Information Technology Services

Why Us? – Who We Are and What Do We Do

The Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences (CASTL) delivers on the economic and sectoral demand for individuals who are work-ready to enter, thrive and meet the needs of the fast-growing Canadian biomanufacturing industry. CASTL delivers specialized training in biopharmaceutical manufacturing to post-secondary students and industry employees through e-learning courses, in-class and virtual theory training, and hands-on training.

CASTL’s head office is based in Charlottetown, PE, with two training facilities located in Charlottetown and Montreal, and a third facility to open in Richmond, BC, in the Fall of 2024. Our talented team currently consists of 19 employees (Charlottetown: 11, Montreal: 6, Ontario (Ottawa, remote): 2, Vancouver: TBA 2024) and is expected to expand to up to 24 within the year, as CASTL continues to maintain rapid growth. Our employees are currently based in Charlottetown, Montreal, and Ottawa, (with the Greater Vancouver-area soon to follow) and will require remote IT support and occasional onsite IT support where needed. 

In July 2023, CASTL incorporated as an independent organization, no longer under the ownership of the Prince Edward Island BioAlliance. Because of this, a large portion of our IT service requirements will involve the merging and migration process of CASTL from PEI BioAlliance, including, but not limited to, web domain migration, software migration, and Microsoft 365 tenant creation (further details below under Phase 1: Transitioning). 

PART 1: INVITATION AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

1.1 Invitation to Proponent
This Request for Proposals (the “RFP”) is an invitation by the Canadian Alliance for Skills & Training in Life Sciences (CASTL) to a vendor to submit proposals for the provision of information technology (IT) services. 

1.2 RFP Contact
For the purposes of this procurement process, the “RFP Contact” shall be: 
Megan Lambie, Manager of Corporate Services 
megan@castlcanada.ca    
Proponents and their representatives are not permitted to contact any employees, Board members or other representatives of CASTL other than the RFP Contact concerning this RFP. Failure to adhere to this rule may result in disqualification of the proponent and the rejection of the proponent’s proposal. 

1.3 Type of Contract for Deliverables
The selected proponent will be required to enter into an agreement with CASTL for the provision of the services outlined. The initial term of the agreement will be for a period of two (2) years, with option to renew for an additional two (2) years subject to annual review. 

1.4 RFP Timetable

The RFP timetable is tentative only and may be changed by CASTL at any time. 

1.5 Registering Interest in RFP
Proponents are kindly asked to register their interest in responding to the RFP prior to the submission deadline. This is to ensure that CASTL can track expected proposals and correspond with proponents on any amendments or updates to the RFP. 

1.6 Deadline for Questions
Any questions ahead of the questions deadline on May 3, 2024, are to be submitted via email to the RFP Contact. All questions and answers will be shared with all proponents who expressed their interest both via email and posted on the CASTL website.

1.7 Submission of Proposals
Proposals must be submitted electronically by email in pdf form. In the interest of simplifying the RFP process, proponents are asked to limit their written response to a maximum of four pages excluding the cover. 
Proponents may submit amendments to their proposal electronically up until the submission deadline of 12pm ADT, May 10, 2024. Any amendment received after the submission deadline will not be accepted. 

PART 2: RFP PARTICULARS 
Information Technology (IT) Services include:

Phase 1: Transitioning
o    Microsoft 365 Migration and Tenant creation (cloud)

• Moving the organization’s user accounts from Prince Edward Island BioAlliance tenant to a separate CASTL tenant (including exchange and business standard licenses)
• Design CASTL SharePoint architecture to encompass eight existing SharePoint sites (Finance, HR, Board of Directors, Elevate, Offboarding - Archived Data, Charlottetown Facility, Montreal Facility, and corporate sites)
• In consultation with manager, set up permissions for each site and migrate data from PEI BioAlliance tenant to the CASTL tenant
• Ensure OneDrive backups and synchronization of SharePoint sites are working for all MacBooks and PCs
• Mitigate risk of data loss during migration
• Separate Charlottetown facility Unify (Ubiquiti) from PEI BioAlliance to separate CASTL Unify account 

o    Web

• Domains: 
  • Migration of castlcanada.ca to independent hosting provider
  • Ensure subdomain coa.castlcanada.ca remains connected to third party (CASTL Online Academy via Docebo – Ireland)
  • Ensure coa.castlcanada.ca SSL certificate’s .crt is changed from the PEI BioAlliance to CASTL
  • Migration of DNS records 

o    Software

• Adobe Acrobat and Creative Suite – Migrate to separate CASTL instance.

Phase 2: Ongoing Maintenance

o    Hardware support and maintenance

• Support OS and software updates on staff and facility MacBooks, PCs, and iPads 
• Maintain switches, firewalls, and routers at the Charlottetown and Montreal facilities (with Vancouver to follow)
• Collaborate with Office Xpress to troubleshoot any printer issues at the Charlottetown and Montreal facilities
• The IT Services Providers (MSP) should have processes for end-of-life notification, replacement, and asset decommissioning/disposal.

o    Network administration at the Charlottetown and Montreal facilities (with Vancouver to follow) providing consultation to CASTL Manager of Corporate Services on issues and data storage advice. This includes monthly performing of status checks network performance:

• A proactive management and monitoring of our switches, firewalls, routers and Wi-Fi systems, and other networking equipment
• Event Log review for errors
• Deal/assess any other issues
• Confirm cyber-security is up to date
• Security audits and penetration testing

o    Software 

• Purchase and install managed cyber security software on applicable devices (i.e. Bitdefender)
• Zoom

o    Help Desk Support

• From 8am-9pm in each location

o    On-Site Support 
o    End-User Security Awareness Training – The MSP should offer Security Awareness Training to teach CASTL staff and employees about current threats, terms, standards, and compliance to help them avoid a security incident.
o    Procurement - Advise on purchasing equipment (primarily through Apple), hardware, and software including short term and long-term IT planning. 

PART 3: EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS

3.1 Rated Criteria
CASTL will evaluate each compliant proposal based on the rated criteria as set out in the RFP. The following is an overview of the categories and weighting for the rated criteria of the RFP. Vendors should address each of the rated criteria sections below in the order as presented. 

PART 4: PRICING FORM
Please include the below pricing form in your proposal. Vendor pricing will be scored on a competitive scale against other vendor pricing. CASTL maintains strict confidentiality on all proposal content and pricing. 

PART 5: GENERAL INFORMATION
5.1 All the provisions of the RFP are deemed to be accepted by each proponent and incorporated into each proponent’s proposal. 
5.2 Proponents should structure their proposals in accordance with this RFP. Where information is requested in this RFP, any response made in a proposal should reference the applicable section number of this RFP. 
5.3 In the evaluation process, CASTL may include information provided by the proponent’s reference and may also consider the proponent’s past performance or conduct on previous contracts with CASTL (if applicable). 
5.4 The proponent shall bear all costs associated with or incurred in the preparation and presentation of its proposal including, if applicable, costs incurred for interviews or presentations. 
5.5 CASTL makes no guarantee of the value or volume of work to be assigned to the successful proponent. The agreement to be negotiated with the selected proponent may not be an exclusive contract for the provision of the work. CASTL may contract with others for services on special projects or new campaigns or projects that arise during the period of the agreement with the successful proponent. 
5.6 The RFP may be amended if for any reason CASTL determines that it is necessary to provide additional information relating to this RFP. The RFP will be updated and sent to all proponents who registered their interest. 
5.7 CASTL reserves the right to cancel the RFP at any time.