for a period of time (e.g.
twenty minutes) if the user incorrectly enters data
consecutively.
1b.13. Security – General
IT-51
Page 31 of 47
CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Req ID
IT-53
Requirement
Site Security clearance certificate from CSID
(http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/esc-src/enquetescreening-eng.html).
Priority
Ver 1.1
Req
Desirable
x
Desirable
x
Desirable
x
IT-56
The Vendor must provide ongoing help desk,
maintenance and support services for the term of
the Agreement with:
- Monday to Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
EST, 52 weeks a year to CIHR staff
- a toll free telephone help desk service and an
email address to which CIHR staff may send
inquiries or support requests
- a website where inquiries and support requests
can be entered and tracked. Historical data on
inquiries, resolutions, service level performance,
must be kept online and available to CIHR for the
duration of the contract.
Mandatory
x
IT-57
The Vendor must provide web access to a
knowledge base support to users. The information
provided must be kept current and up-to-date.
Mandatory
x
IT-58
Help desk services must permit CIHR to make
unlimited number of technical inquiries and must
not be limited to a specific number of incidents,
inquiries or responses.
Mandatory
x
IT-59
Ongoing support and maintenance services must
include the provision of all new versions and
releases of the LMS currently in use by CIHR.
Additionally, maintenance must include the
provision of all modifications made to the LMS that
correct errors (e.g., fixes and patches, security and
anti-virus software updates/patches, etc.); that
improves the overall performance, efficiency, and
capacity or eases the operation of the LMS
solution provided.
Mandatory
x
IT-60
Allow time for CIHR testing after deployment within
the maintenance window.
Mandatory
x
IT-54
IT-55
Vulnerability assessment, Penetration test and
Privacy Impact Assessment must be conducted on
the production environment prior to go-live. Results
of the assessment must be available to the client
upon request. Such test should also be conducted
periodically after go live, and after major system
changes. After each vulnerability assessment and
penetration test, the Vendor must implement
appropriate follow-up actions to address the
identified security issues.
The vendor’s solution should provide the ability to
erase (zero) memory and storage before reassigning resources to other instances.
Ver 1.2
Req
Ver 2.0
Req
1b.14. Support Services
Page 32 of 47
CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Req ID
IT-61
Requirement
All changes to the production instance requires
written approval from CIHR before proceeding.
Priority
Mandatory
Ver 1.1
Req
Ver 1.2
Req
Ver 2.0
Req
x
1b.15. System Integration
IT-62
IT-63
IT-64
Provide CIHR with a Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Connector allowing access to the LMS for
additional integration exchange of user data,
course data and user/course metrics. If the vendor
does not have such a connector available, then it
must provide professional services to build one.
Provide an open API (or equivalent) allowing
access to Learning Management System
functionality and data.
The LMS should integrate with: WebEx
(scheduling, attendance, tracking). WebEx is the
Government of Canada’s chosen solution for Peer2-Peer communications.
Mandatory
X
Mandatory
X
Mandatory
x
1b.16. System Performance
IT-65
The vendor shall monitor and assure performance
of the entire LMS system.
Mandatory
x
IT-66
Scalable to accommodate additional users while
maintaining established performance levels.
Mandatory
x
IT-67
Provide the physical location/geography of storage
of CIHR’s Learning Management System data
including backups and backup locations upon
implementation and upon any changes not limited
to data and backup schedule.
Mandatory
x
IT-68
Vendor should be able to work with CIHR to
provide a feasible solution towards integrating
Learning Management System with other CIHR
applications and infrastructure (Microsoft Dynamics
CRM) or any other should a need arise during the
duration of the agreement.
Mandatory
IT-69
Must be able to meet increased capacity demands
without impacting service levels and/or response
times.
Mandatory
x
IT-70
Less than 2 seconds for 95% of the responses.
Mandatory
x
IT-71
The LMS should have a scalable architecture that
accommodates at least 10,000 users over the
course of one calendar year.
Mandatory
x
IT-72
The LMS should also support various web
browsers, including Internet Explorer 11 or later
and current versions of Chrome, Safari and
Firefox. The solution must be platform, Operating
System and browser agnostic.
Mandatory
x
IT-73
Content must be accessible and fully functional
from any type of computer or portable device as
long as they can run HTML 5.
Mandatory
x
x
Page 33 of 47
CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Req ID
IT-74
IT-75
Requirement
Learners should be able to manage their learning
from any type of computer or portable device as
long as they can run HTML 5.
The LMS should perform with no inactivity or
system errors.
Priority
Ver 1.1
Req
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Desirable
x
Ver 1.2
Req
Ver 2.0
Req
1b.17. Training
IT-76
IT-77
IT-78
IT-79
The following LMS SaaS solution training must be
available and delivered before deployment:
- Instructor-led training of CIHR’s administrators by
a dedicated trainer, experienced in providing adult
education training on a regular basis
- Online documentation available to CIHR,
including administration, staff and end-users (e.g.
administrator’s guide, user guide), with the ongoing
right for CIHR to use it and to customize it as
needed
- Training materials must be provided in soft copy
at least 3 week prior to course delivery.
Training must be provided to site administrators in
the event of new features of functionality are added
after the Go Live Date either due to a version
change or update.
The Vendor must maintain and update training
materials to reflect the latest version of the
solution.
Ability to provide training during implementation
and post implementation for follow up material.
Training should be available ad hoc for new
administrators. Also, version (upgrade) training or
knowledge sharing. Latest version of the software
should be shared (user manual, helpdesk, online
resources to understand system functionality).
1b.18. Transition Out
IT-80
Prior to the end of the agreement, and when
requested by the CIHR, the Vendor must provide
CIHR all data and content extracted from the
solution (including files/documents, user data and
training history stored in the database) in a useable
format specified by the CIHR (e.g. CSV). A
useable format is understood as an open, nonproprietary format that CIHR can use to access
and review the data immediately.
1b.19. Ease of Use
IT-81
Provide error messages, notifications, alerts,
system errors, or other dialogs that are presented
to the user, in plain language and should provide
the user with either direction or action alternatives.
This must be provided in both official languages.
***maybe even configurable by CIHR.
Page 34 of 47
CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Req ID
Requirement
Priority
Ver 1.1
Req
IT-82
Provide context-sensitive online help within every
screen, and include guidance for the user on
operation of the Learning Management System.
Desirable
IT-83
Hyperlink capability to and not limited to internal
documents, templates, intranet and internet sites.
Desirable
IT-84
Gamification (e.g. badges).
Desirable
IT-85
Flexibility in setting system maintenance schedule
to align with that of CIHR IT and business needs.
Desirable
x
IT-86
LMS should have a common portal and separate
domains to manage all courses for specific
audiences (i.e. a back-end access for
administrators).
Desirable
x
CL-1
The LMS must provide content and all interfaces in
both official languages (English and French), a
separate landing page for each language and the
availability to toggle between languages once
logged in to the system. In addition, the LMS must
have the ability to support and deliver bilingual
content with respect to learning content
management.
Mandatory
x
CL-2
Landing pages should be customized to CIHR
content and visual branding and not LMS specific
content. Administrators and/or content managers
should be able to create multiple customized, user
configurable portals and home pages.
Mandatory
x
Ver 1.2
Req
Ver 2.0
Req
x
x
1b.19. General
x
x
x
x
x
x
1c. Communication and language requirements
CL-3
CL-4
CL-5
The LMS should allow users to communicate with
content managers and system administrators to
provide feedback on content and performance
issues.
CIHR should have the choice to manage all backend elements, such as configuring interface
content, uploading learning content, and updating
login/home page content.
CIHR should have the ability to manage and
assign administrators and administrator rights.
The LMS should also allow for a repository of
instructor resources where only users (mostly
CL-6
content managers) that have been granted access
by CIHR can view and download materials.
DELIVERABLE 2: COURSE ADMINISTRATION
2a. Learner Requirements
Learners can view learning content and outlines
LR-1
and descriptions.
Learners can track their own progress within
LR-2
learning content.
LR-3
Learners can enroll/ register/ unregister in learning
content, and in either language (English/French).
Mandatory
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Page 35 of 47
CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Req ID
Requirement
Priority
Ver 1.1
Req
Ver 1.2
Req
Ver 2.0
Req
LR-4
Learners can start and stop learning content at any
point and should be able to resume at the same
point at any other time and location.
Mandatory
x
LR-5
Learner Profile: Each learner must have their own
individual profile. Learner profiles should include
the following data:
- Name; Email address; Organization; Contact
information; Learning content completion status;
Certificate of Achievement results; Pre- and postcourse quiz (knowledge) and survey (attitude)
data; Course feedback information.
(This requirement is dependent on the integration
capacity of the LMS solution with internal CIHR’s
systems)
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Desirable
x
x
x
Desirable
x
x
x
LR-6
LR-7
LR-8
LR-9
Learners can modify their individual profile as they
wish with the exception of administrator set values.
Learners can complete formal assessments (e.g.,
quizzes) (towards certification) and the LMS will
track the results.
After completing each learning module, learners
can access a survey to provide feedback on the
learning content.
Learners can obtain a certificate of completion
LR-10
Learners automatically receive reminders of
updates to complete learning activities.
Desirable
x
x
x
LR-11
Learners automatically receive reminders of new
learning activities within a learning moodule.
Desirable
x
x
x
LR-12
Learners can set automatic reminders for various
learning activities within the learning system.
Desirable
x
x
Desirable
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Ability to select time zone preferences for events
calendar.
2b. Content Managers’ Requirements
LR-13
CM-1
CM-2
CM-3
Can create and update learning content, course
outlines and descriptions.
Can update and/or retire learning content as
required.
Can control access to all learning content
autonomously.
x
CM-4
Ability to add online external links to resources
(e.g. PDFs, Word, Excel, links, etc.).
Mandatory
x
CM-5
Ability to create tests, exercises and surveys with
the ability to set parameters (e.g. passing score,
number of attempts allowed).
Mandatory
x
CM-6
Ability to add content simultaneously across
multiple learning modules.
Desirable
x
x
CM-7
Can publish all learning materials content
autonomously.
Desirable
x
x
CM-8
Ability to create business rules for learning content
access and enrolment.
Desirable
x
x
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Req ID
CM-9
Requirement
Ability to manually override business rules or
mandatory requirements (i.e. prerequisites) on a
case-by-case basis (by individual or bulk).
2c. Learner Managers’ Requirements
Can track progress of learner(s) on learning
LM-1
content.
Can enroll learner or group (e.g. batch) in learning
LM-2
content.
Can track practical training (e.g. participation in
LM-3
peer review).
Can delegate access to learners in the LMS as
LM-4
required.
Ability to add multiple instructors to one learning
LM-5
content.
Ver 1.1
Req
Ver 1.2
Req
Desirable
x
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Mandatory
x
Priority
Ver 2.0
Req
x
Desirable
x
Desirable
x
x
LM-6
Can send invitations, reminders or notifications by
email to any and all learners about new or updated
content, new assignments or nearing due date.
Ability to easily modify email body, recipients, etc.
(Integration with CRM email functionality
desirable).
Desirable
x
x
LM-7
Configurable job profiles/role profile with skill and
competency requirements and related learning
plan or activities, i.e. Learners assigned to specific
groups should be able to view list of available
learning content.
Desirable
x
x
LM-8
Learning Managers should be able to
- create forums based on topics
- create open forums or moderated forums
- promote learning events and news through the
learning environment.
Desirable
x
x
LM-9
If the learners require more training based on their
formal assessment score, the Learning Manager
should be able to use the LMS (manual process) to
provide them with a list of learning content to be
completed in order to ensure that they have the
required skills to complete their role-specific tasks.
Desirable
x
x
x
DELIVERABLE 3: INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE
IK-1
LMS should have an email tool (system interface
for sending email).
Desirable
x
x
x
IK-2
Provide forums/collaborative tools for learners and
learning/content manager to freely exchange
information in a secure space.
Desirable
x
x
x
IK-3
Provide a wiki environment or equivalent to build a
learning encyclopedia.
Desirable
x
x
IK-4
Social learning and knowledge collaboration
capabilities.
Desirable
x
x
IK-5
Ability for learners to directly ask any content
related queries to the appropriate Subject Matter
Expert (i.e. Ask An Expert).
Desirable
x
x
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Req ID
IK-6
Requirement
Event calendar functionality with the ability to
create appointments in a calendar (e.g. Outlook)
when a learner signs up for a webinar.
Priority
Ver 1.1
Req
Desirable
Ver 1.2
Req
Ver 2.0
Req
x
x
DELIVERABLE 4: TRACKING AND REPORTING
TR-1
Ability to report on learning content usage.
Mandatory
TR-2
Ability to report on time consumption required by
any learning content piece at a granular level.
Whether learner is actively or passively
participating in the activities.
Mandatory
x
TR-3
Ability to report on the overall time spent by each
learner to complete their learning content.
Mandatory
x
TR-4
Ability to export raw data to an excel spreadsheet.
Mandatory
x
TR-5
Ability to track the completion of learners’ learning
content and provide a list of learners who have
successfully completed learning content.
Mandatory
x
TR-6
Ability to report on tests, exercises and surveys
results.
Mandatory
x
TR-7
Pull reports against multiple data fields (e.g.,.
completion by learning content).
Mandatory
x
x
Mandatory
x
x
TR-8
TR-9
The LMS must provide the following searchable
activity functionality:
- Conduct a simple and more complex searches
(e.g., status of an individual participant);
- Save customized searches/reports (i.e.
activation/completion reports).
Ability to report on the drop off rate on any learning
content.
Desirable
x
x
x
x
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Attachment “C” Request for Information
In addition to responding to the Mandatory Requirements and Rated Criteria set out in this RFQ
document, Respondents are requested to complete and submit with their Submissions,
responses to the questions contained in this Request for Information template. The information
requested and provided by Respondents is intended to inform CIHR on the structure of the
Statement of Work and any resulting Contract to be issued with any second-stage RFP and may
be used by CIHR, in its sole discretion, to inform the drafting of the SOW, Form of Agreement
and RFP document. The information provided by Respondents in this Request for Information
template will not be evaluated as part of the RFQ process.
Question
1. What is the pricing model structure for your
proposed LMS solution?
Response
Note: Respondents must not provide any actual
dollar-values, costs or proposed pricing for the
LMS solution in their Submissions.
Please describe how you license or provide
access to the use of your proposed LMS solution
(e.g. by named user, by concurrent user, by tiers
of number of named or concurrent users, by
instance, enterprise-wide, etc.).
For any tiered models (e.g. 1 to 100 concurrent
users, etc.), please identify the tiers that you offer.
Please describe the user model(s) that your
organization supports, including how you manage
“transient” users with year over year roll-over
distinct from on-going users, while maintaining
solution data for both types of users.
What is your organization’s preferred structure
and frequency of payment schedule (e.g.
milestone during release implementation,
monthly/quarterly, etc. post-release)? Please
describe.
Please identify any options offered in terms of
your organization’s pricing model, user model or
payment schedule.
2. In review of CIHR’s anticipated requirements for
the LMS solution, as set out in Attachment “B”, are
there any that impact the cost of your solution to
clients?
Note: Respondents must not provide any actual
dollar-values, costs or proposed pricing for the
LMS solution or Services in their Submissions.
Please describe whether the functionality is
offered as part of your LMS solution at an
additional cost (e.g. per module pricing), or
whether the functionality requires development
and any associated impact on your pricing model
structure.
3. In review of CIHR’s anticipated requirements for
the LMS solution, as set out in Attachment “B”,
please provide any questions, concerns or
feedback your organization may have on the
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Question
Response
following questions:
a) How does / how would you propose your LMS
solution integrate with MS Dynamics CRM at the
content entity* level? How does / how would the
LMS solution import/ export data?
*i.e. how would you propose to integrate your
LMS solution to CIHR’s MS Dynamics CRM rather
than MS Dynamics at the user entity level?
b) How are learners / users assigned to learning
content (individually, by batch, in bulk, multiple
methods)? Please describe.
c) What API functionality is currently available in
your proposed LMS solution? Please describe
the nature of the functionality.
d) Are there any anticipated requirements in
Attachment “B” that would benefit from additional
clarity to assist your organization in responding to
any subsequent RFP? Please explain.
e) Are there any anticipated requirements in
Attachment “B” that may be problematic to
respond to in any subsequent RFP (e.g. solution
does not currently meet / have no plans to
implement)? Please explain.
f) What level(s) of security are provided by your
LMS solution (e.g. any existing Government of
Canada security clearances in place for your
facilities / systems)?
4. What Professional Services does your
organization offer to design, configure, develop
(e.g. customize, integrate/interface), test,
implement, maintain and support the proposed
LMS.
For each Service offered, please describe the
nature of the Services, the number of Personnel
dedicated to this function within your organization
(in Canada (please identify location) and
internationally), and any existing partnerships or
arrangements your organization has with third
parties to deliver the Services.
5. Do you have any questions, feedback on how
to enhance the efficiency of the project, or
concerns related to the proposed Phasing of the
implementation and roll-out of the anticipated
requirements, as set out in Attachment “B”?
Please explain.
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Attachment “D” Anticipated RFP Requirements
The following requirements are anticipated to be included in any second-stage RFP issued to
pre-qualified Respondents. This Attachment “D” is issued for information purposes only and is
subject to change at the sole discretion of CIHR. Only the terms, conditions, requirements and
criteria set out in any RFP issued by CIHR will be considered official and will govern any
second-stage RFP process.
Facility and Personnel Security Requirements
Any second-stage RFP will contain a Security Requirement, as follows:
Facility Security Requirements
Bidders will be required to demonstrate that the Bidder’s facility from which services are to be provided
and the Bidder’s datacentres and any and all back-up, failover, and hot sites, currently possess or are
able to obtain and maintain, a valid Government of Canada Designated Organization Screening (DOS)
and an IM/IT Clearance at the level of PROTECTED B, at a minimum, issued by the Canadian Industrial
Security Directorate of Public Services and Procurement Canada.
Personnel Security Requirements

The Successful Contractor’s unscreened personnel may undertake work under the Contract
provided they do not have access to PROTECTED information, assets or CIHR’s electronic
network or IT systems. Should unscreened personnel require access to CIHR offices, they must
be escorted at all times by a CIHR employee with a valid clearance.

The Successful Contractor’s personnel requiring access to PROTECTED B information, assets or
CIHR’s electronic network or IT systems, must each hold a valid Reliability clearance and
accesses as granted or approved by the CIHR.

The Successful Contractor’s personnel requiring privileged access to CIHR’s IT systems, (i.e. the
possibility of modifying, removing, adding data or information in CIHR’s systems), must each hold
a valid Reliability clearance and accesses as granted or approved by CIHR and must be
escorted by CIHR personnel.

Should any of the Successful Contractor’s personnel who require access to PROTECTED B
information, assets or CIHR’s electronic network or IT systems in performing work be unable to
obtain the required security clearance, the Successful Contractor shall be responsible for
providing replacement personnel with comparable qualifications and experience who are able to
obtain the required security clearance. Any and all replacement personnel are subject to CIHR’s
review and approval prior to commencing delivery of the services.

The Successful Contractor’s personnel must not remove any PROTECTED or classified
information or assets from the work site and the Successful Contractor must ensure that its
personnel are made aware of and comply with this restriction.
Anticipated RFP Selection and Evaluation Criteria: (For information only, subject to
changes)
A. Proposed team of personnel, including qualifications and experience of specific named Key
Personnel who are proposed to provide services to CIHR;
B. LMS Solution architecture and associated documentation demonstrating the ability of the
proposed LMS solution to meet CIHR’s identified detailed requirements;
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
C. Proposed Maintenance and Support model and service level commitments;
D. Proposed approach and work plan for working with CIHR and how the Bidder proposes to roll-out
the proposed LMS solution, including detailed estimates of time and effort required;
E. Presentation of proposed LMS Solution (at CIHR’s option);
F. Financial Proposal; and
G. Proof of Proposal Testing with highest ranked Bidder to verify compliance to all Mandatory
Requirements, and validation of the functionality identified by the Bidder within its written
Proposal against all Rated Criteria.
Anticipated Key Contract Terms
Any second-stage RFP will contain the Form of Agreement that will apply to any resulting Contract.
CIHR does not intend to negotiate the terms and conditions of any resulting Contract. The highest ranked
Bidder (as a result of any second-stage RFP process) will be required to execute the Form of Agreement
as contained within the RFP document, with modifications only to incorporate Proposal specified details
(e.g. dates, Key Personnel, costs, etc.).
The Form of Agreement contained within any second-stage RFP is anticipated to include, but is not
limited to, terms and conditions that reflect the following key terms:
Ownership of Information
All data, information and learning content provided by or developed by CIHR or by third parties on behalf
of CIHR within the LMS shall remain the sole property of CIHR. The Successful Contractor shall return all
such data, information and learning content to CIHR upon the expiry or early termination of any Contract,
and the Successful Contractor shall retain no rights in or to such data, information and learning content.
The Successful Contractor shall retain the rights to its LMS solution, the Successful Contractor’s
information and any of the Successful Contractor’s intellectual property that is pre-existing. Any
configurations or customizations to the Successful Contractor’s LMS developed specifically for CIHR shall
be the property of the Successful Contractor. The Successful Contractor shall grant to CIHR a perpetual,
world-wide, royalty-free license to use, modify and provide to other parties any configurations or
customizations developed or delivered by the Successful Contractor specifically for CIHR.
Protection of Personal Information
The Successful Contractor must agree that, personal information that is managed, accessed, collected,
used, disclosed, retained, received, created, or disposed of in order to fulfil the requirements of the
Contract, shall be treated in accordance with the Privacy Act R.S. 1985, c. P-21, the Personal Information
Protection and Electronic Documents Act, 2000, c. 5, and Treasury Board privacy policies.
Insurance
It is anticipated that the Form of Agreement will contain a requirement for the Successful Contractor to
obtain and maintain, at its sole expense, valid certificates of insurance for Commercial General Liability,
Errors and Omissions, and Cyber Liability, each naming CIHR as Additional Insured.
Limitation of Liability – Information Management / Information Technology
(https://buyandsell.gc.ca/policy-and-guidelines/standard-acquisition-clauses-and-conditionsmanual/5/N/N0000C)
1. This section applies despite any other provision of the Contract and replaces the section of the
general conditions entitled "Liability". Any reference in this section to damages caused by the
Contractor also includes damages caused by its employees, as well as its subcontractors,
agents, and representatives, and any of their employees. This section applies regardless of
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
whether the claim is based in contract, tort, or another cause of action. The Contractor is not
liable to Canada with respect to the performance of or failure to perform the Contract, except as
described in this section and in any section of the Contract pre-establishing any liquidated
damages. The Contractor is only liable for indirect, special or consequential damages to the
extent described in this section, even if it has been made aware of the potential for those
damages.
2. First Party Liability:
a. The Contractor is fully liable for all damages to Canada, including indirect, special or
consequential damages, caused by the Contractor's performance or failure to perform the
Contract that relate to:
i.
any infringement of intellectual property rights to the extent the Contractor breaches the
section of the general conditions entitled Intellectual Property Infringement and Royalties;
ii.
physical injury, including death.
b. The Contractor is liable for all direct damages caused by the Contractor's performance or
failure to perform the Contract affecting real or tangible personal property owned, possessed,
or occupied by Canada.
c. Each of the Parties is liable for all direct damages resulting from its breach of confidentiality
under the Contract. Each of the Parties is also liable for all indirect, special or consequential
damages in respect of its unauthorized disclosure of the other Party's trade secrets (or trade
secrets of a third party provided by one Party to another under the Contract) relating to
information technology.
d. The Contractor is liable for all direct damages relating to any encumbrance or claim relating to
any portion of the Work for which Canada has made any payment. This does not apply to
encumbrances or claims relating to intellectual property rights, which are addressed under (a)
above.
e. The Contractor is also liable for any other direct damages to Canada caused by the
Contractor's performance or failure to perform the Contract that relate to:
i.
any breach of the warranty obligations under the Contract, up to the total amount paid by
Canada (including Applicable Taxes) for the goods and services affected by the breach of
warranty; and
ii.
any other direct damages, including all identifiable direct costs to Canada associated with
re-procuring the Work from another party if the Contract is terminated either in whole or in
part for default,
f. If Canada's records or data are harmed as a result of the Contractor's negligence or willful act,
the Contractor's only liability is, at the Contractor's own expense, to restore Canada's records
and data using the most recent back-up kept by Canada. Canada is responsible for maintaining
an adequate back-up of its records and data.
3. Third Party Claims:
a. Regardless of whether a third party makes its claim against Canada or the Contractor, each
Party agrees that it is liable for any damages that it causes to any third party in connection with
the Contract as set out in a settlement agreement or as finally determined by a court of
competent jurisdiction, where the court determines that the Parties are jointly and severally
liable or that one Party is solely and directly liable to the third party. The amount of the liability
will be the amount set out in the settlement agreement or determined by the court to have been
the Party's portion of the damages to the third party. No settlement agreement is binding on a
Party unless its authorized representative has approved the agreement in writing.
b. If Canada is required, as a result of joint and several liability, to pay a third party in respect of
damages caused by the Contractor, the Contractor must reimburse Canada by the amount
finally determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be the Contractor's portion of the
damages to the third party. However, despite paragraph (a), with respect to special, indirect,
and consequential damages of third parties covered by this section, the Contractor is only liable
for reimbursing Canada for the Contractor's portion of those damages that Canada is required
by a court to pay to a third party as a result of joint and several liability that relate to the
infringement of a third party's intellectual property rights; physical injury of a third party,
including death; damages affecting a third party's real or tangible personal property; liens or
encumbrances on any portion of the Work; or breach of confidentiality.
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
c.
The Parties are only liable to one another for damages to third parties to the extent described in
this paragraph 3.
Key Personnel and Replacement of Personnel
The Successful Contractor shall provide the Services of the Key Personnel named within its RFP
Proposal as accepted by CIHR, unless the Successful Contractor is unable to do so for reasons beyond
its control.
In the event that the Successful Contractor is unable to provide the services of the Key Personnel, the
Successful Contractor shall be responsible for providing replacement Key Personnel with comparable
qualifications and experience whom shall be acceptable to CIHR. Any replacement Personnel must be
authorized by CIHR prior to commencing the delivery of any services. CIHR reserves the right to refuse
any and all replacement Personnel.
If the Contractor is unable to provide the services of any specific individual identified in the Contract to
perform the services, the Contractor must within five working days of the individual's departure or failure
to commence Work (or, if CIHR has requested the replacement, within ten working days of CIHR's notice
of the requirement for a replacement) provide to the Contracting Authority:
a. the name, qualifications and experience of a proposed replacement immediately available for
Work; and
b. security information on the proposed replacement as specified by CIHR, if applicable.
Subject to an Excusable Delay, where CIHR becomes aware that a specific individual identified under the
Contract to provide services has not been provided or is not performing, the Contracting Authority may
elect to:
a. exercise CIHR's rights or remedies under the Contract or at law, including terminating the
Contract for default, or
b. require the Contractor to propose a replacement to be rated by the Technical Authority. The
replacement must have qualifications and experience that meet or exceed those obtained for the
original resource and be acceptable to CIHR. Upon assessment of the replacement, CIHR may
accept the replacement, or require another replacement.
An Excusable Delay does not include resource unavailability due to allocation of the resource to another
Contract or project (including those for the Crown) being performed by the Contractor or any of its
affiliates. The Contractor must not, in any event, allow performance of the Work by unauthorized
replacement persons. The Contracting Authority may order that a resource stop performing the Work. In
such a case, the Contractor must immediately comply with the order. The fact that the Contracting
Authority does not order that a resource stop performing the Work does not relieve the Contractor from its
responsibility to meet the requirements of the Contract.
The obligations in this article apply despite any changes that CIHR may have made to the Client's
operating environment.
i.
If the Contractor is unable to provide the services of an individual named in its bid due to
departure of the person from the Successful Contractor’s firm, death, sickness, extended leave
(including parental leave or disability leave), retirement, resignation or dismissal for cause of that
individual, within five business days of CIHR’s knowledge of the unavailability of the individual the
Bidder may propose a substitute to the Contracting Authority, providing:
a. the reason for the substitution with substantiating documentation acceptable to the
Contracting Authority;
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
b. the name, qualifications and experience of a proposed replacement immediately available
for work; and
c.
proof that the proposed replacement has the required security clearance granted by CIHR,
if applicable.
No more than one substitute will be considered for any given individual proposed in the bid. In
response to the Contractor’s proposed substitution, the Contracting Authority may elect in its sole
discretion either to:
a. set aside the bid and give it no further consideration; or
b. evaluate the replacement in accordance with the requirements of the bid solicitation in the
place of the original resource as if that replacement had originally been proposed in the
bid, with any necessary adjustments being made to the evaluation results, including the
rank of the bid vis-à-vis other bids.
If no substitute is proposed the Contracting Authority will set aside the bid and give it no further
consideration.
ii.
If the Bidder has proposed any individual who is not an employee of the Bidder, by submitting a
bid, the Bidder certifies that it has the permission from that individual to propose his/her services
in relation to the Work to be performed and to submit his/her résumé to CIHR. The Bidder must,
upon request from the Contracting Authority, provide a written confirmation, signed by the
individual, of the permission given to the Bidder and of his/her availability. Failure to comply with
the request may result in the bid being declared non-responsive.
Language of Work
The Successful Contractor shall provide its services in English at a minimum.
Travel and Living Expenses
There is no requirement for travel anticipated under any resulting Contract.
Any costs associated with the re-location of Personnel to fulfill the requirements of the resulting Contract,
or any travel, local transportation, living and meal expenses within the National Capital Region and
to/from the National Capital Region and the Successful Contractor’s place of business will not be
reimbursed by CIHR.
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CIHR-RFQ-LMS-04-2017
Attachment “E” Definitions
Term / Acronym
Applicant
Bidder
CIHR
College of Reviewers
Contract
Institute(s)
Key Personnel
LMS
Personnel
Proposal
Respondent
RFP
RFQ
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
SOW
Submission
Definition
An individual or organization engaged in health research who applies
to CIHR’s funding application processes. Applicants may be located
anywhere in the world.
A Respondent who is pre-qualified as a result of this RFQ process and
who is eligible to submit a Proposal in response to any subsequent
second-stage RFP, if issued by CIHR, for the provision of a webbased SaaS LMS.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
The College of Reviewers is designed to serve as a framework for
organizing and managing groups of researchers qualified, willing and
trained to participate as peer reviewers in CIHR’s funding application
processes. College of Reviewer members may be located anywhere
in the world.
Means an agreement between CIHR and the Successful Contractor,
obligating the Successful Contractor to perform the services, work and
deliverables, as specified therein. The Contract consists of the Form
of Agreement, Statement of Work, Statement of Requirement, Basis of
Payment, Certifications, and the Successful Contractor’s Proposal,
and any amendments as negotiated by CIHR as accepted by CIHR
and appended to the Form of Agreement.
As the context dictates, means one (1) or more of the 13 Institutes that
comprise CIHR that set research priorities and support a broad
spectrum of research in their respective areas. These "virtual"
Institutes are located within research institutions throughout Canada.
Means Personnel who are named within the Successful Contractor’s
Proposal, and qualified by CIHR at the time of Proposal submission, to
fulfill an identified function or provide an identified skillset, and who will
provide dedicated service to CIHR under the Contract. Key Personnel
may not be replaced by the Successful Contractor except for reasons
beyond the Successful Contractor’s control, and only with the express
written authorization of CIHR.
Learning Management Solution
Means personnel or entities (whether employed or subcontracted) as
submitted in the Successful Contractor’s proposal and approved by
CIHR to be primarily responsible for the delivery of the services and
deliverables under this Contract.
Means a Proposal submitted in response to any second-date RFP.
An organization, including a joint venture or consortia, that responds
to this RFQ.
Request for Proposals – an anticipated second stage solicitation to be
issued by CIHR to those Respondents pre-qualified as a result of this
RFQ.
Request for Qualifications
A software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a
vendor or service provider, and the provider licenses this application
to customers for use as a service on demand, made available to
customers over a network, typically the internet.
Statement of Work.
Means the Submission delivered by a Respondent in response to this
RFQ.
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Term / Acronym
Successful Contractor
User
Definition
The pre-qualified Respondent selected pursuant to any second-stage
RFP, which under a valid Contract is eligible to complete the work and
delivery the services as detailed in the SOW.
Means any person authorized by CIHR to use the functionality of the
Successful Contractor’s LMS. Users may include CIHR staff,
members of the College of Reviewers, Applicants, or members of
CIHR’s member Institutes.
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