2013–2014 OBSERVATIONS – SERVICE TO THE PUBLIC

Introduction

The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages (OCOL) evaluates the overall performance of certain federal institutions with respect to official languages. To do this, OCOL bases itself on quantitative and qualitative data. The Performance Measurement Directorate within the Compliance Assurance Branch (CAB) is responsible for planning, managing and implementing efforts to measure the performance of federal institutions subject to the Official Languages Act (the Act). Performance measurement is part of CAB’s operational plan.

Estimated value

Up to $30,000.

Background

The performance measurement of federal institutions, through anonymous observations, aims to highlight the strengths and weaknesses in the implementation of the Official Languages Act (the Act). The data collected to identify these strengths and weaknesses include observations of the points of service to the public of select federal institutions subject to the Act. As part of this project, “mystery clients” will visit bilingual points of service that are accessible to the public in person without an appointment to evaluate the service in person.

Similar work has been done in the past by contractors.

Expected Start and Completion Dates

The initial period of the contract will be from the date of signing of the Contract until March 31, 2014. The Contractor grants to Canada the irrevocable option to extend the term of the Contract by up to one (1) additional (1) year period under the same conditions. The Contractor agrees that, during the extended period of the Contract, it will be paid in accordance with the applicable provisions as set out in the payment schedule. Canada may exercise this option at any time by sending a written notice to the Contractor before the expiry date of the Contract. The option may only be exercised by the Contracting Authority, and will be evidenced for administrative purposes only, through a contract amendment. The value of the Contract for the optional period may increase or decrease depending on the number of observations outlined in the option year appendix.

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to support OCOL in its performance measurement efforts by making observations on bilingual points of service to the public, based on OCOL’s evaluation criteria, at the following federal institutions: The Public Health Agency of Canada and the Correctional Service of Canada. Anticipated duties are to observe anonymously, where applicable, the active visual offer (bilingual signage) of service to the public, the active offer of service to the public in person and the availability of service to the public in the language of the minority. This project requires French speakers, English speakers and bilingual speakers.

The contractor will have to assess the availability of service to the public in English in the province of Quebec and in French in all other locations. The results of these observations will be recorded on detailed observation forms that OCOL will provide and that will be returned to OCOL once completed. The data will be compiled by Statistics Canada on behalf of OCOL to allow for a compliance analysis of the institution with regard to service to the public.