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First Nations Infrastructure Gaps & Solutions Desktop Study

INTRODUCTION

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is the national representative organization of First Nations people in Canada. The AFN represents and advocates First Nations’ interests for more than 600 First Nations from across the country.

The AFN recently completed a National First Nations Asset Needs Study, which is a national assessment of on-reserve infrastructure and 20-year investment needs. The Study identified an investment need of approximately $73 billion across the 634 First Nations in Canada over 20-years. The report also identified a number of action areas for key components for First Nations which would require further analysis nationwide.

The AFN now invites qualified individuals and firms to submit proposals to provide professional services for the delivery of a desktop study which provides a full listing of gaps, solutions, and actions necessary to begin work addressing identified gaps in AFN National First Nations Asset Needs Study.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to select a proponent to develop a desktop study examining the gaps identified in the AFN National First Nations Asset Needs Study and provide solutions and actions for First Nations to begin addressing the identified gaps.

At a minimum, the proponents will be expected to provide the following:

  • Review, itemize and analyze the AFN National First Nations Asset Needs Study, specifically the identified gaps, assumptions and uncertainties, and conclusions and recommendations.
  • Provide solutions and actions in the form of recommendations that First Nations should implement in order to overcome the identified gaps in the study.
  • The recommendations should provide a clear path of action for each gap area which can be adopted easily and incorporated by First Nations across the country.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The role of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is to advocate on behalf of First Nations as directed by Chiefs-in-Assembly. This includes facilitation and coordination of national and regional discussions and dialogue, advocacy efforts and campaigns, legal and policy analysis, communicating with governments, including facilitating relationship building between First Nations and the Crown as well as public and private sectors and general public.

Each First Nation in Canada is entitled to be a member of the AFN. First Nations exercise their membership through their Chief (official delegate). There are over 634 First Nation delegates who are eligible to participate in the election of the National Chief.

The AFN recently completed a National First Nations Asset Needs Study, which is a national assessment of on-reserve infrastructure and 20-year investment needs. The Study identified an investment need of approximately $73 billion across the 634 First Nations in Canada over 20 years.

The AFN supports the closure of the infrastructure gap on First Nations by 2030.

The AFN continues to support First Nations in advancing their asset management goals through capacity development in Asset Management Planning (AMP).

The AFN works with Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and the Canadian Network of Asset Managers (CNAM) and collaborates with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) to facilitate technical support in First Nations AMP.

The Chiefs-in-Assembly have directed the AFN to act under Resolution 22/2020 – Infrastructure Stimulus Funding for First Nations. This resolution directs the AFN to support the closure of the infrastructure gap between First Nations and the rest of Canada. Furthermore, it directs the AFN to urge the federal government to make long-term funding commitments to First Nations community infrastructure including, but not limited to, the following: Housing, water, wastewater, operations and maintenance, education, health facilities, and emergency services.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

All proposal submissions shall be received by the AFN no later than January 5, 2024.

All proposal submissions will clearly identify in the email subject line with the name of the proponent and the document title “RFP for First Nations Infrastructure Gaps & Solutions Desktop Study”.

Late submissions will not be accepted.

All proposal submissions should be emailed to: [email protected] and cc: [email protected]

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

All proposals shall include the following information:

  1. Title Page: referencing the RFP title, the firm’s name and address, the name, telephone number and email address of the contact person, and date of the proposal.
  2. Executive Summary: Provide an Executive Summary outlining the background information of the proponent’s company, including contents of the proposal.
  3. Qualifications: Provide a description of the proponent’s capabilities/experience specifically related to handling and analyzing infrastructure asset classes.
  4. Statement and Description: Include a statement and description of the physical and human resources required to carry out and complete the desktop study, including research, writing, data collection, etc., as well as software and intellectual material.
  5. Project Organization: Identify the composition of the proposed project team, if any, including:
    1. Project team members;
    2. Description of the roles of the team members; and
    3. Level of experience of the team members specific to First Nations infrastructure and asset analysis.
  1. Client References: The names of three (3) references which have used the services of the proponent for First Nations infrastructure desktop studies and/or infrastructure related reports. References to include the client’s name, title, and contact information.
  1. Cost Breakdown: The Proponent shall provide a detailed cost breakdown for the proposed services, showing the total cost for the performance of all services, expenses, materials, deliverables, and software/hardware costs (if applicable), to be used for completion of the work. Total cost shall be in Canadian dollars and inclusive of HST.
  1. Project Deliverables: The Proponent shall provide a detailed description of the approach they intend to implement when utilizing the AFN National First Nations Asset Needs Study and in order to produce a report identifying gaps, actions, solutions and recommendations that can be implemented in order to address the identified gaps.

RIGHTS OF THE AFN

The AFN reserves the right to:

  1. reject any or all proposals received in response to this RFP;
  2. enter into negotiation with one or more Consultants on any or all aspects of their respective proposals;
  3. accept any proposal in whole, or in part;
  4. cancel and/or re-issue the modified version of a given RFP requirement at any time;
  5. award one or more contracts;
  6. verify all information provided with respect to a given RFP requirement, including the right to request a confirmation of the Consultant’s legal status and signed documentation; and
  7. award contracts without competition for follow-up work, if any, to the selected Consultant for a given project requirement.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

The AFN will select the Proponent(s) which, in the AFN’s sole discretion, best serves the overall needs of the AFN. The following is a summary of the general considerations that will be used to determine the Proponent(s) that will be selected:

  1. Expertise of Firm/Organization submitting the proposal – (20%).
  2. Experience in working with First Nations on infrastructure data analysis – (15%).
  3. Proposed Work Plan and Approach – (35%).
  4. Experience in strategy development, research, project planning, budgeting, and organizational development as it would apply to the analysis of First Nations infrastructure asset classes – (20%).
  5. Total price – (10%)

TIMETABLE

The following dates are set forth for informational and planning purposes and may be changed at the AFN’s sole discretion.

RFP Released/Advertised/Posted – 2023/12/14

Deadline for questions – 2023/12/21

Deadline for submission of proposals – 2024/01/05

Completion of proposal evaluations – 2024/01/10

Finalist Interviews (if required) – 2024/01/11

Final Selection – 2024/01/12

Contract Start Date – 2024/01/17

The timetable is tentative only and may be changed by the AFN, in its sole discretion, at any time prior to the Proposal Submission Deadline.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Price

Contractors must provide a firm fixed price, including administrative fees, travel, material costs, translation, printing of draft concepts and HST.

Confidentiality

Responses to this RFP will be considered as confidential information by the AFN and will be used solely for the purposes of selecting the successful proponent.

Clarification / Questions

All proposals submissions will be acknowledged by electronic mail (email).

Requests for clarification and/or questions regarding this RFP should be directed to:

Liz Fox
Senior Analyst, Infrastructure
Economic Development, Infrastructure, and Fisheries
Assembly of First Nations
Email: [email protected] and cc: [email protected]

Submission

Only those submissions that meet the deadline will be considered.

Submissions to this RFP must be received by the close of business (5:00 pm EST) on January 5, 2024.

Submissions must be sent by email to: Liz Fox at: [email protected] and cc:  [email protected]

Should a proponent’s proposal exceed 10Mb it is acceptable for the proponent to provide a link to a OneDrive file within the proposal submission email.

 

 

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