Contract Tendering

1.       For recipients whose allocation for a given investment schedule is $50,000 or less,
contract-tendering rules do not apply.

2.       For recipients whose investment schedule for a given management unit is more than
$50,000, the following contract tendering rules must be followed in respect of its projects:

(i)                   all subcontracts (including multi-year projects) greater than $75,000 for a given project will be tendered through open invitation and such tendering must conform with the guidelines as provided on the Administrator’s website;

(ii)                At least fifty percent of the value of all subcontracts within the investment schedule
for a given Year will be tendered through a competitive bidding process;

(iii)               Where subcontracts less than  $75,000 for a given Project must be tendered to comply with Subparagraph (ii) above, they may be tendered through open invitation or select invitation to a minimum of three qualified potential bidders and such tendering must conform with the guidelines as provided on the Administrator’s website.

Open invitation tendering is used for subcontracts over $75,000 to advertise invitations to tender, requests for proposals and subcontractor eligibility list notices. Open invitation ensures that all qualified subcontractors have an equal opportunity to bid on subcontracts. These tender notices are to be posted on the FFT Bid Opportunities website and should be locally or provincially advertised, if deemed beneficial. For overstory removal (fibre recovery) contracts the additional advertising procedures on
the FFT website must be followed.

Select invitation tendering allows a Recipient to provide a selected list of subcontractors the opportunity to submit bids. In order to qualify as a select invitation tender, all selected subcontractors must be qualified and eligible to complete the proposed subcontract. It is suggested that a subcontractor
pre-qualification competition is used to establish the select list. The Recipient may allow new subcontractors to be added to a select list at any time, provided they are evaluated in the same manner as subcontractors already on the list.

Recipients must make every effort to obtain three qualified subcontractor bids when using the select invitation process. The Recipient’s tendering file must contain clear documentation of the select invitation process that shows subcontractor qualifications, the selection criteria and documented proof that invitations to bid were sent to sufficient qualified subcontractors to meet the intent of the selection invitation process.

Recipients are required to make all effort to award 25% of their investment schedules to qualified First Nations contractors. To help make this process more effective, timely and meet the target, the district or recipient may advertize a Request for Expressions of Interest from First Nations Contractors and create a pre-qualified select list of First Nations Silviculture/Stand Establishment contractors to use. 

 For a template see: Expression_of_Interest.doc  

A request for proposals (RFP) is a formal contract competition process in which the recipient invites contractors to submit written action plans in sealed envelopes outlining how and at what price they would provide a service or complete a project. The RFP process may be used if:  (1) the nature of the work/service cannot be clearly defined or quantified, a standard methodology for doing the work does not exist, or the work performance standards cannot be specified; (2) the desired results can be specified but the recipient wishes to consider alternative methodologies; and (3) the desired results and methodology are specified but to meet specific goals of the program the recipient wishes to consider other factors such as jobs created, partnerships with local communities, and qualifications. The recipient provides prospective bidders with a detailed RFP package describing proposal submission conditions, the service / project expectations, results to be achieved, proposal evaluation criteria and weightings, and the price evaluation method that will be used (either "lowest price point" or "lowest qualified price"). Bidders who achieve a predetermined minimum score are short-listed and the contract award is made to the contractor offering the lowest price point or the lowest qualified price.

Invitation to Tender 

An invitation to tender (ITT) is a formal contract competition process in which the recipient invites contractors to submit written offers in a sealed envelope, stating at what price they would provide the required work/service. The recipient provides prospective bidders with a detailed package of tender conditions, work/service specifications and project information to allow bidders to formulate their tendered price.

Advertising of all tendered contracted work must be advertised on the FFT Bid Opportunities website. If the Recipient feels local notice would be beneficial, additional local advertising of contracted work should be completed, including local community newspapers (usually only printed once a week) or regionally based (printed daily) newspapers with paid subscribers. Use local papers when advertising any value of a subcontract where there is a sufficient local subcontractor base. Use regional papers when advertising any value of subcontract where the local subcontractor base is small. Ensure bidders are allowed sufficient time to prepare sound, competitive offers. The following table shows the minimum time between the date the advertisement appears and the date the tendering closes:

A contractor must be SAFE Certified to undertake/perform work on the tender. The Recipient has the responsibility to assure the contractor undertaking / performing the work is SAFE certified. It is the discretion of the Recipient on how the tender is advertised. The Recipient may restrict bidding to only SAFE certified contractors.