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Work with the AFN

Infrastructure Forecast Toolkit

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 invites qualified individuals and firms to submit proposals to provide professional services for the development of an Infrastructure Forecast Toolkit.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to select a Proponent to provide professional services for the development of an Infrastructure Forecast Toolkit. This toolkit is intended to be utilized as a supportive infrastructure planning tool for First Nations to strategize and implement their community visions and goals.

At a minimum, the AFN will expect the completed toolkit to provide for First Nations the following input capabilities:

  • Built-in asset management planning mechanisms for typical infrastructure categories including, but not limited to, the following:
    • Water
    • Wastewater
    • Transportation
    • Telecommunications
    • Electrical power
    • Stormwater/flood protection
    • Solid waste
    • Fire protection
    • Parks and Recreation
    • Schools
    • Administration buildings
    • Housing
  • Operations & Maintenance investment needs data system to manage throughout the asset’s lifecycle
  • Interactive components, such as templates, checklists, fillable tables, and examples, to assist First Nations in assessing community readiness, identifying issues and opportunities related to infrastructure services, prioritize construction needs, stakeholder analysis and creating implementation strategies, etc.
  • An asset registry capable of compiling infrastructure data from a range of reporting systems identified below as well as other First Nations infrastructure data reports.
  • Develop infrastructure work plan tables and checklists for budget, work plan, and scheduling of projects.
  • Compile and gather First Nations infrastructure data from studies, plans and reports, including but not limited to:
    • Asset Condition Reporting System (ACRS)
    • First Nations Infrastructure Investment Plan (FNIIP)
    • Capital Asset Inventory System (CAIS)
    • Asset Management Plan
    • Comprehensive Community Plan
    • Development & Land Use Plan
    • Economic Development Plan
    • Housing Plan
    • Municipal Type Service Agreements (MTSA)
    • Operations & Maintenance Plan
    • Utility Plans
    • Final Reports and drafts for completed infrastructure projects
  • Capital replacement forecasts
  • Risk management and life-cycle analysis
  • Climate Resiliency

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The role of the 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 Infrastructure and Housing Sector have worked with its partners at Indigenous Services Canada to co-develop the “Closing the Infrastructure Gap by 2030: A Collaborative and Comprehensive Cost Estimate Identifying the Infrastructure Investment Needs of Canada’s First Nations” which quantifies the capital and operational investments needed to make good on this government’s both public and federally mandated commitments to First Nations.

The overall $349.2 billion critically needed to improve the deficient community infrastructure and housing has been designated or is considered a shared priority in the federal government’s upcoming budget to begin “Closing the Infrastructure Gap by 2030”. This report and its related process revealed that climate change adaptation was identified as a key component requiring further analysis nationwide, and from a First Nations-perspective.

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

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) continues to support First Nations in advancing their asset management goals through capacity development in Asset Management Planning (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 Infrastructure Forecast Toolkit”.

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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Project Deliverables: The Proponent shall develop an Infrastructure Forecast Toolkit.

RIGHTS OF THE AFN

The AFN reserves the right to:

  1. reject any or all proposals received in response to this Request for Proposal;
  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 developing toolkits and working with First Nations infrastructure  – (20%).
  3. Proposed Work Plan and Approach – (25%).
  4. Experience in communications, applicable standards, strategy development, and project planning as it would apply to Toolkit development – (25%).
  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:

Elizabeth Fox
Senior Policy Analyst – Infrastructure
343-597-4638
Assembly of First Nations
Email: [email protected] and cc [email protected]

Submissions

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: Elizabeth 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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