IN THE MATTER OF a complaint filed by Resolution Alliance Inc. pursuant to subsection 30.11(1) of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act;

AND FURTHER TO a decision to conduct an inquiry into the complaint pursuant to subsection 30.13(1) of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act.

DETERMINATION

Resolution Alliance Inc. (Resolution) filed a complaint that relates to a solicitation by the Department of Employment and Social Development (ESDC) for facilitation services for the delivery of multiple virtual trainings to ESDC call centre employees.

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal determines that the complaint is valid on the ground of complaint for which the Tribunal had conducted an inquiry, pursuant to subsection 30.14(2) of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act (CITT Act).

The Tribunal finds that it was not reasonable for ESDC to have found in the original evaluation of Resolution’s bid that a senior facilitator’s experience as a call centre respondent is not a “client based operation” on a specific technical merit requirement within the solicitation. The Tribunal therefore finds that ESDC acted contrary to Article 515(5) of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement.

The Tribunal recommends that ESDC re-evaluate Resolution’s bid on this specific technical merit requirement pertaining to this specific senior facilitator, within 60 calendar days of the issuance of this determination, pursuant to paragraph 30.15(2)(b) of the CITT Act. ESDC shall notify the Tribunal of Resolution’s re-evaluated score and new bid ranking, if any. The Tribunal will then determine and recommend the specific amount, if any, that ESDC shall compensate Resolution in lieu of a contract award pursuant to paragraph 30.15(2)(e) of the CITT Act. The Tribunal reserves jurisdiction to establish the final amount of compensation.

The Tribunal awards Resolution its reasonable costs incurred in the Tribunal’s inquiry process, which costs are to be paid by ESDC, pursuant to section 30.16 of the CITT Act. The Tribunal’s preliminary indication of the level of complexity for the ground of complaint it inquired on in this complaint is Level 1, and the preliminary indication of the amount of cost award is $1,150, in accordance with the Procurement Costs Guidelines (Guidelines). If any party disagrees with the preliminary level of complexity or indication of the amount of the cost award, it may make submissions to the Tribunal, within 10 working days of this determination, as contemplated in article 4.2 of the Guidelines. The Tribunal reserves jurisdiction to establish the final amount of the cost award to Resolution.

The intervener, SoftSim Technologies Inc., will bear its own costs.

The statement of reasons will be published on the Tribunal’s website at a later date.