ASSEMBLY OF FIRST NATIONS
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
CONTRACTOR FOR MEETING REGISTRATION
This is a Request for Proposal only. The AFN is not obligated to accept any proposal or to proceed further. The AFN may at its sole discretion elect not to accept any proposal for any reason, without incurring any cost or liability whatsoever. April 20, 2012Request for Proposal
I. Introduction
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is the national representative body for First Nations in Canada. There are over 630 First Nations that are currently represented by the Assembly of First Nations. The AFN is designed to present the views of the various First Nations through their leaders in areas such as: Aboriginal and Treaty rights, economic development, education, languages and literacy, health, housing, social development, justice, taxation, land claims, environment, and a whole array of issues that are of common concern which arise from time to time. First Nation Chiefs meet annually to set national policy and direction through resolution. The National Chief is elected every three years by the Chiefs‐in‐Assembly. The AFN Annual General Assembly is held in July of each year and is the primary meeting for the general membership, including a meeting for the affairs of the National Indian Brotherhood. The Annual General Assembly has historically comprised of a platform of presentations and policy discussions. The Annual General Assembly also includes scheduled meetings of the Executive Committee, trade show and some of the major chief’s committees meetings. In addition to the above, the 2012 Annual General Assembly will include the election of the National Chief.II. Statement of Work
The AFN’s request for proposals (RFP) is to secure a Contractor to provide onsite registration services for the 33rd Annual General Assembly, including this year’s election of the National Chief. The 33rd Annual General Assembly will be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario from July 17 – 19, 2012. The AFN expects that just over 2000 participants and 450 Chiefs across Canada will attend the 33rd Annual General Assembly. The AFN is seeking a Proposer that will set up and administer the registration process for the 33rd Annual General Assembly. The AFN currently has existing software for event registrations that will be utilized. However, the Proposer shall make enhancements and modifications to this software. The registration software and application should allow registrants the capability of registering online as well as allowing AFN staff the ability to register people on the back end and/or make edits to their record. In addition, the software must be integrated with the AFN’s existing conferencing system in order to upload our list of First Nations Chiefs who are eligible to vote on matters at the Annual General Assembly and cast ballots during the National Chief’s Election. The AFN is not seeking off‐the‐shelf software but rather a system that will be customizable to our specific needs. We are seeking a Proposer that will provide customer service as needed for their software. The Proposer must be able to register participants, trackongoing registrations, and develop several reports that breakdown the event data in both summary and detailed format. AFN Staff will assist in the onsite registration as well as collect registration fees. Particulars of the work are as follows: A. Registration Requirements Following is a list of required functionality and support needed by the AFN. Software must be capable of all of the following and the Proposer must be willing to provide support on an ongoing basis, as well as onsite supervision during the Annual General Assembly. 1. Support registering participants and checking‐in said participants. 2. Printing of custom badges that include custom ID’s (bar coding) for scanning using existing iTextsharp print logic. 3. Scanable Chief and Proxy badges with bar codes for the election of National Chief with ability to open registration record to take action against. 4. Support for Custom ID's for each registrant. 5. Storing participant contact information / reusable account area by registration type. 6. Support for multiple registrants and group registrations and tracking thereof. 7. Formatable exports of program setup, registrants and attendees (based on bar code scanners) Integration. 8. Support for custom confirmation. 9. Develop ability to automate actions when scanning specific barcode types. 10. Support for developing registration types, taxes and providing receipts. 11. Support for multiple registration types with multiple fees. 12. Support for data entry staff to enter faxed in registrations. 13. Support for data entry staff to edit registrations. 14. Track payments, allowing for single and multiple forms of payments 15. Support for customizable reports with billing, registration, attendance, by date range, registration type, etc. in multiple formats (excel, PDF, HTML). 16. Support the Chief Electoral Officer by noting of registered Chiefs and proxies who are eligible to cast ballots in the election for the National Chief. 17. Custom program modifications and software upgrades at no additional cost B. Onsite Support 1. The Proposer will build upon AFN existing event software and data base. AFN’s customs event registration web application uses the following technologies and frameworks:
Visual Studio 2010 VB.net (Webforms) Crystal Reports XI
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 iText Sharp Libraries
html, css, Javascript with jQuery 2. Reporting ‐ Expand existing reporting to allow for dynamic selection of one or many provinces and participant types for all existing reports 3. Dynamic Email ‐ Develop method of creating a dynamic list of participants email - When a participant is added to the list they are removed from the results or no longer available for selection. - Ability to remove a participant from list after they are selected without starting over - Flag participants that do not have an email address associated to their registration - Allow users to save a list of participants for later use 4. Participant notes ‐ Develop ability to attach a note to a registered participant. - When a participant is accessed and has an active note, the system will alert the user of existence of the note. - Allow notes to be acknowledged, this would stop further alerts from triggering 5. On‐site support ‐ Provide on‐site support for the Annual General Assembly of up to 5000 registered participants - Setup onsite network, and configure workstations to access application - Troubleshoot any workstation issues related to connectivity or performance - Configure printers to print from web server for custom badges and receipt - Resolve, provide work around and or identify any issues that may arise with the custom registration application leading up to, and during event. - Assist with addressing issues that arise with data associated with a registered participant - Assist tracking sessions that utilize the new bar‐coding feature
III. General Information
1. Eligibility Requirements The Proposer, including EACH member of a consortium, joint venture or other type of association (where the proposal is submitted by a consortium, joint venture or other type of association), must comply with the following requirements: i) if the Proposer is an individual ‐ he/she must be a Canadian citizen or a Canadian landed immigrant; or ii) if the Proposer is a profit organization ‐ it must be a legal entity and have a place of business in Canada; oriii) if the Proposer is a not‐for‐profit organization ‐ it must be a legal entity established in Canada. Where the proposal is submitted by a consortium, joint venture or other type of association, EACH member must meet either requirement (i), (ii) or (iii). 2. Commitment to Participate The Proposer commits to providing all of the personnel, including sub‐contractors, in conformance with the proposed work submitted for consideration to AFN. If, during contract negotiations, the Proposer can no longer provide the professionals proposed, the AFN reserves the right to disqualify the Proposer and cancel this Request for Proposal in its entirety. 3. Deliverables The successful Proposer will meet with AFN’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) at key intervals leading up to and following the Annual General Assembly. Time is of the essence in this project and the work must be completed within the timelines specified by the AFN. The minimum elements to be delivered by the Proposer are as follows: Update reports to the COO twice monthly (point form, via e‐mail); Database to be fully operational on or before May 21st , 2012; Draft copies of the registration reports for the review and approval of the COO, when requested; and Tracking payments when requested. Final Report outlining final registration numbers, registrants per region, statistics and a description of what worked , as well as recommendations for possible improvements. 4. Rights of the AFN The AFN reserves the right to: a) in its sole discretion reject any or all proposals in whole or part, without incurring any cost or liability whatsoever; b) enter into negotiation with one or more Proposers on any or all aspects of their respective proposals; c) accept any proposal in whole, or in part; d) reject any proposal where it is determined to be not really competitive, or where the costs is not reasonable; e) cancel and/or re‐issue a modified version of a given RFP requirement at any time; f) award one or more contracts; and
g) verify all information provided with respect to a given RFP requirement, including the right to request a confirmation of the Proposer's legal status and signed documentation attesting to its legal ability to enter into a contractual agreement with the AFN. 5. Conditions a) This RFP is for a fixed price contract from May 7, 2012 to July 31, 2012 and dependent on the availability of funding. b) One electronic copy of the proposal must be received by Monday May 7th, 2012 by 4:00 pm EDT. Proposal must be sent to Peter Dinsdale, Chief Operating Officer as outlined herein. Proposals must be received electronically by AFN on or before the time and date specified at [email protected] with the subject line, “Proposal for AFN Event and Meeting Registration Services.” Late proposals will not be accepted or evaluated. c) Receipt will be acknowledged by return e‐mail promptly after proposal receipt but no later than one business day after receipt of the proposal. It is the responsibility of the Proposer to follow up if the Proposer does not receive confirmation by AFN. d) The proposal must be received as one file in Microsoft Word format or Portable Document Format (pdf). e) Select Proposers may be contacted to schedule an approximately one‐hour phone interview at a mutually convenient time. Interviews, if scheduled, will take place during the week of May 7 or at another mutually agreeable time and date. f) Selection will be completed by or before May 7, 2012. g) By submitting a proposal in response to this RFP, Proposer waives any and all claims against AFN, including its officers, directors, employees, subcontractors, and agents, and assumes full responsibility for all damages, claims, losses, costs, and expenses which Proposer may incur arising from or relating to its proposal, including any errors or omissions in the proposal. h) Proposer acknowledges that submission of a proposal in response to this RFP does not create a contract between the Proposer and AFN. i) Any false or misleading statements found in the proposal will be grounds for disqualification or contract nullification, if awarded. j) AFN is not liable for any costs incurred by vendors submitting a response to this RFP. 6. Additional Inquiries – Inquiries are welcome and should be made to: Peter Dinsdale, Chief Operating Officer Assembly of First Nations 473 Albert Street, 9th Floor Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 5B4 Phone: (613) 241‐6789 [email protected]
7. Rights to Intellectual Property a) All information, data, and images provided by the AFN will remain the property of the AFN. Proposer will refrain from keep copies or disclosing any of this information, data, and images to any third party without first obtaining the written consent of the AFN. b) The AFN will have exclusive ownership to use data provided by participants and Annual General Assembly Registrants. c) The ideas, concepts, know‐how and technologies relating to the software developed by Proposer for the AFN, including but not limited to the source, object codes (software code), original artwork, graphic design, trademarks and the specialized software tools required to further develop and maintain the software will vest with AFN.
